Paul Bestall

First of all, let me say what a super performance Germany gave last night. They tactically outclassed Portugal from the get go and thoroughly deserved their win. Anyway, enough of yesterday, now for today's big clash. Before yesterday, I'd have put my house on Croatia winning this game, now I'm not so sure I don't […]

So here we go, we've had 12 days of blood and thunder football, sublime skills, shock results, new stars and the retirement of legends. Tonight sees the first of the Quarter Finals and what a way to start this section of the competition. There is no doubting over the last 10 years, Portugal's stock has […]

So we enter the final group games tonight, the Spanish are already through to face Italy and Russia and Sweden face each other to see who earns the right to play Holland. Sweden have certainly been the better of the two sides so far in this group and know that a draw will be more […]

Sunday July 9th 2006, 11pm. Italy had just beaten France to become World Champions for the 4th time. The sound of car horns blaring could be heard in every major city in the Western world as Italians celebrated a historic win and looked forward to a new golden age of football for their country. The party […]

Romania go into tonight's game against Holland knowing that a win against the already qualified Dutch side will seal qualification to the Quarter Finals at the expense of Italy and France. Very few people had tipped Piturca's side to be anything other than whipping boys in the Group of Death but they have shown both […]

Group B will come to the end tonight and every team has a chance to join Croatia in the Quarter Finals. Austria need to beat Germany and hope that Poland do not beat Croatia by a bigger winning margin to have a chance to qualify but they'll be up against it. Austria's last competitive win […]

So it's here, the day the gets us all excited and begins the countdown to the new season starting on August 16th, a mere 61 days away. Everyone eagerly checks the fixtures, scanning to see when they've got that away trip to Old Trafford, Anfield, The Emirates and Stamford Bridge, who'll they'll be playing near […]

Tonight sees the first dual clash with Czech Republic playing Turkey whilst Switzerland host Portugal. With Portugal through as Group Winners, all eyes will be on Geneva. We could potentially have a first in Group qualification with the fact that should tonight's game end in a draw, we will go straight into a penalty shoot out […]

Italy are staring into the abyss, the players have been arguing the weekend, the Italian press have being going ballistic and the manager Roberto Donadoni is under massive pressure. Under enormous pressure, the coach is expected to ring the changes for tonight's game against Romania. He's already confirmed that Del Piero will return to the […]

Group B throws us another tantalising opening game this evening as Croatia entertain Germany. A win for either side will see them join Portugal in the last eight and after the performances on Sunday, Germany will be strong favourites to do so. Yet, Croatia are a team that have shown over the last 12 months […]

Chelsea have just announced the Luis Felipe Scolari has been named as the new Chelsea manager as of July 1st. Scolari will be out of contract with the Portuguese FA on June 30th.Speculation had been rife that Scolari would take over for the last 3 weeks and this announcement doesn't come as too much of […]

After one set of games, we now have the groups beginning to take shape and we move into the second phase of matches. Everyone who wins in this particular round knows that they still have a chance of qualifying or indeed making sure that they have qualified for the Quarter Finals. The first of tonight's matches […]

Thank god. Thank you Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thank you Lars Lagerberg. Thank you Sweden. Tonight you have re-affirmed my belief and love of football with your win over Greece. Watching Greece is the antithesis of why I love football, they make me hate the game, make me angry, burrow at my relationship with football and sportsmanship […]

So after getting both results spot on yesterday (I must have typed Italy when I really meant Holland!! Haha!), today gives us another great clash to look forward to with Spain's first game of Euro 2008. The perennial underachievers will be looking for their first trophy in 44 years, since winning Euro 64 and are […]

So, after watching Croatia give a wonderful impression of England and Germany win their first game at Championships since 1996, today gives us the first day we've been waiting for. Group C is the Group of Death, where one of the big boys will definitely go out. Yet I think it will be worse than that, I […]