EURO08 Day 3 & 4

Time limitation force me to combine these 2 days in one single post.

A very interesting 2 days for football fans. We manage to see how strong the 4 big guns are> Holland, France, Italy and Spain. Of course not to miss out on Greece, Romania and Sweden.
The group of death (C) is fairly interesting. The dull draw between France and Romania where France showcased their inability in starting attacks is a likely indication of how the group tie will be. Holland thrash Italy 3-0 but the score didn't truly reflect Holland's superiority. Italy just got it all wrong once Nistelrooy scored that controversial goal.Italy did threaten holland slightly, but what proves to be the decisive winning factor is the tactic van Basten used. The defense is shielded by a fairly defensive midfield. Engelaar and De Jong in particular managed to balance out most of the Italy's threat with only Pirlo in particular passing out those direct balls again and again.(Boring) Even attackers like Sneijder and Van der Vaart, or even Kuyt are back to defend whenever they lose possession. This is not the Holland we see in the last Euro. There is much more stability in the team. AND KUYT ASSISTed 2 IN THIS GAME!! LOL.

France meanwhile is just disappointing. Maybe Domenech is tinkering too much. I don't think the lineup is strong enough to win Romania as they are not an easy opponent. France lacked the midfield mastreo in the mould of Zidane(That is a big thing to fill in). Makelele and Toulalan just don't have the ability to create opportunities. You can't expect Ribery to create much on the wing as he is always within marking zone.
Thus, France fans should be slightly worried, because if they play the same pattern against Holland or Italy, they will be in great trouble.

Next, it's the favourites Spain. I never rate Spain highly when they come to tournaments. No offense to Puyol and co., but I see mistakes after mistakes made by the Spanish defense which is the same old thing. Casillas is overrated. You can see how struggling he was every time when there's a high ball or a cross. Ramos made number of mistakes which should not have happened to a defender who is so highly rated. Capdevilla is good in going forward but sucks in defending.(Russia's goal) Of course they can play good football, but you can rarely see a winning team in them. You can hardly find the spine of the team. Villa is of course thrilled with his hat trick, but things won't go smooth after the group stage. (Saw from a source saying that Spain's won 4-1 in their first game in World Cup 2006 also. LOL! )

Sweden are always underestimated but they can play also, so are Romania. Greece just can't retain their title this time. They were hugely disappointing and poor. Wouldn't be surprised to see them fail to qualify for quarter finals.