Artur Boruc is a world-class keeper. If we didn’t know that before then we know that now. The Celtic stopper was in the form of his life as Poland almost snatched a victory over co-hosts Austria. Boruc’s side were leading through a Roger Guerreiro strike and were set to record a priceless three points until English referee handed Austria a penalty in stoppage time. Ivica Vastic converted the spot kick and it was despair for Poland.

I personally fancied Boruc to save the penalty and become the hero of the hour. It would have been the deserved ending to a flawless performance from the keeper. Despite not being able to save Vastic’s penalty, Boruc can hold his head high. The game could have been beyond his side had he not performed as well as he did. I won’t go through all of his saves (there was too many!) but my personal favourite was when Christoph Leitberg was played through on goal and seemed certain to score, bur good old Artur spread himself and managed to hold onto the ball. Boy are Celtic lucky to have this guy. As Hooperman has already expressed – priority number one must be to hold onto him.

Now, the situation in Group B – Croatia have qualified as winners and if Germany beat Austria in the final game they will go through as well. Poland can still go through, but it’s a little complicated for me. They need to beat Croatia though, so if I was to bet on Euro 2008 , I wouldn’t fancy Poland’s chances. Unless Croatia rest some key players as they are already qualified.

You have to feel a little sorry for Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink. He was obviously not first choice from the start and the only real chance he had of getting a game is if Holland didn’t perform in the early games. In actual fact, they have been the most impressive team of the tournament so far, emerging from the ‘group of death’ with ease. They played some breathtaking football in the first game against Italy and were even better in Friday’s 4-1 win over France. Dutch strikers Dirk Kuyt, Robin van Persie and Ruud van Nistelrooy have all got themselves on the score sheet and unless one of them gets injured then I am afraid Celtic’s Hesselink isn’t going to get a look in.

I guess the only worry for Holland is that they have ‘peeked to early’, it’s a minor worry to have and one they would have settled for, but can they maintain this stunning form throughout the tournament and win Euro 2008 ? It will be interesting to see. As will the France v Italy match on Tuesday after which at least one team will be eliminated. If Romania beat Holland though, both World Cup finalists will be knocked out. Considering Holland have already qualified they could rest some players, meaning the chances of a Romanian victory would increase. This tinkering by Marco van Basten could also pave the way for Hesselink – here’s hoping!

I’m going to talk about Samaras’ Greece briefly as this reflects their involvement in this year’s tournament. They have been knocked out without scoring a goal and only have pride to play for in their final group game against Spain. Samaras didn’t even get on the pitch in yesterday’s 1-0 defeat to Russia and has had a tournament to forget. It’s a shame for him, but is rather typical of his stop-start career.

Henrik Larsson on the other hand has had a marvellous career and he again showed his class as Sweden lost 2-1 to Spain in Group D. His link up play was superb and he came deep to help out his midfield admirably on many occasions. With the form he has shown and the fitness he has shown in these two games, I wouldn’t bet against him still being around when the World Cup takes place in two years time.

Another team who I haven’t mentioned is Portugal. They have shown great qualities in their first two games. They join Holland, Croatia and Spain as teams who have secured their place in the quarter-finals. The next four to go through are far from certain though and it is going to be an interesting few days. I look forward to reminiscing about them in my next blog on Wednesday.