Almost 350 players will leave Euro 2008 disappointed but only 11 will carry the ultimate shame of making it into the Reuters Flops of the Tournament XI.

Starting at the back there is nothing like a commanding goalkeeper and we have three contenders who have been nothing like a commanding goalkeeper.

Petr Cech made a bid by dropping a straightforward catch that enabled Turkey to come from the dead and knock the Czech Republic out while Rustu Recber’s 100 percent ratio of blunders to games in his two appearances also earned notice.

However, the number one shirt goes to 38-year-old Jens Lehmann for his creaky, leaky display in Germany’s semi-final win over Turkey.

There was stiff competition at centre back too, though Marco Materazzi was an almost unanimous choice after finally rediscovering his long-lost Everton form — disappointing, shall we say — in Italy’s 3-0 defeat by the Netherlands.

Lilian Thuram, who was involved in all four goals conceded by France against the Dutch, was in there fighting but Russia’s Roman Shirokov, never to be seen again after Spain thumped four goals through, round and over him, gets the shirt.

France are well represented though as Willy Sagnol and Eric Abidal slot in at fullback.

There were a wide range of contenders for the four midfield slots but another Frenchman, Florent Malouda, was a clear favourite as he reproduced the form he has been showing all season for Chelsea — none.

Daniele De Rossi was supposed to be the purring engine at the heart of the Italian midfield but instead operated like a Vespa on the wrong fuel and walks in.

Four years ago Angelos Basinas helped Greece to their unlikely title but this time he was anonymous. There might have been other Greeks who were as bad or even worse but, as captain, he gets in with something of a representative role.

Freddie Ljungberg, Gennaro Gattuso and Tranquillo Barnetta all attracted votes but the final midfield spot goes to a man who was personally and publicly blamed by his coach for his team’s failure, Poland’s toothless Ebi Smolarek.

Up front there were any number of candidates. Nicolas Anelka had more scowls than shots, Henrik Larsson should have called it a day after two retirements while Martin Harnik was handed the chance to become an Austrian hero but flopped.

However, Mario Gomez has to play given that he arrived with such a fanfare but was then so ineffective that Germany redesigned their formation rather than keep him in.

Alongside him is the player who attracted more votes than anyone, someone for whom the term “lump” could have been invented.

Slow, immobile, clumsy and, when finally presented with some chances to show his ability in the air — poor in the air. Step forward, slowly, Luca Toni.

Such are the motivational qualities of Guus Hiddink that he would probably mould this bunch of misfits into title contenders.

But our disparate group will instead take to the hypothetical field under the guidance of Roberto Donadoni, who since he has already been sacked as Italy coach, is at least available.

PHOTO: Italy striker Luca Toni after being fouled by Eric Abidal in the area during the 2-0 win over France. June 17. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

I’m telling you, this so-called dream job is not all it’s cracked up to be. Anyone keeping up to speed with the Reuters Soccer Blog at Euro 2008 will by now have noticed a trend — it’s hell out here.

There you were in your airless office, up to your eyes in paperwork, wondering what we all did so right in a previous life that qualified us to go and watch some of the best teams in the world play football, for nothing.

But not so fast. As we keep trying to tell you, it’s really, really hard. Just look at these blogs from my colleagues Sonia Oxley, Mark Meadows and Karolos Grohmann.

And it’s true. Sometimes, for example, I find that my allocated seat is not on the front row, exactly on the halfway line, and it can take up to five minutes to get it sorted.
 
There are occasions when the volunteers bring only one complimentary bottle of water, even on warm days, and don’t get me started on the number of times I’ve had to click my fingers to ensure a snappy delivery of a team sheet to my desk.
 
Once the match gets underway we are expected to follow what is going on with nothing to help us but our own two eyes … and a TV monitor, and sometimes a radio commentary, and with any number of “minute-by-minute” internet trackers, and maybe a colleague or three to consult over the correct spelling of Wojciech Lobodzinski, oh, and another one in the office watching the replays just in case we’ve missed anything.
 
But as our bloggers keep telling you, the match is just the icing (too sweet) on the cake (probably stale) and we soccer journalists really earn our corn by finding the stories beyond the 90 minutes of action.
 
Obviously, we bring a great depth of experience and analysis to our coverage to such market-moving events. Stories on how David Villa bent his finger back in a freak celebration injury, the controversy over the government-imposed limit on the variety of sausage available in the fanzones and whether Greece will play five, six or seven defenders in their next match, are all delivered with crisp authority.
 
It can be gruelling work so, if you’ll forgive me, I’m going for a little rest before taking my place pitchside for the Austria-Germany nude five-a-side game (see photo).
 
