Euro 2008 Day 4: Spain on a rampage

When I was riding my bike back home from work yesterday afternoon I came across a street corner where an Italian sports bar is located and it seemed as if the owners decorated the whole place in red, white and green. Cologne has a rather large Italian community so it is not very surprising to see the enthusiasm on the street. Lots of flags, lots of posters and jerseys. But as easy as they get excited just as easy are they frustrated and depressed. When I was asking an italian customer about his thoughts about last night's game he just replied "I am a European, what the hell have I to do with Italy?!".

Russia vs Spain 1-4 (Group D)
This was a demonstration of strength, technique and power. Spain simply outclassed Russia right from the start. It almost looked like the ball was moving on a string in between the Spanish players. The offense is so beautiful, it almost feels like looking at an artwork done by a famous painter. Fernando Torres and David Villa left the Russian defense shattered. The first to goals were world class. The way Torres spotted the by far better positioned Villa was fun to watch and the pass by Iniesta for the 2-0 was brilliant. Xavi was outstanding, he was everywhere. After the break they started to get a little arrogant, forcing their style of play onto the Russians and by doing so forgetting their target to score another goal. They eventually did so (again by Villa), but they looked vulnerable in the defense. Spain always does well when they start a tournament, they are always on the list of favourites but then they fail miserably in the knock out stages. I wonder what it will be like this time. They team looks far more mature, although it still is pretty young. There were some indications of rifts, e.g. when Villa was too lazy to get out of his offside position while a counter attack and his teammates gave him an earful. But the way they responded after the 3-1 was world class again. They could go far this time. The Guardian has them as finalists against Germany. That would be highly interesting.

Greece vs Sweden 0-2 (Group D)
I had my doubts if this match was to continue what was to see in the previous game, especially when you remind yourself of how Greece won the cup four years ago. Strong defending would be a little too much of a euphemism. And I did not know what to think of Sweden since they had not shown much promise in their matches against Germany recently. So after a starting period of around 15 minutes the match settled into a very hectic and nervewrecking mood in which bioth sides tried to minimize the number of mistakes by simply doing nothing at all. It was a little better than the sleeping pill delivered by France and Romania yesterday.
German media was only talking about Greek coach Otto Rehagel, a German coaching legend, who is known for his short, yet playful comments on football. One of them was "Modern is he who wins", which he coined after the championship final in Portugal. Yet Rehagel is known for his conservative approach on tactics and when you keep in mind what Russia and especially Spain had shown earlier this will be a very tough task indeed for the Greek team. The Swedes should be ready as well as they did not look very promising either. So after day one in group D it looks like Russia and Spain will be on course for the knock out stages.

This concludes the gams of the first round of play and if substract France vs Romania and Greece vs Sweden the matches were played much more offensively than the group stages at the World Cup two years ago. Which is something viewers can only be happy about. The surgical knife skills which Spain used to penetrate the Russian defense, the high speed counter attacks of the Dutch, the efficient team effort by the Germans, the glorious effort by the Austrians, all this made a lot of fun to watch. I hope this tournament continues this way.