Summer Rewind 2016: The Euros - tournament of fairytales

Three weeks ago, the Euro 2016 football tournament ended with some very surprising champions - Portugal. We certainly didn't see that one coming - in my own view there have been many better Portugal national teams than this one.  But congratulations to Portugal anyway - and its yet another example of this particular tournament producing a fairytale ending.  

Every match was televised live either on BBC or ITV and you couldn't move for coverage of this year's event which was expanded to 24 teams for the first time.  it's hard to imagine a time when it was all very different.  Time for some reminiscing.....

Once upon a time, the Euros - or the European Football Championships as they were known back then - didn't always have the high profile which they have now.  The first one I really remember watching was in 1980.  It's hard to believe it now, but in those days, many people didn't own televisions but rented them from a  store like Radio Rentals or D.E.R.  When our rented colour TV broke down in the summer of 1980, we were supplied with a replacement TV with a much larger screen, which I remember watching (very limited) highlights of the tournament on.  Back in those days, you didn't seem to get live coverage of matches (apart from semi-finals/final) unless any of the home nations were playing.  

I don't really remember much about Euro 1984: TV coverage in the UK was virtually non-existent with no home nations present.  I do have very vivid memories of watching the final though.  Mum and I were on holiday at my aunt and uncle's home in Dumfries that week, and we watched the final on TV in one of the pubs in the town.  It was a very memorable match won of course by the great French team.

Things were starting to change by the time of Euro 1988.  There was more TV interest thanks to the presence of England and the Republic of Ireland.  1988 was a summer I will always fondly remember for various reasons: I had a very enjoyable summer job during that long hot summer, and the Netherlands were on fire in that tournament.  That goal in the final by Marco van Basten remains one of the greatest goals ever scored in world football. 

Euro 1992, held in Sweden, was a very unusual experience for us in Scotland as our national team qualified for the first time.  Which was a great achievement as with so few teams, it was always a lot tougher to qualify for. But it was the same old story as we never progressed beyond the group stage. (Neither did England).  Scotland never qualified for another European Championship.  Maybe some day, we live in hope.  

But what about the fairytale?  Well, that appropriately belonged to the land of Hans Christian Andersen.  Denmark had been invited to compete at extremely short notice in place of what was then Yugoslavia, who had been expelled from the tournament due to the civil wars which were raging there.  The 'Danish Dynamite' team had impressed in the 1986 World Cup but never even qualified for Italia 90, so expectations were not so high.  But during Euro 1992, they beat France, then the Netherlands, and then went on to win the whole thing by beating none other than world champions Germany in the final.  

4 years on, to Euro 1996, the famous "football's coming home" tournament held in England. Expanded to 16 teams, there was a lot more TV coverage than previously.  Scotland and England were drawn in the same group. You can guess the rest....anyway we had the emergence of a great Portuguese team, and a very strong team from the Czech Republic.  The Czechs came very close to their own fairytale result, but lost to Germany in the final.  Germany had ended England's dream in the semi-final.  Which of course went to penalties.  Remember that famous comment by Gary Lineker: "Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win". 

Strangely enough I can't remember much about Euro 2000 which was the first jointly-staged tournament, taking place in both the Netherlands and Belgium - apart from Italy sinking into their old defensive ways, and then current world champions France beating the Italians in the final.  Looking at the tournament stats there were a lot of goals and high-scoring matches, which is always a good thing.  

Euro 2004 rolled round and it was once again time for the fairytale ending.  Greece - a country which hardly ever qualified for the Euros or the World Cup - beat hosts Portugal in the opening match and then beat holders France and then the Czech Republic on the way to the final.  The last match of the tournament was a rematch of the first: Portugal v Greece.  And yet again, Greece beat Portugal, this time to win the trophy.  Portugal had beaten England, on what else but a penalty shootout, on their way to the final.  I found Greece to be a rather dull team if I remember, but it was still a great achievement for them to win and have their moment of glory.  2004 was a big year for Greece, as Athens also staged the Olympics.  Little did we know that just a few years later, everything in that country was about to come crashing down, thanks to the debt crisis.  

Euro 2008 was another shared effort between Austria and Switzerland.  None of the UK's home nations even qualified.  I was particularly impressed with Turkey's spirited never-say-die performances during that tournament and they made it all the way to the semi finals before being beaten by Germany who lost to Spain in the final.  I was happy to see Spain win with their exciting attacking football, although was disappointed that the exciting high-scoring Dutch team never progressed beyond the quarter-finals. Spain were at their height and would follow this up with a World Cup win 2 years later.

Euro 2012 was staged in Poland and Ukraine and there was a lot of controversy prior to that tournament due to a controversial Panorama documentary about racism and hooliganism at football matches within both countries, and also some concern about whether the countries were ready to host. The tournament went ahead without much controversy.  England went out on penalties in the quarter-finals (to Italy, not Germany this time) and Spain continued their dominance of the world's major football tournaments. They were so strong in all areas of their team and had an effortless win against Italy 4-0 in the final. It certainly wasn't a tournament for the underdogs.  

So finally to Euro 2016.  Expanded to 24 teams, with blanket TV coverage, it managed to deliver some surprises and some noteworthy stories.  

For example, there was a very interesting fixture on the first weekend.  Albania v Switzerland may not have made the headlines but I was particularly fascinated by the story of the two Xhaka brothers playing on opposite national teams, whilst a large chunk of the Swiss national team was made up of players of Albania/Kosovo origin.  The camaraderie in the tunnel before the match was very surreal, wasn't it!  Switzerland was the strongest side on the day.  

