Day Five

We've seen everyone now. These were the first games with teams we'd seen before. And there's poignancy in the fact. It's now two years until we see a team for the first time in a major international football tournament. The clock is ticking, people, the clock is ticking. Enjoy yourselves, enjoy yourselves, ...

Greece 1 Czech Republic 2

I can't believe I called Ireland v Croatia the comedy game before I'd seen this one. I'm not sure about running it before the dramatic one though. I don't think Sophocles would have approved.

I missed the first goal as I was making a cup of tea. A foolish mistake, it's clearly not the kind of tournament where you can do that.

As I was putting the milk in I heard the commentator say he was relieved by the Greek selection. "There was a concern that the back four would have twenty eight syllables in their names". Worse, there would have been two Papadopouloses and a Papastathopoulos. Fortunately for everyone having to speak or type Papastathopoulos was suspended and one of the Papadopouloses was injured, so neither were available.

The Greeks might have stopped the second goal if they had been. I wouldn't have trusted their back four to carry a table, never mind hold off the dynamic Czech attack. Four corners, four defenders, it would have baffled them. Six minutes in, Gebre Selassie made one of his overlapping runs down the right, picked up the pass that came through the line unchallenged and knocked it back across the box, past the keeper. Two of the three players chasing it were Greek defenders, but somehow Pilar got the first touch with his knee, and bumped it into an empty net.

The Greek team really are a depressingly poor watch for a hopeful blogger. I've been waiting all these years to write a post that compares them to Achilles or the 300 Spartans, and they've never yet given me a chance. The fans dress in bronze age helmets, but they never get the heroes they deserve. It wouldn't be so bad if they lost heroically, but they never go out with a bang, it's always a whimper.

They did get the ball in the net after 40 minutes with Fotakis' header, but it was given offside. It was very tight, but looked level. It would have galvanised some teams, but it seemed to have the opposite effect on Greece.

Finally the Czechs gave them one back themselves. A limp pass from Samaras bounced amiably into the penalty area, and Cech went to grab it. Somehow he fluffed it, and it rolled to Gekas, who kicked it over an unguarded line and into the net.

Cech tried to blame the defender, Sivok, who'd been coming towards him at the time, but replays show he'd missed the ball completely before Sivok got anywhere near him. They did bump slightly afterwards, but a goalkeeper needs to be able to grab a straightforward ball and hold on to it through a collision in those situations. As far as I could see Sivok was guilty of nothing but having a Vulcan name.

The goal gave Greece some encouragement, but they never seriously troubled the Czechs themselves. Ignoring their freak year in 2004, Greece's record at major tournaments is played 14, won 1, drawn 2, lost 11. Now they have to play Russia.

Poland 1 Russia 1

This was the one we'd been waiting for in Group A. Poland were at home, and it was Russia's national day. There was also the political angle.

Which was rather sharper than for instance the one between Holland and Germany. Germany occupied Holland for five years, and were booted out two thirds of a century ago. The Russian occupation of Poland lasted two centuries, with a 30 year hiatus, and only finished in 1989. A stronger analogy might be to the Germany v Holland final of 1974, if the German support that day had displayed a banner saying This is Germany. Which they may have done, given that it was. Warsaw isn't in Russia though, and the Russian fans that chose to wave a banner saying it was may not have trying too hard to move on from a difficult past.

Officialdom were doing their bit to raise the tone. They covered the stadium in well meaning banners. RESPECT: say no to racism they said - in English. In English?? For fuck's sake.

This amounts to saying you know those people you don't like, the ones who bestride the world with imperialist fervour, whose money markets fuck you over like a good 'un, whose moneybags clubs take all your best players? They're the ones that don't like racism. I don't like pop tarts, but if someone told me bankers hated them I might see them in a different light.

Yes, you're right, let's focus on the football. And an excellent game it was too. The Poles had the best of the first half. After 18 minutes Polanski thought he'd scored from a Lewandovski pass, but it was just offside. It was Russa that scored first though, after 37 minutes, when an Arshavin free kick was headed on by Dzagoev. It followed a violent foul by Wasilevski, so there was some justice in it, but it was a kick in the teeth for the home crowd.

Lewandowski had some chances, as he did against Greece. He shot narrowly over from 25 yards in the first half, then went round the keeper in the first minute of the second, but the keeper got back at him. A few minutes later the keeper just beat him to a loose ball on the edge of the 6 yard box.

They got their equaliser on 57 minutes. It was a counter-counterattack, a clever trick if you can pull it off.

Poland were going forward with the ball, but lost it. Arshavin charged down the pitch and laid the ball along the edge of the Polish box, but it was intercepted by a Polish defender. They gathered the ball and played it up to their forwards, who were still in position from the previous attack. Obraniak passed it to Blaczszowsky, who cut inside and hit the best shot of the tournament so far.

The rest of the game was a tense affair, especially for me. I was drinking Guinness, and didn't want to miss any of the action, so I was waiting for somebody to be injured or substituted so I could go for a piss. In the end biology won, as it always will in this crassly physical world, then as soon as I got back Polanski had to go off for treatment. I didn't miss anything crucial, but it got me thinking anyway.

There's a sports bar up the Gloucester Road which has solved this problem. The urinals are positioned in front of a narrow window, starting at shoulder height. This protects the drinker's modesty, whilst the slanted glass enables him to see the TV on the wall just below.

There are times when it's supremely satisfying to be in a space which has been designed with your needs in mind. Surely a simple amendment to the next Housing Act could oblige developers to introduce this innovation in all new housing?

The full time whistle set up a tense final day on which all four teams might get through to the quarter finals, but no-one was guaranteed to. Any combination of two is still possible except Poland and the Czechs. In fact Poland now have to beat the Czechs or they don't progress. On their showing tonight I wouldn't bet against it.