Totti’s Suspension

Sad. Not because Totti doesn’t deserve to be suspended for spitting at an opponent, but rather because the public is deprived of the treat of watching an Italian national team functioning at full efficiency. Italian striker Christian Vieri needs a playmaker to provide him balls played vertically into the penalty area, not just from crosses. Alessandro Del Piero just can’t do the job—atleast not at international level. Roma’s Antonio Cassano is a great option in the Azzuri frontline, but a player like Totti in Italy’s final group match would be the key to splitting open Bulgaria’s vulnerable defence. Goal difference may end up deciding who progresses in Group C and the Italians seem to lack the playmaking vision to grab more than slender 1-0 win. Very sad for Italians and neutrals alike.

Czech Rep. 3 - Netherlands 2

The best game of the tournament to date. The Czech’s are the only big team that recovered from an eary Euro 2004 hiccup in time to control their own destiny (i.e. before their first match was over). I don’t think many other teams could hope to respond to a two goal deficit with three unanswered goals. No wonder then that they’re the only team to book a quarter-final birth after their second match. Congrats to the Czech Republic!

Conversely, what more could the Dutch do? They played well and got burned by Heitinga’s sending off. Pavel Nedved, the player Heitinga allegedly fouled, is a notorious diver. Yet, ultimately you make your own luck at tournaments of this caliber and there wasn’t much more in terms of tactics and execution that the Dutch could have done to skew the intangibles of this match in their favour.

If the Hosts are Toast…

If host team Portugal crash out of their own tournament tomorrow, then everybody suffers. This is not because Portugal deserve to advance, but rather because the great atmosphere fostered by the Portuguese public can only diminish in the wake of their country’s demoralizing performance on the pitch. However I doubt that Spain, Portugal’s final opponents in Group A, are going to taking“the battle of the Iberian Peninsula” lightly…