There was a lot of talk ahead of the Spain-Russia match that will Spain able to shake off their infamous underachievers tag. If the match in Innsbruck, Austria is anything to go by, at least now David Villa has become the new top scorer of the tournament with a hat-trick which eventually saw 4-1 in the end to Spain.
Bearing in mind that Villa's club Valencia has a trumatic season (the bright spot is that they won the Spanish King's Cup over Barcelona), David Villa's value in the transfer market will have surely shot up after a hat-trick over Guus Hiddink's Russia. But while Villa is stealing the headlines with his three goals, he also credited his fellow teammate Fernando Torres for setting up two of the goals he scored. 4-1 may look like an emphatic victory but according to Spain Luis Aragones, the Russians had made it hard for them and everyone in the squad is important.
For Russia coach Guus Hiddink, the squad needs to be 'more street wise' if they want to progress out of their group. And he also complained that they had been 'naive' rather than been out-played by a team many feel could finally end their long wait for silverware. From the Russian viewpoint, the Russian press were all lamenting about the loss.
I have to admit heading into the kick-off, I was worried whether Spain is able to pull through. Yes, I admit Premier League interest was the reason I tuned in to the match. In the end, I was relieved. After the thriller in the form of the Holland-Italy match in Berne, at least we have more this time round.
As the Greece-Sweden match was going on in Salzburg, I was worried it will turn out like the Romania-France match (in Zurich). That is until Zlatan Ibrahimovic's wonder goal came about. Woo. At least it ended more than just Ibrahimovic's goal (the second was really scrappy!) and Sweden seeing off the reigning European champions Greece. While Sweden coach Lars Lagerback hails team effort, Greece coach Otto Rehhagel defended his tactics. There were five defenders who started against Sweden in Salzburg.
And one not-so-nice news out of the Swedish camp after the win. Sweden's Christian Wilhelmsson is out of the tournament after tearing a hamstring towards the end of the match.
Alright. In my best ABBA mode - Mamma mia. Hang on, that is in Italian. That is actually from one of ABBA's songs. Just cannot resist using that after Sweden beat Greece.
News from in and around the tournament. Including stuff from yesterday and today. Yesterday was mainly all about the debate of whether Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy's goal was legitmate or not which has gotten the coaches from other national teams talking. One thing is for sure, Portugal coach Luis Felipe Scolari is not one amused coach and he even call Ruud van Nistelrooy as the 'King of Off-side'. With much group matches had gone past, we might had seen the fair share of thrills and spills and controversy (and me starting to feel the effects of not having enough sleep...just for the sake of updating myself with the action and being able to report and give my thoughts here). But according to Germany coach Joachim Loew yesterday, it's too early to say who will the tournament (though he was impressed with Portugal's opening match against Turkey). And the very interesting piece of news out of yesterday, in a poll carried out by electronic company LG and in their poll of 12,000 European women, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo has been voted as the hottest player (in the looks department, that is). If we going to have one for the coaches, I have a nominee in my head already (hint: Here).
Okay, okay. France got onto some training yesterday and came out winners against a a local team and won by a huge margin as well. Still on the France front, coach Raymond Domenech is saying that they still have fate in their hands (it comes after the 0-0 draw against Romania). The guys who were part of the losing team against Holland has come out and give their views on the future of the national team with Luca Toni saying that it's win or bust and Gianluca Zambrotta saying they have to beat Romania this Friday or else they will have to go home (both basically said about the same thing about the fate of their national team at the moment).
Taking stock of the tournament so far, UEFA spokesman William Gaillard is generally happy with it. After whatever happened before and after the Germany-Poland match at Klagenfurt, according to an Austrian police consultant, the Germany-Croatia match will be another potential one at a risk for trouble.
Euro 2008 thought of the day: If one thinks the so-called Group of Death from Group C is tough to predict on which two will advance to the quarter-finals, Group D is actually even more tougher for me. But at least for now, it has gone the way I wanted.
Vlog on the Pitch goes Dutch (The Vlog on the Pitch gang discuss about Holland's 3-0 win over Italy)
Sneijder on the verge of joining Dutch greats (But on the evidence presented in Monday's night demolition of world champions Italy, Ronaldo may have a serious rival in the shape of Holland's Wesley Sneijder, particularly if the Dutch live up to the potential they demonstrated at the Stade de Suisse.)
Elbows out, dictaphones at the ready - let the battle commence (For most football fans, it would be a dream come true — go along and meet your favourite player and ask him anything you want.)
