COR BLIMEY...

Well, some of us thought the opener would be the worst game in living memory (Arsenal v Lens 28th November 1998 since you ask. A game so bad that when a young lad ran onto the pitch in full Arsenal kit, the crowd as one sang 'sign him up, sign him up, sign him up', but I digress...) but it was a thriller and the archetypal game of two halves. The Poles looked to be on the way to victory then conspired to throw it away, with our boy Chesney having what can only be described as 'a mare' and picking up a Full Barton.
And then Russia v the Czechs. Admittedly, we couldn't hold out much hope for a team that had Milan Baros (52) leading the line but for ten minutes, it looked promising. That was as good as it got though and even Arshavin decided to turn up so the Czechs were soon torn asunder. You kind of have to love the fact that there was a 'Russian Joey Barton' on the field, a man who once faked a broken leg, with full plastercast. Respect.
So a great first day although someone may want to have a quiet word with Brian Kerr, telling him that a) he doesn't need to shout for us to hear him from Poland; modern technology can deal with it and b) he might want to take a breath once in a while when he's launching into one of his stream of consciousness burbles. I could almost see him turning blue in the face.
And blimey, isn't Clarence Seedorf handsome...