The early stages of the tournament was marked by incidents of hooliganism in Marseille involving the fans of the England and Russian national teams.  (One of my work colleagues was due to visit Marseille on holiday during that time but all trains into the city were diverted due to the hooligan incidents so he and his friends had to make alternative plans!)

I was also on holiday with faithful travelling companion during Euro 2016.  And it couldn't have been a better time to be in Wales.  Just like the Scotland national team, Wales have spent one major tournament after another on the sidelines, so it was great to see them finally make it to the Euros. And unlike Scotland, who had to watch the Euros from the sidelines for the 24th year in a row. Wales arrived at this tournament with little expectation - and in that great tradition of the Euros, they went on to provide the fairytale element along with another debutant nation: Iceland.

Two draws and a win had taken the Icelandic team out of the group stage to the round of 16, where they would meet England.  The English media commentators were very quick to fast-forward to the next round, thinking that beating Iceland would just be a formality before England would meet France.  But they hadn't reckoned on the fighting spirit of the Icelandic team.  And they had the mythical "HU!" chant, which captured everyone's imagination.  Yet again the fairytale aspect of the Euros came to the fore.  Iceland eliminated England and made it to the quarter-finals, but were eventually overwhelmed by a strong performance by the French team.

Wales, meanwhile, went on to face Belgium in the quarter-finals.  A prior social engagement meant that we weren't able to catch the game live, but caught this incredible result on delayed transmission. And what an incredible, heroic result it was for the Welsh team.  This really was the stuff of fairytales - a 3-1 win against a team of talented, highly-paid superstars from Belgium.  Yet what impressed me about Wales, throughout this tournament, was their humility and genuine enjoyment at being there. Despite having a Real Madrid player in the line-up (Gareth Bale), the team had no airs and graces and brought a refreshing attitude to Euro 2016.

Having defeated Belgium in heroic style, they faced Portugal in the semi-final.  As I said in my introduction, there have been many better Portuguese national teams who have competed in the Euros and the World Cup, but who have been very unlucky in the past.  Up to and including the semi-final, Portugal could best be described as a one-man team: the uber-arrogant Cristiano Ronaldo and his merry men.  Ronaldo has been known to spit his dummy out of the pram from time to time, but his comments after Portugal's group game against Iceland were unpleasant and unprofessional.  

Considering they boast one of the world's best-known strikers, Portugal had make it this far with very few goals and playing very dull football in comparison with their predecessors of the Figo era.  Sadly for Wales though, they couldn't repeat their performance from the quarter-final, and they absolutely missed Aaron Ramsey.  But Wales (pictured above) said "Diolch" (thank you) to the fans and went home with their heads held high.  They were welcomed in Cardiff with an open-top bus parade and a party in the local stadium.  Wales may not have won Euro 2016, but they were winners.

In the final, much was expected from the host nation after their 2-0 victory over Germany in the other semi-final.  It was almost a foregone conclusion, and when an injured Ronaldo exited at an early stage in the final, it looked like France's name was on the trophy.  Like many other finals, it was a bit of a damp squib.  0-0 after 90 minutes, the ball never found the net until extra time.  The goal came from Portugal, not France.  Portugal had written their chapter in the Euros fairytale.

Ronaldo made sure that he would play a very significant part in the final stages of the match, yelling his team-mates on to victory, playing the part of the national team manager.  I wouldn't be too surprised if we were looking at the future manager of the national team, of course it could be argued that he's doing that already!

It won't be long until qualification starts for the next big international tournament: World Cup 2018.

Summer rewind: collected thoughts on...

...the weather: well well well!  Who'd have thought it?  We have actually had a summer in Scotland, where usually more than 2 consecutive dry days counts as a summer.  Well we had some very hot weather for more than 2 days (I do like a nice dry day but in my view the temperatures were just a bit too high at times).  Normal service is now resumed, with rainy days and some cooler temperatures.  Which, for a change, I've actually welcomed, as I can now get on with those long overdue jobs at home, and of course write some blog posts!  I'm off work today so it's the perfect time for a blog catch-up.

(picture courtesy of Wikipedia)

...holidays: after some research and debate, we're heading off to Croatia in September.  Trogir (pictured above) is a small, medieval town which I'd never heard of until a couple of months ago, but I immediately fell in love with it the moment I saw it.  It looks like a magical little place and after a few difficult months it could provide the perfect location for some much-needed peace of mind.

...the Royal Highland Show: 26 years ago, I first visited Scotland's top agricultural show.  At that time it was in a work capacity as part of my job.  I vowed back then that I would return to the show for 'play' rather than 'work'.  But years turned into decades, and that vow wasn't fulfilled - until this June.  With that unseasonably hot spell in full flow, the most essential item was sun protection cream rather than wellies!  The Royal Highland Show is not just for farmers and agricultural professionals - it's a top day out for young and old alike.  And if you love farm animals you will be in heaven!  From beautiful cattle to rare sheep breeds to cheeky goats to big Clydesdale horses, there's something for everyone.  And it's not just animals either - there's lots of entertainment going on, street food stalls and a massive food hall showcasing the best produce from Scotland and beyond, and plenty of shopping - which reminds me that it can be quite an expensive day out too!

...another day in Ayr: the end of June brought yet another trip to our favourite Scottish seaside town. Prior to our trip, there had been an excessively hot spell, but the temperatures cooled down to a more comfortable level.  Whatever the weather though, Ayr is always worth a visit, with its fine selection of shops, cafes and restaurants.

...Allsång: Summertime in Sweden, and that most traditional of summer TV shows entered a new era with its first ever female host.  Since her appearance in the first series of Så Mycket Bättre 4 years ago, the reinvention of Petra Marklund has been remarkable.  From dance-pop star to credible Swedish-language artist, Petra has undergone a further evolution into the new queen of Swedish light entertainment television, as the new presenter of Allsång på Skansen, which ends its summer 2014 run tonight.

