Euro Update

It's been a surprisingly entertaining Euro until now, although with the knock-out stages commencing today one expects teams to get a lot more cautious as the stakes get higher.

While talking about the group stages, you just can't miss the Dutch. They have been in red hot form and have come out of the Group of Death with flying colours. Snejider and Van der Waart have been a revelation and it's frightening to think that they have the likes of Van Persie, Robben and Huntleer warming the bench. Once they score first it is extremely difficult to come back against them as with the pace they have upfront they are lethal on the counter. What would be interesting to see is how the young team reacts to going a goal down. That would really test their character.

A couple of performances have really caught my eye until now. Croatia's upset win over Germany being one, although you have to say the Germans were quite ordinary that evening.

The game of the championships so far has to be Turkey-Czech Republic. The Czechs looked to be cruising, leading 2-1 with less than 5 min on the clock, but Nihat had other ideas. What was heartening to see is the way the senior pros, Tuncay and Nihat, conducted themselves when 2-1 down and time running out. Tuncay worked his socks off , even running the entire width of the pitch to replace the linesman's flag so that his team doesnt lose those precious seconds and then even donning the gloves when Volkan unnecessarily got himself sent off. Also when Kazim Richards hit 2 wasteful balls when in good positions on consecutive possessions, the skipper, instead of frowning at him, just told the youngster to calm down. A lesson worth learning for many of the big name stars, especially on how to deal with the inadequacies of their less talented colleagues.

I had predicted the Russians to be the surprise package for this Euro and so was delighted with the way they streamrolled Sweden yesterday after putting 2 quite uninspiring performances against Spain and Greece. You felt they lacked that little bit of quality and composure going forward and Arshavin seemed to have provided that. He was in scintillating form during Zenith St. Petersburg's amazing Uefa Cup run and he has carried it here too. They would need to improve their finishing though to stand any chance against the marauding Dutch juggernaut. I am expecting a sumptutous feast of attacking football when the 2 teams meet in the quarters at Basel. Hopefully Hiddink and Van Basten won't disappoint