Euro 2012 started it's second go round of group action today and to be totally honest, I've been brutally underwhelmed by what I've seen so far. That hasn't really been much since I've been catching the early games with Niece 1 and Niece 2 (trying to inculcate them into the ways of 'proper' football- Niece 1 seems to be a fan of the Greeks- or 'The Blues Ones' as she calls them.) But what I've seen hasn't been that impressive really. Italy and Spain tied. England and France tied. The Czechs ate their Wheaties today giving a solid performance against the Greeks to the tune of a 2-1 win and Poland managed to salvage a tie with Russia.
A lot of ties. Not really too enthused about that.
Maybe it's the less than stellar media coverage over here but there seems to be a distinct lack of enthusiasm about Euro 2012 that's disappointing. I was actually excited for this- but they've got some work to do. (Especially England. The chunk I caught looked like typical bloody England, kicking the ball around midfield and sitting on a lead while still sending one bloody striker forward. I mean, why do they (and I, for that matter) even bother?) It could also be the setting- no offense the Poles and the Ukrainians but they've been dogged by allegations of racism on the part of their fans and the Ukraine, I'm sorry isn't showing the promise of the Orange Revolution that much anymore (as The Economist noted.)
Color me disappointed. There's still time yet but people need to up their game. One of the reasons I love this tournament is that occasionally random countries you don't expect win. (See 1992: Denmark and 2004: Greece) England has never managed to win. (I expect this will continue, though it would be nice to be surprised for once.) Ukraine, Croatia, the Czechs, the Russians all look good at this point. Everyone else has underwhelmed. We'll see what happens next week... (when, hopefully, I'll get to see more of it.)
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