The View from the Spaghetti Factory

Croatia 2-1 Germany Freak weather conditions! Massive improvement by Croatia,who deserved the win. Cracking shot from Podolski, but is this another sign of a faltering Germany? Austria 1-1 Poland Grey and overcast. It’s a cruel game. Once again, Austria deserved more on the basis of pure effort, but they just can’t score from open play. [...]

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Czech Republic 1-3 Portugal Hot and humid with storms. One of the best, most balanced games so far, but Portugal tipped the balance by taking their chances. Switzerland 1-2 Turkey Torrential downp… hey, wait! The idea here was to use weather summaries as a humorous way of describing the matches, but in this case, a [...]

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Spain 4-1 Russia Bright sunshine, slight risk of rain later. Another team learns that beating England doesn’t mean you’re any good, but a late revival hinted at perennial flaws in Spain’s beautiful game. Sweden 2-0 Greece Dull and overcast, clearing later. Could have been the worst match of the tournament, but Ibrahimovic seems to have [...]

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Romania 0-0 France Blustery, unsettled. Oh dear… when the tournament’s Best Squad On Paper looks at dreary as this, you know it’s going to be a funny day. France need to get their act together. Netherlands 3-0 Italy Torrential rain, mostly on parades. The world champions, no less, utterly humbled by the finest Dutch performance [...]

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Germany 2-0 Poland Stormy, settling later. Plucky Poles eventually falling to inevitable charmless efficiency, not helped by own lack of strike power. Austria 0-1 Croatia Unseasonably mild. Not the walkover I expected. Austria showed spirit and invention far beyond their terrible world ranking; Croatia looked dangerously complacent.

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Switzerland 0-1 Czech Republic Muggy with lively intervals. Czechs seemingly dominant but Swiss denied two penalties (one clear, one not so). Portugal 2-0 Turkey Glistening spring sunshine! Scoreline flatters the Portuguese, who got lucky with a tolerant referee. Nice attacking play all round.

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I thought about blogging Euro 2008 properly, like I did for the last World Cup. But then I’m not one for routine, and I could do with spending a bit less time tapping gibberish into computers and mobile phones this summer, so my solution (first instalment to appear later this evening) will be highly streamlined [...]

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