Mitch Phillips, Vienna

PHOTO: Erotic actresses from Austria and Germany play a five-a-side beach soccer match on the Danube river island in downtown Vienna, June 15, 2008. REUTERS/Christian Charisius

So now we’ve seen him, the media-acclaimed superstar-elect of Euro 2008, Mr Cristiano Ronaldo.

He didn’t tear up any trees but played pretty well in Portugal’s opening 2-0 win over Turkey. He was denied a goal by a fingertip save that touched a first-half free kick on to a post, made several positive runs and had a hand in the second goal. He did not dominate the game but was a constant lively threat. There is almost certainly more to come, in bigger games, but are you a fan or a doubter?

Which of these below most accurately apply to the Portugal winger? You may tick more than one box.  

Ronaldo A: A showpony more interested in trickery, hair cream and mirrors than playing the right ball at the right time. A diver who cons referees into giving him decisions that other players with less nimble feet would never get.  

Skins Derby County fullbacks for fun but goes missing when international defenders give him their undivided attention in games that really matter. Nerve fails him from the penalty spot under pressure. An opportunist happy to play Manchester United against Real Madrid to inflate his own value.  

Ronaldo B: The greatest ball artist the game has ever seen, a player whose mesmerising skill delights neutrals the world over and who should be cherished as an extraordinary talent. A player who has now learned to use his wonderful individual gifts to the benefit of his team mates, who now knows when to dribble and when to pass and is the player all opponents fear.

A remarkable all-round footballer who not only has great feet but is prepared to work hard, tackle back and just happens to be one of the best headers of the ball in the game. Somebody who can score more than 40 goals in one season of Premier League and Champions League football - while still nominally a winger - something not even George Best ever managed. A player able to take a penalty miss in his stride and focus on the next opportunity.

A worthy wearer of his country’s armband, not to mention devastatingly handsome. Personally, I take a large dose of Ronaldo B with a little too much of the theatrical legacy of Ronaldo A, but the next three weeks might change my mind and maybe on June 29 we might all be raising a glass to Ronaldo C.

PHOTO: Portugal’s Gomes hands the captain’s armband to team mate Ronaldo during their Group A Euro 2008 soccer match against Turkey. June 8 REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Moscow might have developed into a shiny new example of capitalist consumerism but the 50,000 English fans arriving on Wednesday for the Champions League final were given a flashback to how the city looked under the greyest days of Communism.

Four hours before kickoff in European soccer’s most important game, soldiers and police outnumbered fans by about 300 to one and not a metre of the route from the Sportivnaya Metro station to the Luzhniki Stadium was unguarded.

The few fans who wandered into the areas surrounding the stadium were dwarfed by the immense military presence - around 15,000 are on duty - as bank upon bank of troops and police stood in line, staring blankly through the cold evening drizzle.

With no alcohol on sale and precious little else on offer in terms of entertainment, most of the fans already here seem to have opted to stay in the city centre before making their way out for the 10.45 local time kickoff.

Thousands more were being bussed straight from the airport, and will go straight back there in the early hours, their entire Russian experience being restricted to what they could see along the roadside through their windows.

A handful of souvenir stalls were offering the usual array of military fur hats and Russian dolls for prices that would have bought a holiday apartment on the Black Sea 20 years ago but there were few takers, hardly surprising in the wake of the outrageous flight and hotel costs the fans had been forced to bear in this most ill -thought out UEFA experiment.

With the leaden skies and constant drizzle further dampening the atmosphere it all added up to a very flat build up for a game that should never have been here in the first place.

Mitch Phillips, Moscow

PHOTO: Matryoshka dolls with portraits of Manchester United players are displayed for sale at Red Square in Moscow, May 20, 2008. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has returned to training following the death of his mother last week but, even if he wants to, should he play in Wednesday’s Champions League game against Liverpool?  

Lampard sat out Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash with Manchester United, which came two days after the death of his 58-year-old mother Pat, and in his absence Chelsea produced their best performance for months.

It was probably no surprise that Michael Ballack, finally given the main man mantle he revels in for big games, stepped up to the plate and capped an impressive all-round performance with both goals in the 2-1 win that kept the title race alive.   

Lampard is undoubtedly a hugely influential and popular player for Chelsea, with an uncanny knack of timing his runs and choosing his positions perfectly to ensure a remarkably regular and prolific goal return.    

However, as England have found to their cost all too often with his failure to gel with Steven Gerrard, his presence does not always seem to bring out the best in those around him - Ballack being the obvious example at Chelsea.    

What a dilemma for Grant. He could leave Lampard on the bench on Wednesday and retain the powerful trio of Ballack, John Obi Mikel and Michael Essien, who performed so impressively against United, but it would be a tough and emotional call to tell Lampard he was surplus to requirements in the most important game of the season so far.