Week 1 was a dazzling debut, but it wasn't long before the Swedish tabloids slipped into negativity - viewing figures in freefall, poor selection of guests, Petra's nerves.  Blah blah blah.  Rewind to previous hosts of the show and we've read it all before; however, the press have been kinder to Petra in the past couple of weeks.  And my own opinion?  I think she's done a smashing job.  For someone who isn't even a professional presenter,  I've found her to be a warm and engaging host.  However, I can't see her sticking around for too long, as there have been times when I've got the feeling that she's wondered if she's done the right thing.  That's not a criticism by the way: I would certainly welcome her back for at least another year, and the tabloids report that SVT would like to keep her in the job.

...Le Tour: Who would have thought that Le Tour 2014 would be remembered for the riders who never made it, rather than the ones who did?  Yes, this year's Tour was all about the crashes, the injuries,

After the British dominance of the race over the past couple of years, the 2014 race began here in the UK with three stages, commencing in Yorkshire.  And from the very beginning, the high-profile casualties began to fall.  Firstly Mark Cavendish, hotly-tipped to win that first stage and get that yellow jersey, only for him to crash out near the finish in Harrogate.  As the tour headed back on to French soil, we had a spectacular stage which included the infamous Paris-Roubaix cobbles.  On the wet roads of northern France, defending champion Chris Froome crashed out of the race.  Team Sky immediately made Richie Porte their main contender to challenge Vincenzo Nibali, who had established a comfortable lead and was in yellow for every day since stage 2, except for one day when French cyclist Tony Gallopin rode into Bastille Day in yellow.

The high-profile casualties continued: Fabian Cancellara, Andrew Talansky (memorably pushed back on to his bike and told to get on with it following one crash), and the race's other main contender Alberto Contador.  Andy Schleck, Fabian Cancellara and Simon Gerrans also exited the race.

The other remarkable thing about this year's race was the surprisingly poor weather, with torrential rain during many stages.  Whilst we spent most of July baking in non-stop sunshine, the cyclists were sliding and skidding across the roads of France!

With the loss of so many GC contenders, the race took on a whole new look as it headed into its final week. Nibali had built up such an unbeatable lead and had very quickly killed the race, so our attention focused on the very close battle for 2nd and 3rd place on the podium, and the ever-changing lead in the King of the Mountains competition.  2014 was a big year of transition in Le Tour.  It's been a long, long time since any French cyclists made a major impact on the race (Thomas Voeckler excepted) but this year was the breakthrough we've been waiting for, for so long.  Jean-Christophe Peraud - 2nd place.  Thibaut Pinot - 3rd place and best young rider. Romain Bardet - 6th place.  This bodes well for the future.  In the other competitions, Polish cyclist Rafal Majka was impressive in winning the King of the Mountains jersey and has shown so much promise that he could potentially be a future GC contender.  And the green jersey?  Well, despite starting and ending the race with a stage win, Marcel Kittel could only make 4th place in a sprint competition inevitably won by the unstoppable Peter Sagan.

So Vincenzo Nibali is this year's Tour de France champion.  Well done to him, but next time can we have a closer race and less of a foregone conclusion please?

...the World Cup: maybe it was just the mood I was in at the time (knee deep in a depression which is slowly but surely lifting) but for some strange reason, I just wasn't feeling my usual love for the World Cup this year.  It was a bit like the Tour de France in a way, as top-rated teams fell by the wayside, one after the other. It was strange not to see the likes of Spain, Italy, England and Portugal progress beyond the first round.

There were some new innovations: goal-line technology, free-kick vanishing foam, and cooling breaks to help the players cope with the excessive heat.

Although the standard of the football fell well short of the quality expected of the world's greatest players, I was impressed by the high scores within the group stages, with dreary 0-0 draws kept to a minimum.  What we could have done without was the level of dirty play and fouling which often went unpunished by referees.  We could also have done without unsolicited biting: one more thing for the notorious Luis Suarez to add to his CV of football crimes.

The round of 16 then happened. Chile unfairly went out on penalties to an underwhelming Brazil side, and Mexico were very unlucky to be defeated by the Netherlands. Algeria were equally unlucky against Germany.  Argentina and Brazil continued to be underwhelming as they progressed through the tournament.  One team which did impress me was Colombia, who played a nice style of attacking football.  Forget Messi and Neymar: for me, the real star and top scorer of the tournament was James Rodriguez, and he also won the EuropeCrazy Top Toy Boy award.  (That Golden Boot's all good and well, but the TTB award is the one to win :D)

When I drew Costa Rica in the office sweepstake, I was very dismissive and thought they'd be on the first plane home after the group stage.  But they were much more impressive than expected and I cheered them on all the way to the quarter finals where they were very unlucky to lose to an increasingly annoying Dutch side.  In the semi-final, the Netherlands and Argentina were in a contest to see who could be the most underwhelming side, and it had to go to penalties.  Argentina has always been my South American team, but they frustrate me in every World Cup as they never play to their full potential.  Yet again, Messi-mania fell flat.  Argentina underwhelmed their way to the final where they faced a German side which I'd tipped as possible world-beaters in a post I'd written on here 4 years ago: http://europecrazy.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/summer-rewind-world-cup.html

Germany beating Brazil 7-1 in the semi-final?  Who'd have predicted that one?  But despite being the host nation, I'd never been impressed by Brazil.  Like Argentina, they relied on one particular player - in this case Neymar who had been injured in a shocking tackle during the match against Colombia.  With Neymar gone, the team's flaws were exposed and Germany took advantage again and again.  It felt like the goals were coming every minute.  Well, they actually were at one point! Germany proved that a solid, strong team performance was better than any team with one ''star' and a substandard supporting cast, so it was no surprise that they lifted the World Cup, beating Argentina 1-0 (after extra time) in the final.  Germany became the first European team to win the trophy in South America.  They are so strong that I could see them making it a double in 4 years time, but watch out for Colombia.  After their impressive performance in Brazil, they look as if they could just get better and better.

