bradley headstone
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Posted: June 24th 2008
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So Euro 2008 continues to be very enjoyable…despite the Germans’ seemingly inevitable march to glory. The first three quarter finals saw three of the possible winners crash out. Portugal, always too fragile I thought, succumbed to the German ‘A’ game. A battering ram of ruthless attacking football that seemed to click the moment they got rid of Gomez.
Croatia was particularly surprising, and I think, a little disappointing. Written off before the tournament and after the first game, because their ‘fox in the box’ was missing. Bilic, however, produced a series of tactical masterstrokes that made up for the unavailable Eduardo and made the best of what they had…making Germany look silly in the process. Right up until Turkey’s last kick equaliser their defence looked as solid as anyone’s. It’s particularly disappointing that their excellent left back (wing back?) Pranjic will be seen no more. He’ll be a good buy for anyone (other than Chelsea who won’t have noticed him as their scouting system is based on whoever Man Utd, Real Madrid or Barcelona are interested in!).
Most surprising was the Dutch exit, sublime to that point they ran in to a Russian team so well drilled it reminded us older-ish viewers of the last time the then USSR had a decent team, one programmed to run and pass into meticulously planned areas and for a year or two, bamboozled the world’s defences. Hiddink appears to demand total submission to the cause and when it clicks (and let’s not forget that he’s got a good record) it looks fantastic.
It made me pretty confident that he wouldn’t work for England; can you imagine the current crop of underachievers submitting to his regime?
The only favourite to go through was Spain and even they tried to succumb to fear and fate. So convinced were they that the date was portentous and that the Italians were their nemesis, they nearly forgot to play. Only a remarkable strength of will and nerve from 12 yards saved them. The only down side to the verve of the Attacking Spanish progress is their manager, the ‘White Shit’ Aragones. An embarrassing racist Uncle, farting away in a corner, spouting unpalatable drivel as he spits his food all over his family.
Despite the television pundits trying to shoe horn mentions of England in whenever possible, the tournament still thrives in their absence. Croatia and Russia’s performances have made them look better, but in truth we’d have been embarrassed here. Yes we’ve a reasonable set of players, at least the equal of the Croats or Russians, but can they play as collectively well as them?
I was heartened by the recent friendlies, particularly the US game. Gerrard out left had a storming game, but more pertinent were the comments from Capello. He questioned whether Gerrard could ever be trusted to be disciplined enough to play in centre midfield. Hallelujah! This has been a bugbear for me for years. Time and time again England have leaked goals when their star midfielders have gone missing, exposing an often-fragile defence. I’ve always considered Gerrard as culpable as anyone, not tracking back, losing runners or just being out of position.
McLaren would have done anything ‘Stevie G’ told him so it’s nice to have a manager prepared to pick a team on collective strength. This isn’t the end of Gerrard. I’ve always been a Beckham fan, but the idea of Joe Cole and Gerrard operating in wide midfield, able to cut in or swap at will is a very modern concept and at one with the current thinking of the top managers. The space they’d leave for the full backs (right now I’d like to see Cole and Hargreaves, neither Brown nor Johnson are the answer) would make England very potent. Barry and Hargreaves (if he’s not at right back) would sit. Easy innit!
What about Frank I hear you say. Well, like Gerrard, when it’s going well, when he’s scoring freely, he looks a good player. But in adversity he’s a liability. I ‘m afraid we can’t afford to carry Frank!
We await the Semi’s with anticipation, unlike some of the aforementioned England players who are apparently refusing to watch it because it ‘hurts’ too much. Nothing like learning from your mistakes chaps!
Wither Howard Webb?
One man not at the tournament now is England’s sole representative, Referee Howard Webb. Like Eurovision, UEFA usually sends our refs home, sometimes they have nightmares like Mr Poll, usually it’s a chance for them to get back at us for being English and self-important. Mr Webb, however, gave a penalty!
I’ve tired of our pundits, journalists and commentators on a daily basis, particularly when they bang on about what goes on in the penalty area during free kicks and corners, ‘Just give a penalty’ they say, ‘that’ll soon put a stop to it’.
Howard did, he had a clear view, it was an obvious foul and more importantly it was a very one-sided tussle. It was a penalty and the Ref rightly gave it.
I can understand the Polish players going mad, I can understand but not condone the Polish prime minister’s outburst. What sickened me were the BBC pundits who banged on about how wrong it was, how unfair he’d been. Paul Wilson in the Observer, usually a pretty decent columnist repeated this cock-eyed argument. Arseholes to a man!
UEFA promised to back Webb, he should’ve got a quarter final at least, but he was sent packing and we all know why.
A blemish on an otherwise superb tournament.