do russians have tv sets yet?  oh thats right, so that they get news from the state of course

Oh, tv ratings were down? I wonder why... maybe because Russia drew Poland and lost to Greece!! lol.

To “TO”: WOOOMAAAN I find you again here “knowledgeable” on this issue too HuH? Let´s leave now the nasty politics that try to dominate the sports aside and concentrate on the sorts, as I have been very active once and still as oldie (so to say) am. The SPANISH maaagnificeeent performance was breathtaking, and they ARE the link for the Europeans to the other Kings of the sport in L America... they can teach us the Europeans of this special technical Latino style, which I enjoy sssoo much just as their special dancing Latino style. However, the African continent players are not to be underestimated too.

I agree with you that there are many elements of the game in Europe that are sick. Take for example the match fixing scandals in Italy (and the Balkans in years past). There is also the question of hooliganism, including as you mention the assaults on Russians in Poland. And I too am disturbed by ideas about holding future Euros in many European cities. Expanding the format to include 24 instead of 16 teams is also a tragedy. It will lessen the quality of first round matches.

As for the health of the game itself, I wouldn't worry too much about Spain. Their generation will eventually lose and different champions playing different styles will prevail. Just look at Chelsea winning the CL this year (playing a style I hate!). Maybe Germany will win some day again with its fast moving style. Russia also has all the talent to win, and win beautifully (like Zenit in the Europa League a few years ago). They just need a winning mentality.

you do not need to take my words for it: you can take a look at many surveys and reports which show what is happening to soccer culture inside Europe at the moment. People who know the game are already raising the red flag that the game is dying away inside Europe. in fact, some are calling for the next Euro games to be held in each every big European city! This shows you the warning signs are already there. Quick remedy must be found immediately end the culture of holding the ball more than certain minutes and how the ball can be held in by one time can be curtailed so to open up the game to dynamics and fluidity that made the game the beautiful and exciting. This is a fact: the Spanish style is killing the beautiful game inside Europe. I promise you new changes are in the pipeline to change this impeding disaster. The Russia fans holding the banner: "This is Russia" were offensive and the banner was uncalled for. But it happened hours after Russian fans were brutally attacked by Polish hooligans. I can assure you no matter how rude they act toward others- inside Russia- the authorities would never have allowed Polish or any other foreign fans to be brutality assaulted in the manner Russians fans were brutally assaulted in Poland- what happened to Russians fans in Poland was an absolute disgrace. Purely disgusting.

Wow, if Spain is killing the game by scoring 4 goals and playing fantasy football in a major final, we must have different definitions of what football is all about!

And I'm afraid raising a "This is Russia" banner at the Warsaw stadium was in very bad taste (even if something different was meant by it). It was no surprise that the Poles were dancing in the streets when Russia went out to Greece.

First, it is not only in Russia but in the entire world that these games did not capture the public imagination. The game between Italy and Germany was the only truly exciting game- I saw. all the other issues, hype about racism- ( most of which was a lie) and the vicious way Russian fans were attacked in Poland- may have contributed to why Russian fans did not want to watch these games after the exit of Russia. Also the final game was boring. Spain is killing the beautiful game in Europe. This is why the final game was also not that exciting.