Turkey once again put Spain under pressure from the start and took a deserved lead in the 26th minute with a tap in from Semih Senturk from a pass by Tuncay Sanli.

Turkey adopted the same tactics they had in Spain, closing down quickly on the Spanish playmakers in midfield almost suffocating the Euro champions at times with clever man marking. Such is the quality of this Spanish side that they stuck to the task, passing the ball well and probing the Turkish defence.

But it was the Turks who came closest to scoring another goal and but for some poor finishing would have had a commanding lead into the second half. Nihat Kahveci was guilty of wasting chances either side of half time, before Spain fought their way back into the game. The pressure on the Turkish defence was immense and they had done well to contain the Spanish threat until Fernando Torres headed the ball towards goal hitting Ibrahim Uzulmez on the arm and winning a penalty.

Xabi Alonso duly scored from the spot and Spain were back in the game. The winner came in injury time when Daniel Guiza on for a jaded looking Torres was picked out with a lovely diagonal ball from Gerard Pique. Guiza beat his man on the right wing and crossed for Albert Riera to convert.

In summary, Spain have not looked so fluid in these last two games and are particularly missing the ingenuity of Andre Iniesta in midfield. Take nothing away from Turkey though who have given Spain two fantastic games. The Turks defend extremely well but are not a defensive side, some of their passing has been sublime  and tactically they have been extremely efficient in their handling of Spain. They had the chances too, to win both games and will rue their awful finishing as they sit in third place in the group, behind Bosnia.

This will be seen as a welcome boost for England manager Fabio Capello as he endeavours to turn the English game around and get us back on course for World Cup 2010 qualification. England along with Spain and Holland are the only three European teams to win all of their qualifying games so far, having earned favourable results against Belaraus and Kazakhstan in last months World Cup games.

Euro 2008 champions Spain remain firmly at number one in the world rankings, maintaining a perfect record in their qualifying games, most recently with well earned wins against Belgium and Estonia in the October matches. The Spanish team have now cemented their place in pole position since being placed at the top after the fabulous football of the Euro’s in June.

Former world number one team and everyone’s favourites Brazil find themselves languishing in fifth place, moving down from fourth on the back of a miserable display in the goalless draw with Columbia in October. Brazil are also the highest placed non European team in the list, one place ahead of Argentina who are also struggling to find consistency despite having some of the most exciting players in world football to select from.

It will be interesting to see if Argentina’s newly appointed coach Maradona will stay around long enough to have an influence on what is, in my opinion the most talented group of individuals currently in world football. 

The FIFA rankings for November 2008 are:

1. Spain

2. Germany

3. Italy

4. Holland (Netherlands)

5. Brazil

6. Argentina

7. Croatia

8. Russia

9. Czech Republic

10. England

10. Portugal

12. France

13. Turkey

14. Cameroon

15. Israel

16. Bulgaria

17. Paraguay

18. Greece

19. Romania

20. Ukraine

Standing on the touchline in the pouring rain watching your team failing to qualify for a major final, is quite sane compared to some of the things that Domenech has done.

Making squad selections based on astrology almost saw Domenech kicked out of his job before the World Cup finals in 2006. A sudden change of fortune and  a pre retirement in form Zidane helped the ageing French side to the final.

This time there is no saviour, Domenech never even considered taking in form striker David Trezeguet to the Euro’s, favouring the out of form Henry and Anelka. Their best players overall in the three games were veteran Makelele and headless chicken Ribberry.

And when France returned home, Domenech tells the nation that he is getting married, “To lift the spirit of the country” after failing at football.

But my favourite story was how Domenech blamed the hotel that the French team were staying in for his teams awful displays at Euro 2008. He said that the Hotel only had one entrance and all the rooms led off corridors making the team feel as though they were in a cul de sac!

Why he hasn’t been shown the door is anybody’s guess.

The 28 year old Barcelona player appeared to be involved in every move  during last nights final, covering every blade of grass on the pitch, as he has done in every game he has played in the tournament. Along with club team mate Andres Iniesta, Xavi has provided the engine room of this Spanish team and in my opinion fully deserves the accolade.

Iniesta joins Xavi among the Castrol squad of the tournament, featuring no less than nine of the Spanish team. Germany’s Michael Ballack who had an excellent and inspirational tournament was also singled out by the judges for special praise.

The full 23 man Castrol Squad Of The Tournament looks like this:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Iker Casillas (Spain), Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands).

Defenders: Bosingwa (Portugal), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Carlos Marchena (Spain), Pepe (Portugal), Carles Puyol (Spain), Yuri Zhirkov (Russia).

Midfielders: Hamit Altıntop (Turkey), Luka Modrić (Croatia), Marcos Senna (Spain), Xavi Hernández (Spain), Konstantin Zyryanov (Russia), Michael Ballack (Germany), Cesc Fàbregas (Spain), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Lukas Podolski (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands).

Forwards: Andrei Arshavin (Russia), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Russia), Fernando Torres (Spain), David Villa (Spain).

Listerman is well known in his homeland for setting up rich Russian’s with prospective wives, and has allegedly offered the Russian players an unexpected bonus.

“For each goal I’ll present two beautiful chicks. Watch the guys react.”

