FAVOURITES EMERGING

After two games each played through Groups A, B and C, three favourites have emerged whilst the others struggle to beat each other down far enough to make it to the quarterfinals.

Of the three who are already through to the next round, Portugal, Croatia and Holland, it is difficult to say who is the better side but surely quite simply to be impressed by all three of them.

Portugal cruised past a solid Czech side on Wednesday night by a deceptive 3-1 margin with Ronaldo scoring once and assisting on another, the final last second goal that made the match seem more of a route than it was. They have shown fluidity and pace throughout both of their matches so far and as expected, have made it through with two victories in two games.



On Thursday, Croatia stunned Germany with such ease that it appeared they were actually the better football team, not just lucky in their 2-1 victory.

Despite the fact Germany controlled the majority of possession, 56 per cent overall, a lack of offensive ingenuity cost them. Through a combination of deliveries from open play and set-pieces, German manager Löw's men showered 19 crosses into Croatia's penalty area, yet managed just four shots on target. Bilić's side, in contrast, delivered the ball into Germany's box on ten occasions, but their ability to break quickly out of defence, channelling their play through midfield linchpin Luka Modrić, allowed them to register eight shots on Germany's goal, with custodian Jens Lehmann beaten twice. With two efforts on target each, Olić and Niko Kranjčar were responsible for half their country's firepower.

Germany must now beat Austria, who drew with one point against Poland, in order to advance to the next round for the right to meet Portugal. Croatia are on their way to a match against what would appear to be the Czech Republic, provided, of course, the Czechs are able to put away Turkey who, after their 2-1 victory eliminated Switzerland, are still capable of pulling another upset.

And yesterday produced the two finest matches in one day of the comepetition.



First, Italy hung on by their fingernails to a qualifier when they managed a draw against Romania when Gigi Buffon saved a Mutu penalty as well as Italy's final gasp to avoid a humiliatingly early elimination.

The Italians appeared to have been outplayed by the surprising Romanians however through guile and luck were able to drag a point out of a seemingly hopeless situation. Their destination is no longer entirely in their own hands as they must rely upon a Dutch victory over Romania next Tuesday and then will have to beat France themselves in order to advance.

But perhaps the biggest news of the tournament, on the heels of stunning the Italians last week, the Oranje Machine rolled over France with ease, 4-1. Nederland naar kwartfinale EK

Funny thing is, the Dutch were outplayed for a large part of the second half, despite their 1-0 lead, by the French who finally seemed to wake out of their tournament slumber and play like a team who looked like they had a little imagination.

But it was the Dutch counterattack, the speed and the length covered with amazing surety that saw the Dutch go ahead 2-0 and then 3-1, just seconds after the French had scratched back that impressed the most.

With the Dutch having outscored the two finalists of the last World Cup, Italy and France by a stunning 7-1 aggregate, no matter what anyone else does leading up to the quarterfinals, the Dutch most surely have to have established themselves as favourites. Who they will meet in the next round depends on the matches being played on Saturday between Sweden v Spain and Russia v defending Euro champs Greece.

Top Three

1. Holland
2. Portugal
3. Croatia

4. Spain
5. Germany
6. France
7. Romania