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.

Yesterday at the Euros #2

Day two saw the proverbial gruppo della muerte kick off. Never has there been a more deathly group of death with all four sides ranked in the world's top ten.

Hence it's difficult to fathom why so many people are shocked by Denmark's win over the Netherlands. Frankly, the Dutch were poor. No pace to their passing and movement and stymied by the deployment of the two holding midfielders in front of that flaky back four, the most notable contribution of which was Ron Vlaar taking out Ibrahim Afellay with his granite forehead. With van Bommel and de Jong holding station in midfield, it's incumbent on the full-backs to push on and they didn't. As such, despite ceding possession in huge quantities, the Danes were largely untroubled and content to play on the break. One of those break brought the goal, Michael Krohn-Dehli slipping one through Maarten Stekelenburg's legs. 1-0 it remained to the end and Denmark can get better when they get Christian Eriksen more involved. Holland are in bother already, Denmark and their super-coach Morten Olsen deserve all the credit that's coming their way.

In the other game, Germany were too good for Portugal. Germany's two deep-lying midfielders aren't just spoilers as the Dutch ones are, rather a platform from which to launch attacks and Sami Khedira was particularly impressive in that role. The back four, over which there were question marks, dealt with everything with relative ease. Portugal still can't get the best out of Ronnie Cristialdo, but at least Raul Meireles has finally completed his haircut. Mario Gomez was as Gomez as ever, but did plant his mighty forehead on one cross and that was the difference, ultimately.

The next round of fixtures in this group sees Germany play Holland and Denmark against Portugal. It could all be over after those.

Today, it's Spain against Italy and Ireland v Croatia.