Roundup of the rest....

Alright this is a bit overdue but exams came in the way. With holidays now in full swing, expect a lot more analysis.

Moving back to Euro 08 groups, there wasn't much to say about Group C. Romania vs France was everything football should not be. Boring, insipid, lacklustre, sleep inducing. The final score of 0-0 flattered no one. Romania would have taken a point before the game but it was very disappointing to see the French lacking such creativity. Even Franck Ribery put in a sub-par performance, almost unrecognisable from the man who has carried Bayern Munich on his shoulders all season. Meanwhile the sheer brilliance of Holland's fantastic 3-0 win over Italy was plain to see for all. Not much to say there. Anyone who saw the game will agree that Holland were fantastic. 3-0 may not have reflected how close the game actually was but there was no doubt Holland fully deserved their victory.

Group D turned out as expected in the first round, with Spain beating the Russians 4-1. Pure class from David Villa. That's all that needs to be mentioned really. Fernando Torres may have played his part but he was overshadowed by Villa on the night and rightly so. Sweden may have been heading for a draw until Ibrahimovic and Larsson combined beautifully on the edge of the area and Ibrahimovic lashed home a sensational goal into the top corner. Greece were never really expected to come anywhere close to repeating their success from 4 years ago despite being ranked 8th in the FIFA rankings (big joke that they are), and they fully justified that view against Sweden.

And on to the next round of play. In Group A, Portugal played a great game against the Czech Republic who improved massively from their dismal showing against Switzerland in the tournament opener. However despite the Czechs resilience, Portugal's class shone through, with Cristiano Ronaldo playing a part in all 3 of their goals. He may have his critics about not playing to his best on the biggest stage but a player as good as him can't play below par every single time. His pass for Ricardo Quaresma to tap in in injury time proved how mature he has become. You'd expect Ronaldo to shoot anytime he gets a sight of goal, let alone a one on one, but he saw Quaresma and unselfishly squared the ball for his teammate. Surely a sign of maturity and indicates that there is a lot more to come from Ronaldo in the tournament. Meanwhile, Switzerland's loss against against Turkey was another example of their poor finishing letting them down. Only this time it eliminated them, becoming only the second host nation to not qualify for the knockout stages. Luck may not have been on their side but tat does not change the fact that they are now out of the tournament.

Group B had the neutrals on their feet applauding Croatia, who sensationally beat Germany 2-1. Although there was an element of luck about both of Croatia's goals, they deserved it for the way they took the game to the Germans and played them off the park. Had Croatia not gotten those lucky breaks, we would be talking about missed chances, lack of creativity and cutting edge. Fully deserved result for them however and Slaven Bilic proved to be an animated characted on the touchline and the win will have elevated him even higher in the eyes of Croatia. Lukas Podolski also managed to add to his goal tally in a losing effort and his well taken goal will only have more of Europe trying to lure him away from Bayern. He may well try his luck elsewhere as Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose seem to be perfect for each other while Podolski struggles for a look in. I didn't catch Austria vs Poland to make much comment about the game. The only thing I saw from the highlights were the obvious talking points of Roger's controversial offside goal for the Poles and Ivica Vastic's controversial penalty for the Austrians. At any rate it gives both sides a chance to qualify for the quarterfinals. As unlikely as it seems, an Austrian victory over Germany will most likely see them through and would rank as their greatest footballing achievement in my opinion. They've had great teams in the past and should they pull of such a feat with the current squad they have, it would be nothing less than their greatest feat.

Euro 08 is warming up nicely after the first round and it's good to see less clean sheets and more goals in the games. As a neutral, I can only hope for the trend to continue.