Thank you to all the posters and readers who take the trouble to read the blog each day. A special thanks to some of the new posters who have come to the blog during the Euros. I hope you can stick around.

Quarter Final
Spain vs. Italy
Preview – Of all the quarter finals this one is the most beautifully and finely balanced. For each Italian ying, you can find a Spanish yang. Recent history in major tournaments suggests a win for Italy, but current form points towards Spain.

If Gianluigi Buffon is the best goalkeeper in the world then Iker Casillas can’t be far behind. I.D. Luca Toni as the definitive target man and scorer and Spanish fans can counter with the speed and strength of David Villa and Fernando Torres.

Cynics might even point out that the both sets of centre backs are on par – each pairing looks good when the ball is at the other end of the park. Spain is likely to be without Carles Puyol and a central defensive pairing of Valencia’s Raul Albiol and Carlos Marchena can only increase the level of confidence……if you are Italian.

There again, you also get the feeling that Christian Panucci and Giorgio Chiellini constitute a make shift solution to a defence that has lacked the composure normally provided by Fabio Cannavaro.

The full backs are another saw-off. At their best Zambrotta and Grosso (Italy) and Ramos and Capdevilla (Spain) can get forward and effectively support the attack from wide positions.

So where will this one be won and lost? Not surprisingly it will be probably come down to who can most effectively control the midfield. There is a difference in how both sides normally line up. Italy favour a 4-3-2-1, Spain 4-1-3-2. For Spain the first-choice defensive midfielder is Marcos Senna and he will prowl the area in front of the back four looking to control (probably) Cassano and Perrotta.

However, the most intriguing contest will be between Italy and Spain’s defensive and attacking midfield trios. Barring surprises Spain will start Xavi and David Silva with Iniesta (who hasn’t had a particularly good tournament so far) or Fabregas.

All three players are comfortable on the ball and are first rate passers – their problem is if it comes down to heavy lifting can they match Ambrossini and De Rossi? Ambrossini would appear to be the logical replacement for the suspended Gennaro Gattuso while Daniele De Rossi, who has enjoyed a great tournament since being left on the bench for the first game against Netherlands, will join him in the engine room.

The suspension of Andrea Pirlo means that Italy needs to find another playmaker to centre Ambrossini and De Rossi and only option is Roma’s Alberto Aquilani. The responsibility will be a test for Aquilani who at 24 next month is the youngest member of Italy’s squad.

His international experience for country and club is limited and we have become use to him being revered to as a future star. If Italy is to move on to the semi finals it may well be that being a star of the future just won't hack it anymore and the future must start today.

Referee: Herbert Fandel, assistants: Carsten Kadach, Volker Wezel (all Germany), fourth official: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)


Spain 0-0 Italy (Spain win 4-2 on penalty kicks)
It was a terse, tense and and a largely forgettable one-hundred and twenty minutes with the penalty kick decider providing the only moment of sustained excitement.

While the absence of Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo did not hurt Italy defensively, they certainly missed the playmaking of Pirlo. What he would normally accomplish in one pass was taking two of three today. And when the pass finally arrived at its intended target, Spain had anticipated the danger.

Spain enjoyed the vast majority of possession but with De Rossi and Ambrosini sitting deep their midfield found it difficult to spring Villa and Torres as Italy plugged the passing lanes. And so chances for both sides were extremely limited. Even the substitutions made by both coaches failed to break the predictable pattern.

And so it came down to penalties. De Rossi’s miss gave Spain the upper hand but Buffon’s save from Guiza opened the door for a turnaround. However, Casillas got the better of Di Natale and it was left for Fabregas to sink the fifth and winning penalty for Spain.

Best for Italy on the day were Chiellini and De Rossi while for Spain Silva and Senna worked tirelessly.  Spain goes on to play Russia in the semifinal, and for Italy it is Goodnight Vienna.


Comment of the Day
“I’ve been reading what foreign journalists say about Holland. There is one recurring story: the Dutch always destroy themselves through infighting, but this time they haven’t yet. This shoddy half-truth misses the point about Dutch football. Holland are good precisely because our players quarrel about football.” – Simon Kuper.



