European Cup, France 2016.....

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**Do_I_Not_Like_That**

Will heading to the shops this weekend to buy the Euro 2016 Panini sticker album. I'm tempted to blow £100 on 2 boxes of stickers

**Knockagh**

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Will heading to the shops this weekend to buy the Euro 2016 Panini sticker album. I'm tempted to blow £100 on 2 boxes of stickers

Panini stickers, now there's one way to get obsessive collecting Wargames to follow football. Must dig out my of 80's albums, do they still do the foil club badges?

**notprop**

Yeah my daughter started the Panini Euro 2016 album a month or so ago but I thing allot of the kids prefer the collectible card version instead.

**Knockagh**

Tonight makes it 12 games undefeated for Northern Ireland which makes us the team entering the championship with the longest unbeaten run. Technically we are the 'on form team.' WE ARE THE GREEN AND WHITE ARMY!!!!! Leicester City of Europe!

**Do_I_Not_Like_That**

Euro 2016 kicks off tonight 20:00 hrs GMT

so I hope the mods don't mind me bumping this thread up.

Anyway, first game is France Vs. Romania, but thee are problems in France with general strikes and militant farmers, so nothing knew there

Also, I heard that the French trade unions are threating to put garlic in the chocolate éclairs they sell to the rest of the world if their demands are not met

Anyway, I predict a French win tonight.

**Reaver83**

Probably watch English Saxons vs South Africa A at rugby instead

**reds8n**

I got France in the sweepstake at work so fingers crossed there.

England kick off tomorrow at 20;00

**notprop**

Tomorrow is a good day for UK Sport.

Wales Rugby first for Brekky.

England v. Australia in the rugby at lunchtime then England v. Russia in the football after dinner.

**Mozzyfuzzy**

Due to pot luck, my allegience now lies with Poland.

Go Poland!!!

**Frozocrone**

reds8n wrote:
I got France in the sweepstake at work so fingers crossed there.

England kick off tomorrow at 20;00

Payet is world class. What a strike!

Was a decent game, pretty choppy in parts but entertaining. Do not understand how Giroud was on all that time (that goal was a nod-in, literally no effort after missing several chances both before and after). Should have gone instead of Pogba for me.

That said, France deserved to win. Here's hoping England can follow suit!

**Henry**

We're big fans of Payet in my house. What a boot that guy has got. Some of his goals in the Premiership have been rockets and tonight's was wonderful. Nobody should be able to perfectly place a ball into the net with that much power when surrounded by three defenders.

**Frozocrone**

I made a grave error in my fantasy team this year. I've got no more substitutions left, but thankfully I subbed Payet in and got 9 points or so.

I regret taking Pogba out. He had a good game, I was genuinely surprised when he was subbed. Alas, he had to go because I had very little funds left. I'm gonna shift some people around to try and get him back in. He alongside Payet were bossing it.

Kante was killing that game and I'm glad he was in first time. Highest interceptions, highest tackles, most distance covered...business as usual for him. He set up an amazing pass that gave Payet a nice first touch to score that beauty.

**creeping-deth87**

I was surprised at how much France struggled against Romania today, was expecting a 3-0 or 4-0 game. To be fair though, France did barely miss a handful of shots too. Also does anyone else find it ridiculous that the UEFA website doesn't post match highlights? I had to trawl through gakky Youtube videos to find a half decent reel.

**reds8n**

Generally concur with the above.

Quite surprised when they subbed Pogba ?!

Thought Giroud was gonna be off for sure....
... still guess that's why I'm not a manager eh ?

French defence looks much weaker than I was expecting, but just about held up.

**Frozocrone**

reds8n wrote:
Generally concur with the above.

Quite surprised when they subbed Pogba ?!

Thought Giroud was gonna be off for sure....
... still guess that's why I'm not a manager eh ?

French defence looks much weaker than I was expecting, but just about held up.

Yeah, if France have an Achilles heel, it's going to be through their aging fullbacks. I don't know what Evra was thinking at when he conceded that penalty.

**reds8n**

Absolute shocker wasn't it !
Was quite surprised to find he was actually in the squad still/at all, thought perhaps they have enough strikes over there already

I'm going to go with a 2-1 win for England tonight.

A competent but uninspired performance, with a moment of brilliance, a horrendous blunder and, of course, a really bad injury to a key player.

Start as you mean to continue in otherwords.

**Frozocrone**

Have to agree. It seems an easy enough group but the problem aren't the players (although they could be inspired more) but the manager himself. Haven't trusted him since 2012, especially when he chose Delph over Noble in the original 26 (like what?) and then dropped Drinkwater (like, seriously, what?). It's like he goes for names rather than form.

I'm still getting behind the team because I wouldn't be a true England supporter if I wasn't. It just gets to me we have someone who isn't as tactically adept as other managers.

I expect to get out the group, most likely as second (I think Bale can win the group alone with inspired performances), maybe top 16/quarter finals before we start to struggle.

