Many of us were not lucky enough to get tickets for the men's synchronised swimming final's or any other pointless event's that London 2012 Olympics is offering this summer, so focus turns instead to the UEFA European Championship's being split between Poland and Ukraine. A few eyebrow's were raised at the confirmation of the two countries as host's of the competition and with fears of stadiums being completed on time and the Ukraine's reluctance to shut off its red-light area's, it looks like we're just about ready to get underway.
England have been banished to Donetsk, the only host city without a metro system, much to the annoyance of our London-based supporters no doubt, with the second group game being played in the capital Kiev sandwiched in between two matches in Donetsk. Currently managerless and with a captain...sorry, ex-captain, on a racism charge, things arn't looking particularly rosey in Englands garden. Names strongly linked to take on this 'orrible lot include Harry Redknapp, Guus Hiddink and incredibly....Alan Pardew, still joking aside it will be a big ask for whoever is brave enough to take the job, especially in a competition famed for sealing the fate of many who have managed the national side. Graham Taylor famously bombed at the 1992 tournament in Denmark before a horrific World cup qualifying campaign in 1993 lead to his resignation, not even El-Tel could bring glory on home soil with arguably the best England team of its generation in 1996 and don't even get me started on Kevin Keegan.
Lady luck however has smiled upon our fair country by pitting us against three sides of similar standard but who are also largely unpredictable, the co-hosts Ukraine will be wanting to put on a show for all those who brought flares to the party the last time England played in Kiev, halting the match for a period in the process. Sweden and England seem to meet time and again in international tournaments producing closely fought contests in recent seasons. Then of course theres the French, rejuvenated under Laurent Blanc's leadership after the rebellion against the Raymond Domenech era which produced a collapse of epic proportions in the World cup in South Africa.
From the Ukraine to Poland now and many stadiums in the host cities are quite simply unrecognisable from the crumbling theatres that they were prior to the announcement that Polish builders would be in work for a little while longer. The national stadium in Warsaw (now rated UEFA 4 stars) and the futuristic Stadion Miejski in Poznan are among the four brand spanking new stadiums built especially for the finals and to be honest, look fantastic. Hopefully the Poles will not catch the Italian bug and end up with these magnificent arena's sitting half empty once the circus has left town, sadly though I'm not holding my breath.
Everything is set for an entertaining and action packed summer, can Spain's dominance be broken? Will the youth in the German rank's deliver the crown? Can the Irish be persuaded to leave the bar? It's all to play for and without risking sounding like a typical moronic England supporter, this could just be our year....
Donetsk is a modern business center, very good place to work and enjoy your life. Just go to a bar and talk to pretty girls, they are wonderful there. This is the directory of Donetsk bars I like to visit. If you can share contacts of other good bars or pubs in Donetsk, do it please!
ReplyDelete