THIS IS EXTRA TIME

No, not Turkey v Czech R., peculiarly. Although we did spot the end of that match and noticed three things: Baros getting carded while on the bench (something you don't see every day) , Cech looking unbelievably dejected (gasp! never!) and the Turks' replacement keeper looking frantic and frightened as he went into goal in place of Volkan in extra time.

Back to Portugal and Switzerland now. Cristiano, Nuno and Deco all sat today out. Yes, all the pretty boys were benched. And could you believe it? We still watched. Yes, purely for the sake of football. Not a frilly moment to be had!

Okay, maybe a few. You know us better than that. In a very desperate moment we took to spying Nani's bottom and, douchiness aside, what we saw was actually quite pleasing. Forgive us.

A few notes from the match in the usual wandering-eye style:

4' - Nani's just given the ref his first 'Me? Couldn't possibly be!' look of the evening. Minds everywhere secretly drift off to the second to last match Man U played last season. Yes, that one. About a month and a half on and still, whenever one spots Nani in a line-up, (or on the bench, normally) they think 'diving t***.'

15' - First 'good job, bro' bum-pat we've seen so far this tourney: Portuguese keeper, Ricardo, gives Miguel a little tappy-tap.

23' - Philippe Senderos? Defending? Well? We're witnessing a rare phenomena, folks. He looked nearly acrobatic doing that split to clear that ball away from the Swiss box.

24' - ...And now everyone fully understands why Scolari doesn't bother with Miguel: An ill-advised backpass of sorts and Miguel's kicked the ball to Vonlanthen who, had he been in a slightly better position (or had a bit more imagination -- either one) could have very easily exploited the moronic move.

28' - Senderos, not being himself again. Nearly scores off of a Swiss FK. He's also behaving more captainly than the actual captain. Although, we should say, that our Phil's never been shy of a bit of shouting, he's just been especially rowdy today.

29' - We officially pick Paulo Ferreira for most likely to bust someone's leg this tournament: Stud's up challenge on that funky-haired (and not in a good way) Behrami dude.

39' - There's a rather emo looking photographer sitting behind the sideboarding. He adjusted his emo-bang twice in the span of his two seconds on screen. Take that, Pete Wentz!

44' - Inler with a bit of blood drawn. Hotness level increases two-fold.

56' - Expert Dive du Jour: Magnin grabs his face as he rolls around expertly on the grass. In reality, the Portuguese hit him on the shoulder/neck. And not all that hard, it looked like.

60' - Senderos is beginning to seriously scare us, doing his job and all. Another great block.

71' - Beginning to doubt whether the Portuguese defense actually understands the offside rule. As the ball is played in to Yakin, Miguel is the only Portuguese defender that attempts to, er, defend. The others look to the linesman and wait for a call. Yakin's now off somewhere celebrating his goal in a very delicious looking six-man Swiss man-hug. We'd like some of that in a bun, please. Except for that weird looking ginger bald dude who ruined this otherwise perfect moment for us last month. Leave him out.

78' - Senderos again. Possessed by the spirit of Cannavaro tonight, surely. Canna's bald right? Let's just forget the tan and his being considerably shorter then. Can't be the same Senderos of CL against Liverpool, at least. Oh look, now he's trying to rouse the Swiss supporters with that endearing, and kind of sad, 'Please chear for us! NOW!' arm-flail he's been doing all tournament long.

83' - Yakin's penalty's in! Broken-Alexander Frei is the first one to man-hug Yakin after his goal. Where'd he come from? Be careful son, he's fragile and isn't afraid to cry. In fact, is that a glistening tear we spot in Frei's eye now?

90' - FULL TIME: The Swiss boys have come out with some sort of banner thing now. Senderos has abandoned his not-actually-captain captainly role and is off waving and pointing to someone in the crowd. Scouting the after-match groupies, perhaps? Oh, Senderos! You charmer, you! Switzerland's manager has morphed from angry old man to cuddly grandpa. He's giving all his lads a tender little hug. (Along with a Lindor chocolate and a mysterious grope, of course.)

Labels: euro 2008, i've got a wandering eye, portugal, switzerland