There is the old adage that if you can’t say anything good, then don’t say anything at all. So in terms of the Czech Republic’s performance against Spain I can say that they do take penalties well.

There again to hell with old adages. On the same weekend that David Beckham arrives in North America with the goal of increasing the profile and level of general acceptance of the game in North America the Czech Republic put on the kind of display that would even have the diehards reaching for the off button on the remote control.

It was a display of anti-football that would legitimately call into question the future of the game at the highest level. The Czech’s game plan of taking the match to penalty kicks was obvious from the start as they packed their defense and midfield and rarely managed to make it into Spain’s half.

But even then the Spanish must take much of the blame for their loss on penalty kicks. The miss by Adrian Lopez from no more than a yard out in the second half will be sure to make the bloppers tape of the tournament and the tactics of their coach Gines Melendez lacked imagination and decisiveness.

When you are playing against a big defense constantly floating balls into the area normally isn’t the most productive course of action. Add to that the fact that Spain set up with two wide midfielders hugging the touchline for most of the second half made it easy for the Czech’s to counter with double and triple marking.

The greatest threat from Spain came when Gerard Pique pushed up from his centre back position into the midfield and you were left wondering why Spain did not look to get their full backs to push forward in support of the attack as well.

The Czech goal when it came was nightmare for Spain’s goalkeeper Adan who was left flapping at a corner. The ball broke to Kalouda twenty yards out and he cracked it home. The only thing that can be brought up in Adan’s defense was that no Spanish defender was actually marking the Czech player who the keeper challenged.

Although Spain did manage to tie the game in extra time the body language of each side was a marked contrast. The Czech’s stood tall and confident while the Spanish approached the task like a set of schoolboys who had just been caught with a naughty magazine.

After the USA – Austria game yesterday I made a reference to Austria becoming the 2007 version of Greece. Now we have Greece I vs. Greece II in the semi final and we are left with Argentina, Mexico, Nigeria or Chile to save football from slipping further into the dark side.