The View from the Spaghetti Factory

Germany 0-1 Spain Iberian skies clear for first time in 44 years And that was that. Spain reined in some of their semi-final brilliance, concentrating on effective organisation, while chaotic defending proved to be Germany’s downfall. Even if a fitter Ballack had ensured an equaliser, Spain always seemed to have more to offer.

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SEMI-FINALS… Germany 3-2 Turkey Storms, real and metaphorical A seriously short-staffed Turkey played out of their skins, but the fairytale had to end. Typical German ability to win ugly when they really didn’t deserve it; to be fair, though, they were denied a penalty on 50 mins. Russia 0-3 Spain Scorchio! Another fairytale comes to [...]

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Russia 3-1 Netherlands Icy blasts thawing rapidly There are times when teams should take a lesson from Italy. It seemingly never occurred to the Dutch that their strikers might have an off-day, so there was no solid, defensive Plan B. Exhilarating attacking by the Russians, who deserve the victory. Italy 0-0 Spain (Spain win 4-2 [...]

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Portugal 2-3 Germany Vinds of change! Cracking match, and the Germans deserved it. Eusebio is right… Portugal are going nowhere without a decent centre forward. Good to see the back of cynical Scolari, though. Can we have the naive, charming, chaotic old Portugal back now? Turkey 1-1 Croatia (Turkey win 3-1 on penalties) There is [...]

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Russia 2-0 Sweden Arctic temperatures moving westward I’m still not convinced by all the “exciting new force in European football” talk. What Russia do have is enthusiasm and confidence. Oh, and the fact that Sweden were dreadful. Greece 1-2 Spain Bright sunshine over half of the Mediterranean And again… is this really the YEAR WHEN [...]

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France 0-2 Italy Forlorn drizzle A fair result. France were unlucky, but would probably have struggled even with all 11 men. Italy get out of jail again (and jail is where Lubos Michel should be… UEFA’s most overrated referee?) Netherlands 2-0 Romania Wall-to-wall (orange) sunshine Shame to see plucky Romania go out to a Dutch [...]

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Austria 0-1 Germany Cloudy, mild. More effort and spirit from Austria, still hampered by the lack of a decent final ball. Not a great advert for the current German team, despite the scorcher from Ballack. Poland 0-1 Croatia Temperatures continue to soar over the Adriatic Are Croatia the new Germany? Despite varying quality, they’ve carved [...]

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Czech Republic 2-3 Turkey Tempestuous Best 10 minutes of the tournament (unless you’re Czech). Turkey showed the sort of spirit (and chaos) that got them to a World Cup semi-final six years ago, while the Czechs still seem to be missing Nedved’s creativity. Switzerland 2-0 Portugal Rainy day ending with glorious sunset Didn’t bother watching [...]

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Sweden 1-2 Spain Cool, turning bleak with Arctic winds Yes, it’s a cruel game. After 90 minutes, 1-1 was a fair representation of how Sweden’s workmanlike efficiency had tempered Spain’s rather over-casual passing finesse. But it only takes one injury-time goal to change all that. Greece 0-1 Russia Mild with brief but inconsequential storms Weak [...]

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Italy 1-1 Romania Worst weather since records began! Well, maybe not that bad, but Italy are barely clinging on. Only Cassano seems to be offering any creativity in attack (until his next bipolar attack kicks in) and the defence is weak without Nesta or Cannavaro. A win for France might do Italy a few favours… [...]

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