Jens Lehmann

It was mid-way through the game between Germany and Croatia, about the point Jens Lehmann was scrabbling around at the base of his near post that the realisation hit: Euro 2008 is turning into a cracking tournament.

So far it has had almost everything necessary to make an entertaining competition: goals, attacking verve, surprise results. All that is missing is a showing from the hosts. As South Korea, Portugal and Germany demonstrated in the last three big tournaments it is always better if there is a host still in contention in the second week. Lucky then that after Switzerland’s ignominious early departure, Howard Webb did his best to ensure local interest with his late penalty for Austria on Thursday night.

What the first week of Euro 2008 has proved above all is that conventional wisdom on how to approach tournament football has changed. The old way was to make sure you didn’t lose early on. Just get through and then attack later was the guiding principle. Italy going on to win the 1982 World Cup after three goalless draws in the preliminary matches was the template. Watching Croatia’s Slaven Bilic interviewed on Football Focus before a ball had been kicked gave a clue to the new thinking. He explained that there was no margin for error at the Euros. Fail in the first game, and you were in trouble. Teams, he added, will need to attack from the start to ensure qualification.

He has been proven right. Those teams that have done just that — Portugal, his own Croatia — are already through, with none of the fret about permutations that comes with embracing caution. Sure, losing or drawing the first match does not necessarily mean you are out. But conversely, only the Czechs counter the theory that all those nations who won their opening game are certain to progress. For the sofa-based spectator this can only be good news. Thanks to this new recognition of the need to attack early, virtually every evening of the first week has supplied compelling television.

True, watching as a neutral you are not prey to the visceral, gut-wrenching sense of panic that grips when your own team plays. These games do not matter in the sense an England game does. Which may be one reason why we can relax and enjoy the spectacle, enjoy goals by Spaniards and Germans that in other circumstances would set our teeth on edge.

Plus, since we are familiar with half the cast from Premier and Champions League encounters, there is abundant opportunity for schadenfreude. It is hard to imagine there is a household in the nation in which the sight of Lehmann and Michael Ballack’s discomfort on Thursday did not raise a chortle. The real test of a tournament is yet to come.