If you want to preserve the excitement of Euro 2004...
EXTRA TIME
By Erkka V. Lehtola
...then, as they say on the telly, best look away right now, as I’m about to give you the lowdown on the results in Portugal.
Right. Well, the tough qualifying procedure in our part of the world guarantees that the wheat gets separated from the chaff, and so the European Championships are not going to provide the sort of no-hoper teams you come across in the World Cup finals. Of the sixteen sides in Portugal, there are only two whose progression from the opening round would cause jaws to drop all over Europe: Switzerland and Latvia. Their chips are going to run out rather quickly at the big boys’ table.
In Group A, the two fallers after the opening fences will be Greece and Russia. Otto Rehhagel’s Greek squad played their last six qualifying games without conceding a goal, but now the Papadopouloses will - much to the relief of the tongue-tied radio and TV commentators - be politely put back in their place.
Over in the East, the football sun has not risen since the demise of the mighty “unbreakable Union of freeborn republics”, and it isn’t going to make an appearance now. With such a massive population to choose from, there are bound to be some talented individuals on the park, but the former heavyweight has not of late been able to build a Team with a capital T.
In Group B, Croatia is not what she once was, either. The colours have faded from the outfit that made such a splash in the 1998 World Cup in France. Dado Prso, who stacked up the goals for Monaco this season, is still only a pale substitute for Davor Suker, and he’s the best of the bunch. Going through will be an uphill task.
In England, they don’t tend to look much in the mirror before big tournaments. Not much after them, either. If - and when - the team doesn’t do the business, then the fault more often than not is found in the manager, in the wrong tactical approach, or in the fact that the ref left his glasses at home.
Someone might occasionally remind the English that the quality of the players just isn’t up to snuff. The tales of heroism emanating from the Premiership these days no longer have an English male lead. In spite of their having a half-decent manager, England will go no further than the quarter-finals at best.
Group C probably has the most evenly-matched likely suspects. The great Bulgarian team of the Hristo Stoichkov era have all retired from the game, but the building of a new generation has already begun. Nevertheless, they will have to wait for later tournaments to shine.
Sweden are a different matter. They met Finland in Tampere last month with half a team, but they will have all their stars out in Portugal. With the Celtic striker legend Henrik Larsson having decided to strip off his summer T-shirt and get on the plane, our neighbours to the west look like they might go through to the quarters.
Denmark - well, you have to like them. They want to win, of course, but at the same time from one tournament to the next they serve up nice tidbits for the fans of attractive football. The champagne soccer of the Denmark sides of the 1980s is still heady stuff, and so of course is the unforgettable win they enjoyed in the 1992 European Championships. One or other of the Scandinavian representatives will play one knock-out game in Portugal, but no more than the one.
Over in Group D, little Latvia are for the chop, but will go down alongside one traditional footballing goliath. To the discomfort of former Bundesliga player, manager, TV-pundit, and "diesel" fan Pasi Rautiainen, it will be Germany. The machine that has trundled along on sheer reliability for decades is now coughing worse than Kimi Räikkönen’s Mercedes engine. The sort of bookmakers' nightmare we saw in Korea and Japan is not going to happen again.
Fortunately for the Germans, the Dutch pack is also in a bit of a mess. The diamond tactics of Dick Advocaat turned suddenly to talcum powder just before the games, and now the men in orange will be back using wingers. In practice this is likely to mean that you’ll see three of the world’d most expensive substitutes muttering on the bench behind Advocaat, in the shape of Patrick Kluivert, Roy Makaay, and Pierre van Hooijdonk. We won’t be seeing Holland in the semis, either.
So who’s going to win the title, then? What about the hosts, Portugal? Nope. Lovely skills, and with a home crowd behind them the motivation will be there, too, but the red-shirts will once again lose their cool in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Spain, then? No, not this time, either, not even with club teams that have regularly shone in European competitions. Fernando Morientes can score, but the defence leaks like a sieve. Expect the reaper no later than the semis.
The Czechs will spring a surprise, then?! Yep, but it’s too long and winding a road to go all the way. Their team is bulging with versatile player-types, and they will bowl over some giants in the opening group stages, but they will run out of steam in the semi-final. Even so, there will be more beer flowing in the streets of Prague than tears.
France and Italy will meet in the final - a repeat of Euro 2000. Four years ago, Italy went down to a an extra-time golden goal from David Trezeguet. The pain of defeat cut deep.
On the evening of July 4th, as the teams go in for half-time with the score at 0-0, the memory of that awful night in Rotterdam will creep into Italian minds. Nobody wants to go through that again. In the second half, the Roman emperor Francesco Totti will send in a swerving shot for the winner. When the tournament top-scorer Thierry Henry bursts into tears after the game, the world’s best footballer Zinedine Zidane will put a fatherly hand on his shoulder, and then four magical feet will disappear into the tunnels of the Estádio da Luz.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 12.6.2004
Links:
UEFA Euro 2004
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 15.6.2004 - THIS WEEK |
If you want to preserve the excitement of Euro 2004...
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