Word: spaining
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...certainly experienced some. First there was the realization that having ourselves arrived in Europe on Friday, our tickets for a Sunday match would be delivered promptly the following Tuesday. A visceral, sinking feeling, that - something Sweden must have endured in the waning seconds of its last gasp loss to Spain. Then we nearly got trampled by Russian fans swarming on to a stadium shuttle bus-a frightening feeling. That could well describe Italy's experience when the Dutch ran riot over them in their opening match, 3-0. We also got hauled off the road in Salzburg by a motorcycle...
...finished to give the throng of supporters shouting "Roos-y-a" the feeling that the Mighty Bear, which won the first Euro in 1960 as the CCCP, was back. Yet coach Guus Hiddink has already warned his team not to be naïve. The Russians couldn't handle Spain's Fernando Torres and David Villa, and the Dutch are yet to peak...
...play from the opening round suggests the semis could be Holland against Spain, Portugal against Turkey. It's tough to bet against a team riding its momentum like Turkey is at the moment. And counting Germany out is always a bad idea. But Holland against Spain - you can imagine a 5-3 final score - could be the game of the tournament, assuming the Spaniards can manage a way through a depleted Italy. And why not? Spain has two superb finishers in Torres and Villa and an equally lethal midfield. The Italians, who turned their first round into a three-part...
...didn't look like it after Russia's first game at Euro 2008, when they were thrashed 4-1 by Spain, who immediately joined Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands - all impressive winners in the first round of games - as early favorites. The Russians can argue, with some justice, that the scoreline against Spain didn't reflect the skill they showed. But whatever happens at the tournament, Russian football has already strung together a run of small successes, rekindling memories of some terrific teams - at both club and national level - from the 20 years after World...
...takes more than bulging pockets to create national footballing brilliance and depth, as the defeat by Spain proved. But cash always helps. "Money alone is no guarantee, but without a lot of money you don't stand even a chance," says French coach Rolland Courbis, who once directed clubs including Bordeaux, Marseilles and Alania Vladikavkaz in the Russian republic of North Ossetia. "Russia has the major resources: money, a huge population and people who know football. Now it's a question of competence in how well the system can be organized, and the focus kept on long-term development...