| 22.06.2008 |
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| Waking this morning, okay afternoon (got an old friend from home in town who needs to be partied with), I was hungry. Lacking the will to make much of a proper breakfast, I reached in the refrigerator for my bag of celery sticks and got digging in the peanut butter jar. Ate a good ten, still felt hungry. Had a banana. Still hungry. Remembered there was still some leftover refried beans from the other night, heated them up and we ate a couple little burritos. Still hungry, we got out some chips and ate half the bag. Could have eaten a little more, but we put the bag away, thus staying a little hungry. Good, that. It’s become clear now that we’ve seen three of the four quarterfinals that the teams who won the groups my well have filled up on bread and spoiled their dinners.  Turkey and Croatia’s abortion of a game (through the first 115 minutes or so) may not illustrate this as well as the other two, but who can honestly say Germany and Russia didn’t knock out their supposed betters as much through hunger as anything else? Portugal’s silky skills were still in evidence on Thursday, but Germany had picked a team that tamped them down, as well as a veritable pack of rabid dogs up front. After a knock-down drag-out players-only bitch session during the group stage, Germany played hungry for the first time in the tournament and won convincingy. Holland, whose game I watched in part at one of my favorite Cologne restaurants (I was hungry), seemed to have had a passion-dectomy. From the start, Russia's runs were better, passes crisper, tackles crunchier. Hungry boys, real hungry. I watched the extra time in the loft of a nearby bar, furnished with low-slung couches and shaped like a Rollerball-set-decorated shipping container. It was muggy, smoky, and so many of the folks looked like they had reached the end of their football rope. It had been two punishing weeks of solid football-watching, and they were ready for respite.  By the 110th minute, the Dutch team, I thought, looked like they would get on well in this company. I could imagine Andre Ooijer plopping happily down, too gassed even to get up and order a beer, perhaps lighting a smoke and falling asleep, burning a hole in the sofa cushion. Arshavin, meanwhile still hungry, would have come in and kicked our lazy asses out, shut off the TV, thrown on some nasty electro and kept partying with the best-looking women we’d ever seen until five. Which is basically what happened on the pitch.Are the Spanish hungry? If we take history into account, they ought to be. |
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| 22.06.2008 |
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| As many people have mentioned since this tournament began (myself included), Spain look like they may have a team capable of finally ending their 44 years of hurt. Just as many people have said (again, I count myself within this number) that this has often been the case and that when talented Spanish teams get this far, they get a severe case of the wobbles and undo all their previous good work by crashing out in lame fashion. Despite this nagging doubt – and the weight of history which increases the nagging to fish-wife proportions – I am sticking with Spain as my tip for the title. My resolve has been bent by the increasing quality of the opposition homing in on Spain but it has not been broken. Despite the strength of their title rivals, I feel a commitment to the Spanish after choosing them as my team for Euro 2008; a commitment based mainly on the fact that Spain has a prominent Liverpool contingent on duty with the squad, and in part to the other exciting talents coach Luis Aragones can rely on. I have found myself indulging in daily research of the scale usually reserved for a tournament in which England feature. From immersing myself in the Spanish team news and the constant re-runs of the match highlights, I feel I have deepened my connection. I find it strange then, as an honorary Spaniard – at least for the purposes of this tournament – that my commitment is not shared by a proportion of the Spanish people. According to some reports I have come across, the Catalans and the Basques are not particularly bothered whether "La Seleccion" does well or not. Rather than having a whole nation behind them as they enter the crucial phase of a tournament they might win, Spain appears to have the backing of a few parts of the country interspersed with the indifference of others and sheer hatred of a few.  Of course, the limited geopolitical knowledge I have of Spain provides some background to this phenomenon. The people of these proud regions consider themselves to be Catalans and Basques over being Spanish, due to their historical pursuit of autonomy and the protection of their regional cultural identity. But this is soccer! The beautiful game! Surely they can't turn their backs on Spain when the team needs them most. I dug further. It appears that soccer fans in these areas tend to put club allegiances in the same bracket as regional loyalty, choosing to devote all their love to their home team rather than the squad of the nation. The lack of support for the national team in these regions is such that "La Seleccion" has not played in either region for over 20 years. This attitude was typified by the reaction to Spain's explosive opening to Euro 2008. While David Villa was destroying Russia with the tournament's first hat-trick in Spain's Group D debut, Bilbao and Barcelona remained relatively calm whereas most cities in the rest of the country