Oranje-BOOOOOM!

As you've probably guessed, I've been so engrossed in the tournament now that it has finally arrived that I completely forgot about the old bloggin caper.

We've had six games so far and tonight's was undoubtedly the best of the bunch with Holland magnificent in trouncing a very poor Italian side. I'd only just woken up in time to catch the game after being bored to tears watching Jim's dad from American Pie's team struggle to excite against Romania. For a squad brimming with experienced pros, France were merde, to say the least and will be heading home before you can say 'Ooh-la-la' from what I watched

Holland on the other hand were excellent. They worked their socks off and managed to make a decent Italian side look decidedly average with their work ethic and counter-attacking play. OK, the linesman gave Holland a helping hand in the Wankdorf stadium by not disallowing Ruud's effort but I honestly don't think it would've made any difference anyway as the Dutch fully deserved their win.

Tomorrow's games are intriguing. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the Senors of Spain perform and reckon this tournament could be the one where they shed the bottle-merchants tag that has stuck with them for so long. Russia will give Torres and Co a tough opening test though and it could well be these two sides who head through to the knockout stages.

The Greece v Sweden game is a funny one. That match could go either way, but I don't expect excitement like we all witnessed tonight as the holders will undoubtedly use the tactics that won them Euro 2004 and try to bore the Swedes to tears. May be the best time in this tourney to make that trip to Ikea folks.