Top Guiza / Arse-havin

So in the end Russia turned out to be nothing more than a team who had one exceptional game. They were brilliant against The Netherlands in the quarters but in retrospect they were poor against Spain both times, not great against a weak Greece side, and quite good against a dull Sweden.

Throughout this semi-final they looked like a determined but ultimately doomed middle-tier side against a top-tier side. They were plucky in the first half but didn't grasp their chance and were then overrun in the second half.

Anyway. That's enough about my opinions. The Euro2008InLondon blog-crew watched the game in La Perla on Charlotte St. It's a Mexican bar but that was the best we could do. Nueva Costa Dorado - our venue for the first Spain v Russia game - wasn't showing the game in the restaurant this time for some reason, and the bar was full an hour and a half before kick-off. We tried a couple of other places in the Spanish District on Hanway St and were chased out of one for "breaking in", so we decided to look further afield.


We settled on La Perla because they had a Spanish flavour and they were very accomodating, and because we were able to while away the time before kick-off making faces out of the crockery:

Spain were strongly supported and their goals and missed chances were met appropriately by cheers and groans. The Spanish victory was well deserved and well received.

So, back to my opinions. We were all taken in by the hype about Arshavin, but in retrospect it's becoming clear how he's got to the age of 27, playing for the UEFA Cup Champions, without being noticed: he's just another Karel Poborsky. Or worse, the next Tomas Brolin. Barcelona look set to splash the cash to take him to The Nou Camp but I suspect he's just timed the best two performances of his career well and that he'll disappear without much of a trace.