Leo Beenhakker put Smolarek on the bench?!! I guess he has a god complex. Poland once again looked so very poor. They scored one goal in the whole tournament, an offside goals vs Austria. It was a long time ago I saw a national team play way worse than a division one team in England. Croatia have so much talent and despite lack of motivation they won deservedly. You gotta love Rakitic, no chance he plays for Schalke next season. Pranjic was the best player on the pitch, Klasnic always dangerous. Boruc was funny enough Polands best player, saving them from a bigger loss. Cherchez la femme! Does that fit in with Gomez. I feel sorry for the Stuttgart striker, He is such a great player, but has made a complete mockery out of himself this Euro 2008. As we anticipated Lahm had a great game exploiting the right side of Austria. Podolski and Lahm looked dangerous time and time again. The German four at the back looked more confident with Friedrich as left back. Metzelder in particular not as stressed. Ballack scred a great goal, something he needed to get going, especially against Portugal. Austria once again showed a lot of heart, but no competence. Its tough when the quality of the players are not enough. Harnik once again (why did he play?) missed some chances. All in all I think Austria should be happy with their performance for Euro 2008.

Switzerland showed a lot of heart yesterday beating Portugal 2-0. Was it a fair result? In a way yes, even though Portugal looked more likely to score. Lone striker Derdiyok looked terrible until he delivered a beautiful pass to Hakan Yakin putting Kobi Kuhns team ahead in the 71st minute. Pepe, Nani, Quaresma and Postiga were the only ones trying for Portugal. The referee robbed Portugal of a goal and a penalty. I cant say I was to happy with Scolaris coaching either, but thats the way it goes. The penalty given in the end probably did not matter, but just typical of the poor referee Plautz. Switzerland has a very young team and should not be underrated the next few years. Ottmar Hitzfield who has lead Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich to great success will take over as a coach. That is a really good thing for them.

Have you ever seen anything like the comeback Turkey made yesterday. I am still in shock. My opinion of a low scoring game had no chance, with very poor goalkeeping from both Volkan and Cech. Nihat Kavechi had one of the more inspired performances of this Euro 2008. The Turkish perseverance was very, very impressive. I beginning to like Mehmet Aurelio more and more. He is no doubt a very solid player for Turkey in midfield. I think the change of playing Arda in the last two games (did not play vs Portugal), supporting Nihat has worked out very well. Offensively Turkey looks to have so much more potential that way. Altintop had his best game so far in the tournament. He is very important for Turkey. I guess I jinxed Petr Cech announcing he is the best goalkeeper in the world. It was his fault and his fault only that the Czech Republic did not advance. Was a long time ago I saw a player of his caliber make such mistakes. To be honest he was not great in the Champions League final either. Jan Koller and Sionko were the best players for Czechs, but all in all reality caught up with this poor side. I have to say something about the Swedish referee Fröjdfeldt. Is he a joke or what. He did not make any crucial mistakes yesterday, but his pathetic gestures yellow carding players had to stop. Going into the quarter finals, Croatia will most definitely be the biggest favourite vs Turkey

Sweden put up a great performance in the 1st half yesterday. Both teams had loads of scoring chances. Apart from the two goals by Torres and then Ibrahimovic, who game Real Madrids Sergi Ramos a lecture, Spain should have been rewarded a penalty when Elmander just pushed down Davd Silva in the box. Henrik Larsson should have scored as well after a beautiful pass by "Ibra". Without Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 2nd half, all self confidence just vanished. Olof Mellberg were by far the best player for Sweden, saving the yellow and blue time and time again. Goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson did a good job as well. Something has to be done about the Petter Hansson siuation. He is just terrible. Please give Majstorovic a start vs Russia.

Spain looks very very sharp indeed. Yesterday they looked happy to draw 1-1. They were very much in control of the 2nd half. David Villa is just spectacular. He so fast with great technique. David Silva was also very impressive yesterday and Villareals playmaker Senna. Personally I see Spain as the favourite to win Euro 2008. Their only weakness might actually be highly rated Sergi Ramos as right back. Russia showed they are different class to Greece. Semak, Zyryanov and Torbinski all very fast, active and great ball skills. It was just too much to handle for Greece Nikipolidis efforts in the game of course helped, but Russia never looked in daner. Would Greece have scored which was never likely, my feeling was that Russia could have stepped on thepedal. Pavlyuchenko is a very positive surprise. He played with a slight injury yesterday. For both Sweden and Russia in the decider on Wednesday, strikers (Ibra and Pavly) is a big questionmark. I am afraid to say it, but Russia looks like the better team.

