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Matchday 1 had a whole whirlwind of shocks, dazzling displays and controversy as the opening rounds of matches brought about a total 16 goals over 8 games.Hosts looking good
The Swiss and Austria came away from Matchday 1 with solid performances despite their respective defeats. Switzerland were unlucky to not at least grab a point against the Czech Republic and Austria was even cursed after totally dominating Croatia in the second half of their match. The next few games should prove interesting for the co-hosts as I expect more surprises to come from them. A pity Alexendre Frei has to miss the whole of what should be his last Euro now due to that nasty accident he had in the first half. Seeing him in tears was bad =(
World Champs stunned!
No one could have expected a 3-0 drubbing by the Dutch as the Italians really looked lost without the steady Fabio Cannavaro marshalling the backline. But to their credit, Holland were very impressive and looked menacing on all fronts. They're unfamiliar looking defence was stable and they played quick, flowing football which was easy on the eyes. Elsewhere, former Euro champs France were too cautious and were made to pay by coming away with a just a point against a stubborn Romania. They were also clearly lacking the invention of Vieira and talismanic skipper Thierry Henry. Germany were at they're usual best and looked comfortable against Poland while Spain finally look like shaking off their 'under-achievers' tag with a 4 goal tally against Russia.
So much for the hype
Leading up to Euro '08, there was so much hype and buzz being created about how Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema would finally shine at the international stage. After their first matches though, they failed to make any significant impact for their respective teams and were disappointing by their standards. Much was also said about Fernando Torres who for all his goalscoring exploits for Liverpool, could only manage a 54-min goalless display.
There were still enough bright sparks elsewhere to suggest that this could still be the most entertaining Euro yet. Lukas Podolski pulled of a clinical performance and grabbed 2 goals. Wesley Sneijder was also smoking hot, scoring 1 and looking very threatening as a creative force. Nothing more can be said about David Villa as he grabbed a superb hat-trick and the current top spot in the Golden Boots list. Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic finally ended his 3-year goal drought for country as he silenced his critics with a wonder strike which looks set to be one of the goals of the tournament so far.
It was an interesting enough matchday and I'll be looking forward to more goals in the next round of matches when teams start to open up abit and shake off their 'first match jitters'.
What's next?
Italy should bounce back against Romania and it will be interesting to see what comes out of the France-Holland match when Thierry Henry returns. I don't see much surprises elsewhere. Maybe a Czech surprise against Portugal but that's it. The Spain-Sweden encounter should also be an interesting one and Croatia have an opportunity to send out the message that they can mix it up with the best provided they get a result against Germany.
Player of Matchday 1 - David Villa
Team of Matchday 1 - Holland
Goal of Matchday 1 - Lukas Podolski's stunning volley against Poland
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