Kicking off a few surprises

Last week I highlighted the disparity in club and national performance for two players contracted to Arsenal – Robin van Persie and Niklas Bendtner.
However, it was two other Gunners who stole the headlines at the start of the European Championships.

First up was the 22-year-old Polish wonderkid, Wojciech Szczesny, who proved that the weight of the nation was too much to handle. Initially he gifted the 10-man Greek side an unlikely equaliser before seeing red after a reckless lunge, in the process conceding a penalty. 

At least a wonderful first touch from his replacement, Tyton, ensured that Szczesny can reappear after the Group stage if results go the way of Poland.

Next came a workmanlike performance from Arsenal’s forgotten man, Andrei Arshavin. One frustrated Gooner lamented that Arshavin should have more pent-up energy than any other player having strolled his way through the last two seasons. Yet, he showed what the faithful fans at the Emirates have been missing with a performance of pride, creativity, innovation and – really – industry.

Stationed on the left of a three-man forward line, his reverse pass to set up Russia’s second was sublime, while his movement, flicks and back-heels had the Czech defence chasing thin air and sliding past on the sodden surface.

There were two black marks from what was otherwise a wonderful advert for the championship at Wroclaw – the racist monkey chanting aimed at the Czech Republic’s Theodor Selassie, and a number of violent attacks on stewards at the Wroclaw Stadium, both conducted by Russian fans.

At least UEFA has acted, although one had to wonder who is driving the investigation.  In the run-up to the championship, there had been threats from players that they would walk off the pitch if subjected to racist chanting.

It was disappointing to hear in the press that the UEFA president, Michel Platini, missed an opportunity to take a real stance against the hooligans. Rather than supporting the victims, he chose to suggest a booking would be more appropriate. While I appreciate that he was trying, I presume, to insist that the referee controls the game, I certainly do not agree that punishing those not wishing to be subjected to sustained vitriolic abuse is appropriate. 

The spectre of racism at the tournament has to be eradicated from the top.

However, let’s hope the football authority will send an early message to fans visiting Poland and Ukraine – and indeed those locals hoping their teams’ participation will continue into the quarter-finals and beyond – that such behaviour is unacceptable and will impact on the fortunes of their team.

At least the Polish police are not being subjected to the same level of scrutiny and malpractice allegations as other global sporting hosts, despite them engaging in some innovative crowd controls. 

In addition to tear gas, other eye-watering techniques include dogs specially trained to target the testicles and futuristic sonic rays designed to induce the involuntary emptying of bladders that the eighth successive beverage had not managed. One can only imagine the dogs being trained with pictures of the recent naked student protests at the F1 in Canada.

It’s not just the Polish hooligans that have been firing blanks. The Dutch led the way in their match against the Great underdog Danes by failing with every one of their incredible 29 attempts on goal. The 1-0 defeat of the Oranje leads to an intriguing tussle for the Dutch against arch-rivals Germany tonight.

All is not lost for the Dutch. They can take solace from the fact that Spain secured the World Cup having lost their first game in South Africa in 2010 and the Oranje themselves lost to the Soviet Union 1-0 in 1988 when they last won the European title, beating the same opposition in the final 2-0.

Their opponents, sporting seven players from Bayern Munich, got their tournament off to an inauspicious, yet ultimately successful, start against Portugal. One of these, Mario Gomez, was effectively the difference between Germany and Portugal, not just as a result of his goal but also in demonstrating the benefit of having an out-and-out goalscorer.

Gomez managed a total of eight touches of the ball yet converted these into three shots on goal (all on target), one of which went in. 

Portugal had plenty of possession and territory yet had no-one effective in the middle. For all the effort and industry required in the modern day and age with statistics monitoring distance covered, passes made and completed, tackles and interceptions, Gomez demonstrated that goals scored is the most valuable commodity.

Composed on the ball and majestic in possession, the Dutch will need a cutting edge and I presume this means that Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will be given more pitch-time in the remaining matches.

Croatia’s win over the unfortunate Irish means the pressure will be on both of their remaining opponents, Spain and Italy, who both suggested that they will be able to cut open the Croatian defence.

I expect Italy will need a result against the Irish in their decider on the 18th, who may want to exit the tournament in a free-flowing style.

Despite conceding much of the possession to Spain, as expected, the Italians shaded the territory and created the better chances, forcing Casillas into a number of spectacular saves.

It was startling to see the Spanish coach, Vincente del Bosque, in a move that mirrors a strategy often used by Barcelona, start without any out-and-out strikers. However, Spain do not have Lionel Messi. While the world’s greatest player was notching a hat-trick against Brazil, the late introduction of the £50 million man, Fernando Torres, will have done nothing to boost his confidence – and it showed with three late misses.

However, I still expect to see the Italians and Spaniards have too much for their opposition later this week.