The 22 June match between Greece and Germany at Euro 2012 gave pundits who like to explain the complex global economic system by way of over-wrought sporting analogies another chance to explain the complex global economic system by way of an over-wrought sporting analogy.

We can’t count on much these days. But we can rely on one thing: whenever there is a speech to be made, a vote to be won, a crowd to be wooed, a country to be saved, there is a man wearing a tiny flag lapel pin ready to get the job done – and he’s from the country represented by that flag.