Yesterday at the Euros #14

Or to put it another way, the striker who kicked the hornet's nest.

It went pretty much as expected with Greece sitting deep and in numbers and asking Germany to break them down. For 39 minutes, it worked. Germany did get the ball in the net, but Andre Schurrle - one of three changes up top as Joachim Loew boldly swapped his forwards - was a smidgen offside. Greece were beginning to believe they might do this again. Then Phillip Lahm decided to drain one from downtown (as I believe the basketball vernacular would have it).

It was a vicious, swerving, dipping strike from 20-something yards - quite spectacular and for all their firepower up front, suddenly you had to start wondering about the quiet lad at full-back, the respected captain, the man that seems to have been around forever, who wouldn't say boo to a goose and has hardly been prolific throughout his international career.

1-0 it remained to the break, a 45 minutes in which Germany enjoyed 78% of the ball. But within ten minutes of the restart, Greece were level. Theofanis Gekas played a lovely through-ball for Dimitris Salpangidis who squared the ball beyond the advancing Manuel Neuer for Giorgios Samaras, sliding in, to tuck away, though Jerome Boateng really should have done better.

Oh Giorgios. What did you do? He made Germany angry, and you wouldn't like them when they're angry. Within five minutes, the lead was restored thanks to a frankly amazing volley from Sami Khedira who met Boateng's cross with a perfectly executed kung-fu kick to smash the ball past Michalis Sifakis. Seven minutes later, the compulsory tournament goal from Miroslav Klose and the outstanding Marco Reus volleyed a fourth a further six minutes later. Greece did get one back via a last-minute penalty converted expertly by Salpangidis after Boateng had handled needlessly. Boateng's performance was the one negative for Germany and it would not be a shock to see Lars Bender recalled for the semi-final.

So what did we learn? Not a lot about Greece who did all they could in the face of overwhelming opposition. We learned a lot about Germany. That they could drop Mario Gomez, Lukas Podolski and Thomas Muller and replace them with Schurrle, Reus and Klose is frankly frightening. And still Mario Gotze only got ten minutes, Ilkay Gundogan, Toni Kroos, Marcel Schmelzer and Benny Howedes couldn't get a kick. Be afraid, Europe.

So long Greece, but we still love you:




Spain v France today. It should be a cracker.

Greece v Germany: Euro cliché-watch

It's Greece v Germany tonight. You may have heard that these countries are at the centre of an economic snafu that threatens the future of the European single currency. Headline writers around the world certainly have and have been predictably awful, overly hyperbolic and just plain baffling.


Independent: Germany v Greece: A real Euro stress test
The game also features in the paper's cartoon.
Not the worst offender by any means

Guardian: Greece said yes to the Euro - now they'll fight for the Euros
Good grief that's laboured

Also in cartoon form on the business pages:

Yawn

Daily Telegraph: A new Greek rescue plan to avoid defeat against Germany
Or a tactical plan to win a game of football? Maybe?

Daily Telegraph (again): Greece determined to overcome Germany and avoid winding-up order in quarter final
Wow. The country gets shut down if they lose? High stakes indeed.

FT: Greek footballers seek to sidestep politics
They'd do a lot better if people didn't keep bringing it up

Daily Mail: Greece focused on Germany rather than eurozone problems
No shit! You mean Fernando Santos doesn't concentrate his team-talks around financial probity?

Daily Mail (again): Merkel out to sink Greece again!
Bold ploy by Loew to pick the German Chancellor. Probably still a better bet the Mario Gomez up top. Also, when else has she, personally, sunk Greece?

Daily Mail (yet again): They should toss a drachma to start the match! Battle of the bailout looms
Right. For starters, you start a game with a whistle not a coin toss. Secondly.... actually, forget it - it's the Daily Mail. Not worth the steam off your piss.

BBC: Greece v Germany - the bail-out game
What does that even mean?