Mitch Phillips, London

“It was always my dream to play in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley,” just doesn’t quite cut it and fans of teams chasing both domestic cups might struggle to sing: “We’re going to Wembley thrice.”

It’s just not right.

The FA may be contractually committed for the next 30 years to playing both semis as well as the final at their shiny new showpiece arena, but that does not mean we have to like it.

The weekend’s semis were both sold-out as almost 84,000 watched Portsmouth beat West Brom and Cardiff beat Barnsley and though most TV-watching neutrals were asleep by halftime in both games, those who turned up no doubt enjoyed their day out.

Which is what it should be like — for the final.

You play in the FA Cup to try to get to a Wembley final. It’s special. It always has been. Cup finals are sunny days in May and playing the semis there in April snowstorms devalues the main event and waters down the memories.

There was some justification for it when the FA broke with tradition by shifting Arsenal v Tottenham there in 1991. Other London grounds at the time had capacities that would have meant only around 20,000 fans of each team would have been able to attend and sending 40,000 north to Villa Park or Old Trafford seemed a bit daft.

Once the dam had broken the same arguments were used in 1993 and 94 when all four semis were at Wembley and again in 2000, the last year of the old stadium, when both were held there.

Now though, with grounds such as Old Trafford, the Emirates and Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium able to hold 60 or 70,000, there is no excuse.

Wembley could revert to being the special destination but, as ever in modern football, the finances take precedence and another piece of “the people’s game” is consigned to history.

PHOTO: A West Brom fan reacts after his team’s defeat against Portsmouth at Wembley, April 5, 2008. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

There is no denying the excitement generated by Brian Howard’s last-minute goal that gave Championship Barnsley their shock 2-1 FA Cup win over Liverpool.

It was a great day for the Yorkshire club and meant that only two Premier League sides - Chelsea and Manchester United - were guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals with the other two survivors, Portsmouth and Middlesbrough, hoping to join them on Sunday.

But was it a great day for the grand old competition or just the latest in the lengthening line of examples of how far it has fallen in the eyes of the big clubs?

If this had happened 20 years ago - when Liverpool were really shocked by Wimbledon in the final - it would have left the Kop wailing and the manager hanging his head.

Rafael Benitez, however, has eyes only for Europe and that is a dangerous game to play.

Liverpool have been reliant on the goals of Fernando Torres this season but the Spain striker was safely wrapped up away from the action on Saturday as Benitez kept him fresh for the midweek Champions League first leg against Inter Milan.

And as in Liverpool’s previous FA Cup struggles this season against Luton and Havant and Waterlooville, captain Steven Gerrard started on the bench.

Benitez complained afterwards about his team’s profligacy in front of goal and, in his defence, international strikers such as Dirk Kuyt and Peter Crouch should have been good enough to deal with the best of Barnsley.

However, if the Spaniard really cared one jot about the FA Cup then Gerrard and Torres would have started and the chances are that Liverpool would have been in Monday’s draw.

Out of both domestic cups, already 19 points off the pace in the Premier League and by no means guaranteed Champions League progression, Benitez seems to have placed all his chips on one big bet - and at dangerously short odds.

Failure back at Anfield against Inter on Tuesday would pile the pressure on Benitez, at a club who really are not big enough these days to pick and choose which trophies they would like to win.

Mitch Phillips, London

PHOTO: Liverpool’s John Arne Riise reacts with frustration during the FA Cup defeat to Barnsley at Anfield, Feb.16 REUTERS/Nigel Roddis

For all those complaining that the Premier League’s plan for world domination means the game has sold its soul, I say, wake up and smell the prawn sandwiches.

Where have you been for the last 15 years? Certainly not travelling to a top flight game on the bus with your dad, grabbing a cup of Bovril and a Wagon Wheel then rushing home to read the Saturday pink and wonder who will be on Match of the Day.

The Premier League has no soul to sell. Didn’t you realize that when clubs started being bought and sold by mysterious Americans and Asian venture capitalists?

Premier League clubs do not care what the fans think, only about how much they can spend.

Outrageous prices for tickets, shirts, programmes, drinks, mouse mats and baby bibs, all happily paid by supporters who are repaid by ridiculous kick-off times and heavy-handed stewards who threaten ejection if you dare voice an opinion.

This latest move is merely the logical extension of the “lucrative summer tours” and the tie-ins with clubs in America and the Far East as clubs seek to “extend their fan base”.

When players of the calibre of Wes Brown can tell Manchester United that he is not signing a new contract unless he gets 60,000 pounds a week, do you think their owners are going to take any decision based on anything other than maximising income?

