Germany and Denmark steal a march

I knew there would be more goals last night! Pity we were only served one per game in two matches which were pretty similar albeit with different outcomes. 

The Dutch outplayed their Danish opponents but lacked the finishing power necessary and when they fell behind to sucker-punch goal, all of a sudden the Danes looked imperial in defence. I heard Jan Molby on the radio earlier in the day confidently assessing the game and saying that his countrymen would get a result and that they had identified the weaknesses in the Dutch side. I smiled at this but he was proven right. The Dutch, for all their attacking flair and total football looked ordinary at the back every time the Danes got forward. They didn't deserve a second but they nearly got one. Will the Dutch now splinter as they have done so many times at finals?


In the other game, a strangely negative Portugal got what they deserved. Beaten by the only goal. After the Germans finally unlocked the door with a superb header from Mario Gomez, the Portugese came out-of-their-shell and launched attack after attack which begged the question "why not earlier?"


If you watched the game, two things caught my eye. What was going on with Cristiano Ronaldo in the first half? He played like he was in final audition for the Masons. He appeared to have the left leg of his shorts taped and up was sporting a choirboy hairstyle. After the break he had let his trousers down and gelled his hair up?


Was I the only one who also couldn't look at close-ups of Mario Gomez without being reminded by Tommy Cooper?

Finally, if you caught the South Africa v England bruiser in the rugby, spare a thought this morning for the Boks captain Jean De Villiers. I reckon he will be feeling particularly poorly as a consequence of two massive running tackles he put in on Manu Tuilagi. Tuilagi needs to be stopped from gaining any speed once he receives the ball and on both occasions yesterday he had made four or five strides when De Villiers went for him. The results were comprehensive as De Villiers was put into crushing reverse and laid out on the turf. He was already sporting a cut above his right eye and crunched side of his face from the first attempt but, credit the man, he was equally fearless second time around.


C'mon Ire-land!