Great Fighting Spirit.

Roland Penrose

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Penrose 

Today's been a bit of a slow day, everything was a bit delayed, due to Richie's painful shoulder.

So we took it easy which meant that I wasn't showered until late afternoon instead of just before midday.

We watched the football tournament, there were two games Denmark versus Germany and the Netherlands versus Portugal.

Both games were played at the same time, apparently to stop any game fixing.

It seems that in a previous tournament Germany was through to the next stage and Austria were not, so Germany let them win the game so they could go through.

The Netherlands took control of the game in the first minutes and Raphael Van de Vaart scored the first goal.

It looked encouraging but then the Dutch team seemed to lose their control and Portugal started to get more involved.

The news came that Germany had scored and so had Denmark so things did not look good for either the Netherlands or Portugal.

Then Portugal’s star striker Ronaldo scored a goal which made it one all, the Dutch did try to keep coming back into the game but they did not seem motivated.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar seemed to have a very bad game; one of the few to keep pushing was Raphael Van de Vaart, a Totteham player.

Ronaldo scored again for Portugal making 2-1, if the Dutch were to avoid leaving the competition in the qualifying stages, they would now have to score two more goals, which they did not seem capable of.

Right at the end of the game Raphael had another attempt on goal which was saved by the keeper, as was a shot on goal by Robin van Persie, the Arsenal striker.

Then the news came through that Germany had won the game with two goals while Denmark had only one goal and were leaving the competition.

The Dutch team would also be going home, they too only got one goal, it was quite sad to see the performance of the Netherlands this tournament.

One good bit of news was that Greece and fought back magnificently to beat Russia who were also now out of the tournament.

Despite that the Greek team were not tipped to do well; they have proved the pundits wrong by getting to the final stages of the qualifying round.

Now it's getting pretty exciting wandering which teams will get through to the semi-finals and final, I would love Greece to win again, they deserve it just for their fighting spirit.

May The Best Team Win.

Alice Rahon 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Rahon

Yesterday there was more football to watch, the Dutch team played against Denmark.

There was quite an air of anticipation in our neighbourhood; everyone was hoping that the Dutch team would win.

They didn't seem to be well organised, they were not creative it was as if they were lacking playmakers, even Robin van Persie, a big favourite of mine, was not playing as well as he always does for Arsenal.

They had 28 attempts on goal but never managed one, whereas the Danish team had seven attempts on goal and scored one.

No matter what they did the Dutch team were not successful, at the end of the game they were devastated that they had not scored.

It was easy to notice by the subdued atmosphere in the neighbourhood that people were disappointed by this result.

What seemed to make it worse was that the next game was between the German team and the team from Portugal.

The Portuguese team did not play creative football; they played defensively, for a draw, not attempting to do anything else.

They played like that or two thirds of the game, after Germany scored a goal, then the Portuguese finally changed their tactics, but it was too late by then.

Real shame especially as the two best players in the Portuguese team, Ronaldo and Nani, are both attacking creative footballers.

Both the Portuguese and the Dutch must play better; in order to win their next games otherwise they will both be leaving the European Championships next week.

The Dutch team’s next game is against their arch rivals, Germany this coming Wednesday, when they will be hoping for a better result.

The Dutch team only succeeded in winning the European Championship, once in 1988.

They beat Germany in the semi-finals and won against Russia in the final, in 1988 Amsterdam was delirious with joy.

This Wednesday could be very different here, because unless they play better, the Dutch will be going home mid week.

What I'm interested in is good creative football, not in the nationalities, I am looking forward to the best team winning whoever that may be.

Looking Forward

Toyen 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyen

On Tuesday night when Chelsea had successfully won against Barcelona, we both thought that it would be brilliant if Bayern München were to win against Real Madrid the next night.

Then Chelsea would have to play Bayern Munchen in the final, quite an excellent idea, we thought.

We didn't see all of the game the next night, by the time we'd switch to it, Ronaldo had scored twice for Madrid, it seemed like they were going to win.

There were no goals in  the second half, so the competition went to extra time and when that was over, it went to penalties.

And then there was the hilarious sight of Real Madrid best players missing their penalties, Ronaldo was the first, followed by Kaka.

So funny seeing the Madrid fans faces, as it dawned on them that they might not be winning, something that doesn't often happen to them.

But it was to get even better when the last German player, Sebastian Schweinsteiger stepped forward and took his penalty and won it.

Just before that happened there was a quite sad sight of the Real Madrid manager Moriniho’s down on his knees seeming to pray.

Sadly for him, skill not superstition won the game, at the end of which he disappeared down the tunnel.

The last picture we saw was a very happy Bayern Munchen players and ecstatic fans, it was a lovely sight, I'm looking forward now to 19 May and the final.