The Battle of the Pyrenees

One down, three to go, Portugal duly proved they had too much for the Czech Republic, in a game which if it had not have been for the flashes of brilliance from Ronaldo, would definitely ranked as the worst game so far. Tonight we have the Shermans against Greece, which we already previewed and on Saturday night we have the battle of the Pyrenees (the mountain range which straddles France and Spain).

This is a very hard game to predict, both these teams are former European and World champions, but there is a long held belief that both these nations should have achieved more with the pool of talent available to them.

I think the problem lies with the mentality of the two nations, both Mediterranean in nature, both teams quite sometimes play with a laissez-faire attitude, it is almost if they don’t care, that classic shrug of the French shoulders, the Spanish, it is time for Siesta.

Yet on there day, they are both capable of breath taking football.

Amongst my contemporaries, there is a general consensus of opinion that Spain is over- rated. Yes we know they are reigning European and World Champions, but it is not fun to watch. The fact that Xavi or Iniesta make three million one yard passes in a game as Spain enjoy total domination of possession does not make for the type of end to end football that the punter wants to see.

As for France, who knows, they have not been very good so far, but the knockout stages are where the men are separated from the boys. I suppose on form, we have to go with Spain, Let us hope it is a good game.

On Sunday we shall preview the last Quarter-Final Italy against England