Translated material
Patriot Games
The German national team forward is ashamed of his double against the Poles
Based on the results of the matches, the second game day of the European Championship was an exact repetition of the first. The same 0:1 and 2:0 on the scoreboard. Only the teams in front of the numbers were different - from group “B”. The hosts, this time the Austrians, lost with a minimal score to the more skilled Croats, and the favorites of this quartet, the Germans, dealt with the Poles without any problems. After identifying such a pattern, fans of the Russian national team immediately began to calculate what would happen to our team if, according to some divine plan, all matches at the Euro suddenly ended in a similar way: with the defeat of the first team and the victory of the second in each pair of opponents. Alas, this will not bring anything good to Hiddink’s charges. The result will be only third place in the group. Well, in this case Spain will become the champion.This is a joke, however. But seriously, the matches of the second day of the tournament confirmed the observation of the first - the national team players, despite the high status of the tournament and the high expectations of football fans, look tired after playing for their clubs. The best players have behind them intense seasons in the leading championships of England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, and no one is showing anything outstanding right now. Now all that’s left to do is wait a little to find out whether the football players will have time to find the strength to refute the clearly visible trend.
Croatia, thanks to whose victory over England at Wembley, the Russian national team got to Euro 2008, is now being watched especially closely in our country. Many even cheer for the guys in checkered T-shirts. But in the game against Austria, Slaven Bilic's team was not like itself. The outcome of this match was decided by a penalty awarded by Dutch referee Peter Fink for Aufhauser's foul on Olic. The referee, a police officer by his main profession, with the determination characteristic of law enforcement officers, pointed to the penalty mark already on the 4th minute. meetings. And he went down in history as the person who awarded the earliest penalty in the history of all European Championships! Luka Modric's strike was simple, but it turned out to be an insoluble problem for Austrian goalkeeper Jurgen Maho. He began to guess and went to the corner, and the ball flew into the net in the center.
The match could have ended on this high note. In the remaining 86 min. plus injury time, the spectators did not see any more goals scored. The Croatians appeared as an academic team, striving more to defend their minimal advantage than to develop their success. The Austrians, on the contrary, lacked this very academic quality; Josef Hickersberger's charges relied more on emotions. The hosts' game was somewhat revived by 38-year-old Ivica Vastic, who appeared on the field in the second half, but neither his furious gestures nor his sharp passes helped the Austrians achieve the much-desired draw.
After the match, a song was heard from the Croatian locker room. And the loudest sounded was the voice of Slaven Bilic, who diligently wrote: Vatreno Ludilo (“Burning Madness”). “When we returned to the locker room, I saw that my players were not entirely happy,” Bilic said. “I turned on the tape recorder and invited them to sing, because, be that as it may, we took three points.” Our players may have burned out, but we still got off to the perfect start!”
The Germans also started the tournament successfully. Yoggi's team - as Bundestim coach Joachim Loew is called in Germany - confidently dealt with Poland. The Germans scored both goals against the opponent with the participation of ethnic Poles. Lukasz Podolski scored a brace, assisted by Miroslav Klose. The former rarely found his way into the Bayern starting lineup last season, being overshadowed by the same Klose, as well as the Italian Tony, and, it seems, managed to accumulate strength to participate in the Euro. By the way, Lev released Podolski not into the attack, but onto the left flank of midfield, but the footballer appreciated the act of the coach who entrusted him with a place on the field, and became the leader in the competition among the tournament's scorers. Lukash scored his first goal into an empty net, putting his foot under a partner’s pass, and the second time he scored by hitting the ball hard on the volley - it hit the very top nine.
After the match, Podolski, however, was in confusion: “I did everything for my own team to win, but after scoring goals I don’t feel enthusiastic. I have two hearts - Polish and German. My whole family lives in Poland, and that’s why I wasn’t too happy about the goals I scored, I wanted to show respect for my homeland.”
Results. Group "B". Austria - Croatia - 0:1 (Modrić, 4), Germany - Poland - 2:0 (Podolski, 20, 72).