Euro 2016

[Uncle Leo]

Do you remember the 82 world cup....Germany V Austria..dont like each other..historical.

They liked each other a lot in that World Cup, disgracefully colluding to **** over Algeria.

 

[ozzie]

Yes..everybody knows-saw it...but !!!
And they got to the final.!!! v France s/f...SCHUMACHER!

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Very average France again tonight, another ref may have given the Swiss a pen (or two) for the shirt pulling but not against the home nation it seems.
Well done mighty Albania.

 

[Uncle Leo]

Well done Albania indeed. But it is absurd that they've got to hang around until Wednesday before knowing if they'll actually be in the next round

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Very average France again tonight, another ref may have given the Swiss a pen (or two) for the shirt pulling but not against the home nation it seems.
Well done mighty Albania.

Spain and Germany look like the sides to beat.But France do have home advantage,of course.They were also slow starters in the 98 World Cup.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

Deschamps is making some odd player choices, the lump of a forward tonight was very poor, and "resting" Payet is again an odd one. Evra and Sagna too old and pace will find them out - surely they needed the rest more?
In short I don't fancy France to get beyond the quarter finals unless they get the easiest of draws and some more "homer" refs.

 

[Sussex Shrimper]

Well done Albania indeed. But it is absurd that they've got to hang around until Wednesday before knowing if they'll actually be in the next round

It surely also partly defeats the point of having the final games within each group kick off simultaneously. Sooner or later there's going to be some improbable score draw which sees both sides through and we'll be back trying to solve a problem that needn't exist.

 

[Rob Noxious]

The Man Who Loves Gary Lineker

I have a special place in my heart for Albania. It stems from reading about this mysterious place when I was a teenager in the nineteen-seventies. It was hardly ever talked about and never featured on the British news. That was when Albania was ruled by the Communist leader Enver Hoxha. Hoxha had pursued a separatist path and kept Albania and Albanians isolated from the capitalist West and the "revisionist" East during what used to be known as 'The Cold War'. Albania's borders were closed to the outside world and its people were virtually locked in. I went there in 1990. Although Hoxha had died 5 years previously, Albania was still a Communist state and any visits there were supervised by guides employed by the state.

One warm September day early in my state-supervised tour, I was greeted from the tourist bus by 'The Man Who Loves Gary Lineker'. Dr Ylli Hasani took a great risk in speaking with me that day and the following day in Tirana when I managed to persuade the guides to let me go off track and watch a football game at the Qemal Stafa Stadium. You see, Albanians were not permitted to speak to foreigners. The memory of Ylli looking around him when we said our goodbyes that day will stay with me forever.

And what's this about 'The Man Who Loves Gary Lineker', you may ask? Well, Ylli was and remains a fan of the English football team and back in 1990, Gary Lineker was still England's prolific goal-scoring centre-forward. Ylli used to listen to England's matches on the BBC World Service - a crime that carried a prison sentence in Albania even then - and his life as a Doctor and English football fan in Albania was captured in a documentary called 'The Man Who Loves Gary Lineker.' It was screened in the UK in 1993 and it won a BAFTA.

I was thinking of Ylli last night as the Albanian football team made history by securing their first win in a tournament. When I met Ylli, he referred to his national team as "the punch-bag of Europe". Not anymore. Albania have not had much luck in Euro 2016, going a goal down early to the Swiss in a 1-0 defeat and having a man sent off, then losing very late to the hosts France in their second game. Last night against Romania, they won well despite having a bit of luck with a shot cannoning off their bar. I hope that they have a bit more luck as the results from the other groups come in. They might just qualify for 'the round of 16' if they finish amongst the top four third-placed teams. I hope they do. I'm not sure if they could play England but if they do, I hope it's on the BBC and that Gary Lineker will be hosting the studio talk. Now that would be a nice bit of the old world meeting the new.

