Even Bluddier Borring

Truly, nothing to write about on the Arse front. I suppose everyone's stunned by how crap the French have been. Poetic that some were talking about a collapse à la World Cup 2002, and indeed, it happened. No other words necessary than: pathetic.

Pathetic that Domenech was so utterly incompetent
Pathetic that Vieira was left in the squad
Pathetic that Flamini was sent home
Pathetic that Vieira probably didn't even put on his boots the entire tournament
Pathetic that what they needed was someone like Flamini, who would at least show some desire
Pathetic that Sagna and Clichy were left out, precisely the youth and attacking verve that France needed
Pathetic that a bunch of old fogies finally rolled over and died so ignominously
Pathetic that Thierry had to end his career like that (despite his more courageous words to the contrary)
Pathetic that the team managed just one goal. (Actually, one better than World Cup 2002!)

What happened to France must have served as warning to the Swedes, themselves the oldest damn team in the tournament. And man, did it show against the Russians. Not a great sign that any team should have Freddie Ljungberg (31) as captain, Olof Mellberg (31) hanging around, and poor ole Henrik Larsson (36), who still wants to hang on for his country. Sad.

There's this great UEFA table of statistics, which shows just how the age distribution goes in the various teams. The message is clear. Apart from Italy, the teams with the oldest players have struggled, and not gotten past the group stages. Interesting that Portugal, Spain and Holland have got similar balances of youth and experience. Even more interesting when you look at the age stats for the Turks and Czechs. Becomes crystal clear how the Young Turks over-ran the elder Czechs.

So okay, I was a bit off in my quarter-final predictions. We have:

Portugal v Germany
Croatia v Turkey
Netherlands v Russia
Spain v Italy

You know, it may look like simple wins for Protugal, Croatia, the Netherlands and Spain. But you never can tell. I wouldn't be surprised if the eldest fogies, the Italians, suddenly decided to play, or for Russia to continue with their excellent form. Although I must add. Behind Luca Toni, the second worst striker of the tournament so far must be that idiot Pavlychenko. So long as they keep Arshavin quiet, and keep giving the ball only to him, the Dutch should be fine. Same goes for Luca Toni. Spain shouldn't have to worry about him having a free shot at goal. Finally, I don't know what to think: would love to see Ronaldo torment Ballack, but I so hate both their guts, I'm torn. Let's have another shoot-out. More likely that Ronnie boy misses.