The Netherlands (as I've found out we're supposed to call the Dutch rather than 'Holland', which is a western region of the Netherlands) continued to show why experts, such as myself, have been tipping them for greatness, by thumping the losing World Cup finalists, France, 4-1 in another superb display of lightening quick counterattacking football.
France really looked the aging hasbeens and neverweres that they are, with Domenech clearly not sure of his best XI, perhaps the astrological omens have not been clear enough?
The Netherlands have now scored 7 goals and conceded only one in two games against the supposed top two teams in the world from 2006 meaning that they've already clinched the top spot in the GROUP OF DEATH and can presumably rest players for their last match against Romania.
Elsewhere in Group C Italy clung onto their EURO 2008 lives thanks to the fingertips (and right foot) of Gianluigi Buffon as he saved a late Adrian Mutu penalty to give the Azzuri their first point of the Championships. The Romanians now need to win against the Dutch to progress at the expense of both the Italians and the French, the probability of this will greatly depend on how seriously the Dutch take the final match and Italian suggestions of a "biscuit" (à la EURO 2004 and the great Scandanavian Stitch up where the 2-2 draw between Denmark and Sweden saw them go through at the expense of Italy) could well fire them up.
In Group A, Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal (copyright ITV Sport) beat the Czech Republic in a cracking match which coupled with the Turks injury time winner against the unfortunate Swiss means that they win the group.
Switzerland became the first team eliminated (at least they don't have to fly home and face being pelted with rotten fruit as they leave the plane) after losing 2-1 in a match that clearly should've been abandoned due to the ridiculous amount of water on the St Jakob-Park pitch, this despite the fantastically named Hakan Yakin scoring a crackin' tap in.
These results mean that Turkey face the Czechs in a winner takes all last match which could go to penalties (a first for a group match) due to their identical standings in the group.
Group B saw Croatia deservedly beat pre-tournament favourites, Germany, and re-confirm their standing as a lot of people's dark horses, Srna and Olic scoring before Lucas Podolski briefly gave the Mannshaft (is that really the German's nickname for their national team?) hope of a scraping a draw 11 minutes from time before Bastian 'Pig Climber' Schweinstieger got himself sent off for stupidly raising his hands to push Croatian substitute, Leko Jerko.
In the other match, Austria earned a draw against Poland despite protests about their injury time penalty which was awarded by English ref, Howard Webb. Quite why the Polish defenders didn't heed Webb's warning about shirt pulling and pushing 30 seconds before the penalty was awarded is a mystery but, of course, Leo Beenhakker and his players would rather make the referee the scapegoat, this despite the officials erroneously allowing the Poland goal to stand even though scorer, Roger Guerriero, was clearly in an offside position.
Lastly in Group D, Russia eliminated the over-cautious reigning champs, Greece, with a 1-0 victory secured thanks to a rush of blood by goalkeeper and Philip Schofield look-a-like, Antonis Nikopolidis, which allowed Konstantin Zyryanov to sidefoot Sergei Semak's athletic cross into the empty net.
The Spaniards continued to show their early promise by edging past Sweden in a close fought encounter, 2-1, David Villa scoring Spain's winner and his 4th of the tournament in injury time, adding to Torres's opener and making Zlatan Ibrahimovic's goal academic.
So after the second round it's the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and perhaps surprisingly, Croatia who are setting the early pace and have all qualified for the knockout phase with a game to spare.
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