As with most big events these days, the World Cup had the world talking on Twitter.  Social media is now giving large-scale sporting events a new dimension.  Who needs to listen to those boring TV pundits when you can find much more entertaining analysis on Twitter?  As I said around the time of Eurovision, Twitter may have its dark side but it is also a great way to bring people together to talk about their common interests.

Not long after the World Cup ended, another sporting event arrived closer to home.  Which I'll write about in a separate post, coming soon!

La Vuelta a España 2013

Just a few weeks on from the Tour de France, La Vuelta is a tough race with so many questions - like, for example, just how do you pronounce Nibali?  (Nee-baa-li?  Nee-bly?  Nibbly?)

The good thing is that it gives many riders the chance to step into the spotlight thanks to the absence of many of the TdF's top riders.  No Chris Froome or Alberto Contador this year, for example.  It's not a race for sprinters either - no Mark Cavendish, Marcel Kittel or Andre Greipel. 

British interest was very minimal, with only a couple of Team Sky's plucky lower-division boys having a go.  For make no mistake, this is a race for the southern European tough guys, where Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) and Joaquim Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde (Spain) were expected to dominate. 

But, just as in the Tour de France, they all had to take a back seat to a guy named Chris. 

Not Froome this time, but Horner - Chris Horner from the USA, the oldest man in the race at 41 years old.  Nibali - however you pronounce it - took the red jersey early on, when he explicitly didn't want it - but lost it when he explicitly wanted to keep it.  The gripping Horner-Nibali battle for the red jersey was set against a backdrop of an intensely tough route which makes much of the Tour de France look like a picnic.  The Vuelta may lack the magic and glamour of that iconic bike race, but yet it is still unmissable viewing packed with golden moments - the little-known Italian Daniele Ratto's epic breakaway and stage win on a gruelling rain-soaked, hypothermia-ridden climb in Andorra; or Tony Martin's brave breakaway on one stage only for victory to be snatched from his grasp.

You know you're getting old when...you remember when a current cyclist's dad won the Tour de France.  I remember Stephen Roche winning the Tour de France in 1987, back in those days when the highlights of Le Tour were screened nightly on Channel 4.  Now his wee boy Nicolas is all grown up, and had a very good Vuelta this year, finishing 5th overall.  I'm sure he will go on to greater things. 

But I digress.  With the gap between Horner and Nibali down to just three seconds with two days to go, it was all to play for on the crucial penultimate stage, when Horner crushed Nibali's challenge and had the race won, just one day before the final stage in Madrid. 

Needless to say in these post-Armstrong times, you can't be too good without your credibility being questioned at press conferences and internet forums.  Winning the Vuelta was a tremendous achievement, but for a 41 year old American rider, judged to be past a professional cyclist's physical peak, a former team-mate with a history of injuries and no real Grand Tour form, questions will be asked.  The cheerful and chatty Horner always had something to say during his many interviews in the Vuelta, but strangely sidestepped important questions in his final post-race interview in Madrid. 

As ever, ITV4's coverage was excellent, with Gary Imlach presenting and Phil Liggett on commentary.  Even better news for us cycling fans is that ITV has secured the rights to broadcast the Tour de France until 2019; ITV4 will also show the Criterium Dauphine, Criterium International, Liege Bastogne Liege and Paris Roubaix from 2016 to 2019, which are all very important races in the cycling calendar.  ITV4 will also continue to screen the Tour of Britain and the Vuelta. 

Go South! The 2013 Tour de France route revealed

We've hardly had time to catch our breath after the extraordinary last few months in the world of cycling, but the route for next year's Tour de France was announced today.  A very interesting route too, with a heavy focus on the south and east of the country. 

I'm very excited about the race starting in Corsica, before heading to my favourite French destination, the fabulous city of Nice, for a team time-trial.   There are also some fierce climbs along the way, including iconic Tour favourites Mont Ventoux and L'Alpe d'Huez.

The Tour begins on 29th June and ends on 21st July.  Get the dates in your diary :)

How do we rid cycling of the cheats?

It's been a tough few weeks for us cycling fans.  For a start, you have to explain to non-cycling-fans that not every cyclist takes performance-enhancing drugs, and yes, believe it or not, there are clean cyclists in the sport.  Recent weeks have seen the Lance Armstrong legend destroyed under the weight of investigation and scandal, that he was involved in years of very sophisticated doping and cover-ups, along with his US Postal Cycling team colleagues.  How do you convince people about the greatness of cycling, when they only read about the dark side?

Confession time: I'm not jumping on an already packed bandwagon, but I never liked Lance Armstrong.  At first, we were all taken in, we were all inspired that someone had not only made this fantastic recovery from cancer, but had gone on to win the world's greatest bike race.  We cheered his heroics, and viewed him as an inspiration.  But as time progressed, his arrogance began to annoy me.  He wasn't just the multiple winner of the Tour, he was above the Tour, above criticism, powerful and untouchable.  The arrogance grew, and he became more and more unbearable.  He was just too good.