Romania once again showed what an excellent side they are from back to front. Italy played really well yesterday, still the draw was a very fair result. Had Mutu not missed the late penalty, Romania probably would have won. The reigning World champions could argue they should have taken the lead after Luca Tonis brillant header. However it was questionably, to say the least, blown off for offsides. Before that Romanian keeper Lobont had made some terrific saves. Romania also looked very dangerous stretching Buffon numerous times. It was a complete blunder from Zambrotta that gave the balkans the lead. Mutu seized the oppurtunity with a clean finish. Italy came right back. After a corner Panucci reacted very well on Chellinis header. Panucci then starred in a very poor defending act. He pulled down Daniel Niculae in the box leading to an inevitable penalty. Buffon made a brillant save, denying Mutu. The final score 1-1 put France in an akward position. The table suggested they now had to score vs Holland, otherwise they were going to be faced beating Italy in the last game. I myself really liked the French starting eleven and could not see France lose the game.

Holland was just great. Liverpools Dirk Kuyt as sharp as ever. Van der Sar how good was he? Yes France should have equalized in the 1st half, squandering loads of chances. Ribery is just so very gifted in my opinion. 4-1 was not fair, but Holland deservedly won. I must say I am very very impressed. Before the tournament I thought they would struggle too much in defense. That has not been true so far. The win also puts Holland in a unique position. If they delibertely lose to Romania in the last game. Both Italy and France would be out of the Euro 2008. If you were Van Basten what would your approach be? For me its clear. They should lose. This is not cheating. This is not unsportsman like. This is maximizing your chances of winning.

Croatia really showed us what a quality side they are. They were the better team and won deservedly. Rakitic and Modric was awesome. I pointed out how weak Jansen is as left back, and how bad he looked against Poland. His mistake cost the Germans the first goal. The other big weakness Jens Lehmann (why dont they play Robert Enke) was sleeping on goal no 2. Lehmann was terrible and Croatia could have scored 3 or 4. Germany created some very decent scoring chances in particular before Croatia scored the 2nd goal. I had high hopes for Stutgarts Mario Gomez, but he has been the invisible man. With a performance like the one yesterday, its not a certainty that they will beat Austria.

Austria were very unlucky not to get a better result. First half was clear domination (Martin Harnik please please please!!) and Polands goal came totally against run of play. The goal was also clearly offside and the linesman should be fired and fined for missing that. Could someone please enlighten me what Poland are trying to do? Their defense is an embarrassment. Yes they played better for most part of the 2nd half, but they are so so so poor. Jacek Bak who has a loads of routine, what was he thinking, pulling a jersey like that in the 92nd minute? Poland will play Croatia who has already won the group in the final game, hmmm!!!? Would Poland win that game, Germany has to beat Austria. That would be something. Germany taking an exit in the group stage.

Milan Baros started for the Czechs yesterday, I did not expect that. Bruckners team plays a more attacking style of football with him in the line up, thus creating more chances. Problem with Baros, this season in particular, is he just cannot score. Sionko man of the match for the Czechs and Cech again making some quality saves. Did Portugal win deservedly? Yes I think so, especially with the first 25min performance of the 2nd half whrere they always looked dangerous. Both Ronaldo and even more so Simao playing much better. Switzerland with both strikers out, Streller (I did not have that information) and Alexander Frei. Much like the Czechs they were impotent converting when having scoring chances. After being up 1-0 they could have added, but it was not to be. Turkey looked sharper when in scoring position. Swizz goalkeeper Benaglio had a very subpar performance. Senturks equalizer he just has to save, unreal in my opinion. The home nations loss meant they are the first team out of the competition and Portugal the first to clear a place in the last 8.

