Hat-trick hero, favourites upset, hosts ‘go home’ and Polish sour grapes all feature in today’s good, the bad and the ugly. Click on the links to discover more about each story.
Good
David Villa’s hat trick for Spain against Russia was the stand out performance after the first set of matches leading many to tip Spain for the overall title. One team that had been heavily tipped was Germany but they were brought down to earth by a wonderful performance by Croatia in the first shock of the tournament. Portugal are living up to their billing of dark horses by qualifying for the quarter finals after a Ronaldo inspired performance against the Czech Republic. Staying with Portugal it was also good for Chelsea as they have a new manager, Felipe Scolari the current Portuguese coach. How it might affect the Portugal side remains to be seen.
Bad
The host nation Switzerland are out after only four days of the tournament after losing to Turkey 2-1 on Wednesday night. Six years and millions of euros wasted? It was also bad for Bastian Schweinsteiger who received the first red card of the tournament after lashing out at a Croatian player in frustration.
Ugly
Sour grapes from the Dutch coach of Poland Leo Beenhakker as he blames the referee for the Poles 1-1 draw with the hosts Austria last night. However, he did not mention that his team’s goal was clearly offside nor that his side were totally outplayed by the supposedly weaker Austrians. Pretty ugly indeed.
The Times – June 16, 2008
“David Villa… has indicated that Liverpool would be his preferred destination this summer if … A£25 million or so that would be needed to prise him from Valencia.”
… in mouthwatering anticipation of prising the title out of Old Trafford.