Such has been the trauma of England’s build-up that you can forgive a certain feeling that they must simply get back to absolute basics and start again. Given the intriguing introduction of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, this didn’t quite go back that far, but did go far enough.
Eight years to be precise.
Aside from the fact that England became the first team to have played a second 18-year-old at a European Championship after Wayne Rooney’s trailblazing tournament eight years ago, this was right back to the middle of the Sven-Goran Eriksson era: a good start, an early goal, an eventual withdrawal and a rather stale, if solid enough, second half. What price, then, a quarter-final defeat on penalties?
Certainly, despite all the difficulties, England look like they are going to be a tough team to beat and, for that, Roy Hodgson deserves an element of credit.
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Not a let-down, but not yet a lift-off
France didn’t exactly fire but did suggest enough that they could be dangerous by this tournament’s end. And that, really, is the story of Euro 2012 so far. No side has completely convinced, not even the two outright favourites in Spain and Germany. Even Russia’s performance must be put into the context of a poor Czech Republic that still threatened them early on in the second half.
By this stage of Euro 2008, all of Spain, Netherlands, Germany and Portugal had all sparkled. With every group now having played a first round of games, it’s been interesting and engaging but no team has as yet exploded.
Heads up
A massive 40% of the goals at the Euros so far have been headers. Does this say anything about defensive organisation, given how conservative football hasn’t quite worked in the tournament so far?
Perfect hosts
Ukraine’s victory over Sweden was almost too perfect: an opening win for the hosts; a comeback that tested emotions only to then ensure they were escalated; and, of course, the identity of the match winner – the country’s greatest ever player in Andriy Shevchenko. Everything came together in spectacular fashion.
Whether everything has come together for the team as a whole is another matter but, certainly, Ukraine look like they have the momentum and make-up to at least give both France and England real problems.
They dominated for long periods here and the victory was thoroughly deserved.
Euro 2012: Day 4's talking points
Sven diagrams
Such has been the trauma of England’s build-up that you can forgive a certain feeling that they must simply get back to absolute basics and start again. Given the intriguing introduction of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, this didn’t quite go back that far, but did go far enough.
Eight years to be precise.
Aside from the fact that England became the first team to have played a second 18-year-old at a European Championship after Wayne Rooney’s trailblazing tournament eight years ago, this was right back to the middle of the Sven-Goran Eriksson era: a good start, an early goal, an eventual withdrawal and a rather stale, if solid enough, second half. What price, then, a quarter-final defeat on penalties?
Certainly, despite all the difficulties, England look like they are going to be a tough team to beat and, for that, Roy Hodgson deserves an element of credit.
Not a let-down, but not yet a lift-off
France didn’t exactly fire but did suggest enough that they could be dangerous by this tournament’s end. And that, really, is the story of Euro 2012 so far. No side has completely convinced, not even the two outright favourites in Spain and Germany. Even Russia’s performance must be put into the context of a poor Czech Republic that still threatened them early on in the second half.
By this stage of Euro 2008, all of Spain, Netherlands, Germany and Portugal had all sparkled. With every group now having played a first round of games, it’s been interesting and engaging but no team has as yet exploded.
Heads up
A massive 40% of the goals at the Euros so far have been headers. Does this say anything about defensive organisation, given how conservative football hasn’t quite worked in the tournament so far?
Perfect hosts
Ukraine’s victory over Sweden was almost too perfect: an opening win for the hosts; a comeback that tested emotions only to then ensure they were escalated; and, of course, the identity of the match winner – the country’s greatest ever player in Andriy Shevchenko. Everything came together in spectacular fashion.
Whether everything has come together for the team as a whole is another matter but, certainly, Ukraine look like they have the momentum and make-up to at least give both France and England real problems.
They dominated for long periods here and the victory was thoroughly deserved.
Good day for
Bad day for
Here’s what the rest of the world thought of Ireland’s loss yesterday
FYI: Can Ireland still qualify with four points and other Group C permutations
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Aviva Stadium Damien Duff Estonia Euro 2012 Euro2012 FAI Giovanni Trapattoni group d John O’Shea Keith Andrews Kevin Doyle Lansdowne Rd Richard Dunne Robbie Keane Sean St Ledger; Glenn Whelan Shay Given Stephen hunt Stephen Ward Sweden Ukraine