Today the UCI - the sport's worldwide governing body - accepted the recommendations of the investigation carried out into Armstrong and his colleagues, which has given us some eye-popping revelations in recent weeks, and which has confirmed our worst suspicions.  Armstrong's been stripped of his seven titles and erased from the Tour de France's recent roll of honour.  Many more cyclists have joined him in the hall of shame, in the past and present and unfortunately they won't be the last.  So how do we rid cycling of the cheats?  That's a tough one.  My own view is that life bans from the sport for cyclists and officials involved in doping would be a good start and would restore trust and credibility.  Laugh if you must, but I believe there are still clean riders in this great sport: but it's up to those running the sport to take real, meaningful action against the cheats, rather than just meaningless words, lip service and limited bans.  But will they?

Here comes the Quickstepper!

Here's a sight you won't be seeing anymore - Mark Cavendish in the colours of Team Sky.  A few days ago, Cav announced the news we've been expecting to hear for a long time: that he was quitting Team Sky and signing for the Belgian-based Omega Pharma-Quickstep, which is likely to be more conducive to his future sprinting ambitions.  It's certainly a momentous change at this stage of Cavendish's cycling career as he is also leaving a couple of long-term key supports behind - his long-term sidekick and lead-out man Bernie Eisel is remaining at Team Sky, as is his coach Rod Ellingworth.  

2012 was an unforgettable summer for British pro-cycling, topped by Bradley Wiggins' Tour de France win and Chris Froome's impressive TdF and Vuelta campaigns.  But seeing Cavendish in the unfamiliar role of support act and domestique for Team Sky was not what we'd come to expect from the king of sprints, and the body language spoke volumes.

With hindsight, I was never too convinced by the Team Sky-Mark Cavendish partnership, although I was initially excited by the prospect of an all-star British team.  However, the priorities of Team Sky appear to lie in the GC, the long haul and competition-crushing tactics rather than the quick burst to the finish line, and it's pretty understandable that Cav needed to move on to further his own career and perhaps leave a space on the team for a cyclist geared more to that kind of set-up.   But that's not just a decision for a sprinter to make: all is well now, but how long till Chris Froome makes his way out of the Team Sky exit door?  Or will he be happy to bide his time until he assumes the role of team leader?

Deleted post.

I removed this post following the events of 14.02.2013.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21459240

Summer Rewind: Tour de France 2010

The 2010 Tour de France ended last Sunday, as usual on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, and as usual with an exciting sprint finish. The "Manx Missile" Mark Cavendish chalked up his fifth stage win this year, although that still wasn't enough for him to win the points classification. (This year's green jersey winner was Alessandro Petacchi). Former multiple winner and race legend Lance Armstrong meanwhile completed his final Tour and announced his (second) retirement after the race.

Above: Fifth time lucky for Cav. (photo courtesy of BBC Sport/Getty Images)

There were high hopes for the British riders this year, and a new British team (Team Sky) in the competition. Great things were expected from Bradley Wiggins, Team Sky's main man, however inevitable disappointment was to follow. Wiggins was philosophical about it all, and described it as a 'bad season'. Team Sky had another couple of promising young riders: Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen, and the Welshman Geraint Thomas, and they both did well this year and showed great promise for the future.

Usually the early stages of the Tour are predictable and uneventful, all flat stages and sprint finishes. This year's Tour started in Holland, and then travelled down through Belgium, finally entering France. The organisers of 2010 clearly had, dare I say, a vicious streak?! It was cobbles, chaos and carnage in the opening days, with rough weather and rough roads. One major casualty of the cobblestones was Frank Schleck who had to retire through injury on Stage 3. The Schleck brothers, Frank and Andy, were serious contenders to prevent reigning champ Alberto Contador winning the race again: but it was left to Andy to soldier on.

Above: the Schleck brothers. (photo courtesy of BBC Sport/Getty Images)

By stage 15, Andy was in yellow, and all was going well. That was until the chain came off Andy's bike. Alberto Contador, sitting on Schleck's shoulder, then launched an attack and all hell broke loose. I know everyone has their own view on the situation, so here is mine: That was the point the Tour turned sour for me. Did Contador need to attack? Yes. Did he need to attack so fiercely? Definitely not. Andy Schleck deserved to be very, very angry. And all the YouTube apologies in the world didn't make it right.

Yes, the 2010 edition of the Tour de France was exciting, but Contador's inevitable eventual win left a bit of a bad taste for me. Fingers crossed that Andy Schleck's time will come!

Summer Rewind: The World Cup

So what will we remember about the 2010 World Cup which took place in South Africa between 11th June and 11th July 2010? The top quality football? The entertaining individual stars? Matches overflowing with goals?

NOPE!! The main thing I'll remember about this year's World Cup is..BZZZZZZZZZZ...the Vuvuzela!! To some it was an instrument of torture, to others it was music to their ears. Me? I loved it!!

South Africa did a fantastic job in staging the 2010 World Cup, despite the prophets of doom having written it off before it even started, with talk of delays and organisational nightmares. What we did see was a colourful and professionally staged event, although only time will tell whether the success of the event will have made any difference to the day to day lives of the real people of South Africa, not the politicians and the dignitaries in attendance at the various games.

As for the actual football, 2010 World Cup was one great big massive let-down. Having said that, I still watched almost all of it, but compared to those tournaments of the past which are still very special to me for various reasons, 2010 just seemed to sum up the state of world football at the moment. That is: full of overpaid prima donnas more interested in their next (obscenely huge)pay cheque than entertaining the world's football fans. I won't name any of them in particular, but those tipped to be the big stars just flopped. Even my team, Argentina, won't escape my criticism - despite Lionel Messi's undisputed talent, a combination of stifling man-marking and off-target shooting meant that he was one of the major disappointments of the tournament.

