The French just went down in flames to the Dutch, 4-1 and Italy got forced into a tie with Romania 1-1. This is going to be an interesting tournament, that's for sure. As a soccer (sorry, football) fan, there are a few teams who have never won a World Cup that I'd dearly like to see make a break through- the Dutch are one of them and the way they played today, they are a team to watch. The commentators, however, expressed some concern with the Dutch back line and I'd be inclined to agree with that. If they run up against a team who's decent on the counter, they could run into serious trouble.
That said, I'd watch Portugal, the Netherlands and potentially Spain and Croatia as well. Croatia got past Germany for the first time in ten years (the last time was in the 1998 World Cup in a game I remember for the German team being increasingly pissed off as the game wore on that they were losing to upstart Croatia) and Spain looked solid, producing the first hat-trick of the tournament against Russia. (The big question on Spain, of course, being when they're going go choke- or if they do!)
The big story to me is Italy. I was somewhat surprised and disheartened that they got through to the Finals of the last World Cup, though I supposed they deserved to win (though Zidane should not have head-butted that guy! Stupid way to retire) but in Euro 2008 thus far they looked dismal at best. Romania was playing hard for the win, but getting the draw suits them fine. Now that the Dutch are through, I'd imagine (as would the ESPN2 commentators) that Marco Van Basten would rest some key players which raises the potential of an opening for Romania and the very real possibility that France and Italy could be going home after the first round.
Interesting. But in the meantime, go Holland, go!
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