EURO 2016

Germany v Poland was miles better. Sweden to slow and Italy does not want to play.

Extremely lucky to keep my multi alive with both Italy and the Czechs scoring late. Just need a draw between Iceland and Hungary now

The Irish seem to be having fun.

Go home to your sexy wives.

The Irish have the best fans !! 

Iceland: the NZ 2010 of Euro 2016

This has nothing to do with stupidity, it was part of a plan to get the side kicked out of the tournament. It seems the full plan for that game didn't come to fruition by the sounds of it - could have been lot worse. There's also rumours that something is being planned for the Spain game.

The punishment will be a tricky one for UEFA - it will definitely involve a hefty fine, and if the organiser insists, no more Croatian fans being allowed inside stadiums (but UEFA may be reluctant to go there). Loss of points and being kicked out (at this stage at least) unlikely to be options.

The Czechs should be counting their lucky stars they're still in this tournament because of this.

That's just scratching the surface. The organised fan groups have effectively been at war with HNS (Croatian Football Federation) for the past 4-5 years.

Gutted for Iceland but how brilliant were Ronaldo's misses? Couldn't have happened to a nicer player.

Quite a few groups will be going "down to the wire" with the second qualifier from the group only identified after the final round.

And Iceland is still with a chance!  If they advance from the group that would be an amazing achievement for a country with a population of not quite half a million and not many all-year-round grassy paddocks.

Their (relative) success spurns me on to suggest that Christchurch teams should send a joint team to the next Oceania Nations Cup. Same population, same difficulty with facilities.... we'd probably beat the AWs in the final.

Does anyone remember from what day (from what game) will Prime TV do the FTA broadcasts of the Euro 2016, as per SKY TV early announcements?

Good win for Albania this morning, they've given themselves a chance. One thing I couldn't understand though - they get a corner on about 94.50 gone in the game (there was 5 minutes of added time), and instead of getting the ball in and trying to get another goal to improve their chances, they just play it short, and the ref blows for full time. Seemed quite strange to me.

As opposed to the All Whites not using an indirect free kick inside the box and instead sending it to the left where they proceeded to protect the ball despite it being one of the best chances of the game vs New Caledonia in the semi-final? Sharkty nations play negative football, nothing new there.

I'm not disagreeing with you, and you're probably right in that that kind of mentality almost instinctively took over. It was just really weird - they literally had nothing to lose (if the ball had been cleared out/Romania gained possession, that would have been full time), but could have potentially put themselves in a better position.

Probably not 100% sure how much time the ref will allow and it only takes a very short time to go from defending a corner to scoring at the other end, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Interesting Reddit thread on the Croatian issue:

an_explanation_to_rsoccer_about_why_did_croatian

(From Arseblog)

Wales on fire...have other goal scorers apart from Bale...

The Welsh Xavi running the show.A standing "O".

Russia are a rabble.

Eng are dross..0-0 wins me $ 15

Wales 3 - Russia 0 

In the end a pretty straightforward punishment - 100k Euro, and a ban on selling tickets to 'hooligans'.

Rumours of more incidents being planned for tomorrow's game, hard to know how realistic though. You'd imagine that the French police and organisers will pick up their game significantly too.

Italy, France and England all on the same side of the draw. Germany should probably join them.

Yep, was just looking at that. If Germany beat Northern Ireland (and you'd think they will) they'll be on that side of the draw too - and if Spain don't win group D (by losing to us tomorrow :-)), they'll be on that side of the draw. If they win the group, they have a pretty straightforward run to the final.

Germany seem to be the team to beat in their half of the draw unless they trip up over Italy, that is.

The other side looks Spain's to take. That would an amazing final to watch.

Over France?

We blew a pretty nice looking run to the semi final by not holding on against Russia who have been the only rival to Sweden for worst team in the tournament. Probably lose to Portugal on penalties once again in the next round.

That is what happens when you make so many changes.

not on penalties they wouldn't

I think they have wood over France this time around. 

France plays "straight" in this tournament and they tend to crack under pressure (except in WC 2008) while Italy is as usual unpredictable.

Nothing to do with the changes. 

