Euromen Cometh

Much to my joy, the European Championships start tomorrow. I do love a good tournament, especially in this instance where all the games are on in the evening after I finish work - with luck, I shouldn't miss a single game.

I've always preferred the Euros to the World Cup, too. Sure, the latter is considered the apex of achievement for a footballer, but there can often be some games involving some pretty crap teams, even if the antics of New Zealand two years ago showed the gap isn't that far these days. But the Euros rarely have filler teams that never stand a chance of winning a game: Ireland may be considered the weakest team out of the 16, and even they have proven international quality players like Shay Given and Robbie Keane, as well as being led by one of the most respected coaches in the game.

Plus you get the occasional huge shock winner, like Denmark in 1992 and Greece in 2004. Alright, so the Greek team played in a style so mind-numbingly negative it would have made George Graham proud, but you take your surprises where you can get them in football and a team who had never been a real threat at that level before suddenly being champions of Europe on the back of sheer willpower and organisation made for a decent story.

If I had to back a team, though, I'd have to plump for the Germans. They looked very strong in qualifying and you can generally rely on them to be amongst the chasers. Given my own brief flirtation with the England national team ended when Graham Taylor dropped Chris Waddle and Peter Beardsley, then gave more caps to Carlton Palmer than Matt Le Tissier, I won't be giving much backing to them. Indeed, I'll be surprised if they escape from the group stage.

Mind, even if they do, they'll probably have to face either Spain or Italy in the next round. Given those teams have won the last World Cups, it again shows the level of competition in the tournament.

What I will be hoping for is that the lunkheads that the BBC reported on the other week are kept well under the cosh by the local authorities. The idea of a footballer being the target of racist abuse at such an event in the 21st century is grotesque. Cliché and trite as it may sound, but football is the Beautiful Game and groups of extremist bell-ends should be kept out by all means necessary. Call your centre-half a useless bag of shite when he punts one into his own net - fine - but bringing such irrelevant details as his skin colour into it is just a sign of idiocy and a lack of intelligence in being unable to think of a decent insult. UEFA have made noises about taking a hard line if such abuse is heard - I can only hope they follow through with it if need be.

The main concern for me on a personal level, however, is that with so much footy on TV over a short space of time, the amount of beer and crisps I might get through may ensure I'll soon have a belly big enough to rest my pint glass on...