Euro 2016

[SkStu]

trouble tonight between the Northern Irish and Polish fans.

https://twitter.com/yannquerciaa/status/741739534711455745

[NeverFeltBetter]

Read today the crazy stat that in nine Euro appearances, England have never won their first game.

[TheBoss]

Russia are dire all over the pitch.

Why couldn't they have been this bad five years ago?

1. They had had a much better players.
2. Ireland gave them the ball so were asking for trouble. It was the worst away Irish performance under Trap imo, but they somehow got away with it.
3. Did not matter in the end as Ireland qualified for EURO 2012.

[A N Mouse]

Yeah, don't know why it was a second yellow alright. Very cynical, knew exactly what he was doing and deserved a straight red.

Don't know does it make any difference in terms of the ban? Still just one game I presume?

Expect Switzerland to get a couple more in the second half now. Could see a 3-0 result.

There have been some, um, clarifications of the rules ahead of this tournament. Among them no straight reds for pennos, unless it would be a red card red card on halfway line
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36256441

[pineapple stu]

Oh wow. So is the professional foul gone now?


Changes include the end of an automatic red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity.

Edit - no, that seems to be the BBC taking it up wrong; the rule is clarified later on as you say.

But still should have been a straight red for the handball denying a clear goalscoring chance outside the box?

[pineapple stu]

Also, liking the Waterford Whispers daily round-up (http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2016/06/11/its-the-dwwnecru-daily-wwn-euro-championships-round-up/?utm_source=WWN_Facebook_Page&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=Social_Link&utm_content=Article)


Elsewhere FAI chief and all round good guy John Delaney confirmed UEFA have directly consulted him on all organisational aspects of the tournament, claiming ‘Mr. Uefa said I was the best person in the world, and I agreed and said have you seen my girlfriend and he said yes, she is the most beautiful woman in the world, and then we high fived’. Delaney also confirmed he has turned down the chance to become the next James Bond.


Today’s action sees England facing off against Russia, giving every neutral fan the chance of experiencing true happiness in the event of an England draw or loss. The 5pm kick off sees Gareth Bale take on Slovakia.

England manager Roy Hodgson has denied Wayne Rooney was injured by the manager as tried to shoehorn him into the starting line up.

[A N Mouse]

Oh wow. So is the professional foul gone now?



Edit - no, that seems to be the BBC taking it up wrong; the rule is clarified later on as you say.

But still should have been a straight red for the handball denying a clear goalscoring chance outside the box?

Apologies, didn't see the incident an only trying to show rule changes. Having only seen second half of France game thought rule changes were just in favour of them 😀

That BBC article was first I found but having read it, it's badly phrased and possibly just plain wrong in places. My understanding is that denying a goalscoring opportunity is now a yellow card offence, unless it involves dangerous play that would get a red card anyway.

The article also skipped over some of the more interesting ones. Like a free for offside being awarded in your own half. Waiting for first commentator to wonder wtf when that happens

[pineapple stu]

The incident was a handball in the D which definitely cost a goalscoring chance. So I'm still none the wiser as to whether it's a red or not! But the professional foul was brought in for a reason, and I don't see why it should go (unless a penalty is given, in which case there may be an argument for a double-penalty)

Can you be offside in your own half now? WTF? Don't like that; takes away the fun of a goalkeeper going up for a corner and being hit with a quick counter to an empty net.

Tip-off can go backwards now is another one that's been constantly mentioned. Also, an injured player doesn't have to leave the pitch for treatment if the foul brought a yellow or red card, which has an element of sense to it.

[bennocelt]

Enjoyed yesterdays games, albeit was a bit drunk by the time the England game came around!
Not much quality on show, but all the games were pretty entertaining. Thought Slovakia were going to get the win in the end, but by god Wales showed a lot of spirit and passion, I think that should be enough to get them into the next round.

[pineapple stu]

Liking TV3's trivia questions at the breaks.

Though have yet to see a euro ad that hasn't made me seethe with rage.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Looks like the kickoff countdown fell to pieces ahead of Turkey/Croatia.

[pineapple stu]

That's a better goal than Payet's I think, even if the keeper again might have done better.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Impressed with Croatia, thought they controlled most of the game easily enough, even if it was just 1-0. If they get their shooting boots on properly they could go far this time. The Turks look like nothing special. Their fans were so quiet by the end.

