Five Things We Learned in Swissaustria, June 16th

1. All the drama was used up yesterday
Today’s action had no fizz. Seems the last five minutes of Turkey 3-2 Czech Republic in Group A used up all the good football action yesterday, so the football gods evened things out by making Group B nice and straightforward today.

2. You’re never too old to be sent for a timeout
Joachim Löw is 48 years old. Josef Hickersberger is 60 years old. But when they squabbled today, they both got sent to the stands to think about what they’d done.

3. Celtic fans could have done without Euro 2008
Artur Boruc’s performances for Poland will very likely have caught someone’s eye. He held Croatia off almost single handedly today.

4. Mario Gomez could definitely have done without Euro 2008
The German striker was tipped for Euro 2008 stardom. Unfortunately, this is his most memorable contribution so far:

Always bet on Ballack
The German captain was criticized for his performance against Croatia, so he was always likely to do something today. Something like score the only goal with a laser guided missile of a free kick.