By Myles Palmer
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GREECE man-marked Trezeguet and Henry and beat France 1-0.
Their game is a game of defence and attrition and scoring on the break.
Greece are the oldest team, so they cannot outrun you.
But they can out-grind you.
“King Otto” Rehhagel is wily coach who is thought to be too whacky to manage a big German club.
He was OK for Werder Bremen and Kaiserslautern, but not German enough for Bayern Munich, apparently.
He was bounced out of Bayern Munich just before a Uefa Cup Final by His Royal Highness, the Emperor Franz Beckenbauer.
Rehhagel is still upset about that, so he is ultra-motivated.
He wants to show what he can do with the Bubble & Squeaks.
Palmers Green went ballistic last Friday night, when the Greeks beat France.
Mitch called from his car on the way home.
Celebrating residents filled the streets with noise and flags.
Palmers Green is an area of north London between Edmonton and Southgate.
IF GREECE man-mark Baros and Koller, they will just play into the hands of the Czechs, whose game is about creating clever angles to play runners in.
Nedved, Poborksy, Rosicky and Smicer are dribblers who can create angles, so they are equipped to play one-twos off marked strikers, and go through for a shot.
Bruckner is cute.
He told his players to take it easy in the first half and let the Danes run themselves out.
And that is exactly what happened.
Then Koller and Baros scored three goals.
This could be Denmark II.
WE HAVE HAD 28 matches now.
Only three left.
The biggest names have been knocked out, and it’s become a nice little Seventies football tournament.
With Beckham, Owen, Zidane, Henry, Totti, Del Piero, Raul and Ballack, it was a Hollywood blockbuster with a cast of superstars.
With Baros, Deco, Charisteas and Robben, it’s a nice groovy indie film.
OK, Figo and Nedved are stars, but they are the big stars of small countries.
So the last three matches will be fun.
But it’s only great if they play well.
It’s only great if they play great football in three great games or two great games out of three.
It’s only great for as long as we keep believing that the final will be a pulsating 3-2 thriller.
THE PEOPLE who are still watching it on TV now are the real football fans, not the flag-waving star-lovers who soak up Sky’s Premiership hype every day.
Those people have realised that Karel Bruckner and Big Phil are the best two managers of the 16 who started.
Euro 2004 should be good from now on.
Don’t miss those three games.
Enjoy.