[NeverFeltBetter]

The north just swarming around the Poles every time the ball gets close to their box. Polish delivery from the wings has been utter rubbish.

Edit: Apparently NI didn't get inside the opposition box in the entire first half.

[Stuttgart88]

Poland another team that'd benefit from a Wes-style player

[Stuttgart88]

Not an error, but could McGovern have done better.

It wouldn't be football if NI didn't get one big chance....

[pineapple stu]

Meanwhile, Uefa threaten England and Russia with disqualification if there's any more issues in the stadia.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36510550

Technically it's up to and including disqualification, so you'd imagine a fine or even a points deduction is more likely.

Russia got a suspended points deduction at the last euros - I presume that's expired by now?

Not overly encouraging ahead of the next World Cup in Russia though.

[NeverFeltBetter]

As if Russia 2018 needed any more bad press.

[Stuttgart88]

I don't think good PR is high up on Russian priorities.

[NeverFeltBetter]

The north opened up a bit and took a hold of the game in the last 20 minutes, to an extent, but could only make three chances: that glorious breakaway opportunity that forced a fine piece of goalkeeping, Lafferty's botched Zlatan impression and Davis snatching at the ongoing through ball. I think going behind to a team as good as Poland, at the Euro's, was a gigantic test of what the North is capable of, and they failed. Now they need to go out and beat Ukraine.

[osarusan]

Brave defending from NI, but once they went behind they were always going to struggle to find any way back. Had so little to offer up front. They were so poor in bring the ball out of defence, and just kicked it away aimlessly from so early in the game.

[pineapple stu]

So half the teams have played now - and it's all a bit underwhelming so far. 11 goals in 6 games is low enough. We haven't had a really memorable game yet. No team has stood out yet. England and Poland did well for a while against limited opposition, but neither really kicked on. No player has stood out either - Lewandowski was anonymous today, sterling was poor yesterday, Griezmann and Pogba got hauled ashore for France, and even Payet only played for half the game (though did very well obviously)

Long way to go of course, and maybe I'm being a bit harsh. But certainly hasn't grabbed me the way the early stages of the last World Cup did.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Neuer staking a claim for goalie of the tournament already. Great recovery by Boatang on the line too. Ukraine well in it, Germany don't look like World Champions.

[thischarmingman]

So half the teams have played now - and it's all a bit underwhelming so far. 11 goals in 6 games is low enough.

It's very low when you stay up to watch games at 11pm, 2am and 5am. :mad:

[NeverFeltBetter]

Tournament primed for a Shane Long hat-trick so.

[osarusan]

RIP to the NI fan who died in Nice early this morning after falling from a promenade onto a rocky beach.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Torturous watching Spain pass it around the Czech box without scoring for 88 minutes. Couldn't believe they didn't equalise at the death though.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Ah the glory days of Ujfalusi, Jankulovski, Heinz, Nedved, Baros and Koller... It's just not the same is it?

Rosicky some man starting against Spain having not played a single league game all season.

Makes you wonder if Gibson would have made a similar contribution for us with Whelan and McCarthy on the verge of suspension and us needing a player to calm things down and get it on the floor.

[NeverFeltBetter]

I was just thinking that Italy did look really lacklustre against Belgium, and that was making me feel better about us going up against them, and then they scored a goal that made the Belgium CB pair look like morons. The kind of route one strike I could see us scoring too.

[Stuttgart88]

I just saw this on Twitter.

Old Hapspurg joke:

It's 0-0 in the Austria-Hungary game.

Oh, who are we playing?

[Stuttgart88]

Enjoying this one. Good technique in both teams. Austria a better outfit than Sweden, classier anyway, so they'll be tough in the qualifiers. It's also nice watching a game and relaxing. Yesterday was very tense.

[Stuttgart88]

I meant Hungary obviously :)

[DannyInvincible]

A cool and composed finish by Stieber. Great stuff from Hungary.

[pineapple stu]

I like that the Hungarian fella who'd just been subbed off with a twisted ankle started celebrating the goal and ended up making his ankle worse. :)

[pineapple stu]

We've got ourselves a game here. Best 25 minutes of the tournament I think.