Football still has soul, lots of it, but you have to look outside the Premier League to find it. Beyond the League of Greed you can still turn up on the day, sit or even stand with a group of friends and enjoy the base pleasure of watching a game.

It might not be being beamed live from Lapland to Hong Kong and all points between but there is a strong chance that if you visit a ground near you you’ll find it, and maybe even at 3 pm on a Saturday afternoon.

Fabio Capello has been grilled inside out by the press in Italy and Spain and will no doubt have been well-briefed about what to expect from their English counterparts once he took on the poisoned chalice of being England manager.

But even the widely travelled and experienced Italian seemed slightly taken aback, or at least amused, by the English media’s Beckham obsession on Wednesday.

Capello has said he will deal with the media through an interpreter until he feels confident enough with the new language to ensure his words mean what he wants them to mean.   

So, sitting down at Wembley on Wednesday to discuss the 2-1 win over Switzerland in his first game in charge, he was perhaps preparing some Italian answers on Joe Cole’s lively contribution, Wayne Rooney’s tireless commitment, the growing confidence of David Bentley or even which comedian informed him that Wes Brown was the best right back in the country.   

Yet all the Pack wanted to know was what he thought of a section of the crowd chanting “there’s only one David Beckham”.

Doing an aural Arsene Wenger, Capello said he had not heard it. He could then barely contain his laughter when the follow-up question asked if such a chant would have any bearing on his future selection.

“The things I do are for the team and have nothing to do with the personal feelings I have for the player,” he said.

Undaunted, England’s leading soccer writers bypassed goalscoring Jermaine Jenas and man of the match Steven Gerrard and turned to Michael Owen, who spent the evening as an unused substitute.

Did Capello not realise what an integral part of the England set-up Owen is? Was he not concerned that not selecting the out-of-form and barely fit Newcastle United striker could damage the poor lad’s confidence?

Funnily enough, Capello did not see it that way, and delivered a Sven-esque reply about how all players are equal in the eyes of Fabio.

Previous England managers have dealt with the English soccer writers in different ways. Steve McClaren sought to become friends with them, Eriksson pretty much ignored them, Kevin Keegan argued with them while Glenn Hoddle merely bamboozled them with his own special brand of the language.

Capello was so respected by the Italian media that they called him “Don Fabio” .
It remains to be seen if Fleet Street’s finest will be similarly won over if he continues not to play the tabloid headline game, but it should certainly be an interesting ride.

Mitch Phillips, London

PHOTO: England manager Fabio Capello reacts during their international friendly soccer match against Switzerland at Wembley stadium, Feb 6 REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

Amid the humdrum fare that makes up the bulk of the Premier League, Kevin Keegan’s return to Newcastle should be welcomed by fans of football and drama, whatever their persuasion.

Some pundits have sneered at the deluded supporters welcoming their Messiah, pointing out that he didn’t actually win anything during his five years as manager and instead should take much of the blame for blowing a 12-point lead to allow Manchester United to overhaul them for the title in 1996.

But supporting a football team, most teams anyway, is all about hope and trying to enjoy the journey because for the vast majority, every season ends in disappointment.

That is if you consider not winning a trophy to be failure, which unfortunately is not the case for the bulk of the Premier League, where the target each August is to finish above the bottom three nine months later. What joy.

Newcastle fans have always expected more, even when their team was hurtling towards the old third division, and the fact that it was Keegan the player who largely prevented that ignominy ensured he had a place in the fans’ hearts forever.

That he came back as manager and soon had his team not only challenging for honours, but doing so in an exhilarating, joyous, devil-take-the-hindmost style catapulted their affection for the Little Fellah into the stratosphere.

Sam Allardyce’s pragmatic approach might please chairmen and shareholders and secure an annual influx of TV millions by guaranteeing Premier League survival but it does not get the pulse racing.

The comings and goings of men like Allardyce, Harry Redknapp, Steve Bruce, Paul Jewell, Graeme Souness is a merry-go-round of managerial mediocrity, where 17th place is success and mid-table the equivalent of winning the Champions League.

Keegan is different: he wants more and the fans will back him in the way that they would never have backed Didier Deschamps or Gerard Houllier.

The chances are, of course, that for all his force of will, Newcastle’s title drought will roll into a ninth decade and, by measurement of the honours board, Keegan will fail.

But for the revitalised Geordie fans who will go to work with an extra skip in their step today, they know they will have fun trying.

Mitch Phillips is head of Reuters UK Sports Reporting

PHOTO: Newcastle fan Sophie Ross poses with her new shirt outside the ground before the FA Cup third round replay against Stoke City at St James’ Park, January 16, 2008. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis