Day
eleven of Euro 2012 and only ten teams remain. Along with Ireland, Sweden,
Denmark and Poland, some names that many would have expected to fall at the
first hurdle (no disrespect meant), the final two teams on the list of
departures are altogether more surprising. Very few, if anyone, would have
predicted the demise of Russia and Holland at such an early stage but out they
have gone and tonight, Italy may well join them.
When
Russia smashed four past the Czech Republic on the opening day, showing such
pace, incisiveness and ruthless finishing, many people’s “dark horses” looked
set to top their group in some style. With the Czech’s arguably their toughest
opponents, at least on paper, the resounding victory seemed to confirm Russia’s
superiority in the group, especially with games against Poland and Greece to
come.
However,
with the benefit of hindsight, as well as they played, the Russian’s flattered
to deceive in that first game. The Czech Republic, perhaps a little naively,
played perfectly into their opponents’ hands. Their desire to dominate
possession and dictate the play, pushing midfielders forward to join up in
attack whenever possible, was tailor-made for Russian counter-attacking
football and counter-attack they did, to devastating effect.
When
faced by Poland in the second game, Russia, after surviving a few early scares,
regained their composure and, sure enough, took the lead, through another swift
move. The second half, however, saw the Poles, roared on by the home support;
seize the initiative through the goal of the tournament so far. Following that
magnificent equaliser, Arshavin, Dzagoev and co. were unable to raise the level
of what had been a lethargic, somewhat complacent second-half performance, and
two points were tamely surrendered.
Fast-forward
to the final game against Greece and once again, the Russians suffered from a
lacklustre second-half effort and, ultimately, exited the competition with a
whimper. After dominating the first-period, in which they suffered from an
inability to hit the target despite fashioning several golden opportunities,
Russia switched off from a throw in deep into first-half stoppage time and
allowed Karagounis in to score the only goal of the game.
The
Greeks reverted to type for the second-period but, despite defending deep,
actually looked more dangerous on the few occasions that they came forward and
Karagounis was booked for a dive when, clearly, the correct decision would have
been to award a penalty to Greece. Greece held on and Russia were beaten, left
to rue the hatful of chances that they’d spurned in the first-half and their
inability to break down teams that stood off them and conceded possession.
Almost
the instant that the Dutch arrived in Ukraine, things began to go wrong.
Rumours emerging from the camp told of the same old story for Holland, big egos
and infighting causing splits within the set-up, a lack of togetherness and
team spirit was spoken of and, in their first game, it showed. A complacent
performance against Denmark could have been rescued had hit-men, van Persie and
Huntelaar, the subjects of much of the squabbling, been able to take their
chances.
The opportunities, of which there were many,
mostly fell to the Arsenal man as the starter; however, he was having an
off-day, to put it mildly. When Huntelaar came on in the second-half, he didn’t
fare much better, missing several chances, including a gilt-edged one on one. A
solitary goal for the Danaes, around the half hour mark, exposed Holland’s
defensive deficiencies and their inability to find the back of the net, so
unusual for them, cost them the match.
Bruised
by the opening defeat against Denmark, on paper the weakest team in the group, Holland
went into the next game, against group favourites Germany, desperate not to
lose. Defeat, against their most detested of rivals, would almost certainly
have spelt the end for the Dutch at Euro 2012 and, as such, humiliation. Van
Persie, again, had a dream of a chance to put the Oranje ahead in the opening minutes;
however, again, he fluffed his lines, shooting tamely into the arms of Neuer.
Wesley
Sneijder hit a post for the Dutch at 0-0 but, fairly quickly, Germany assumed
control of the game, with Oezil and Khedira running rings around the one-paced
van Bommel and de Jong partnership in midfield. Schweinsteiger, looking back to
his best following a lengthy injury lay-off earlier in the season, was a
constant thorn in Dutch sides’ and before the break he had provided Mario Gomez
with two incisive passes, both of which the Bayern striker finished with
surety.
Van
Bommel was replaced by van der Vaart at half-time as the Dutch looked to move
the ball quicker and, although they improved a little, it wasn’t until van
Persie pulled a goal back, fifteen minutes from time, that we began to see any
real belief from Holland. That belief was short-lived as the Germans weathered
the storm fairly comfortably and the only other action of note was Robben’s
petulant reaction to his own substitution, proving two things in the process.
Firstly, that Arjen Robben cares only about Arjen Robben and to hell with the
team, secondly, that he most certainly is not a man with a big game
temperament.
Unfortunately
van der Vaart’s positional indiscipline left Holland’s shaky defence exposed
and, with the Dutch desperately seeking a second goal, this played right into
Portuguese hands with their counter-attacking style. Cristiano Ronaldo chose
this game to announce his arrival at the tournament after a poor showing in his
country’s opening two fixtures. Ronaldo picked his moment to shine perfectly
and, like a true superstar, scored two cracking goals to send Portugal through,
and Holland crashing out!
Whilst
Russia scored five goals and only lost one game at Euro 2012, Holland managed
just two goals and exited without picking up a single point, embarrassing for
such a proud footballing nation. The Russian press have lambasted the national
team on its return, with one paper running a handline branding the Russian
effort a “Disgrace” They accuse the team of not trying and “thinking not of
their Motherland but only of their bonuses”. Whilst this is undoubtedly harsh,
sentiment amongst the fans was hardly improved by Arshavin’s comments to
reporters and fans on his return to Russia.
“It
is not our problem that we did not live up to your expectations of us. It is
your problem, not ours”
What
the Dutch press make of their team’s humbling experience, once fully digested,
remains to be seen but it is unlikely that the players will be spared stinging
criticism or that van Maarwijk will keep his job. He faced massive criticism
from the likes of Johan Cruyff long before the tournament. The Dutch legend
accused van Maarwijk side of playing “anti-football” at the World Cup in South
Africa and their performances this time around are unlikely to have won the
current boss any more fans.
So
two big-guns fall silent and tonight, a third may well join the club. Italy
face the prospect of being eliminated from Euro 2012 without losing a game, a
situation which is bound to cause anger and consternation amongst players and
fans alike. The Italians face former boss Giovanni Trapattoni tonight as he
looks to deliver some pride back to the Irish nation, with at least a point for
his adoptive nation against his native land.
Although
Ireland have not acquitted themselves well in Poland and Ukraine, they were always
going to be up against it in a tough group with what is, undoubtedly, on paper,
the weakest squad in the competition. Trapattoni has faced Italy three times
since taking over as Republic boss and his record reads well: P3 W1 D2 L0. The
Irish will be desperate to give their massivetravelling support something real
to cheer about and, with the pressure off, there is every reason to believe
that they can get a point against a low scoring Italian outfit.
Italy
played very well in their opening game against Spain. They were the more
threatening side in the first-half and took the lead shortly after half-time.
However, once the Spanish equalised and brought on Fernando Torres to play as
an out and out striker, the game turned in Spain’s favour and Italy did well do
hold on for a point. Against Croatia, the game was fairly even until Italy took
the lead just before the break. In the second-half, Italy were in almost
complete control and, had they shown more ambition, surely could have killed
the game off.
Even in second gear, the Italian’s didn’t look
like conceding. Croatia’s tactic, of getting high balls into the box, was
generally being dealt with fairly comfortably and the Croats’ lack of pace was
making it difficult for them to stretch the Italian back line. However, twenty
minutes from time and a defensive lapse afforded Mandzukic the time to bring
down one of the, afore-mentioned, high balls and lash it in off the post to
even the score. The match played out to a 1-1 draw and Italy were left cursing themselves
for not capitalising on their domination, plus ca change.
The
one thing that none of us should be surprised about is the propensity for shock
results at major tournaments. We all try to predict possible outcomes and, yet
again, the majority of us up to this point have probably been mostly wrong in
our forecasts (I know so far my strike rate is a measly 25%), but getting it
wrong isn’t going to stop us trying. Many will expect Spain and Italy to win
tonight, thereby sending Croatia home, with the already eliminated Irish.
However, the cynic in me is telling me that Croatia and Spain will draw and the
romantic in me is saying that Ireland will snatch a point off the Italians,
thereby sending Spain and Croatia through and those two most devout of countries
looking questioningly towards the heavens.
By Neil Patterson
Email: neil.b.patterson@gmail.com
Facebook: http://goo.gl/MJce0
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Neil1980
