10 June 2012

Matches 5 & 6

And so Croatia top the group that includes the current Euro champions and previous World Cup winners. Oh and Ireland.
Poor Ireland. All the press build up towards this match was about their strong defensive capabilities and then they just fell apart. And Croatia, as always, looked good. For the past dozen years they have always been good - not great - but good & solid & with a couple of players that are truly special. So really it should be no surprise that after this first round of matches they sit on top of the table.
And no real surprise that an Italian team with a makeshift backline (my De Rossi as a defender?) and a Spanish side with no striker cancel each other out. Especially with both Balotelli and Torres misses chances handed to them on a golden plate.
Spain v Italy has always been the battle of the hotties (the past classic of Maldini v Raul in particular comes to mind) and while this year was true to form, I spent most of the game spotting Sergio Ramos with his new haircut and would think "Who is that??" before it clicking; at least he was using less hair gel than Fabregas. Those were some serious spikes.

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