A few remarks about one EURO

The cry of delight from the NTV Plus commentator after the third goal against the Dutch: “I’ll finish now!” perfectly conveyed the physiological nature of what was happening (with a commentator). I have been following my colleague Cherdantsev for a long time, and he never tires of delighting me with his patriotic outbursts.

And our patriotism, as it happens, is tightly connected with contempt or outright dislike for the peoples living in our neighborhood, or, God forbid, standing in our way.

"So what? Just think, I scored... You can’t score except from a free kick!” - this is a reaction to Van Nistelrooy's goal. (It was an excellent goal, by the way, after a stunning serve, and it’s easy to imagine Mr. Cherdantsev’s praises if the serve had been from Zhirkov, and Pavlyuchenko had substituted his head...)

“Dutch, learn by syllables! - Mr. commentator quipped half an hour later, when our traditional “well done!” rushed over the Basel stadium, “it’s easier to learn than your impossible pronunciation...”

Ham? No, just a patriot - that same, alas, common variety. And patriotism of this kind, as we know, rejects the simplest human concepts: taste, tact,

politeness, a sense of proportion... The sense of reality is also not tenable in a patriotic fever.

“Not a single player in this championship hits like Kolodin!”

At this point in the report, Lukas Podolski cried on Ballack’s shoulder and left the profession.

...But seriously, Russia’s main victory that day was Arshavin, who in a post-match interview found sincere words of sympathy for the Dutch defender, whose newborn daughter had died the day before.
...And for several days now, some outrageous praises have been coming from the damned West to our team. The Times called Guus Hiddink's team highly moral... Horrible! But these, scary to say, are the British! The main enemies of Russia and everything Russian! (If you don’t believe me, ask Shevchenko... Not the one from Chelsea, but the one from Ostankino.)

And so they all vied with each other in praising and encouraging Russia. Strange... Where is the conspiracy against Russian football? Where did you suddenly go? I was here just yesterday! “Spartak” was condemned, “Lokomotiv” was not allowed in, they put a spoke in the sparkling wheels of the national team... The not awarded penalty for a Japanese foul on Semshov was remembered for ten years on end!

Now, it seems, we’ll stop remembering it - at least they immediately forgot about the penalty that was not awarded to Zhirkov. Not interesting. We ran to continue playing and scored. And not the Japanese - the Dutch!

So, about the conspiracy.

If Russian football follows the treadmill, then maybe we’ll see a conspiracy. Because they are plotting against the strong. In the meantime, a conspiracy against Russian football is a conspiracy against Hungarian hockey.

That is evidence of paranoia.