The Round Football Column 06.05.08: 157th Edition – Euro 2008 Group D preview
Posted by Tim O'Sullivan on 06.05.2008
Can Group D finally be the making of Spain? Thoughts on the group that includes the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sergio Ramos and the reigning champions - One Click Away.
Three groups down, one to go.
Can Spain finally do it? Can they?
GREECE
Surely lightning can't strike twice…….surely?
Greece's win in 2004 was insane. They sneaked through the groups and then turned into some ruthless animals in the knockouts. First it was the French, then the Czechs, before beating Portugal on their own turf in the final. They have the same squad and very relevantly, they have the same manager with those horribly effective tactics.
In such a nothing group you would expect them to sail through comfortably, but there's still something insanely boring about them. Gekas and Basinas are decent, I'm sure they'll have that same old camaraderie and a recent friendly win at Portugal was encouraging, but surely, surely, surely they can't do any better than to scrape out of the group.
RUSSIA
There's something about Guus Hiddink, isn't there? He has his best player (Andrei Arshavin) suspended for the opening two games, they lost 3-0 to lowly England and their star striker Pavel Pogrebnyak is likely to miss the whole tournament through injury.
However, there's something about Hiddink that makes you think you can't discount any of his teams. At this level its probably not a good enough reason to predict them qualifying, but he certainly does have that unique x-factor.
As for the stars who will be playing from the outset, Igor Akinfeev, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Yuri Zhirkov and the rapid Vladimir Bystrov will be the ones to watch. Having said that, they'll need to bring their A-game to reach the quarter-finals.
SWEDEN
It's not the 1994 World Cup anymore. Hell, its not 2006 anymore. Sweden are really poor and deceptively one of the three weakest teams in the tournament.
They've got absolutely nothing in midfield outside of the good, yet kind of overrated Kim Kallstrom and their defence looks extremely vulnerable.
I really hope Zlatan Ibrahimovic finally shows the masses his Serie A form, because none of my mates seem to believe me when I tell them is really is good. No, no, no…. I mean really good.
Either way, I see them finishing bottom here and if it happens people shouldn't be as surprised as they'll undoubtedly make out.
Seriously though, they've surely got to do something this time?! They've got a really easy group in my opinion, but part of me can't help but feel that they will storm through the group before getting knocked out by a big team, like with the 3-1 France defeat at the World Cup two years ago.
Having said that, I like the fact that they have kept the same manager, however much of a racist, moody old gimp he is. Stuff like that seems imperative at this level and this continuity could be the making of them this summer.
No one cares about stuff like that though. It's all about the players and they really are some special ones. So special in fact that one of David Villa or Cesc Fabregas will probably be warming the bench.
Of course, all eyes will be on Fernando Torres and I see no reason why he can't win the golden boot this summer. He has bags of confidence and even better players supporting him than at Anfield.
Elsewhere, Iker Casillas is the best keeper in the world, Sergio Ramos and Joan Capdevila are two of the finest full-backs in the world, Marcos Senna and Xavi could dominate any midfield, Andres Iniesta is still the most underrated footballer in world football and that's before we even speak about Guiza, Villa, Albiol or Fabregas.
I hate Carlos Puyol and I worry they'll bottle it under the pressure when it matters, but there's no denying the fact that it really could be their time.
