Euro 2012 - Day 2

"You going to be doing the whole drink and food thing again?" asked the good Lady Blagg this morning.

"I don't think so," I replied, "Euro food isn't as challenging as dishes from around the world and you've got a lot of other stuff to do - that front hedge needs trimming and I've got a ton of ironing that will take you hours..."

"Shame," she said, "I've bought you a couple of bottles of beer for this weekend's games. I saw them in the Supermarket and they instantly made me think of you"

"Well, if you've already bought them, it seems a pity to waste the money. I'll have them" I gallantly offered.

So it is that I sat watching today's games with a couple of bottles of 'Miserable Bastard' Hmmmm...

Anyway, is anyone else disconcerted by the way the Euro 2012 TV team end the showing of match replays by making the tournament logo appear out of the middle of the screen so that the ball / flower replaces the head of the player? For just a few seconds, European football's finest all look like Frank Sidebottom.

 (Left)

Meanwhile, Roy Hodgson has been speaking about the situation with regard to Rio Ferdinand and, although its difficult to argue with his basic tenant that he had, effectively, already decided not to take Ferdinand and now that others are injured he should just turn to those who he had already looked at, there is, unfortunately, a niggling sense that his comments don't exactly stack up.

His comment that he wouldn't take Rio as a back-up to sit on the bench, simply don't make sense and I hope this doesn't set a precedent for future tournaments. Taking Hodgson's comments at face value could mean we take the main team to, for example, Brazil and populate the rest of the squad with players who might make the grade later on.

If Martin Kelly had already been named as part of the squad but then left out, then I could see some cohesion in the argument but if a key member of the named squad drops out through injury then surely all the available players are there to be looked at again regardless of any percieved pecking order. Of course, none of this would matter a jot if John Terry wasn't due to answer a charge of racist behaviour towards Rio's little brother but, as it is, it seems once again another England boss has got caught up in something that goes beyond the basic football question of who is better at passing a ball and become embroiled in some political machinations that leave a sour taste in the mouth.

Hodgson must be hoping that Terry and Lescott don't get banned or injured. If he gets through the tournament without resorting to the bench then he might just see this through, if he needs to turn beyond Jagielka though things may rumble on for years.

Netherlands 0 Denmark 1 - Germany 1 Portugal 0

Twenty-eight attempts on goal, so BBC Commentator Jonathan Pearce tells me, but the Dutch had absolutely nothing to show for it and lost their opening game to a smartly taken goal from Michael Krohn-Dehli after 24 minutes. The goal came against the run of play and Van Persie - like Kerhazkov last night - was responsible for some profligate shooting. Denmark looked compact and made things difficult for the men in orange but the Netherlands created enough openings to win several matches and they may well rue this result.

Later on, Germany claimed a narrow victory over Portugal with Mario Gomes scoring the only goal in the 72nd minute just as he was about to be substituted. Up to that point the game was pretty sterile but, inevitably, once behind Portugal started to play and we had an exciting 20 minutes or so during which the Portugese had several good opportunities.

In a dull first half the only point of interest arrived just before half-time when Portugal's Pepe controlled the ball superbly and struck the underside of the crossbar with his shot. The ball bounced down on the line and for a tantalising moment we thought it would be another goal-line controversy to frustrate UEFA and the World governing body but, sadly, replays showed the ball clearly bounced on the line, not over, and the extra referee - who appeared to be static throughout the incident - was proved correct. If, indeed, he made any decision at all!

The second half was a little better but not much of note occured until Gomes' goal. The strike was an excellent header from a cross by Sami Khedira in a match that produced little else. Main point of interest for the neutral was the BBC pundits' attempts to get Harry Redknapp to comment on every observation one of them made.

Hansen: "Ronaldo gest wide on the right here...Harry?" and "A great tackle there by the German centre-back...Harry?". I fully expect the after-show Green room to be a fascinating place as each member of the BBC team tries to get Harry involved in the decision on what pub to go to and what restaurant to visit later.

"Where you going Alan?"

"I'm off to the toilet, Gary..... Harry?"

"Well, Alan - if you've gotta go then there's not much you can do...."