In fact that was my main criticism of most of the strikers on show - they should have gone to Specsavers as many of them definitely needed an eye test. Never mind introducing equipment to tell whether a ball was over the line or not (!) ...they just need to make the goalposts twice as high and twice as wide. Bigger goalposts = more goals. But even then, they'd still miss :)

Aah yes that brings us to England, tipped as usual by the droning pundit brigade prior to the tournament as potential winners...and in predictable style they failed to deliver. Perhaps the omens were in the World Cup song - 1990 had the best football anthem ever ("World In Motion") whilst 2010 had...."Shout for England" by Dizzee Rascal and the loathsome James Corden. As if this aural torture (gimme a vuvu anyday!) wasn't bad enough, ITV felt the need to give Corden screen time after every live match. A sign, not that we needed one, that Britain's biggest commercial TV channel is well and truly in deep s**t.

It was the year when France and Italy, both recent world-beaters, couldn't beat an egg and couldn't even make the second round. The French team took up the national pastime - going on strike - whilst Italy were sent home to rethink their style of play. Portugal (another one of my faves) also failed to impress me, with star man Cristiano Ronaldo probably off to check his reflection in a passing mirror or something. And as for Brazil - they were just a disgrace to the name.

The lack of goal-averages continued into the knockout stages and my frustration over the poor quality of the games continued...

One of the few teams to impress me though was Germany, who brought a mix of youth and experience to the tournament and by the time of the next World Cup they could be potential world-beaters. I was also impressed by Uruguay, so it was highly appropriate that my favourite match of the whole tournament was the normally meaningless 3rd place playoff between the two sides, which saw Germany triumph.

There were a number of new teams in the tournament, and some who hadn't played in a World Cup for a long time. I wonder what became of the North Korean side after their first round exit???

Before this year's World Cup, Spain were hotly tipped to do what they'd never managed to do before - to actually go on and win the World Cup. Although they had impressed me two years ago at Euro 2008, which they won of course, I was less impressed with their showing in South Africa. It was as if they were doing enough but no more, as if they were holding back, in an automatic-pilot run of victories on their way to the final.

By 11th July the only team that could stop them was Holland, who had enjoyed an unbeaten run and played some rather nice football along the way, even though I never really rated them as highly as the legendary 1974 'total football' side or my particular favourites, the 1988 European Championship winning side.

In this year's World Cup final, Holland abandoned total football for total wipeout, as they tried to take apart the Spain side one by one. In a tournament marked by many a questionable refereeing decision, the busiest man on the park was the ref, who struggled to contain the constant torrent of fouling and brutality by the Dutch team, who were completely unrecognisable from the skilled and promising outfit from earlier matches. Spain, already acclaimed as moral victors, struggled to score and had to wait until the second half of extra time for Andres Iniesta to finally find the net. Spain's lack of goal action was no surprise here, as they had the lowest goalscoring total of any World Cup winners - but the least goals against too. Perhaps that sums up everything that's wrong in the modern game?

However, I was very happy for Spain: they deserved their win as we would all have been pretty disgusted had Holland won, playing like that.

Above: the ref's seeing red. (picture courtesy of http://www.bbc.co.uk/)

Above: Spain celebrate being the world's best football team. (picture courtesy of http://www.bbc.co.uk/)

Only four years to go till the next World Cup!

Rewind weekend: Tour de France 2009

Finally posting my review of this :)

The 2009 Tour de France was unusual this year for quite a few reasons. Firstly there was the route, completely missing out the north and east, no Brittany or Normandy cobbled-stone stages this year. The race began in Monaco, and controversially the final mountain stage, the epic climb up Mont Ventoux, took place the day before the final stage in Paris. Cruel or what??? In recent years Le Tour hasn't just confined itself to France and this year it visited Monaco, Barcelona, Andorra and Verbier...and the 2010 Tour will start in Rotterdam!

Then there was the comeback of one Lance Armstrong. If you watched ITV4's otherwise excellent coverage, the one criticism I have of Liggett and Sherwen is their one-rider obsession - in previous years they have been obsessed with Greg Lemond, Miguel Indurain and most recently Cadel Evans, and this year, for them it was all about the "Tour de Lance".

That was of course until the British interest kicked in. Firstly there was Mark Cavendish, the unofficial king of the sprints this year as he won no less than six stages, but a points deduction for allegedly riding too close to rival Thor Hushovd meant that he couldn't make up sufficient points to win the green jersey competition: that was won by Hushovd. However it was some consolation for Cavendish that he got the "big one" - he won the final stage on the Champs-Elysees.

And then there was Bradley Wiggins, British Olympic gold-winning track cyclist who may have lost weight for the 2009 Tour, but he became a road race heavyweight in this year's race and at one point was a serious contender for a spot on the podium. He ended the race in fourth place, which was an incredible achievement, I thought.

What about the yellow jersey? Earlier in the race it was worn by Fabian Cancellara and Rinaldo Nocentini (the latter a new name to me) before it was taken over by Alberto Contador in the Alps and he kept it all the way to the finish. Lance Armstrong meanwhile was determined to prove that he was a serious challenger once again. Both Contador and Armstrong were on the revamped Astana all-star team which included some ex-Discovery riders and management. Contador was the official leader, but the media made a lot of the conflict between the team's real leader Contador, and Armstrong, whom they described as the team's unofficial leader.

Luxembourg's Andy Schleck took second place on the podium: he is an impressive young cyclist with a bright future ahead of him in the sport.

What pleased me most about this year's Le Tour was that the cycling spoke for itself and thankfully the race wasn't overshadowed by the drugs scandals which had blighted the race in recent years. I thought it was a very enjoyable Tour, even if it wasn't the most competitive or unpredictable one I've ever seen, but there were enough little rewarding episodes throughout the three weeks to make it well worth watching.