were going totally nuts. Still finding it hard to believe, I went in search of some insight from my Spanish colleagues in the hope that they would shed some light on this. "The Catalans have a different view of the national team than the Basques," said Luna Bolivar, a journalist with our Spanish department. "Many Catalans support Spain, many would even support Spain if there was a Catalonia team... although the hardcore nationalists would never be seen dead with a Spain flag. "The situation in the Basque Region is very different," Luna added. "The politics of the region make it a lot harder. The Basques have a team, Atletico de Bilbao, where only Basques can play for them...The level of nationalism in the Basque Region is a lot different than in Catalonia and much fear comes with it." Luna explained that regional allegiances are heavily politicised in the Basque Region which makes it very difficult for some. She quoted the case of the French-Basque defender Bixante Lizarazu who chose to play for France and received death threats from Basque terror group ETA. "For the Basques, there can be a real threat to show the Spain flag and allegiance to the country... it is a betrayal," she added. "In the big cities, maybe not so much, but certainly in smaller villages. I believe many don't dare to support Spain - I certainly wouldn't!" A quick phone call home assured me that there was no evidence of any Spanish, let alone Basque blood in my lineage so I breathed a sigh of relief...and donned my Torres shirt in prepartion for the match against Italy without fear of reprisals.  |
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| 22.06.2008 |
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| There have been a few bandwagons rolling through Austria and Switzerland these last couple of weeks; the "bash the Greeks" chorus, the campaign to "pension off the French", and the "blame Chelsea for Portugal's failure" brigade among them. The most recent, and most credible, is the "Andrei Arshavin Supporters Club" which has grown considerably in just a few days. It's hardly surprising when you look at how incredibly good this guy is. I bought my ticket for this particular bandwagon way back in the midst of Zenit St. Petersburg's run to the UEFA Cup title and since Saturday's masterclass against the Dutch, I've shuffled up to proudly sit beside the driver and lead the chorus of approval. If anyone had told me after the first two group games that Russia would beat Holland at their own exhilarating game to reach the semi-finals, I would have checked the vicinity for empty vodka bottles. While the Netherlands were destroying the supposed cream of European soccer to stake their claim as the neutral's favourite, Russia were getting spanked by Spain and fluffing their lines in a narrow win over the Greeks. Putting them together at this stage would have been like shooting fish in a barrel for the Dutch. What a difference a game makes? Or rather, what a difference a player of supreme skill and vision makes? Arshavin came back for the game against Sweden when qualification was hanging by a thread and not only showed his quality but his influence over the team. And that is his true worth. The Russian star would have had a hard job beating the Dutch on his own had his mates failed to show up. This was not an easy Holland team to turn over. Marco van Basten's boys did not suddenly lose the plot and become rubbish. It was just that, when faced with a team inspired, Holland discovered their limitations. They were beaten by a better team – and that should strike fear into the heart of who ever has to challenge Russia for a place in the final. Arshavin's contribution to the defeat of the Netherlands was huge. With Russia matching the electric Dutch for speed and guile, it was the No.10 who soon took the lead in conducting the pace. With half an hour gone, Andrei signalled his intent, dancing past Andre Ooijer into the Dutch box before curling a right-foot shot goalwards that Edwin van der Sar had to tip away for a corner. Ten minutes into the second-half and Arshavin gutted the Dutch like fish – clipping a sweet chip down the left for Sergei Semak whose cross was volleyed in at the near post by Roman Pavlyuchenko. After Ruud van Nistelrooy's equalizer had forced extra-time, Arshavin and the Russian engine room went into overdrive. With 112 minutes on the clock, Arshavin flighted a tantalising cross over van der Sar and watched as Dmitri Torbinski poked in. Then, grabbing the goal that his performance deserved, the No. 10 then sealed the semi-final spot in the 116th minute as he ran through and fired low past the Dutch keeper.  It wasn't only Arshavin who was on his game. Pavlyuchenko, ridiculed in the group stages for his ineptitude, has grown in confidence since Arshavin's return. The Spartak Moscow striker looks more like the player who wreaked havoc in qualifying and could even eclipse that level of deadliness if he scores the numerous chances he continues to miss. At least he is getting into positions to have a shot now and is at least scoring the odd goal. Another player to impress was defender Denis Kolodin. With a hammer of a right foot, Kolodin belted some testing shots at Edwin van der Sar from range and as late-arriving support for Russia's attack, he was more than just an accomplished stopper. But when all is said and done, Saturday night was all about Andrei. With few of the world stars making good on their claim for the tournament's best player, Arshavin could well turn out to be Euro 2008's star man. |
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