What we've learned from the first half of Switzerland vs Czech Republic: If you breathe hard enough on someone from Switzerland, their knee breaks.

Bollocks. Missed the score by a right wide margin. Ah well, at least I picked the winner on that one.

Here is the betting game sheet for day 1:

Betting Game Sheet (Day 1)

I think Switzerland would have deserved a tie, it's not like Jack Republic played absolutely amazing. The team who DID play absolutely amazing was Portugal. I really thing they're ready to get very far in this tournament.

My impressions of the teams so far:

Schwitzerland: Good fighting spirit, but the whole team appears still too disorganized. Second half it looked like they were better and pressing and stuff, but a really good team would have made more out of it. Too bad for them, Alexander Frei is out. That's really pitchdark-black luck.

Zeckenrepublik: They look like an organized, calm team, but also revealed definciency in offense. If they are under pressure nothing goes, see second half of yesterday's match.

Christmas Turkey: A solid, slightly above average team. Resisted the attacks of the Portugese for a long time and had half-decent football construction on opponent's ground. Karim was good, Tuncay was not.

Port Ugal: Oh yeah, they have quite the stars in their team and also played like a team. They will probably go far, but it depends on how stable they are if they meet equally good teams and are under pressure. That's usually when you see whether a teams falls apart or has what it takes for the trophy.

Pretty convincing win by Jerry today. I thought the Poles might have put up a bit more of a fight but that was pretty much 1939 all over again. Good couple of goals though, I reckon Croatia will struggle to beat the Germans in that group.

So it pretty much was Poland - Poland: 2-0. Good job Germany.

Missed the score on the second game, but nailed it on the first. Haven't missed a winner yet and I've got two winners with score. Not a bad start.

Things I learned on day two: "Poland continues to be winless against Germans" is the funniest banner headline I've ever read, deliberate or not. And the Germans have power in their boots. Not one soft touch the whole game. Every shot was just a cannon.

Yesterdays two matches were pretty good, Croatia was VERY lucky since Austria (which can be found in the FIFA team list somewhere around rank #90, behind Mocambique) played really good.

The German victory wasn't that obvious, either. Poland had a very good defense and it was difficult to play against them. I except Germany and Croatia to win group B. Everything else should be a surprise.

Betting Game Sheet (Day 2)

The writing on the wall is clear. Juanzen must be killed. It's the only solution.

Holy cow, did you see Klose's second fateful pass to Podolski? He faked a shot and gave a millenia arclamp ball to Podolski, BAM, goal. Too bad his performance was so authentic the press didn't see it the same way.

Certainly one of the best missed shots ever, that's for sure.

Mush, all I'm getting from that link is a banner ad.

Yeah, I was like "thank God Klose missed (once) again".

Have you tried to download the sheet?

Good idea, that worked fine. Cheers matey.

Well, this match (France-Romania) sucked. There have been too few goals so far, I hope we will see more goals later on when Italy and Holland play against each other.

Holland whooping Italy atm, 3-0 after the first half. Putting Rosso on the bench sure was a smart move :tpg:

2-0, not 3-0.

Still I'm having a good feeling about this. Go Netherlands!

Can't believe I was right about that first match. I was betting on France having no heart, and it looks like I was right. 3 points from doubt. Nice.

Also, currently inline for a good call on the second. If the Netherlands stays quiet and Italia manages one tally, I'll be a very happy man.

AFTER GAME EDITAN:

Well, so far I'm consistent, if nothing else.

Match Day 1: 4 points.

Match Day 2: 4 points.

Match Day 3: 4 points.

Wow so definitely a couple of surprises today. It's not like the Dutch team played totally amazing, but Italy was just very very bad.

Only two points for you today, but you're still pretty good!

Betting Game Sheet (Day 3)

Which doesn't make it any less enjoyable to watch Italy get beaten like a drum.

Being German, I must say that I can't really approve any Dutch victory, but on the other hand, I can't deny the fact that it was well deserved. Yeah.

I CAN SEE DA FUTURE!

great game by holland.

Congratulations Netherlands! What a match! It was really fun to watch after Romania - France was ... exists an English word below boring? I mean it was really hard to keep my eyes looking to the TV and I'm sure I was not the only one. But Netherlands - Italy rescued the whole day (except you're Italian).

NOW I want to check this topic. Fuckin' WOO, fuckers!

It couldn't have started any better for the Dutch, honestly, but I do feel we deserved the win in the end. And with France and Romania looking pretty meek, we have a pretty decent chance now. Plus, the fact that Italy needs to win against them to go onto the next round is another huge bonus. Basically, if we can tie against one other team in our group, we're almost sure to go on.

I don't think Italy played that badly to be honest, they were just outclassed, and a teeny bit unlucky at points as well. But if the Netherlands had made every outright chance a goal, it would've been something like 6-0.

Woo!

Oh, damnit. I thought I'd called nil-nil, but apparently 1-1 upon checking.

BLAST.

No discussion, you totally deserved!

Wonderful, fast counter-attacks, very strong at 1vs1s, mostly standing right and the one jump from van der Sar! Great! By keeping up that performance it could be a very good tournament for the Netherlands! :)