The group phase has come and gone: so I thought I’d look back. Since I’m getting almost 1,000 hits a day on my pre-tournament predictions, perhaps we should look back on those as well (and wonder why people are bothering?)
Best Goal in my View:
Nihat puts Turkey through to the quarterfinals:
The skill and the significance of the goal make it goal of the tournament for the group phase in my view. An outstanding goal, a historic goal, in a match that will be talked about any time the Czechs and Turks meet on the pitch for the rest of our lifetime, and probably in every Euro they appear in as well.
Biggest Surprise (Team):
It has to be Holland. With all due respect to Croatia, who were tremendous, Holland’s group phase has to go down as legendary. Italy 3-0, France 4-1, and then Romania 1-0 in a game they didn’t need and Romania could get through with a win. That’s not just 1st place in the group of death, that is 8-1 against the group of death!
Biggest Surprise (Player):
I’m going to pick Gio. He has just been everywhere for Holland, and he looked as dilapidated as the rest of Barcelona during the season.
Biggest Disappointment (Team) :
An easy one. The French looked uninspired and uninspiring all tournament. Bring on the BenNasri era.
Biggest Dissapointment (Player):
I’d pick Anelka, but how could this man get anyone’s hopes up at this point? Overall, I’d have to say that Franck Ribery was very disappointing given how incredible he has been since the ‘06 World Cup.
Player of the Group Phase: David Villa, among others, has had an incredible tournament, but for me, I am still most dazzled by the performance put in by Cristiano Ronaldo. I thought he was clearly the world’s best player coming in, he looks even better in this tournament. His presence, and his ability to distribute, to share the ball, and to get his teammates involved has been, in my view, somehow even better for country than for club. As a fan of the beautiful game, there has to always be a part of you that wants to see the world’s most dominant player dominate on the big stage. So far, so good for Ronaldo.
My Group Phase Best XI:
Akinfeev (RUS)
Gio (NED) Corluka (CRO) Goian (ROM) Grosso (ITA)
Van Der Vaart (NED) Sanil (TUR) De Rossi (ITA) Ronaldo (POR)
Villa (SPA) Pavlyuchenko (RUS)
Reserves: Buffon GK (ITA), Senna MF (SPA), Sionko MF (CZE), Hietinga D (NED), Podolski F (GER)
This would be my vote for the Best XI at any rate, I’m sure I’m missing some great performances, but I felt like these players really anchored the good things that happened for their sides.
Best Group Phase Storylines:
- Dutch Masterpiece – see above. Historic group campaign.
- Turkey’s comeback – It’s a cruel game, but that’s part of why we watch with our fingers stuck in the couch. Games like this take the Kantian out of all of us, because we wish for nothing more when our side is losing and we could not feel more aggrieved when it happens to us.
- Ronnie’s world – he has been brilliant. A joy to behold.
- David Villa is now expensive – Arsenal, amongst other covet him. I hope they covet him twice as much now.
- France and Italy – I think the right team got through between them. Both have seemed disorganized and tired at points, but De Rossi, Buffon, and Grosso have been lively for Italy and they suffered the wrong end of several controversial decisions. France just looked bad, no conditions, no exceptions.
- Host nations – While the Swiss and Austrians both were knocked out, both sides played well and gave entertaining matches for the fans of the sport. All I can say is that I wish the USA had been knocked out with such spirit and character in 2006.
- Rise of Russia? – Russia looked really good yesterday. They have a legendary manager and dangerous attacking pieces, and arguably the best keeper in the world. Couple the national team’s success with Zenit St. Petersburg’s UEFA Cup triumph, and it seems like Russian football may be back big time.
- Umm… Germany? - The Germans looked great against Poland, dynamic, fast, fit. They looked less so in their last two games. If the old Germany doesn’t show up today, then they won’t be showing up again in this tournament at all.
- Mind of Mutu – He missed the penalty against Italy, and he missed some chances in the finale against Holland. I love the season this guy had, let’s hope that he can keep his head in a good place after this tournament.
- Croatia – they’re good. They have better players than we thought. Slavan Billic is a “real deal” manager. We have been given notice.
Who made it through: Who I said would make it through:
Portugal Portugal
Turkey Turkey
Croatia Croatia
Germany Germany
Netherlands France
Italy Italy
Spain Spain
Russia Russia
I had some of the seedings wrong, but I did get 7 out of the 8 teams that went through, which for me is a historic feat. What is par for the proverbial course is that in getting 7 out of 8 correct, the team that didn’t make it is the on I had winning it all. Some revised knockout phase thoughts in the next post, which, I suppose, you will read before this one.