Reuters: Euro zone battle moves to the pitch as Germany play Greece
It's not a battle, economically or footballingly

Zee News: Germany v Greece: It's more than just a game
It really isn't

Irish Times: Germany to break Greeks
Not entirely sure whether this is about football or not

Belfast Telegraph: Germany and Greece braced for 'Debt Derby'
At least you had the grace to put it in inverted commas

News.com.au: Germany v Greece not about money
Sound the obvious-stating klaxon

Londonist: Austerity showdown
Fuck off. Just fuck off

NESN.com: Future of European Union at stake as Germany meet Greece in 'bailout game'
We're pretty sure it isn't. In fact we checked - it's just a place in the semi-finals up for grabs

Stuff.co.nz: Germany, Greece play down Euro crisis talk
Well of course they do as it's got shit all to do with football. Sheesh

Telegraph.com.au: Austerity drive to avoid a Greek crisis
This really is about football. The 'austerity drive' is Joachim Loew saying you can't be gung-ho in the Euros and need to make sure your defence is tight. If it takes this much explaining, it just doesn't work

Press of Atlantic City: Loew leaves politics to the politicians
What? He was involved before? No he wasn't, so this is meaningless guff

Der Spiegel: Germany and Greece take their fight outside
Not you too Germany

Deutsche Welle: Germany, Greece clash over Euro
No. No they don't.

Bild: Goodbye Greece. Today we won't be able to save you!
We expected nothing else from these chaps

San Francisco Chronicle: Greeks face German nemesis as bailout battle moves to soccer
It doesn't though. It really doesn't

Washington Post: Greece hopes for payback against Germany on Euro 2012 pitch
Payback for what exactly?

Wall Street Journal: Germany to kick Greece out of the Euro.... Championships?
Ah ha haaa! We see what you did there!

ABC.com: Political football
Yeah, OK, that's not bad

Boston.com: Greece seek to win Germany's respect at Euro 2012
We reckon they'd rather win a game of football

Bloomberg: Greece, Germany take Euro crisis to soccer pitch
No they don't

PBS NewsHour: At Euro 2012, Germany and Greece face off in battle of the Eurozone
Yes, because these are the only nations with the shared currency

Hollywood Reporter: Euro crisis to play out on TV screens Friday night
They're showing some top level summit action instead of the football?

Toronto Sun: Lenders v Borrowers at Euro 2012
Borrowers? Don't fancy them at corners

The Fiscal Times: Germany vs. Greece: Bailout battle plays out on pitch
No. Football battle plays out on pitch. Bailout battle plays out in ballot boxes and EU/G8 summits

Hamilton Spectator: Germany vs. Greece quarter-final match amid eurozone crisis could raise passions
It could if there wasn't macro-economic chicanery afoot as well. What's your point?

mg.co.za: Greece to take on Germany in ultimate grudge match
We can think of several dozen more grudgier matches than this

Daily News and Analysis (India): Germany vs Greece to be Euro grudge match?
As a rule, if a newspaper headline asks a question, the answer is 'no'. Just as it is here.

Straits Times (Singapore): It's Germany 8, Greece 0 even before kick-off
No it isn't. In no sense whatsoever is it.

The National (UAE): Greeks dream of Euro exit for Germany
Actually, we'll give you that one

Yahoo! Eurosport UK: You can bank on a Germany victory
Classic punnery


But it's not all insanity:

Yahoo! Eurosport UK: Put Euro crisis aside say Greeks and Germans
Sadly a plea that has summarily fallen on deaf ears - including their own, as evidenced above

Businessweek: How soccer will decide Euro crisis (It won't)
Hallelujah brother



We've been updating this throughout the day, but for reasons of maintaining our sanity we're ending the madness here.

Yesterday at the Euros #9

What a turnaround.

A lot of people were backing Russia as outside bets for the championship and after thumping the Czech Republic 4-1 in their opening game, suddenly they weren't so far outside. A draw with Poland meant they went in against an abject Greece side only needing a draw even if the other game produced a winner. Goalless as the clock ticked on to 45 minutes, suddenly Giorgios Karagounis - who has scored once in the last two seasons at Panathinaikos and missed the penalty against Poland - found himself in space inside the box and fired one across the goal and inside the far post. Russia chucked everything at the Greeks, but for the first time in the competition, Greece found some defensive fortitude.

After two draws, Poland needed to win to progress and started brightly. But after the 20-minute mark it all fell apart. As if someone had thrown a switch, suddenly they were totally unable to keep hold of the ball in a Wrocslaw downpour. Having weathered that opening 20 minutes, the Czechs grew into the game and found the breakthrough half way through the second half, Petr Jiracek with a nice drag-back and measured finish. Poland pressed late on, but as time ticked down they were never likely to get the two they needed. But with Greece ahead in the other game, had they got one, both Poland and the Czechs would bow out. Tomas Sivok headed the one goal-bound effort - from Polish skipper Jakub Blaszczykowski - off the line in the dying stages.