Spain beat Russia 4-1 after some brillant counter attacknig football. Yes they looked like the slightly better team before scoring 1-0, but the Russians always threatning. In my opinion the best game so far in this Euro 2008. Without getting to carried away I cant see Russia not beating the ANTI football playing Greece. Fernando Torres was great, and David Villa showed what a great clean striker he is. What is kind of funny in todays international football is the weakness of all great teams at the back. I am not saying Spain looked bad defensively, just that they could look more confident. If a coach could get fined for ANTI football propaganda Otto Rehagel would be on top of my list. Does he have no shame? They come out as the reigning champions. And that is what he wants to show us! Holdning on to 0-0 draw at half time he substituted Gekas the striker for another defensive player. Sweden looked on top after 20min of the 1st half. It was just a matter of time before they would score. A brilliant goal by Ibrahimovic earned Sweden a much deserved win. Sweden had their issues as well. Wilhelmsson looked great offensively. He moved great without the ball, but played 0% defence often leaving Alexandersson stranded. He left the game injured and is probably out for the rest of Euro 2008. Rehagel should have taken advantage of that. Petter Hansson scored Swedens 2nd goal. Good for him, now journalists seem to overlook his terrible performance. He looked so shaky in the back. Mellberg played OK apart from a complete blunder almost giving Greece a goal from nowhere. Daniel Andersson was so ugly it gives me the creeps. Yes he might have neutralized the non existing Greek midfield, but so would my grandmother. His lack of talent is just so obvious. No completed passes in motion, giving away unneccasary freekicks etc etc etc. A very positive thing for Sweden was Freddie Ljungbergs performance. Does he score the 2nd goals as he should, he would have been man of the match. I would recommend Sweden to rest Ibrahimovic vs Spain. There is no way this team could grab a point.

France-Romania 0-0
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! If uneventful was looked up in a dictionary you would get France vs Romania. I am not at all surprised. France are slow starters and, Anelka Benezma not a great combination. Les Bleaus was the better team first 35 min, had some chances that ultimately could have lead to a goal. Romania obviously very very happy with the draw. Honestly I dont know if Romenech (French coach will make any changes vs Holland, but I guess he has to.

Italy-Holland 0-3
The two ex Milan players Roberto Donadoni and Marco Van Basten heads up. Donadoni who was known as a very smart player showed that did not translate into coaching. He got totally humilated yesterday. Van Basten surprised him with speed and technique. Kuyt was just so great! I did not even expect him to play.Holland was as good you could hope for, brining back the team to 1998 in that great performance vs Argentina. Italy lost 3-0, but they were not that bad. I still think they can win the Euro2008. Gattuso, Ambrosini ARRIVIDERCI! No doubt De Rossi and Perrotta plays against Romania. Grosso will likely start also. How Donadoni solves the problems in central defence I dont know. All goals came from defensive blunders and the first goal was offsides, but cleared cause of that "stupid" rule. Del Piero sparkled in his substitution which is positive.

Austria-Croatia 0-1

I hope some of you got the correct score or the under 2.5 in this game yesterday? Croatia got an early penalty scoring 1-0. And were much in control the first 35min of the match. After that they just stopped playing! Luca Modric totally dominated the game in midfield. He showed technical superiority and was by far the best Croat player, he also converted the penalty. I anticipated Austria to be very ineffective, and so they were. They were allowed a lot of room n the 2nd half, had some decent scoring chances, but not really close. Korkmaz who got a surprising start for the home team impressed me. A performance like that and Austria will no doubt give Poland a headache. Overall Croatia did not impress, but they got what they wanted, what they came for an ugly win. I dont think we should judge them based on that performance.

Germany-Poland 2-0

After having a subpar season in Bayern Munich, Lukas Podolski came to live, the last month of the season. Yesterday, wow was he impressive. Germany looked very solid indeed. Frings, Fritz had great performances. Klose better than I have seen him this seasn. The only questionmark is in the back, Jansen woeful and Mertesacker slow. I liked the formation playing Klose and Gomez as strikers and Podolski on the left in attacking position. So did the Germans really impress or did the opposition make them look good? Polish defence no doubt struggled, I think Polish coach Beenhakker is a lot to blame. Formation looked confusing, no one feeling comfortable with his place. That has to change before the next game vs Austria. To answer my own question, I think it was a little bit of both. Germany looked good offensively by their own merits, but somewhat shaky in the back.