Holmes_and_Watson

As a centre half, she didn't have the instinct to follow through with some composure. She'll be glad the game was won shortly after.

I was looking forward to this one. But the first 35 minutes of French domination didn't result in the best of matches. The French were wasteful with their final deliveries, after getting an early lead. Out of nothing Belgium got a really good equaliser from a deep passing move. That lasted all of 4 minutes, as a good aggressive header past a static defence restored the lead. Belgium troubled the French keeper once or twice, without any real chances in the second half. A late bit of controversy gave France a penalty. Depending on the view it was a natural movement of the arm, or a sneaky deliberate deflection. France missed the penalty, and Renard rushed the follow up, missing a sitter. Belgium left out a couple of players on yellows. So,they already had an eye on their final game, and I think that showed.

Super

Our badge is lovely. I was going to say "never say never" in case someone comes up with something. And then I see Nolan has just posted all the things I'd like in any replacement. 🙂

Tuned in just as they were reviewing a goal for the Dutch. Although it was ruled offside, it wasn't long before they got a third with a cracking strike. The commentators were saying how well Portugal had done in the second half, but it seemed to fizzle out. Lots of scrappy bits of play and tackles going in. Portugal looked tired and the Netherlands just a bit unhappy generally. Something to do with their coach behind the scenes perhaps, or just not being at their best.

Where do euros/world cup threads normally go? Double post after not being able to type past emoji. Although, I do wonder where Laura Rafferty would prefer the thread to be... 🙂

That was post one of a thousand in my Laura Rafferty, Saints international series. This is post two 🙂

I wonder how Southampton's Laura Rafferty will reflect on her time at the Euros as part of the Northern Ireland squad? 🙂

They read out a passing stat, with a massive difference between the two. But Spain didn't seem to have anything that would be more direct. Like you say, Germany were able to shut out all the passing moves around the box, that Spain were relying on.

Germany crushed any avenues for Spain's attack in the second half. Really compact lines. Spain had to go wide. I thought they'd persevere with that, but they prefer passing through the middle. But, even with a couple of unforced errors, Spain couldn't get back into it. All the possession and passing just seemed to drain them as the game wore on. Germany nearly pounced on a third, with Popp ruled to have gone over with no foul, when nearly through against the keeper. Spain will have to be careful not to lose second spot to Denmark.

Spain have had chances, but it's 2-0 at half time for Germany. A suicidal pass from the Spanish keeper for the first. Another goal from trying to play out from the back. Although this was more unforced than most. A decent header for the second. Spain outfought at times, and the early goal will have changed the shape of the possession, we'd have seen otherwise.

Right. Next time do the wrist slitting warning before the getting us to picture things bit. Medic! 🙂

Hope

Some hyperbole from commentators aside, I think there's some happy surprise in the scoreline, resulting in the gusto. Norway are good up front, while England, transitioning from a poor spell under previous management, game managed their opener to ensure the win. Norway were blown away by England. I agree that you want tournaments at this level to be competitive, putting a number of strong teams against each other. There have been some high scoring matches. But in nearly all of them, each side has had chances to shift the outcome. That's led to interesting games, even when one side pulls away. With a number of strong favourites, it's hopefully not going to be one team of globe trotters turning up and beating everyone else. A lot of nations have players from top clubs.

Award

I remember chatting to Kilmarnock fans at Rugby Park about him, from his time there. He was one that came through the Juniors teams in Ayrshire. He gets a mention in books covering the history of that level. Seems far too recent a player to have left us. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

If you are what you are where you are where you are, then it is what it is.

Because we're waiting for someone to post the link to where we can pay people to read us hot immigration policies. 🙂

England will be pleased that they got another couple, and created, against a team who had adapted to be more defensive. Norway continued to be nearly completely snuffed out, and didn't have any workable plan to get past the England midfield. N. Ireland are the weakest at the tournament, so a comfortable win will be expected. You'd imagine them to be set up to frustrate, so this second half tonight will come in handy as practice for that approach. Then it's either Spain who create loads and have real strength in depth, or a relentless Germany whose energy levels are the closest to England's. Irritating commentary, with a quip about winning the tournament or getting the keeper to take a free kick. The one about no one having scored more than 6 in either a men's or women's tournament will have got some eyes rolling too.

It's a plan, but does Ralph rate him at defending corners?

That was some display. I've seen Norway a few times, and they have excellent attackers. England pretty much manage to stop any supply to them. Impressed by the range of tactics England are showing. Early on Norway realised England could beat their press. They had players between Norwegian lines to play directly through the middle. When Norway compacted to stop that, England then unleashed a number of excellent passes out wide, with equally good crossing. With England's harrying and energy, Norway just collapsed. Caught playing it direct and caught in possession too. Made the absolute most of the contact for that penalty though. 🙂

All over at half time. Italy reduced the space between their lines for the second half. While that may have stopped some of the gaps for France to exploit, France didn't really have to do anything else after their first 45 minutes. A consolation goal and one off the line fro Italy, didn't really take away from France's domination of this one.

My feeling, based on zippo research into the figures/logistics, was that they erred on the side of caution in order to give each game a solid atmosphere. For some they've gone too far in one direction, upsetting teams. But in others, perhaps the lack of bodies would have led to noticable echoing stadium. I see someone has posted the man city training ground above. It's a pretty nice training ground. Crowd noise has been okay for me. At the end of Sants season when they were getting a cup final and a play off final, there were rumblings about suitable stadia too. Seemingly to do with avaliability, which seemed odd and as if the FA hadn't really got their act together. Italy have given them loads of space. Not closing them down centrally, and also allowing them to overlap and get balls in from wide. France have shown better finishing than some other teams, but they've been given loads of time to set up the chances. Italy nearly down to 10 there. From memory, the Beckham-esque reference was due to it simply being a shot from that distance, rather than the outcome of it. How media have then spun it, I've no idea. These forums are littered with posts of people mentioning what lemons the media are, so any hype/ spin nonsense they churn out to get hits/clicks/views should come as no surprise.

I don't know. I was watching the game, and wherever it was had a decent atmosphere and it didn't stand out. I'd heard there had been some rumblings over venues, and their capacities, so probably connected to that.

Caught the last 30mins of a Belgium/ Iceland draw. Just in time to catch the Belgian penalty to even it up. Like a number of the level games in this tournament, both teams go for it. There's no best third placed finishes to placate big countries here. This was another finish of stretched teams, with chances for both. A penalty ruled out for offside, a tip over the bar, and good heading chances made for an entertaining finale. Replays show that Iceland had missed an earlier penalty. From what I saw, they are going to be the more disappointed if the two.