This thread is dedicated to the football (soccer for the Americans. I don't know if anyone there is interested at all) European Championship 2016 in France including the ongoing qualifying matches. I hope that hux will participate, then there is at least one to talk about...... Today is matchday: Gibraltar vs. Germany among others. Saw Poland winning 4:0 against Georgia and Ireland vs. Scotland 1:1.
Slovenia 2 - 3 England Good second half. Lots of goals. England pretty much qualified. I don't much care for the 24 teams Euro tournament though. It basically means virtually everyone in Europe will qualify (even some African teams might accidentally qualify) Best third place teams *sigh*
Except the usual suspects like Malta. Scotland has - like always - no chance for the final round. There are still the highland games left, though The Euro 2016 might be a catwalk for CR7 again.
Cyprus 0 - 1 Wales Another good win for Wales (on the verge of qualifying for their first major tournament since the 1958 World Cup) Netherlands 0 - 1 Iceland But what the hell is happening with the Dutch? Lucky for them that Platini has made it virtually impossible not to qualify for Euro 2016.
Oh, yesterday I wasn't online. Germany vs. Poland 3:1. I had a bottle of beer and fell asleep. So I missed the third goal.
San Marino 0 - 6 England Rooney equals Bobby Charlton's scoring record (49) but really should have scored more. Hopefully he will beat the record on Tuesday against Switzerland.
Hiddink resigned, the players are rubbish, Van Persie is way past it, and the team's nothing without that cheating gimp Robben. Blind hasn't got a clue as manager. His team selection against Iceland and Turkey was beyond bizzare. It will be strange not to see Holland at the Euro Champ next summer, but they certainly don't deserve to be there at the moment. There's clearly something wrong with grassroots Dutch football if Depay is the best they have, and he's about as Dutch as my little toe. Dare I say they're suffering from the English disease of having far too many foreign players in the Eredevise? I'd make some important points about the state of European football in general, but I'd probably get banned.
Due to this idiotic 24 team tournament, I still wouldn't write-off the Dutch. They'll need to improve though and get a decent third place finish which isn't impossible. Having half the continent qualify is like having a World Cup with 95 teams in it. Silly (but the Dutch are probably grateful for it right now).
Beating the record against San Marino would have been a bit limp, better to do it against the Swiss. I guess its possible he might need to wait until the Euros themselves!
Huh? Now I'm confused. Wiki says he was even born in the Netherlands. And it's not like you have to be born in a country to be a citizen either.
As a sidenote I'm totally indifferent towards Italy's qualification. I wish Antonio Conte all the worst in the world after he jumped ship at Juve the first day of pre-season last year. He's incredibly irritating.
hux is already wearing his kilt......... .... and already in the pub. The first drink is on you..... Müller scored.....
I'm in Aberdeen... but I'm English (Yorkshire born & bred) though I'm not against wearing a skirt (got great pins). It's a shame Scotland probably won't qualify. Would have been nice to have all the home nations there.
I feel I've missed nearly all of the qualifying season. There are some surprises among the likely top 2 teams of the groups, like Iceland (which I think is already qualified) or Northern Ireland and Wales. Also, some surprises regarding the teams that will probably not make it, especially the Netherlands. Scotland vs. Germany was quite lively. The Scots equalizing twice was a good thing, though, because before those two goals, when Germany was in posession, the game got rather boring. Overall, I felt Germany played better against Poland.
I'm always amazed that people actually watch qualifying games. To me they're mostly a nuisance that gets in the way of league action. It might have to do with being Italian considering Italian teams only ever start playing proper football after the quarter finals of any tournament. 1:0 against Malta... exciting...