Le Tour: Cav's got the other sprinters green with envy

11 stages in and already the annual cycling soap opera that is the Tour de France has the usual mixture of excitement and intrigue going on....

Aside from the Alberto Contador vs Lance Armstrong mind-games over who's the boss in the Astana camp, there is something of major British interest going on. Yet you wouldn't know it from the TV schedules - the nightly Tour updates are only screened on ITV4 (satellite channel).

Fade to dream sequence......

...Imagine if Le Tour was screened on a mainstream terrestrial channel at peak time, the way it once was on Channel 4, many years ago? I'm sure the sport would win a whole new set of fans, and the French tourist board would be rubbing their hands at the thought of everyone wanting to visit France, because there is no better advert for that country than Le Tour....

But back to reality. Mark Cavendish (pictured above, photo courtesy of Getty Images/BBC Sport) excited us all last year with his stage wins and he is surpassing it this year with an even better performance and not only is he back in the green jersey, he has now equalled the British record for the number of TdF stage wins - 8 in total. You get the feeling that he's not finished with the stage wins yet. Cavendish is young, confident, arrogant and talented - and for me he is very reminiscent of one of his recent sprinting predecessors, Robbie McEwen, who was no stranger to a stage win or two not so long ago ;)

This year Cav has been battling with Norway's Thor Hushovd for the green jersey: it will be a thrilling battle all the way to the last day in Paris.

Another British rider doing extremely well is Bradley Wiggins, who is now at 5th in the overall classification. He initially came through the impressive British track cycling setup and won Olympic gold in 2004 and 2008, but his transition from the track to the top 10 in Le Tour has been quite phenomenal.

Italian cyclist Rinaldo Nocentini remains in the yellow jersey although his days wearing it will probably be numbered once the riders hit the Alpine stages of the race. Contador 2nd, Armstrong 3rd and Levi Leipheimer 4th: there is no question that Astana is certainly the strongest team this year, but which of their riders will triumph? I wouldn't want him to win it again, but it would be foolish to write off Armstrong as he is in a very strong position at this stage, and as past years have shown that when it comes to mind games, Lance Armstrong is always the man in the yellow jersey.

On your bike

One of my favourite sporting events, the Tour de France, starts today with a very glamorous first stage in Monaco. It's a strange route this year though, as the north of France seems to have been totally overlooked!

Le Tour is the world's greatest cycle race although in recent years it's been dominated by controversy due to doping. Unfortunately we have to accept that this will always be around, and they're fighting a losing battle, but there are also "clean" cyclists who are working hard to improve the image of the event and I can only hope that they are the ones who triumph this year.

This year's Tour is overshadowed by the return of seven-times winner Lance Armstrong. Let me say that - putting aside his inspirational battle against cancer - I've never been a fan of this cyclist. I never liked his race tactics during his winning-years and I wasn't happy to hear about his comeback. Whether it's a successful one remains to be seen: his return will probably overshadow everything else and I can understand if many of the riders will feel a bit put out by the 'return of the king' anyway I'm hoping for a good, clean, competitive race by all involved.

The real star of the Tour, for me, is France itself. Even if you're not a cycling fan, watch the race and just fall in love with the beautiful scenery. Another bonus this year is that the Tour visits Barcelona, which should also be an amazing stage.

There's lots of good cycling stuff on the internet - check out cycling blogger Blazin' Saddles for example, for all the gossip at http://twitter.com/saddleblaze

So what's been happening then?

• The fallout from Britain's Got Talent continues as the media is now giving us daily reports of Susan Boyle's meltdown on tour, resulting in her being unable to appear every night. I don't know whose idea it was for this lady to enter BGT in the first place - but whoever it was, they should share the blame for what has happened to her. Yes she has a very good singing voice, but it's very clear by now that the limelight is not the most appropriate place for her to be. For her own sake, she should take some time out, go home and chill with her cat. At which time the media should also leave her in peace.


• Wimbledon starts tomorrow, and as usual I won't be watching as I lost interest a long time ago, around the time of John McEnroe's retirement :( Anyway, expect Murray-mania, a bit like Henman all over again, the only difference being that Murray might have a realistic chance of winning.


• Summertime is in full swing, and despite our usual quota of rain I'd have to say that it's probably been better than the last couple of years. We should be booking my summer holiday within the next 4 weeks - we've made our decision about the destination. Can't reveal anything yet, but I'll tell you more when we're booked. (Clue: it's outwith our usual comfort zone!)


• It's Fete de la Musique in France today, which I always thought was a great idea - 21st June every year brings a national celebration of music across France. French TV usually broadcasts a big outdoor concert from Paris and this used to be televised on TV5 a few years ago then they stopped doing this for a couple of years. I checked TV5's website and it looks as if it's back on this year, so I'll set my video later tonight and will review the show on here in the next couple of weeks. This year's line-up of 30 French and international stars includes Calogero, Jason Mraz, Eros Ramazzotti, Milow, Christophe Willem, Seal, Alesha Dixon and James Morrison.


