Some thoughts from over the weekend:
- Italy - For the first time ever, I found myself supporting Italy in an international tournament. Not that I dislike Spain, but Balotelli & Cassano up front - you really can't beat that in terms of madness/genius, and watching - waiting patiently - for either of them to pull off a moment of brilliance or insanity is just so entertaining. And nobody can dislike Pirlo, really.
- Spain playing without a striker, albeit with Cesc's false-nine role eventually paying off with his goal, really is quite frustrating in terms of tiki-taka-walk-the-ball-into-the-net, and I now see how so many people can actually dislike watching Barca, which I used to think was just silly or excuses haters in denial. But in the absence of a Messi, you can't beat great centre-forward play, especially when you have the likes of Llorente and Torres on the bench. And I'm NOT talking about a long ball hoisted up in their general direction, either.
Spain looked so much more dangerous with Torres (and Jesus Navas) on, and even though he missed all his chances his intelligent movement was promising - like the Torres of old...so maybe it was a deliberate ploy to change up the style of play and stretch the Italian defense late in the game?
All that being said, it was a great game and good luck to Spain and Italy. Really hoping for Balotelli to score a ludicrously good goal later on in the tournament, get sent off unnecessarily, whip out some funny/offensive slogan on his inner t-shirt and then Cantona-kick fans in the crowd who abuse him right before burning down the team hotel later that night before donating hundreds of thousands to the poor and unfortunate in Poland/Ukraine. Haven't been so entertained by a bonkers player's antics since Jens Lehmann.
- Holland - growing up on Bergkamp, Kluivert, Overmars, Seedorf, Davids, the De Boer Bros, i.e. that brilliant side in 98 and 2000 which really should have won those tournaments...this current Holland side is just...hard to watch. Probably doesn't help that they're captained by that thug Van Bommel - and don't even get started about De Jong. Robben, as great a player as he is, is so selfish and dirty, and overall their style of play lacks dynamism or unpredictability. It's pedestrian, even. On paper a great team as always, just now quite boring and unreliable when it really matters and full of dislikable characters.
- Sweden vs Ukraine - Ibrahimovic unlucky to be on the losing side, but can't deny the class of Sheva. Regardless of how far they go, great to see him thrive in the glory of a home tournament where he deserves to be remembered as the legend he is rather than for those terrible Chelsea years. Will never forget the way he tore up teams in 97-99 in the Champions League (and when Kiev should've played against Man Utd in the 99 Final instead of Bayern), and then went on to do it in Serie A.