I've been catching a few of the Euro 2008 games here and there (whenever I can remember to record them), and I have to say that I can't remember a series of more interesting games in a major competition. World Cup, while it's fun to watch, often pits two sides that are playing not to lose. The classic example is the 2004 final between Italy and Brazil. Only a handful of games are really interesting. The rest are marred by negative football.

On the other hand, Euro 2008 had been nothing but end to end, action-packed positive football. Tackling is fierce. Goals, while not plentiful, have been exciting. Goal keeping has been great. Teams are well matched.

Could it be because poor England didn't qualify? It's easy to blame the English (what say you, Phil?)

We're one game into the quarters. Yesterday Germany dispatched Portugal 3-2 in a game that would have been much more exciting (for me) had not the BBC divulged the results before I had a chance to watch. Germany looked really good, although Ballack did push the defender in the back before heading in the goal that turned out to be the game winner.

I have high hopes for the remaining games. We've got Croatia v. Turkey today. Netherlands v. Russia on Saturday and Spain v. Italy on Sunday. I'm hoping that the Dutch finally pull through and win a major tournament. They have a fantastic team and are really fun to watch. Of course, they'll have to get by Russia and the magician Guus Hiddink and then eventually (probably) their nemesis, Germany, to win it all, but if they ever had the team to do it, this is the one.