Euro 2012 Diary: спасибо, people of Kiev!

I fly back from Kiev tomorrow, just in time for England's crunch game against Ukraine, which is a shame because it would be absolutely superb to be able to watch England play the host nation in this fair city. The people are welcoming and sincere (despite what you may have read or heard before the tournament started), and I can confidently say that this place would be easily the second best place to watch the game after being in the Donbass Arena itself.

There are many things I've loved about Kiev, but the people are probably the aspect I've loved the most. They are naturally very helpful and forgiving that even though you've decided to visit, you don't actually speak a word of their language other than 'спасибо' (phonetically 'spass-ee-bah' which means 'thank you') and will go out of their way to not only help you, but if they can't speak any English they'll generally go and find someone that can whether that be another employee in the shop you're in, or even a customer. Nothing appears to be too much trouble.

I also refuse to wrap up this series of diary entries without a mention for the Kiev Metro, a deep-lying, and I mean REALLY deep-lying, full on assault on the senses. The escalator down to the platform in my local metro station here is honestly about twice as long as any escalator I've seen on the London Underground, and upon arrival on the platform there are indecipherable adverts and loud announcements in Ukrainian that are then repeated in a hilariously camp American accent in English afterwards. Punctuate that with back-and-forth chants between groups of Swedish, Ukrainian and English fans that reverberate off the walls and it becomes a pretty heady assault on the senses.

The overriding memory I'll take back from this trip will of course be England's 3-2 win over Sweden and the electric atmosphere that was not only inside the arena itself, but on the concourses, the road leading up to the stadium and the bar I was in beforehand. It was great to not only be able to soak up that atmosphere but hopefully add to it by chatting and engaging with Swedish fans of all shapes and sizes, gleaning what their hopes for the game were and how far they thought their team could go this summer. As it transpired, not very far, but I speak from first-hand experience when I say that, judging on last night, it doesn't appear to have curtailed their appetite for refreshment. Their team may not be truly world-class, but their fans certainly are.

As for England, I think they're probably on course to realise what I hoped they'd achieve ahead of the big kick off, which was to reach the quarter-final stage. They have an eminently winnable final group game, albeit against a home team with a partisan crowd in Donetsk, but I really think a game against Spain would be a step too far. Should England top the group and play Italy or Croatia in the next phase, that's really a 'pick 'em' game, so with a bit of luck they could even reach the semi-finals, which would surely go down as a great success story for Hodgson and his men.

England prices do tend to be on the short side, but there's a Team Specials market that I like the look of: Wayne Rooney is currently 5.39/2 to be England's top scorer at the tournament. He's motivated, he's England's main man going forward and he only has one goal to catch up to become joint top scorer. He will definitely start the Ukraine game, and it's easy to imagine him popping up with a couple over the next game or two (should England qualify).

Croatia play Spain tonight, and while I think Spain will emerge victorious and easily top the group, Mario Mandzukic has it in him to trouble the scorers again. While there are question marks over his motivation, he relishes the big games, is excellent in the air and I think a Spanish defence missing Carles Puyol is one that could concede against a competent attacking team like Croatia. He's priced at 5.0 to get a goal, and I think that's a decent bet.