Euro 2004 -
Day Two review
13/06/04 | by Alastair Gunn
Switzerland 0 Croatia
0
Day two in Portugal started off much as day one had finished. Just as the Spaniards had contained ten man Russia to keep excitement at a premium, so Croatia and Switzerland did their best to prevent the scoreboard flickering.
Quite who they were trying to stop scoring was never truly apparent though, and the match will be remembered, it at all, solely for an abysmal headed miss by Ivan Olic. The comedy of errors began with the most elaborately crap offside trap known to man which left five Croatian players in the penalty box with only the Swiss keeper and an inviting cross for company, followed by a very good header drawing a top class save from Simunic and Stiel respectively, and then the piece de resistance from Olic.
The second half saw Johann Vogel (to Swiss football what Nobby Stiles was to us in 1966 only not surrounded by superior players and thus more important) sent off after 50-minutes. The second bookable is already a recurring theme in the championship and all the worse for it. Like before, the sending off said more about the ethos of the referees than the intent of Vogel's challenges. He will miss the England game.
Since that was all that really happened the match report could end right here. I could skim over the penalty appeals for both sides and the players who stood out and not deprive the reader of much. In fact, I think I am doing you a favour. So I will.
A tepid encounter between two teams who probably will not be welcome beyond the group sages has given this England fan a lot of cause for optimism.
Switzerland: Stiel, Haas, Mueller, H Yakin (Gygax 86), Spycher, Wicky (Henchoz 83), Vogel, Huggel, M Yakin, Chapuisat (Celestini 54),
Frei.
Subs not used: Zuberbuhler, Berner, Zwyssig, Magnin, Barnetta, Rama, Vonlanthen.
Sent off: Vogel (50).
Booked: Vogel, Huggel, Stiel.
Croatia: Butina, Simic (Srna 61), R Kovac, Simunic, Zivkovic, Mornar, N Kovac, Bjelica (Rosso 74), Olic (Rapaic 45), Prso, Sokota.
Booked: Prso, Bjelica, Rapaic, Zivkovic, Mornar.
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Lucillo Batista (Portugal)
England 1 France 2
Later in the day, with the beer flowing, and my glasses misplaced, the biggest match of this millennium for English football kicked off in Lisbon at the alternative Stadium of Light. If ever there was a match I was happy to watch through short-sighted, beer-goggled, mildly-biased eyes this was it.
By big, no one ever meant important. They meant significant. The present England squad, even without four top centre backs inspires great confidence in many people. This match would tell us if that hope was justified. It would tell us if all the hype really was worth being hyped up as much as it was. It would tell us whether the ghost of 1966 could finally be laid to rest after haunting the England team for many years. Was Beckham going to be the ghost buster?
Of course, after the match, no one is truly sure. We played very well, even I could see that. The defence was solid, more solid than I expected and good enough to win an international championship. The midfield may not have been able to deliver much down the left, but Rooney never was the man for crosses and there are better ways of getting Owen to score. The relative quiet of the latter is no cause for concern. We were up against the second best defence there is.
However, we did lose. Even now that seems hard to understand and was impossible for me to stomach at the time (I can normally hold my drink. I think Zidane's penalty soured the beer within). If that had been the final, and it might be yet, we would have lost.
Of course, next time, Beckham will have practised putting his penalty the other way. David James will know what to do for Zidane free kicks. Gerrard will not play silly back passes in the final seconds of the final game (and to be fair that was only his first tournament game, lest we assume to think otherwise). And after all that, we will probably forget about Henry and get torn to pieces on the counterattack.
So, your honour, the prosecution calls its next witness, Switzerland and again the testimony will be interpretable and inconclusive. The truth is that this team is good enough to win the whole thing (so be excited) yet bad enough to be held by Switzerland or Croatia and not make the next round (so be apprehensive, dismissive and cynical). Believe it or not, the really big game is the next one, and that will always be the case.
What I will claim beyond dispute is that Frank Lampard the younger is one hell of a player. He played more football this season than any other player at this tournament and is still playing at the top of his game. He was, I understand, unanimously voted Player of the Season by the Arsenal squad and is certainly the best player Chelsea has or could have in their squad.
The idea that Gerrard was the outstanding English midfielder this season is a reasonable one, David Beckham's popularity explainable. Lampard is playing better than the both of them. Nicky Butt's unfortunate injury has made further redundant a question that should never even have been asked. We will probably need more than one hero to get somewhere in this tournament. At least we know that we have that at worst.
France: Barthez, Gallas, Thuram, Silvestre (Sagnol 79), Lizarazu, Pires (Wiltord 76), Vieira, Makelele, Zidane, Trezeguet, Henry.
Subs Not Used: Landreau, Boumsong, Dacourt, Desailly, Govou, Marlet, Pedretti, Rothen, Saha.
Booked: Pires, Silvestre.
England: James, Gary Neville, King, Campbell, Ashley Cole, Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes (Hargreaves 76), Rooney (Heskey 76), Owen (Vassell 69).
Subs Not Used: Robinson, Bridge, Butt, Carragher, Joe Cole, Dyer, Phil Neville, Terry.
Booked: Scholes, Lampard, James.
Attendance: 64,000
Referee: Markus Merk (Germany).