Thursday, June 17, 2004
OK, I know I haven't blogged much recently, but I honestly have no time. Euro 2004 has monopolised my life. I get up, go to work, and by the time I come home the first game is starting. Less than an hour after it ends, the second starts. And then once that ends it's already 5am, and I haven't even looked at my email yet... so blogging kinda sorta goes on the backburner.
Thoughts on Euro 2004 so far: Not nearly as good as Euro 2000 (my official Greatest Tournament Ever) but not nearly as bad as World Cup 2002. It was an open tournament before it kicked off and it's still open now. France were lucky to beat England, but should be able to ride the euphoria from there; England ironically are one of a select few teams that really don't need to change anything and are set for a good run; Italy, Holland and Portugal need some serious re-tooling; the Czechs (my pick in the office pool) are looking solid; Greece and Sweden are surprisingly strong; and I was really impressed with Spain and Germany. The Germans in particular are looking really solid, and they have three players that could be the tournament's best player, top scorer and young phenom in Michael Ballack, Kevin Kuranyi and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
And though the football has for the most part been fairly so-so, there have been some awesome games too. Holland - Germany was probably the best one so far, but for sheer drama you just cannot beat England - France. God I hate the French. I'm not even an England fan, but I was really, really, REALLY hoping the English could defeat the French -- and they should have. They played brilliantly for 91 minutes and stupidly for 2. What was really amazing was HOW they did it. England basically sat on the edge of their box and dared the French to attack. On paper it was suicide -- the already error-prone English defence was also down to arguably their sixth-choice centre-back in Ledley King, and the French are the best team in the world at breaking down defences. But it worked. Somehow, giving Zidane all the time in the world just outside the England box while shackling Henry and Trezeguet tightly worked perfectly. But then Beckham missed the penalty, Sven brought on Heskey, Heskey fouled Makalele and Zidane slots away that free-kick. And in all honesty, despite all the England fans bleating that "just a point would have meant the world to us!", I reckon that a point in that situation would have felt as bad as a defeat to them. Of course, I didn't reckon that England would manage to find a defeat in that situation, but when Gerrard played that suicidal backpass they did. And then my friends and I basically sat around looking stunned. We kept asking each other "What the F*** just happened?!". None of it really sank in, not even two hours after the game. And once it did, once you analysed just what happened and why, and once you point the requisite fingers (I count seven villains), you're just angry that England wasted an absolutely GOLDEN chance to show up a France team as being significantly weaker than their reputation and that result suggested. And instead, this win will only make them stronger as they feed off the high of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat... again.
On the bright side, the game featured Fabien Barthez being bonked on the nose by an errant shot. Which was hilarious.
Posted at 4:10 AM
