The Netherlands vs. Denmark
0-1
This Championship is full of surprises! Who would've thought that Denmark would beat the Netherlands in the opening game of Group B? Our two men in this game, Robin van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner, both led the line for their respective teams, being the two centre forwards.
The Dutch dominated this game from start to finish, and our prolific goalscorer created plenty of opportunities. However, it was not to be the Dutchmen's day. The Danes shocked the entire stadium, if not the entire continent of Europe, by taking the lead in the first half, after being thoroughly outplayed by the Dutch. The pressure from the Netherlands was immense, but, as mentioned, it was not their day. They had two claims for hand ball in the penalty area discarded by the ref, which was rather harsh. Focusing on the two Arsenal players, they both did well. Of course, since the Netherlands failed to score it was not a very good day for Robin, but I felt that he did all that he could, towards the end he was virtually the only one putting pressure on the Danes and chasing after the ball. On the other side of the pitch, Bendtner didn't get many opportunities, but he worked tirelessly up front, pressuring the centre halves.
Germany vs. Portugal
1-0
It was a day of narrow wins in Group B yesterday. The clash between Germany and Portugal was tight, but a late goal from Gomez claimed the win for the Germans. We had one Arsenal player (well, close enough) in this game in Lukas Podolski (since Per Mertesacker was on the bench). This was the first real good look I got of the new signing, and I thought he looked like a real team player. He worked really well on the left-hand side, seemingly really quick and clever. I certainly look forward to seeing more of him in the future.
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