Word had got to the Greeks in Warsaw that the Czechs had won as their game headed into stoppage time, sparking a minor celebration. A minute later, the whistle went for the final time in their game and the celebrations started for real. Czech Republic top the group on six. Greece come next, level on four with Russia, but ahead by virtue of the head-to-head record. Russia and Poland are out and, after one game in the group, that's pretty much completely backwards to what everyone thought. Also, you would not have this scenario in a 24-team competition which is what we'll have in four years time. As daft ideas go, that's one of UEFA's worst.

Today, Group B. Can the Netherlands pull off a similar great escape?

Yesterday at the Euros #5

From ITV's vantage point in Warsaw, you had a hint as to what was going on elsewhere in the city. Behind the assembled punditry team were lines of riot vans and tooled-up rozzers. On Russia's national day, somehow it managed to kick off ahead of Poland v Russia, not helped by the city authorities allowing a march by Russians through the streets of Warsaw. Perhaps they thought it better to allow this and contain it as best they can for fear of further stoking trouble, but 300 years of often bitter conflict between the two nations is always likely to overspill even when Russians aren't marching through the Polish capital and unfurling a huge banner inside the ground declaring 'This is Russia'. It was a busy night for police with over 100 arrests, water cannon and plastic bullets deployed. In short - what a mess.

There was some football too. Firstly, the Czech Republic beat Greece after coming flying out of the blocks and scoring two in the first five minutes. Firstly, a delicious Tomas Hubschmann through-ball met a well-timed diagonal run from Petr Jiracek who beat Kostas Chalkias easily. Theodor Gebre Selassie looks a tidy full-back and got forward to good effect shortly afterwards, his speculative ball across the six-yard line was not dealt with - or dealt with very badly - by both goalkeeper and two defenders. Vaclav Pilar squeezed between two and poked it in with his knee. And the cue pretty much went in the rack at that point. Greece were not good, but did get a lifeline from Petr Cech who fumbled a routine ball into the path of Theofanis Gekas who doesn't often spurn open goals. These mistakes have been becoming more common in Cech's game which has to be a worry for club and country. But the Czechs held out against Greece's pop-gun attack with little further alarm.

On the field, Russia and Poland served up a treat. End-to-end football throughout was highly enjoyable and a draw probably the right result. Alan Dzagoev got  his third of the tournament, looping an Andrei Arshavin cross past Przemyslaw Tyton with his shoulder with ten minutes left in the first half. The equaliser came on the hour, Jakub Blaszczykowski curling an absolute beauty beyond the reach of Vyacheslav Malafeev. Perhaps there are signs of discord in the Polish camp though as Ludovic Obraniak was clearly miffed at being subbed off late on. Prior to the tournament, he'd been vocal in expressing the difficulties he and Damien Perquis - both French-born - were having in integrating into the side. Hopefully for Poland, it was just frustration and there are no underlying issues that resulted in Obraniak's bottle-kicking strop.

Russia lead the group on four points from the Czechs on three, Poland on two and Greece on one. Russia can only be eliminated if they lose to Greece and there is a winner in the Poland v Czech Republic game. A draw is enough for the Czechs in their last game - Poland need to win, no matter what happens elsewhere, as do Greece.

Today, it's group B and it could all be over if Denmark and Germany both win their games against Portugal and the Netherlands respectively.

Yesterday at the Euros #1

(file this section under M for making a rod for my own back, but anyway....)

Day 1 of Euro 2012. Ahead of the opener, consensus said that opening games are boring. Not a bit of it. Poland came flying out of the blocks against Greece in the new national stadium in Warsaw (pause here to insert joke about restricted views because everywhere you're behind a Pole) with the impressive Robert Lewandowski heading home after 17 minutes. The controversial sending off of Sokratis Papastathopoulos gave Poland a numerical advantage, but Wojciech Szczesny conspired to give Greece parity on the scoreboard and on the field by messing up a routine bit of goalkeeping and then getting sent off. Przemyslaw Tyton's first touch of the ball in this tournament was palming away Giorgios Karagounis's penalty.

