On Day One, it was Switzerland captain Alexander Frei being carried off the pitch in tears as a moment which has stuck in my head and Portugal which got the ground running in Group A. On Day Two, we have a top goal scorer in the tournament already and whatever my mother (the non-football fan) was commenting (I talked about it in the first two paragraphs of this entry).
On Day Three of the Group C action, the main talking point has to be where Holland takes on Italy at Berne (Switzerland's capital). Holland striker Ruud van Nistelrooy's goal which happened in the first-half. Is it, is it not? There is a section in the FIFA rulebook which even UEFA general secretary David Taylor (who spoke to the media today) said that not many in the game, even the players and himself, 'know this interpretation'. Look at the video highlights in the link in the first sentence of this paragraph. And read what FIFA has to say in its Rule 11.11 under 'advice for referees' (first found out about it over here in the second comment).
“A defender who leaves the field during the course of play and does not immediately return must still be considered in determining where the second to last defender is for the purpose of judging which attackers are in an offside position. Such a defender is considered to be on the touch line or goal line closest to his or her off-field position. A defender who leaves the field with the referee’s permission (and who thus requires the referee’s permission to return) is not included in determining offside position.”
Many thought that the goal was not allowed. And given me myself is always clueless when it comes to the offside rule (even my father gave up on explaining it to me during the World Cup two years ago), I rather let TV footages speak for themselves. On ESPN Sportscenter Asia today, it showed the reason why the goal stands. Italy defender Christian Panucci was off the pitch when van Nistelrooy's goal came about. The referees noticed what not many would have see. It really depends on how one interprets it. Now the situation is - When do one consider a goal being offside? One thing is for sure, when speaking to the media today ahead of the clash against Croatia later in the week, Germany coach Joachim Loew is surprised at this ruling (given it's something new to him and the players). Until the match, I never knew such a law exists in the FIFA rulebook.
Whatever it may be, that match has brought the tournament to life. I should know, I did watched. I was aware of Italy's record against Holland (30 years of unbeaten streak which began in the 1978 World Cup final) and really, even I myself was stunned eventually at the final score. Before everyone else start to give me strange stares given I am a Germany supporter (and with the Dutch-German football rivalry which to admit, I only know about it after reading in detail of the history of the English-German football rivalry), I am speaking as simply as a football fan who watched the match. Credit also has to go to goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar who made some great saves (and being a Manchester United supporter and seeing my club keeper in action for his country was partly why I watched the match).
Italy, the current world champions, being handed a heavy defeat by the Dutch in Berne (with how the Dutch media and the Italian media reacted). Germany may have their 'Miracle of Berne' after the 1954 World Cup win over favourites Hungary (which back in Germany, sparked an economic revival in a country which started WW2), but now Holland has their own 'Miracle of Berne' too. At least for me.
Ahead of the match, it has been nothing but about the AC Milan connection between Holland coach Marco van Basten and Italy coach Roberto Donadoni (they were both teammates in the 90s) but in the end...van Basten outwitted his friend. The two still meet up (even after their playing careers are over) and are even golf buddies. Naturally for van Basten, he believes his side has a right to dream of glory now and for his former teammate Roberto Donadoni, he wasn't surprised at the media reaction back in Italy at all as he had already expected it after the 3-0 defeat to the Dutch. After the match, Donadoni said that they can still fight for survival. As for the man who scored the much-debated goal, the win over world champions Italy was Ruud van Nistelrooy's 'most beautiful' ever since he represented his country. For Wesley Sneijder (it was also his birthday yesterday when they were playing Italy and he scored the second one), they cannot get carried away.
With so much talk over the Holland-Italy match, the earlier match on Day Three between France and Romania in Zurich...it depends on how one sees it. A match not to be remembered, or a case of the Romanians able to hold the French to a draw and both share the spoils. I watched that one as well and was getting bored even before the end of the first-half (at least luckily I was online at the same time and so I have that to distract myself). Whoever thinking Romania are easy meat have to think again. AFP has this to say of the match - Blunted French held by Romania.
Especially in the wake of Holland's win over Italy, France will have to lift their game when they next face the Dutch. So France coach Raymond Domenech had reckoned the goalless draw as like in their World Cup opening match against Switzerland (also goalless in the end) before the Les Bleus get their act together and went all the way to the final. But two years ago, their other two opponents in their group were South Korea and Togo. And according to Romania captain Cristian Chivu, they will show their worth even against Italy and Holland like they did against France.
Onto other Euro 2008 news. On the financial side of things in the wake of Poland's 2-0 win over Germany, experts estimated that it has cost the Polish economy some 50 million zlotys (14.7 million euros, 23 million dollars). So while there was quite a crowd who turned out at Vienna's fan zone when co-hosts Austria take on Croatia over there and the other Group B match between Germany and Poland both on the giant screens, the day after the Group B action...a meagre 17,500 filled the 100,000 square-metre area. If Holland's 3-0 win over Italy has taken the European press by surprise, it's not the time to judge on their performance yet, as according to Germany coach Joachim Loew on his country's old rivals (and photos from the press conference where he was at).
And, ending the update on a light-hearted note...a bag stolen from former Dutch star Johan Neeskens eight years ago on a Swiss camping site has been recovered. The situation was that ahead of the 2000 version co-hosted by Holland and neighbour Belgium, the Oranje were in Switzerland preparing for the tournament. The bag belonging to the then-assistant coach Neeskens had 'several notepads containing tactical notes, soap, a list of players' and coaches' telephone numbers as well as several Toblerone chocolate bars' (the thieves ate the bars and replaced with new ones). The thieves, knowing that the Oranje will be based in Switzerland as their training base for the current tournament, left the bag at the entrance of the camp site. Rarely you get people like that.
Euro 2008 thoughts of the day: You know they say you learn something new each day. This has to be one of those days. Just when I am clueless on the offside rule at times, this props up. At the end of it, at least my predictions for how Group C will turn out (if I have to play the pundit which I can be really terrible almost half the time) has gone according to how I had predicted. I have a personal reason for not wanting to see Italy advancing to the quarter-finals. This Germany supporter is still a little sore over the World Cup semi-finals two years ago.
Should ref have called van Nistelrooy goal offside? (The officials might have applied the universally accepted interpretation of the law and been exonerated … but is the universal interpretation really in the spirit of the game? You have to bear in mind of course that a defender should not be allowed to step outside the field of play behind the goal-line to render the opposing attacker offside.)
Piturca frustrates French flair (Football is not all fantasy. There is beauty in more than football's end product, the goal. In tactics, in thought, in team play, in guile, the Romanians deserved a draw and may yet have a big say in who survives this most competitive of groups. And those who write off Domenech at this early stage should remember 2006.)
Bierhoff says 2008 German squad can match 1996 win (Germany manager Oliver Bierhoff says the Euro 2008 side can emulate their Euro 1996-winning predecessors after finally breaking their 12-year winless streak in the competition. When Bierhoff scored the golden goal which won the Euro 1996 final, giving Germany their third European title, few Germans imagined it would be another 12 years before their side would again win another Euro championship game.)
Italy lack cohesion and fans (The Stade de Suisse in Berne was three-quarters orange with only a small section of 30,000 crowd speckled with blue shirts. Italian fans have never travelled well but with Milan just hours away by train, it was bizarre that the Dutch outnumbered them so hugely for the Euro 2008 Group C opener.)