EDIT: Rumoured line up of Hart, Walker, Smalling, Cahill, Rose, Dier, Rooney, Alli, Lallana, Kane, Sterling. I like it. Would have preferred seeing Vardy in the squad as a 4-4-2 but seeing Rooney in his best position (CAM to CM) is good.

**reds8n**

and the Dragon roars !

Well played Wales !

Bit of a 2nd half wobble but battled on and deserved the win.

,,,, AS a Liverpool fan am hoping we are indeed getting rid of Skrtel if he's gonna play like that.

**Frozocrone**

Well I've enjoyed that. No goal to show for it but it's been 80:20 England to Russia.

Hoping for more in the second half (and a goal). But this effort has been good enough for me.

EDIT: Sigh it's so frustrating being an England supporter at times. I thought we had that. I'm happy with the effort but it's just...ugh.

**Mr. Burning**

Snatching a draw from the jaws of victory. I have missed this from England... Its a proper campaign now.

What are the stewards doing here in Marseilles?

**Frozocrone**

Violence has broken out after the match.

Truth be told it was starting before the match. Apparantly Russian supporters came at English supports with knives before the game. I read that off English papers though so make that off you will.

That said, why is this even happening? It is a game. No need for violence whatsoever.

**Knockagh**

Oh England oh England!! Crazy ending. What's up with the pre match boxing??

**Frozocrone**

Knockagh wrote:
Oh England oh England!! Crazy ending. What's up with the pre match boxing??

I have no idea. Hopefully it's a one-off because one English fan is fighting for their life.

If this is a regular occurrence in Russian matches, they should be stripped of the World Cup. I dread to think how much more danger people will be in Russia if the travelling fans are like this.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
EDIT: Ahh. English supporters pelted French police with bottles after drinking all day to start with, who responded with tear gas.

Russian fans joined in later throwing bottles and chairs.

Why alcohol isn't banned from sporting events, or at least why drunk people aren't barred/removed I don't know.

In contrast, Slovakia and Wales fans were drinking together. No issues what so ever.

EDIT 2: Apparently 2 English fans have been killed, one of which pushed onto the underground. Why why why!? People need to learn to behave/drink responsibly.

**NewEngOli**

Euros been a bit slow so far very cagey looking forward to watching Germany tonight for me its still there's to lose there team is strong all over the field

**Frozocrone**

Quite sloppy in the first half but dominant in the second.

Boateng...take a bow.

**reds8n**

Footballing wise no real surprises thus far really.

NI were pretty poor, did look a bit stagestruck perhaps ?

Or maybe Poland are better than we thought ?!

Belgium vs Italy should be good with a bit of luck.

**Do_I_Not_Like_That**

reds8n wrote:
Footballing wise no real surprises thus far really.

NI were pretty poor, did look a bit stagestruck perhaps ?

Or maybe Poland are better than we thought ?!

Belgium vs Italy should be good with a bit of luck.

Poland are not that good. They couldn't even beat us (Scotland) during qualifying, so NI should be disappointed with that defeat.

Makes the Ukraine game all the more exciting.

Germany look unstoppable going forward, but defensively, they look like Accrington Stanley

**notprop**

I'm expecting Italy to make sure they don't loose, that is to say park the bus and wait for game 2.

If they can score a goal before doing so then it will be even more boring.

Hope I'm wrong.

**Frozocrone**

notprop wrote:
I'm expecting Italy to make sure they don't loose, that is to say park the bus and wait for game 2.

If they can score a goal before doing so then it will be even more boring.

Hope I'm wrong.

The World Cup was pretty embarrassing for them. Possibly more than England, because Italy looked likely to win the group after Costa Rica won their game, but then Italy just flopped and finished third, even when against 10 man Uruguay.

Wouldn't surprise me to see them score and park the bus. No Pirlo makes me sad though, I know he's getting old but he is an absolute joy to watch when he controls the game.

**reds8n**

Spain vs Czech on the radio currently..... Czech team are a big bunch eh !

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/13/moscow-football-official-to-violent-fans-well-done-lads-keep-it-up?CMP=fb_gu

A top football official in Moscow has praised the Russian fans involved in violence over the weekend in Marseille, saying they had defended their country’s honour and should be forgiven.

“I don’t see anything wrong with the fans fighting,” Igor Lebedev wrote on Twitter. “Quite the opposite, well done lads, keep it up!”

Lebedev, who sits on the executive committee of the Russian football union, is an MP from the nationalist Liberal Democratic party and the deputy chairman of the Russian parliament.

“I don’t understand those politicians and officials who are criticising our fans. We should defend them, and then we can sort it out when they come home,” Lebedev wrote in a series of tweets.

“What happened in Marseille and in other French towns is not the fault of fans, but about the inability of police to organise this kind of event properly.”

have a feeling that the hosting of the world cup 2018 might be looked at eh ?