I didn't see it

"Incredible. Absolutely incredible. With three minutes to go, Turkey were dead and buried. Then Cech fumbled, Nihat pounced, then produced a moment of utter brilliance and it's Fatih Terim's side who'll face Croatia for a place in the quarter-finals. What a finale."

- John Ashdown, Guardian live commentary.

I was contemplating watching Turkey vs Czech Republic last night as I set my alarm clock. I was weighing up waking up at 4:30 in the morning versus a solid 10 hours of sleep. I remembered the match last Sunday between Switzerland and Czech Republic, and I opted for more sleep.

How wrong I was.

3-2 has to be the perfect result in football. It has room for everything in football - goals, crushing leads, resounding comebacks, tense finales. There's room for a hattrick hero and a defensive villain. There's more drama than you can poke a stick at. And I missed it all.

Part of me doesn't really care. I'm not Turkish and I'm not Czech. The Euros are a bit of fairy floss that keep me entertained when I should be sleeping. But still, it hurts to know that there was a rocketing good game on, and I missed it. I made the wrong decision.

Of greater importance, in my mind, is that Australia are through to the second qualifying round for the World Cup. Good, good stuff. I've got a bit of concern about the side. There are frailties to the Socceroos that I'm worried will be exposed when matched against the likes of Iran and Japan. We tend to go to pieces against stuff like good technique and sound tactics. When did soccer stop being about running hard and kicking hard and tackling hard?

And if we can get 15 million for van Persie, we should take it, hock our guts out and buy Benzema. Or Benni McCarthey. Or anyone who can last a season without pulling a hamstring. van Persie's awesome when fit, but he'll never be fit.