Prediction Update
Russia’s win yesterday was more bad news for many of you who posted predictions. Netherlands was a popular pick to make it to at least the semi final stage while those picking Russia to progress that far was limited to two or three. The updated standings will be posted tomorrow at the conclusion of the quarter finals.

Group C

Romania 1-1 Italy

This was an amazing and enthralling match that hung in the balance right through to the final whistle. And in the end Italy and Romania remain in contention for a place in the last eight come the final round of group play next Tuesday.

Italy has Gianluigi Buffon to thank for their first point of the tournament and making sure that they maintained a fragile grip on continued participation. Panucci was got caught red-handed trying to hog tie Niculae for little apparent reason and with ten minutes left Romania got a chance to almost certainly send Italy home.

But the Italian keeper guessed right on a well struck but poorly directed penalty kick from Adrian Mutu. Buffon got his right hand to the shot which then deflected onto his trailing leg and clear.

Earlier in the second half Mutu turned opportunist has he anticipated a header from Zambrotta back to Buffon. By the time the Italy right back had realized what he had done Mutu had struck a rising shot behind Buffon and high into the net. It was however a very short-lived lead as Italy equalized with their next attack.

Giorgio Chiellini intelligently opted to direct a header down and across the Romanian goal rather than go for glory and Panucci snuck in at the back post to tie the game up.

It was almost inconceivable that this match could reach half time scoreless. Italy set off at a cracking pace and keyed on the right side of the Romanian defense early. Contra came in for special attention as Grosso moved forward to support the Italian attack and Petre instead of playing in midfield found himself augmenting Contra at right back.

It took fifteen minutes for Romania to find any attacking intent but once they settled chances were created in quick succession. Tamas and Mutu had shots well saved by Buffon while Rat went narrowly wide from a long range effort and a deflected Chivu free kick came back of the post with the keeper helpless.

The series of close encounters reinvigorated Italy and the first half finished with Lobent making a couple of fantastic saves before being beaten by a Toni header. Fortunately for Romania the assistant referee’s flag went up for offside; replays showed that Toni was not offside.

The best game of the tournament so far in my book and the Group of Death, for once, has lived up to the pre-billing.

France 1-4 Netherlands

It was the sort of day that you want to bottle and preserve only to be opened when you need reminding of how compelling, beautiful and thrilling this sport can be. While Italy and Romania produced an opening act that threatened to one up the main attraction, the Netherlands and France rose to the challenge and produced a display for the ages.

A look at the final score might lead you to conclude that this was a terrible performance by the French. But rather this was a case of an astonishing performance from the Dutch. Think the World Cup Final of 1970 when Brazil beat Italy 4-1. Was Italy that bad? The truth is it didn’t matter because on that day Brazil was just so brilliant it did not matter who wore the other jerseys.  

And so it was today as the Dutch put on a master class of passing, movement, shooting and finishing that was quite breathtaking. While 4-2-4 made way for 4-3-3, then 4-4-2 and now 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1 the basic premise of attacking and defending has remained stunningly simple. When you attack you want to create space, when you defend you want to shrink the space.  A simple concept yes, but something that is exceedingly difficult to pull-off - especially when the opposition is constantly trying to counter.

It was concept that the Dutch executed  today to perfection as they sliced open a French midfield with a display of passing that was devastating. No ten yard square passes to slow the tempo ala Makelele. The Dutch bypassed the French midfield with passes that changed defence to attack in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, the French midfield with two anchors (Makelele and Toulalan), that should in theory have been the perfect foil to the Dutch counter attack was left gasping and chasing shadows.

Netherlands back to back wins against the World Cup winners and runners up from only two years and by a clear three goals each time is unprecedented in my memory. The question for the Dutch is what do they do for an encore?
France and Italy both remain alive with the winner of Tuesday match also needing the Dutch to maintain their undefeated streak when they face Romania in order to move on.

 What a day.

Man of the match - Rafael van der Vaart. Amongst a number of very honourable mentions Ruud van Nistelrooy. Can't play as a lone striker? Hmmm.

Comment of the Day

"If someone talks about my private life, for example, I'll give them a good punching. I'm not interested in suing. I like to sort things out my way" - Luiz Felipe Scolari.