The second game saw Russia eviscerate the Czech Republic and, had Alexander Kerzhakov brought his shooting boots, it could/should have been half a dozen or more. Instead, profligacy in front of goal left the Czechs with a chance, especially after pegging it back to 2-1early in the second half, but with Alan Dzagoev and Andrei Arshavin pulling the strings, it finished 4-1. Russia were mightily impressive.

A good first day then, but all the talk about the two yellows Papastathopoulos picked up. The first might have been harsh, but once on a yellow, there has to be an awareness that another bookable offence is going to end with a red and a stupid little tug-back produced that very result. Cue much whinging about refereeing. There's a lesson in this, as there is in most things, in the lyrics of Half Man Half Biscuit, specifically the last verse of I Went To A Wedding (about 3.20 into the following clip). Bonus namecheck of Brad Friedel.





Tomorrow, Group B, the group with four of the world's top ten on current FIFA rankings, however much import you impart to those.

Euro 2012 Goalkeepers yelling at defenders #38

Our second team to be profiled is Greece.

Michalis Sifakis

Kostas Chalkias

Alexandros Tzorvas

Good depth and a variety of facial expressions will score highly with the judges. That's a classic from Tvorzas, but was that just a one-off from a usually relaxed keeper? When the pressure is on, is he able to step it up?

TW3 #5

Rounding up last weekend into a neat little package.

What a game in Dortmund on Friday night. Leading 2-0 early in the second half, BvB were looking good for win number 17 from their last 18 games. But Stuttgart turned the game on it's head with a Julian Schieber double helping them into the lead. Back came Dortmund only for a defensive mix-up deep in stoppage time to allow Christian Gentner to snatch a dramatic 4-4 draw. Bayern's fourth win in a row sees them close within three points. Dropped points for both Schalke and Gladbach leave it a two-horse race. Leverkusen, on the fringes of the European places, sacked Robin Dutt after their fourth successive league defeat. Sami Hyypia takes temporary charge. Down in Regionalliga Nord, the Magdeburg fans arrows clearly worked and backed up their goal from last week with two more this week, and it was enough for a win which lifts them off the bottom.

More goalfests in Italy where Inter won their first game under Andrea Stramaccioni by the odd goal in nine in a game that featured four successful penalties and two red cards. Genoa scored three of the penalties - two by Alberto Gilardino - but still came up short. Diego Milito bagged a hat-trick for the Nerazzuri. Genoa responded by sacking coach Pasquale Merino and replacing him with Alberto Malesani who previously coached the club as long ago as last December before being replaced by Merino. There were seven more goals in Roma's game against Novara, Luis Enrique's side running out 5-2 winners. Milan were held by the quietly effective Catania and Juventus were comfortable winners over Napoli. The gap at the top is down to two.
All of that was rather overshadowed by events elsewhere as nine former Bari players were arrested as part of match-fixing investigations, Andrea Masiello admitting to scoring a deliberate own goal after being offered €50,000 to lose a game against Lecce. This one will run and run.

As you were at the top of La Liga as Real Madrid came away from Pamplona big winners. Barcelona beat Athletic shortly afterwards to retain the status quo. El Real's five goals against Osasuna took them to the 100 mark for the season. Valencia dropped more points with a draw at home to Levante who are still right on their heels. Málaga couldn't take advantage with a home defeat to Real Betis where a win would have sent them third. A third straight win for Zaragoza pulls them within four points of safety. The greatest of escapes is still on. Defeats for Sporting and Racing make them look doomed.

In the Eredivisie AZ were held at home by Vitesse which allowed Ajax, who stuck six past Heracles, to go top by a point. FC Twente are two points further back from the Alkmaarders, one point ahead of the next three - PSV, Feyenoord and Heerenveen - who all won.

Benfica beat Braga, bringing the latter's brief leadership of the Liga Zon Sagres to an end. However, it's Porto who now lead the way after a comfortable 2-0 win over Olhanense. Benfica are a point behind, Braga one point further back. Marítimo and Sporting CP look certain to finish fourth and fifth - the Europa League spots - one way round or t'other.

Montpellier weren't in Ligue 1 action, but stay top after PSG were beaten by Nancy. Lille laboured to beat Toulouse to close within four points and give themselves breathing space back to the chasing pack.

