The View from the Spaghetti Factory

Well, what can you say? Any complaints from the losing side will always be construed as sour grapes, and England deserved to let their early lead slip. After Owen’s third-minute goal, and particularly after Rooney’s exit through injury, the team descended into a prolonged spell of Keystone Cops football. There was no communication, passes were [...]

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So, Croatia. Their squad might not be packed with talent as it was in the late 90s (Suker, Boban, Prosinecki, Boksic) but they’re still effective, as shown in the 2-2 draw with France. With that in mind, it was nice to see a much more controlled England performance on Monday evening. Well, okay… up to [...]

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The matches in Euro 2004 have so far been a mixed bag, ranging from the torporific (Switzerland-Croatia, most of Denmark-Bulgaria) to the dazzling and compelling (Italy-Sweden). For us England fans, things are looking brighter than they were this time last week; the 3-0 win over Switzerland was comfortable, if somewhat lacking in technical brilliance. For [...]

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What a strange evening. It started brightly, with a dismal 0-0 draw suggesting that the competition was almost over from the start for both Croatia and Switzerland. Then the big event started and for most of the first half (and the second, for that matter) everything was as you’d expect… cagey, with neither defence opening [...]

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