[NeverFeltBetter]

I dunno, think Portugal have it well in hand. Barring that early chance, Iceland have nothing going forward, and Portugal should be at least two up, if Nani could direct a header a foot to the left instead of aiming dead centre.

Still, Iceland full of fight. But imagine Portugal will put them away by 70 or so minutes.

[pineapple stu]

Yeah, Portugal certainly well on top since I posted. But even then, it's an open, entertaining game.

Duffer's a good pundit actually.

[pineapple stu]

We got us a game here!

[osarusan]

Since they went behind Iceland haven't really...HAHAHA...I was literally halfway through typing that when they equalised.

[NeverFeltBetter]

I'm watching at a blurry resolution, who was the Portugal defender who fell on his arse to let the Icelander in? Serious mistake. Be interesting to compare Iceland's type of play now to Ireland after they scored yesterday.

[pineapple stu]

Iceland just lumping it anywhere now. Geysir misled us all along!

[Stuttgart88]

I'm watching at a blurry resolution, who was the Portugal defender who fell on his arse to let the Icelander in? Serious mistake. Be interesting to compare Iceland's type of play now to Ireland after they scored yesterday.
Great scenes. We were them once.

It's all about the result. Iceland shipped a gilt edged chance to Ronaldo. Italy gave up two sitters at 1-0 up. We gave up ground but no shots on target, but of the 3 teams we were only ones to concede.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Ha, Ronaldo was not a happy boy at the end. I suppose Iceland did infringe a lot, but it was never anything too bad.

That was fantastic though. I suppose Portugal didn't respond to the goal with the same enthusiasm that Sweden did yesterday, but still, that's a firm lesson to Ireland in how to defend once you've gotten what you need at the other end. Iceland held their shape, and while they let Portugal have chances - that Ronaldo header, what a woeful miss - they made as many as they allowed. Iceland so well-placed now to kick-on and get through to the next round.

Portugal are such a frustrating team. There have been bucket-loads of great players for so long now, but at tournaments they frequently seem so hapless and disjointed. The Portugal team out there didn't look one iota better than the team that crashed out of the group stages two years ago.

[pineapple stu]

Iceland so well-placed now to kick-on and get through to the next round.
Yes and no. Had Hungary lost as expected earlier, I'd definitely agree - Iceland beat Hungary and they're through.

But it's not quite so easy now. They could quite conceivably get just a point off Hungary and Austria and go out. It's an interesting group.

[geysir]

Result of the tournament so far and can only be bettered by iceland themselves. To have an idea of the import of this game, the Faroes shut down this evening and had 3 big screens in centre of Torshavn, that's a bigger event than the storming of the Bastille, in Patrick Kavanagh's poetic world view :)

It was thoroughly disciplined display by the Iceland team, re shape and a positive 442 formation, effortless pressing throughout the whole game, resulting in the icelandic goalkeeper hardly having a shot of note to deal with, maybe he witnessed a couple of fluffed efforts and experienced a few bad doses of hair gel splatter.
No doubt Benno will be happy that a Baselian/ Baselite struck home the equaliser with aplomb.
And for a serious football project some 15 years in the making, this game was so sweet, a most proud experience for a small nation to have the national anthem sung on this stage by ten or so thousand fans, followed by such a disciplined and positive display and all landing so neatly on Lagerback's shoulders, who has proved himself time and time again (to those in the know) in the last 4 years to be a masterclass coaching technician and a master of the positive expression of sporting prowess..

[Stuttgart88]

Vladdy Weiss
Vladdy Weiss
Vladdy Vladdy Weiss

If Wales get anything from England this group gets very interesting.

[pineapple stu]

What was that bizarre little trot around the ball the referee did before Romania's penalty there?!

[NeverFeltBetter]

Flattening down divots maybe?

[SkStu]

Vladdy Weiss
Vladdy Weiss
Vladdy Vladdy Weiss
If Wales get anything from England this group gets very interesting.

worst chant ever Stutts, doesn't even rhyme at the end.

[pineapple stu]

Flattening down divots maybe?
Dunno. he was kind of trotting around the ball, but two yards around it all the time, in a circle.

It looked like he wanted to check something with either the goalline official or the keeper - but he did it in the ponciest fashion ever.