Celtic have to wait a week for the Scottish title. Rivals Rangers won as did the hooped half of Glasgow, but one more point will do it for Neil Lennon's men. Olympiakos did seal the deal in Greece, beating Panaitolikos 1-0. Despite Panathiaikos beating Aris by the same score, Olympiakos are ten points clear with three games to go. Manchester United put one hand on their 20th English championship by beating Blackburn as rivals City were held by Sunderland. The gap is five, but it feels like 50 such is the difference in momentum between the two sides.

Midweek sees the intra-continental competitions take over with Champions League and Europa League quarter-final second legs and the Copa Libertadores centre stage - Godoy Cruz v U de Chile looks a cracker - before a packed Easter schedule.

TW3 #2

Needless to say, the footballing week was largely overshadowed by what happened to Fabrice Muamba at White Hart Lane. The news is good so far which comes as something of a relief to everyone, but it'll be a long road back and he'll need all the support he can get. Best of luck to him.

On with the actual football then...

Or not. Away fans were banned from attending Panathinaikos v Olympiakos after trouble flared at previous matches. It didn't stop trouble flaring. Indeed, running battles between fans and police and sections of the ground being set on fire caused the game to be abandoned. Yes, Panathinaikos fans setting fire to their own stadium. No, us neither. The big derby in Poland saw pretty much nothing happen except for a pair of bookings for Adam Kokoszka in a drab 0-0.

Juventus finally broke out of their run of draws, sticking five past Fiorentina who are now in real trouble at the bottom. Juve are still unbeaten, but with Milan winning again, there remains a four-point gap and Zlatan Ibrahimovic is short odds to make it nine league titles in a row, an utterly maddening statistic. Napoli came back from 2-0 down to snatch a draw with Udinese which, coupled wth Lazio's defeat to Catania, sees the three teams vying for third split by a single point.

There might yet be a title race in Spain, but it looks a long shot. Some routine Messi brilliance - one of those chips only he seems able to do - saw Barcelona ease past Sevilla and a late Santi Cazorla free-kick - and what a free-kick, goal of the week even - earned Málaga a draw at the Bernabéu. The gap is down to eight. Not exactly game on, but in the context of the season, about as exciting as it gets. Roberto Soldado's hat-trick saw Valencia beat Athletic who are finding it tough to back up after European games and Levante are back into that fourth Champions League spot this week.

Lyon won the big derby in France, a late Bafétimbi Gomis goal enough to beat St Etienne and leapfrog them in the chase for European football. However Toulouse leapt over them both with a win over Rennes the following day. Neither of the top two won, but Lille are still seven points behind second-placed Montpellier.

Wins for the top three in Portugal sees them remain split by a single point and it's all back on in Holland as AZ were held by NAC and Twente were beaten by Feyenoord. PSV hit five past Heerenveen who need to start taking points off the other top sides to stay in contention. Ajax are the form side with a fifth win on the bounce to beat ADO. Twente play their game in hand against De Graafschap this week.

Draws elsewhere in Argentina mean that Boca's victory over San Martín moves them to second, a point behind Tigre who drew with Estudiantes. In Primera B, River Plate had goals from David Trézéguet and Fernando Cavénaghi in a 3-0 win over Deportivo Merlo, but they still trail Instituto, 3-1 winners over Characrita Juniors, by a point. Staying in South America, Universidad de Chile came from 2-down to beat Unión Espanola 3-2, Manuel Ruidiaz with a late winner, to remain clear at the top.

Finally, to Germany where Bayern couldn't make it three games in a row scoring seven. They only - only - put six past a horrible Hertha BSC outfit who really didn't seem to know what they were doing. There were also wins for Dortmund, Schalke and Gladbach, so it's very much as you were. In 2.Bundesliga, there were defeats for Paderborn - a 5-0 thumping from Ingolstadt - and St Pauli while Fortuna were held by Energie Cottbus. That's allowed Greuther, who thumped 1860 to all but end any chance they had, and Eintracht Frankfurt, big winners over Dynamo Dresden, to pull clear.

There are lots of midweek games too with a full programme in Spain and cup matches all over the place and that postponed league game in Holland. The Copa Libertadores continues as well with the start of the fourth round of matches in the group stage. There's the Asian Champions League and the second semi-final of the NextGen series where Inter and Marseille under-19s vie for the right to face Ajax in the final.