A Commonfan’s Euro 2008 Diary - 10/06/2008 – Spain have an embarrassment of attacking riches and Greece are paupers

Spain can keep these guys on the bench and still look good

Spain

Spain started with Xabi Alonso and Cesc Fabregas on the bench and played fluently. How many teams at euro 2008 would love to have them as their starting central midfield pair. Everyone except for Portugal, France, Italy and Holland. And even these 4 teams would be tempted to play at least one of them. That is the level of quality in the Spanish side.

For all the talent in the world, Coach Luis Aragones deserves a lot of credit. His teams play a wonderful brand of attacking football that others in Europe can only dream about (except for Portugal and Holland). He has also instilled a lot of confidence in his young side and they don’t start choking from day one like the Spanish sides of old. In fact, they don’t choke at all. They are lacking in international experience but they force the opponent to beat them and don’t end up beating themselves.

Spain should qualify easily as group toppers. I am not counting on them to win it all but they should progress beyond the second round. Their attack was the hero against Russia but their defence will be critical once the knock-out round begins. The form of Ramos and Puyol would be crucial.

My most heartfelt desire is to see a Spain- Portugal or a Spain –Holland game. That would bring even the football gods to earth

Russia

Thank god, the English didn't qualify. We would have never seen the free flowing game we saw last night. The Russians lost 1- 4 but they displayed enough attacking verve and could have scored more than the one goal they managed. Credit is due to their manager Guus Hiddink for playing to win and not playing 'not to lose'. Their approach however could prove costly if they end up tied on points with another team and the qualification decision comes down to goal difference.

Russia's qualification now depends on Hiddink's tactics and mind games

The Russians will compete with Sweden for the second spot in this group. Drawing with the Swedes will not serve their purpose as they have a far inferior goal-difference. They will need to go all out for a win. The Swedes know this. They will just stay back and take a counter-attacking approach - something which they do really well. The odds are all stacked up against the Russians. But they have the best tactician in the world to bail them out of this precarious position. Its time for Guus Hiddink to start his mind games and prepare a few surprises for the upcoming games.

Sweden

The Swedish team reminds me of the New Zealand Cricket team. They have a handful of stars (Ibrahimovic, Larsson and Ljungberg) and then a whole bunch of decent players (most of them happen to be role-players at big European clubs) who combine beautifully to ensure that the whole is always more than the sum of the parts.

They almost always qualify for the big tournaments, do well in the group stages and then get knocked out early in the knock-out rounds. They have regularly failed to emulate their semi-final efforts at the 1994 WC and 1992 European Championship. Another repeat is likely at Euro 2008. A comfortable 2-0 win over the defending champs was a big step towards the second round but they didn’t display enough to suggest that they could be considered serious title challengers.

This strike pair could be deadlier if they had better service

Their biggest strength is the strike force of Larsson and Ibrahimovic. But the duo would struggle to repeat their club form as their more modest international team- mates will fail to match the service that they are used to at club level.

A special word of praise for the Swedish fans. Their section behind the goal was completely yellow – not a single speck of another colour. Every fan seemed to be dressed in the same uniform. Way to go fans.

Greece

The ride is over. With a sound beating at the hands of the Swedes, the Greeks no longer carry the aura of defending Champions. In fact they look ripe for a last place finish in this group. They had a dream run the last time round where their ‘defend first and then snatch a goal’ worked like a charm.

Otto and his boys can rest on past glory

These European Championships are about teams which can go out and take over the game with their attacking firepower. The defensive minded Greeks do not belong here. The fans want to see the likes of Holland and Portugal and wouldn’t min an early exit for the Greeks. But Otto Rehhagel and his boys have nothing to be ashamed of though. Their place in the history books of football is already etched in gold.

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