Holland 3-0 Italy. Well I have to say, I did not see that one coming. Okay so Italy suffered the loss of their captain and defensive pit-bull/brick wall Fabio Cannavaro, but leading up to the game last night the Dutch have suffered injuries as well. Although their only full blown casualty was Ryan Babel, if he was to capture the good form he showed when at home playing for Ajax, Liverpool fans probably wouldn’t recognise him. Add to that the fact that the two Dutch sick notes Van Persie and Robben were struggling too and you can see that the result is not just a reflection of players’ absence. But would the Dutch have produced such counter-attacks had Cannavaro been leading the Azure? I’m not so sure. But, you can’t take it away from Holland; the second goal was especially good.
Some might say that this blows my prediction of a Germany vs. Italy final out of the water, but we all know that Italy have character, they won the World Cup in the midst of a hugely controversial referee bung scandal, so I expect them to recover from the drubbing they received last night, plus they didn’t actually play that bad. They lacked the killer touch in front of goal, but had two cleared off the line, which were then promptly converted into goals for the opposing team. They were punished for trying to win, more than you can say for France.
Oh dear dear dear. Francey Francey Francey. What was that? I mean, what on earth was that? Any game that makes Alan Hanson want to quit has got to be dire with the money he is on. It was awful, and there was me getting worried that I might miss the most magical moment of the Euros so far as I sat at the table and ate my spag bol with my sister and niece. This does however set up the Italy vs. France game as one to look forward to. Both teams will now be under immense pressure from their own countrymen, as well as the rest of the footballing world, to go out there and prove they are worthy of being one of the favourites for this little tourney. They will have to attack. So it could be 9/7 (the date of the World Cup 2006 Final) times 2356. ("My God, that's... I don't even know what that is!"... "Nobody does!")
Today at 5pm on this gloriously sunny day we shall see Russia (a.k.a. The-Team-That-We-Didn’t-Expect-to-be-But-Definitely-Are-Much-Better-Than-England) take on Spain (another team better than England). Spain have taken a lot of people’s fancy as the eventual winners of this tournament, but they’re bigger underachievers than we are. Even though they qualified, if they don’t get to the final, they're bigger underachievers than us. With their squad, which I have attached below to highlight my point (courtesy of the good ol’ BBC), they should get to the final of everything. E-VE-RY-THING! They even left out Raul. That’s right, Raul. You know that King of Madrid geezer.
So, Spain should win. But they won’t, because they aren’t winners. Just as we aren’t. Germany are. And Germany will be. I am adamant. I think Russia actually stand a better chance of winning than Spain. They’re very well organised and have no egos to get over. I think Russia will win tonight.
Now, I realise that I am setting myself up for a huge egg splat on my like litso, but I am confident that it will not happen, and if it does, my good friend Lukas Podolski will wipe it off, as he will the smiles on the Spaniards faces.
Good luck Spain, you really shouldn’t need it, but you generally do.
The Spain Squad
Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Andres Palop (Sevilla)
Defenders: Raul Albiol (Valencia), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Juanito Gutierrez (Real Betis), Fernando Navarro (Mallorca), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Alvaro Arbeloa (Liverpool)
Midfielders: Xavi Hernandez (FC Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), David Silva (Valencia), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Ruben De La Red (Getafe), Marcos Senna (Villarreal), Santi Cazorla (Villarreal)
Forwards: Fernando Torres (Liverpool), David Villa (Valencia), Daniel Guiza (Mallorca), Sergio Garcia (Zaragoza)
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