Tuesday 2 July 2024

Murphy's Flaw

Round of 16: Romania 0 - 3 Netherlands 

I missed the kickoff (only by a couple of minutes, had a sudden urge to go buy some Stella), so I've no idea whether Hagi's condom-head look was a style choice or the result of an early incident.

Then what I tuned into was Netherlands looking by far the better side, but Romania willing to give things a go. So after a few drab minutes the game bounced along at a nice rate. Gakpo was good, although Danny Murphy was about as fluent at saying "Gakpo" as England's midfield is at playing football. We had "Gakko", "Gapko", "Gappo" but never the guy's actual name. Steve Wilson, the main commentator made a concerted effort to lay down a perfect pronunciation after each fumble Murphy made. Lovely stuff.

They ran out comfortable winners, and again, that is good for the tournament.

Players who impressed? Well their defence is excellent, Gakpo decent and the rest of the line up are willing if not excellent. 

The easy side of the draw is gradually stiffening up. A continuation of Austria's great form would line up a peach of a QF and the guarantee of a tough prospect for England in a semi, should they make it past Switzerland. I have a funny hunch though, that we might see good Turkey again tonight. 

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