Match Day 1 Review

So many moments from the first round to choose from, but I think that the highlight for me was one of these 2: Italy losing to a team wearing bright orange shirts, white shorts, and powder blue knee-high socks (where’s the Magnum P.I. moustache?) or Italy surrendering their first goal of the tournament because the goalie knocked over his own player and he pretended to be hurt on the sidelines.

Day 1 saw host Switzerland play very well yet lose the game and their best player to injury. Day 2 saw host Austria play well, yet lose to Croatia on a terrible call for a penalty kick – ensuring that all favorites won the first 4 games, whether they deserved it or not. But Portugal did indeed deserve the win – and I’m not just saying that to keep this guy happy... Not the best of starts to the tournament. Then Day 3 was a glorious day as Romania played inspired to deny the stonewall French any passage of their own en route to a 0-0 draw. Then the Orange outshone the Azzurri and we had ourselves some action! Day 4 saw a lively game out of Russia before Spain outclassed them in a 4-1 goal fiesta. Greece inexplicably tried to play keep-away on their own half even when down a goal, and the Swedes would have none of that.

Awards:

Best goal: Lukas Poldoski’s second against Poland. After his German teammate whiffs, Lukas calmly demonstrates how to properly volley a shot home. Would you like to see the highlight set to the sounds of European techno dance music? Of course you would.

Best flop. Ivica Olic of Croatia with his Oscar performance in winning the deciding penalty kick. Sorry no youtube link, but that’s probably a good thing.

Most random moment: in the introduction of the lineups, we are told that Sergio Garcia is on the bench for Spain. So does that mean he gets 70 warmups before kicking a penalty kick?

As for the standings, thanks to Romania’s fine performance, they have propelled Lisa McWingandaprayer into a very tentative first since her 3 chips on Romania constitute half of the point haul for the Transylvanian Orchestra. But if we put aside that pipedream, Ukari Figgs looks like she's in a good position with a positive importance factor for Croatiacheaters, the Dutch, and Sweden.

By the way, Austria, no need to get desperate yet...