• Both Anders Lundin and Lotta Engberg are playing it down, but the Swedish tabloid press is enthusiastically talking-up the impending Allsång-war between "Lotta på Liseberg" (starting tomorrow night on TV4) and "Allsång på Skansen" (Tuesday on SVT1), Lotta is firing out of the blocks with Nanne Gronvall, Christer "I Love Yoo-rup" Sjogren and something which is more up my street - Brolle and Ola. As if that's not enough Swedish summer TV entertainment, "Sommarkrysset" is also back on TV4. Talking of Brolle, he appeared on last week's season-premiere of the show doing a tribute to Buddy Holly! Unfortunately - I've said this before and I'll say it again - TV4's webstream gives me internet-rage as it takes so long to get the video clips going (and this is with super-duper fast Broadband too!), unlike SVT Play which I never have any bother with. So get your act together TV4 because I want to watch Sommarkrysset and Lotta without any problems!!! Allsång kicks off its new season on Tuesday with special guests Tomas Ledin, Henrik Dorsin, Måns Zelmerlöw, Anna Maria Espinosa and Owe Thörnqvist. Not that we need a reason for a gratuitous pic of Måns of course....here he is in a publicity pic for this year's Allsång, picture courtesy of www.svt.se.

Not long now till the Olympics start.

OK, I'll get this out of the way first: I didn't understand it at the time it was announced, and all these years later I still don't understand why the IOC awarded the 2008 Olympic Games to Beijing.

But they did, and there's not much we can do about it now. The knives are already out, with some critics branding it a flop before it's even started. Time will tell if they were right.

I've always loved the Olympic Games since I was a child - Munich 1972 was the first one I remember, (sadly for all the wrong reasons) and each four-yearly event after that has its own special memories for me, with only the Atlanta 1996 Games being the most forgettable for me. Maybe it's my age, I don't know, but two of the most special Games for me were Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984, despite both hit by retaliating boycotts, they still managed to produce some amazing sporting memories.

I said at the time that it would take a lot to top Sydney 2000, which (IMHO) put on the best opening and closing ceremonies I've ever seen, so Beijing's got a lot to live up to.

I'm not patriotic in any way, but it would be quite nice if Team GB could pick up the odd medal or two. I'll be cheering them on in the cycling and athletics anyway, although I'm not so keen on those equestrian and shooting things! It's been an incredibly low-key build up over here, with more media attention being focused on the political aspects of the Games, and the health hazards of the smog than how many medals we'll win. A far cry from the golden age of the 1980s and early 1990s when British athletes were never far from the medals podium. (My favourite event back then was the 400m individual and relay races, and that probably had everything to do with Roger Black...!)

Anyway - good luck to all the athletes from all the competing nations big and small, and hope that it will be a Games to remember. Over to you, Beijing...

Ole, ole ole ole

It's all over now, so I suppose it's back to trying to remember what I did with my evenings before Euro 2008 started!

Well done Spain - truly deserved winners of what has been a rather cracking football tournament. Right from the start, Spain were knocking in the goals, but Spain being Spain, i still felt that no matter how good they were, they wouldn't last beyond the second round, even though I wanted them to go further in the tournament.

Thankfully it was out with the old Spain, and in with the new: consistently exciting attacking skilful play, with that added ingredient which had been missing over the years - self-belief. Even the loss of David Villa didn't stop them, and fittingly it was their other star striker Fernando Torres who scored the winner in last night's final against a shellshocked, inferior Germany who (IMHO) didn't deserve to reach the final, so justice was done. Congratulations to Spain, worthy winners of Euro 2008, a tournament which was a victory for good, positive attacking football.

Viva España!!

Well done to Spain for an emphatic victory over a strangely under-par Russia tonight. Now you know what you have to do - get out there and win this tournament, and shed that 'underachievers' tag for ever!

Türkiye....

...you were robbed tonight. And I'm not happy :(((

Nothing personal against Germany, but tonight they were all luck and no skill, and a shadow of their once mighty selves.

Tomorrow: semi-final 2 - Russia vs Spain. Should be a cracker, hopefully: may the best team win - and whatever team that is, that will be the one that I will be supporting in the Euro 2008 final on Sunday.

Euro 2008: smells like team spirit

Two weeks into the tournament and Euro 2008 is teaching us one thing: it's all about teamwork, rather than the 'star players'.

The quarter-final stage began tonight. I have always been a big fan of the Portuguese national team, but this time round they were just lacking the "oomph" needed to drive them on in this competition. The problem may have been that it was less Portugal, more "Team Ronaldo" if the TV commentators were anything to go by. Ronaldo is an extremely gifted and talented player, but in this tournament he left me cold. This time his lacklustre performance - well out of proportion to his ego - coupled with "Big Phil" Scolari's ill-timed 'bye bye Portugal, see ya, I'm off to Chelsea' announcement, may ultimately have hastened their demise.

There are some certainties in life: price rises, disappointing second albums and ...Germany will always make the last 8. At least. Again they don't quite play exciting enough football to thrill me, but I get the feeling that we have yet to see the best from them.


I'm ashamed to say this, but I haven't seen Croatia play yet - that will change tomorrow when I give their potentially exciting clash with Turkey my full attention. Turkey are a battling, spirited, never-say-die team and after their performance against the Czechs, we might just expect a further shock result.

No offence to reigning champions Greece, but I'm glad they're gone as they bored me. Ditto Austria, Switzerland, Poland. France...were just shocking. And Sweden...I love your country but this time round, I couldn't say the same for the lifeless performances by the national team. (Apart from the mighty Henrik Larsson, a true legend).

Quite appropriate that the tournament is taking place in (Austria and) Switzerland, as I'm feeling a major sense of neutrality now and can't decide whether to support Holland or Spain, both of whom have played great attacking football. That's what I really wanted from Euro 2008 and it has (mainly) delivered. I'm particularly impressed by Holland, who are playing a delightful passing game, as indeed are Russia - no surprise as they're managed by Guus Hiddink - it's a pity that both will meet as early as Saturday's quarter-final as I'd liked to have seen that tie at a later stage. I've got that feeling that Holland might just do it this year and repeat their triumph of 1988!