Team Ranking [R]

[SueB]

Now that every team has played once, I thought of ranking them 1-16 based on their first-game performances. This is not a prediction of who is going to win the tournament, just how the teams looked in their opening game.

1. Sweden - 5-0. nuff said.
2. Spain - never in danger of losing
3. France - you have to be good to be lucky
4. Czech Republic - ditto. came through under duress
5. Germany - never count them out.
6. England - could've won. didn't.
7. Holland - got a point but with little style.
8. Greece - things went their way.
9. Denmark - took things to Italy.
10. Latvia - much to admire.
11. Italy - little to admire.
12. Portugal - can you say flop?
13. Russia - shouldn't be here.
14. Switzerland - showed nothing even before going a man down.
15. Croatia - never looked like scoring even with a man advantage
16. Bulgaria - you have to be more than unlucky to give up 5.

[Spartak]

I thought Germany looked the best even though they only got a draw. For 75 minutes they completely dominated the Dutch. Sweden scored 5 but that was more a reflection of Bulgaria basically giving up in the last 30 minutes of that match. For most of that match Bulgaria was Sweden's equal. But they just didn't finish their chances.

On the flip side, I think Croatia was the worst. Their finishing was abysmal when they rarely attacked. They didn't even send many players forward when Vogel was sent off. Switzerland had about the same amount of chances as Croatia and they were a man down.

[SectionX]

Sweden has been the best team so far. Their 5-0 victory is the 2nd highest in Euro championship history. it doesn't matter if Bulgaria played equal, they didn't score,and it IS a strenght to capitalize on the breaks exactly like Sweden did. Kudos to them.