Diary / Jonathan Wilson / 11 June 2008 / 1 Comments

Here in the Betfair bunker, deep in the underbelly of a crime-riddled London, we're so envious of Jonathan Wilson, winding his way through the Swiss Alps with European dignitaries on a train resembling the Orient Express.

Sitting in the Tivolistadion in Innsbruck yesterday, watching the lightning flash over the Alps, the thought occurred to me that at least it wasn't England getting torn apart by David Villa. All the talk in the build-up had been of the new Russia, and how the self-confidence engendered by Vladimir Putin would carry Russia beyond their usual inferiority complex. By the end, the only consolation for their fans was that they had at least gone one better than Ukraine, who lost 4-0 to Spain in their first game of the last World Cup. And Ukraine still made it to the quarter-finals.

I had feared the five-hour train journey from Bern to Innsbruck would be tedious, but it actually turned out to be one of the highlights of the tournament so far. There was a short story I read years ago - I've tried to track it down without success; any suggestions gratefully received - in which protagonist was given a magic watch. At any time, if he pulled out the winder and so stopped the time, he was told, he would remain at that age for ever. Of course, he never does, because he always hopes for a little bit more, and dies with the watch still running.

He is then put on a train to travel to the hall of judgement, where it will be decided whether he is to be installed in heaven or hell. On the train, he gets chatting to the people around him, and realises he is having a fantastic time. So at that moment, he pulls out the winder, and so spends the rest of eternity travelling endlessly on a train. The point, I think, is that the protagonist found happiness when he escaped the fear of judgement, but yesterday it occurred to me that the story worked on a far simpler level: there just is something very satisfying about a long train journey through beautiful countryside with good conversation.

Sharing my compartment were a Korean, a Norwegian and a Spaniard, but football quickly provides a common ground, especially when it turns out that at least three of you are dangerously obsessed with the decline from grace of Lee Dong-Gook. I was at the Asian Cup in Lebanon in 2000 when he was top scorer, and I've also been privy to rather too many of his ineffective cameos for Middlesbrough. And then, just as conversation was beginning to flag, who should turn up but Seo Jung-Won, who played for South Korea at the 1994 and 1998 World Cups.

There were also plenty of Russians, all of them relentlessly bullish. "We have won the world ice hockey, we have won the UEFA Cup, we have won Eurovision," said Igor, a computer technician from St Petersburg, "and now we will win the Euro." At the anthems before the game, a group of fans held up a series of banners, done in the style usually reserved for orthodox saints, showing six members of the USSR's 1960 Euro winners and six members of the present side. "CHAMPIONS 1960, 2008," ran a long banner underneath.

They will have to improve drastically if they are to achieve that, although there was some merit in Guus Hiddink's claim that that was not really a 4-1 game. Going forward, Russia were impressive, and had Konstantin Zyryanov's shot when the score was 1-0 gone in rather than striking the post it might all have been very different. Even when Roman Pavlyuchenko made it 3-1 with five minutes remaining there was a sense of Spain beginning to wobble.

The problem was the defence, and in particular the bumbling Denis Kolodin. For most of qualifying, Hiddink had employed the back three of Sergei Ignashevich and the Berezutsky twins. They were far from reliable, but the switch to a back four featuring an attacking right-back (Anyukov), a left-winger (Zhirkov), a converted attacking midfielder (Shirokov) and a full-back playing in the centre (Kolodin) has only made things worse.

Not surprisingly, the Russians in town last night were subdued. "We must win our next two games," said one. "But first we must drop Kolodin." They must in truth find a new way of defending altogether.

Tags: Euro 2008 Betting, Football betting, Jonathan Wilson, Russia, Spain, Switzerland