The star of the tournament Andriev Arshavin seemed pretty keen on the idea saying “There are a number of bachelors in our team, this is a great incentive.”

Expect an attacking display from Russia with every player attempting to get on the scoresheet, although it is unclear whether the goalkeeper will be rewarded if it comes down to him keeping Russia in the game.

Possession was 50-50, but if anything Turkey appeared to have the slight edge. Considering injuries and suspensions, I really didn’t expect them to put up such a fight.

Turkey looked to attack from the kick-off which again I was surpised by, thinking they would attempt to soak up the pressure for most of the game and then attack in the last 10 minutes; a tactic they employed against Croatia.

But former Sheffield United, Brighton & QPR winger Colin Kazim Kazim-Richards beat Jens Lehmann twice, only to hit the woodwork before Turkey eventually took the lead on 22 minutes. But the breakthrough only lasted minutes, as Bastian Schweinsteiger equalised from close range.

When Miroslav Klose headed Germany into the lead after 79 minutes it really did look like the end of Turkey’s Euro 2008 experience. But Semih Senturk levelled late on and everyone was set for another thrilling 30 minutes. But Germany had time for just one more attack in injury time and Phillip Lahme was put through by a great pass from Thomas Hitzlsperger. Lahme beat goalkeeper Rustu Recber to put Germany through to the Euro 2008 final in Vienna on Sunday where they will play the winners of tonight’s second semi-final between Russia and Spain.

Tipping both Russia and Spain before the competition got under way, I now feel Guus Hiddink & Russia will be brimming with confidence and start as the underdogs, where once again the weight of expectation is firmly on the shoulders of Spain, who for me, have been the best team in the competition.

Germany 3 Turkey 2 – what a great showcase for international football. Let’s hope for another five goal thriller!

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Torres and Villa were in splendid form tormenting a porous Russian defence, both testing the goalkeeper with weak shots in the first ten minutes. On eighteen minutes Torres set up a tap in for Villa.

Russia to their credit pushed more men forward and opened the game into a free flowing first half of excellent football. Russia’s passing game at times matching the quality of Spain. Zyryanov had a shot hit the post for the Russians, before Villa scored the second for Spain just before half time.

As expected the Russian team started the second half stronger, pinning Spain back for long periods. But Spain play the counter attack game as good as any and on 74 minutes Villa scored his third and the game was over.

Russia were unlucky not to have a couple of free kicks awarded on the edge of the Spanish penalty area as they pushed for a goal. It came eventually after 86 minutes from Pavluchenko (remember him?). Fabregas heading in Spain’s fourth on full time.

Villa himself had a few missed chances and on two occasions got caught in possession when he couldn’t decide which of his two runners to pass to.

Torres and Villa upfront for Spain is a dream partnership and with an abundance of world quality midfielders their options are endless. I like the balance of Inniesta and Xavi with Senna in front of the defence, Arogones’ starting choice, but it does mean having the luxury of Fabregas and Alonso on the subs bench!

Russia deserve praise for the fight but on this showing Spain look good for a shot at the title.

I can see the noughts going on David Villa’s price tage as I write!

Holland 3 Italy 0 was the shock result of Euro 2008, so far.

It wasn’t quite the’total football’ of the 1980’s when Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and current Holland manager, Marco Van Basten ruled European football, but this was the kind of game the Euro 2008 finals needed; and the kind of performance that Holland have so often failed to deliver in the past.

The game lived up to high expectations and fortunately so, after the boring France v Romania 0-0 affair early in the evening.

Holland were very lucky to be awarded their first goal as Ruud Van Nistlerooy was miles offside.  What was the referee’s assistant thinking of?  But the second and third goals were truly sublime and gave the Italians no reason to grumble about the decision.

Holland must fancy their chances to qualify from Group C – ‘the group of death’ right now.

The current European champions Greece take on Sweden in the early evening kick-off tomorrow.  But I’m hoping Spain v Russia will be another firecracker with plenty more goals.

I don’t expect you to be too surprised that I have predicted the results of all four games thus far, as all have gone according to plan, though I must confess to being surprised by the way both Switizerland and Austria battled their way through their opening matches to lose by a single goal to Czech Republic and Croatia, respectively.

The Portugal v Turkey game was the best so far.  Portugal were up against a well balanced team who possibly surprised them by coming out to attack, rather than defending cautiously. But Ronaldo hit the post in the first half with a cracking free kick and then took centre stage in the second half, as he was moved into the striker/captain role.

Potugal were too good for Turkey, though they will cause problems for Switzerland and Czech Republic.

So tonight, who will be victorious in the ‘group of death?’ I think France should be too strong for Romania and take all three points.  France, Italy and Holland are among the favourites to win the tournament, so each of them will be looking to gain three points from Romania.

As for Italy v Holland, this one is a tight call, and a draw looks the most likely outcome.

Of the games so far, Germany look well disciplined, as did Croatia.  But both looked better in defence because of weak opposition.  Croatia most defintely missed the injured Arsenal striker, Eduardo; while Germany’s central defenders both looked slightly off the pace.

Hopefully we will see lots of goals tonight and two open, exciting games of football as the colour of the Euro 2008 Championships comes to life.