 

[rigsby]

Well done Albania indeed. But it is absurd that they've got to hang around until Wednesday before knowing if they'll actually be in the next round

They could always set up a car wash for a few days:winking:

 

[Ricky Otto]

Spain are the only side who have shown no obvious weakness so far. Think this is a very open tournament still. There are players who have not shone yet but probably will. Look at Lukaku, awful the 1st 1 and a half games and then an incredible 45mins puts him joint top scorer of the tournament. I think there are a lot of cards yet to be shown and there are always shocks in the knockout stages. Really enjoying the tournament and think it is wide open

 

[Beefy]

You must have been going for a leek or getting a coffee the 3 times Lallana only had the goalkeeper to beat and shot straightat him versus Russia,has for Wales i lost count of the times the ball when centred was just inches away from an oncoming player.Admit it Beefy you just hate the thought of England playing well when managed by Dorothy the Dinosaur.

I'm a big Hodgson fan and am delighted to see the team doing well. I just don't think we've looked that creative in the two games so far. I agree with Bearded Shrimper that a lot of that is the lack of options on the wing. I think that's why Hodgson keeps persisting with Sterling because if he is playing well then he's the creative outlet there that we need.

Welbeck being injured and Ox & Walcott's form dropping off a cliff has really hurt us.

 

[EastStandBlue]

I'm a big Hodgson fan and am delighted to see the team doing well. I just don't think we've looked that creative in the two games so far. I agree with Bearded Shrimper that a lot of that is the lack of options on the wing. I think that's why Hodgson keeps persisting with Sterling because if he is playing well then he's the creative outlet there that we need.

Welbeck being injured and Ox & Walcott's form dropping off a cliff has really hurt us.

There's not a lot I wouldn't do to see Welbeck occupy Sterling's place in this squad.

 

[rigsby]

There's not a lot I wouldn't do to see Welbeck occupy Sterling's place in this squad.

I agree, apart from buy a Col U season ticket of course.

 

[BrettieAngell]

Woy set to makes 6 changes for tonight's game apparently, hmmm not so sure about that I can understand Vardy and Sturridge starting but Wilshere and Henderson allegedly both starting seems a bit risky for me.

 

[londonblue]

Woy set to makes 6 changes for tonight's game apparently, hmmm not so sure about that I can understand Vardy and Sturridge starting but Wilshere and Henderson allegedly both starting seems a bit risky for me.

Agreed. But on the other hand, they're good players who need some game time. The last thing we need is for them not to be match sharp when we really need them.

 

[BrettieAngell]

Agreed. But on the other hand, they're good players who need some game time. The last thing we need is for them not to be match sharp when we really need them.

Yeah I can see both sides of it, guess we'll have to wait until the team is actually announced to see if he does make that many changes.

 

[Beefy]

I can see both sides of it too - all six guys coming in could easily have started the other two group games and are arguably no worse than the six players they're replacing. My main reservation is that it will become a stick to beat Hodgson up with if we lose tonight. The potential of playing Spain or Germany in the next round if we finish third would be enough for me to want to make it look like we've done everything possible to win the group, if it were me.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

You must have been going for a leek or getting a coffee the 3 times Lallana only had the goalkeeper to beat and shot straightat him versus Russia,has for Wales i lost count of the times the ball when centred was just inches away from an oncoming player.Admit it Beefy you just hate the thought of England playing well when managed by Dorothy the Dinosaur.

I'm pretty sure he's not Welsh.

Also he's a fan of Hodgson and has praised England on many occasions from the usual sniping.

 

[Ted]

Anyone else happy to see Bertrand instead of Rose? Rose gets beaten in the air so often its scary :unsure::unsure:

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Deschamps is making some odd player choices, the lump of a forward tonight was very poor, and "resting" Payet is again an odd one. Evra and Sagna too old and pace will find them out - surely they needed the rest more?
In short I don't fancy France to get beyond the quarter finals unless they get the easiest of draws and some more "homer" refs.

Ha! A tenner says they will.Interested? Loser pays SZ.