Hair-iffic experience highlights Euro 2004
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-06-18 07:07

On the style front, Euro 2004 is proving to be a game of two halves.

The action in Portugal has shown that footballers are among the trendsetters of today but still leave something to be desired when it comes to weird haircuts.

These days, the big names in fashion clamour to be linked to the 'beautiful game.'

England's official suits are designed by Giorgio Armani, Sweden's midfielder Freddie Ljungberg models Calvin Klein underwear and Italy's jerseys have been fashioned by a designer from the house of Prada, replete with their names adorned in gold.

The Euro 2004 catwalk got off to a fine start with Portugal and Manchester United midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo's gold boots. They were flashy, brash and everything you'd expect from a teenager.

At least the fancy footwear helped the 19-year-old to score, even though the host nation slumped to a 2-1 defeat in the curtain-raiser against Greece.

When it comes to style, England of course have David Beckham.

Beckham has added a new tattoo to his already formidable collection; a winged cross, although its position on his neck and well above his shirt collar led newspaper columnist Germaine Greer to comment that he was "doing his best to disfigure himself."

At least the man of a thousand hairstyles is unlikely to surprise us in Portugal considering his near skinhead cut leaves him little room for manoeuvre.

Italy's appearance at the tournament was eagerly awaited - and they didn't disappoint. Admittedly they failed to score in their opening game with Denmark, but never mind the football, just look at the hair.

The Danes faced wave after wave of flowing locks and neatly clipped beards and the Italians' star midfielder Francesco Totti lived up to his reputation as a player with an uncanny knack of finishing a game without a hair out of place.

It was just a pity that Totti chose to rearrange Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen's appearance by spitting at him.

Just 168 minutes of football had been played when Spain striker Fernando Torres made a spectacular early bid for the award of worst haircut of Euro 2004.

It will surely be hard to beat the bizarre mullet the 20-year-old sported when he came on as a substitute against Russia. Spiky on top and with what appeared to be strands of spaghetti at the back, it also had blond highlights on the sides.

The tournament is still looking for a contender to rank with the homemade mohican that German defender Christian Ziege unleashed on an unsuspecting public at the 2002 World Cup finals.

It apparently reminded Ziege of Robert De Niro's character in 'Taxi Driver' - fortunately, his teammates managed to persuade him to shave it off before long.

Michael Jung, Germany's top hairdresser, delivered a harsh verdict on goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, who judging by his appearance against the Netherlands seems to have abandoned the valiant efforts he made to tame his shaggy mop at the 2002 World Cup.

"He looks as if he has glass fibres on his head. Horrendous. It is neither fish nor meat," Jung said.

Style watchers must be licking their lips in expectation because footballers tend to change their appearance as a tournament progresses.

It is hard however to see Kahn and co. adopting the approach of Romania whose entire squad dyed their hair peroxide blond at the 1998 World Cup.

Hopefully they can produce some hair raising exploits on the pitch to take away attention from their appearances.