By Myles Palmer
_____________________________________________
THE DAY before the game.
June, Saturday, afternoon.
I’m in the mood for tomorrow’s final.
For me, Big Phil has become Giant Phil.
And Phil can defeat anybody, even the cunning Rehhagel.
Portugal beat the neighbours, Spain, shaded the English on penalties, and then Maniche sent the Dutch home.
Was it true that the Portuguese players misinformed Spain’s Torres during the match, about the score in the other game?
Did they keep telling him, “Don’t worry, you’re through.”?
FIGO AND RONALDO can both play on both wings.
Portugal will attack with more players, with Miguel and Nuno Valente, I think, leaving Costina back with Andrade and Carvalho.
Valente never looked like a player as a kid at Leiria, but Mourinho took him to Porto and made him a winner and an international and look at him now !
Mourinho CAN improve players, so that’s interesting.
Rob Hughes called yesterday and told me that story, which he got from a driver who accidentally bumped into the back of his car and became Rob’s guide for the day.
The guy was 22 and turned out to be the Secretary of the Leiria Supporters Association, so he had seen and studied Mourinho at his first club.
PORTUGAL HAVE THE EDGE.
Figo and Ronaldo give them the edge. The ambience, the home crowd, give them the edge.
The pressure, I think, is less that it was in the Dragao in the first game, less than it was in the second game, less than it was against Spain, less than it was against England.
They are expected to win, but the weight has been lifted from Figo’s shoulders.
Figo has rediscovered the shuffles that can beat five men in a phone box.
My best friend Doug says it cruel to persevere with Pauleta, that another failure could traumatise the lad, finish him.
I haven’t given up on Pauleta yet.
After the Zidane-Vieira axis,I thought the Figo-Pauleta axis might be the most productive in the tournament.
But neither player has scored so far.
AND IT HAS NOT BEEN a tournament of strikers.
It’s been a tournament of injuries.
When Vieira was injured, France went out.
When Rooney was injured, England went out.
When Nedved was injured, the Czechs went out.
So injuries, as always, have played a huge, huge , huge part in in Euro 2004.
So Im waiting without anxiety for the last game of the football season, expecting my team to win.
I’m listening to a fantastic CD that was is one of two sent to me on Thursday.
It’s music that is spacey and funky and beautiful, haunting and soulfully romantic, exotic and traditional, a multi-textured masterpiece that reminds me of all the albums I have ever loved.
It’s called The Sea To The North and it was released in 2001 by Garth Hudson, the keyboard genius of The Band.
RAIN AT WIMBLEDON interrupted Roddick and Ancic, the new Croatian kid.
Maria Sharapova today plays Serena, who says she has played a lot of these ovas.
Sharapova’s gran says the child first picked up a tennis racket at the age of four, when the racket was as big as she was.
The family immediately noticed a freakish degree of eye-hand co-ordination.
THE LTA must wish Rooney had picked up a tennis racket.
LAST WORD ON Portugal v Greece ?
Only that German ref Markus Merk won’t let the Greeks foul and hold and tug as much as Collina allowed them to do against the Czechs.
Most finals are not memorable, but France 2 Italy 1 was a truly great match : intense, balanced, a fabulous contest in which Italy outplayed the world champions for 89 minutes.
In the 2002 World Cup final, Brazil froze in the first half hour, while Germany came out of the blocks at 100 mph and dominated and played well.
The turning point was a Marcos save, touching Neuville’s 35 yard free-kick onto the post.
The repertoire of Ronaldo and Rivaldo was hugely diminished by then.
Those two could only walk and jog and lose the ball and when Ronaldo scored the first goal against the run of play in 67 minutes I thought, “How often have I seen that? The worst player on the field scores the goal.”
People said that Ronaldo was only 80% of his former self.
That was tosh.
If he had been 80% of his former self, he would have been awesome.
But Ronaldo at 60% was still a phenomenal goalpoacher, long after he had ceased to be an electrifying athlete.
The point was, Big Phil knew how to use the skills and experience of Rivaldo and Ronaldo, knew how to anchor midfield and employ width, and let Ronaldinho run free, foraging back like a demon to win the ball and create the game.
Big Phil knows how to use Luis Figo in this final.
Any other Portuguese manager of the last 30 years, Portugal would lose to Greece.
WITH BIG PHIL, THEY WILL WIN.
Figo has always been more of a footballer than a winger, so he will be in the middle as well as wide.
All the big stars have spat, faded, flopped and departed early, leaving only a man of destiny, returning to his home city on legs that have taken a million kicks in the last 20 years, legs that can still propel him into dangerous positions
Greek keeper Antonis Nikopolidis is not great,like Edwin van der Sar, but he has been well-protected so far.
That might change if Portugal score early.
I still think that poster could be prophetic, that the winning goal will be a left-footed shot.
GARTH is playing Dark Star, which brings back too many memories.
Dark Star is a Dead number, a rolling jam that often took off into neighbouring galaxies and lasted a hour or more.
On this CD it’s richly colourful, but only six minutes.
ENJOY THE FINAL !
July 3rd 2004