England have scored three goals, lovely approach play especially wide but very poor on the final ball, corners have been pants. Flatter to deceive, par for the course!!!

..

The team Hodgson put out this morning actually looks our best lineup. It's not like we were dire and lucky to escape with a draw. We had 29 shots and just lacked a finish, but still the keeper made 2 or 3 great saves and we had another cleared off the line. One of those days it just didn't go in. Liverpool fans probably going mental over why Skrtl never plays that well for them. He always seemed to be in the right place to make a block. Failing to hold on against Russia has cost us.

Apparently we have only had more shots than that twice in major tournament games and both times were in 1966.

I find it inconceivable that upon entering a tournament a manager doesn't know his strongest team( by team I mean say, 9 out of the 11,with perhaps 2 positions up for grabs). Hodgson tinkered endlessly in the friendlies, as a result never playing a settled team until the first game of the tournament. Ridiculous! He still seems undecided on who are the best forwards/midfielders for England: One of Sir Alf Ramsey's great strengths was he created a TEAM, with club-like interplay: Uncle Roy seems to be the complete opposite, thinking individual quality will pull them through...IT WON'T.

Also the folly of taking one (out of form) winger in the shape of Sterling, is a serious mistake; today's game was crying out for a genuine wide man to get behind a packed defence. There are no other wing options in the squad...Townsend, a better player for country than club, should have been included.

Bit difficult to compare with Alf Ramsey's era because they didn't have substitutions in those days so you couldn't leave anything on the bench to try and change the game later. Ramsey also changed his formation and tactics after the first game (notably dropping a winger and then doing without wingers), and Geoff Hurst wasn't in the team until the quarter final either.

C' mon GAWA ...

Germany look a bit toothless to me - I think the lack of an actual forward is hurting them, they've really not looked very threatening going forward so far.

Klose is not an easy man to replace

Literally every team has looked a bit toothless at some point during the first two games, I haven't seen any team completely dominate. What side of the draw are Belgium on? They looked sharp against Ireland imo.

Subs came into international football in 1968, well before Ramsey finished up as England manager, and in that '66 tournament he barely changed the lineup: tried to play a winger, without success, and replaced an injured Greaves with Hurst.That's it. My general point still holds: he didn't chop and change willy nilly like Hodgson does.The hardest part of International football is creating a team out of players you use/have access to, so fleetingly.Therefore, it's imperative to make minimal changes and develop teamwork. Roy makes countless substitutions/new lineups in games, but to what effect? It frequently seems like change for change sake:Instead of making a couple of changes and retaining "the spine" of the team, he makes upwards of 6+ changes, shoehorns people into the team, frequently not in their best position, and alters the formation. No wonder England's play frequently looks disjointed, in competitive and friendly fixtures...

E2 puts them on the good side of the draw (though they could be facing the prospect of playing Portugal in the Round of 16 if Portugal wins group F). If they slip up and end up being one of the best third placed teams, they could end up on either side of the draw (but either playing France, or probably Spain unless the latter lose to my lot tomorrow).

Gomez is their Klose style of play replacement. They won't play high balls into the box strategy for the North Ireland game, according to Loew, because that is their defending strong point. 

Loew agrees with the lack of chances in the games so far. He is pretty relaxed and said it not a general problem and players are good enough and he trust eg. Mueller and Goetze to show more, everyone has to be faster around the box.

For me the most interesting part of the interview was (also in context with Hudson interviews), that he got in depth, without being asked, about the lack of players who can beat a defender in one on one situation to create space. They know the issue and already implementing training in ALL U age groups to fix that in the future. Loew said the focus in the past was the fast passing game and they are good in that but they lack those kind of players who willing to go one on one.

That Was one thing our dear Ricki managed to do well. Getting best players on the park for extended periods

Yep, Gomez is the obvious Klose replacement on paper, but is a bit more agricultural and technically deficient, so not quite the same fit with their team. Yet not having an option there means that finding pockets of open space in the attacking third has been lot more difficult for Muller and Goetze, especially against more defensive minded teams. The struggle up front isn't new for Germany at these Euros - they weren't super proficient in the qualifying either (which the goalless losses to Poland and Ireland clearly demonstrate).