I wonder how the award of Guus Hiddink's honourary Russian citizenship is progressing. Could it be that, after his team's non-appearance in their semi-final against Spain, he is already on his way to the saltmines of Siberia? God only knows what happened to the Russian team who lit up Euro2008 with their destruction of Sweden and Holland. All the flair which won over so many neutrals was conspicuous by its absence in Vienna as Spain strolled through to Sunday's final.
The Spaniards made light of the early loss of top scorer David Villa and were well on top long before Xavi opened the scoring in the second half. The Barcelona man was in top form and speculation that Andrei Arshavin may soon be on his way to the Nou Camp looked kinda silly as the wee Russki was anonymous throughout the game. On this evidence, he couldn't lace Xavi's boots.
After years of under-achieving at this level, Spain finally look capable of punching their weight. Every player wanted the ball, determined to push forward and play the game in the opposition's half of the pitch. I'd expected the Russians to pull the Spaniards on to a counter-punch but they just didn't get a sniff of the ball in the right areas. I was confident Spain wouldn't repeat their 4-1 win of the opening game but they were well worthy of yet another convincing victory.
Prior to the tournament I'd heard little of Real Mallorca's Daniel Guiza so I was surprised to find out he was La Liga's top scorer last season but he certainly looked the part when he fired home the second goal. From that point onwards, there was never any doubt about which team would be facing Germany at the weekend. David Silva's late strike merely confirmed Spain's control of the game.
I had worried that Luis Aragones' team was too reliant on Villa and Torres up front, especially as they'd made such heavy weather of breaking down Italy in the quarter-final. But against a Russian team which had totally outclassed Holland, Spain rose to the challenge and they had a host of players who were willing to accept responsibility, leaving the Russians struggling to figure out where the next threat was coming from. They look more than capable of making life very difficult for Germany on Sunday.
But having expected the Germans to wilt in the face of the pace and flair of Portugal, only for them to take control of the game on go a couple of goals in front at a time when the Portuguese expected to be calling the shots, I'm not making the mistake of writing off Germany. Mind you, Jens Lehmann's recent outburst, blaming Arsene Wenger for his howlers, was a bit rich. I didn't see the Arsenal manager letting the ball through his legs on Wednesday night. I'm actually inclined to think Lehmann is Germany's achilles heel. Put it this way, if it was my team, I'd rather have Iker Casillas between the sticks.
All will be revealed on Sunday night.
LITTLE BOY BLUE