Holmes_and_Watson

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.

Detective

Crime

Sweden will be disappointed not to have got a couple in the first half. Netherlands, who lost 2 players through injury and were a little disjointed, came back into it in the second. They got their equaliser, and showed much better movement. I'd say Sweden still looked the most likely to get the winner. But there are a lot of strong sides in the competition, and Netherlands had a chance to nick it too. The refs continue to let the games be physical, but fair. No play acting from the players, who get on with it, and play to the whistle. Great to see.

About time Ralph used some of the links from past jobs. 🙂

Is he a Norwegian striker? 🙂

Tuned in just before Portugal equalised to make it 2-2. The commentator said it had taken them a long time to recover from Switzerland's first half. She said that Portugal had held onto the ball earlier. The Swiss were the physically stronger looking, so you could see why Portugal would struggle. From the bit I saw, Portugal were playing quick passing moves and looked set to get a third. But it just didn't come. They made subs, Jessica Silva who looked most likely looked rightly peeved at going off, and failed to convert even more chances. As with nearly all the games so far, either side can create. The Swiss had a couple of late chances, before a final failed onslaught from Portugal. Lots of highlights in an entertaining draw.

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Ship

Sauce

Denmark vs Germany was balanced for the first 10 mins. From there, Germany kept increasing their drive. Denmark were pegged back, and like so many teams trying to pass it out, had no plan to counter Germany's pressing. The ref made it clear early on that some strong challenging was okay. That led to it being a more physical game, than the other ties. It suited Germany who were happy to drive down the middle, and make blocks when they conceded. 4 goals, hitting the wood work 4 times and a disallowed effort too. Some good passing moves from them too, which can be harder to pull off in tournaments.

I was just assuming Rendell would be #1. But this challenges her, as neither will be happy being on the bench.

Hard to tell how good Finland actually are, against a Spain team with over 30 attempts at goal. That makes it sound as though Finland were terrible, but Spain were relentless, with all of their subs creating even more chances.

Spotted Alaeddine Yahia and Bialkowski in the comments.

At 2-0, I was worried it would be a rout. Caught with an always play it out from the back philosophy against excellent pressing attackers. The penalty was easily avoidable as well. But there was a couple of moments, even in that first half when NI looked more capable, when they went more direct. Shoring up the midfield at half time made a difference, and a good reactive header for the goal. There was just an attack or two, when NI might sneak a second. But Norway are a different class and widened the lead again. England might have their work cut out for them. Some NI players grew into the game, so there are positives for them.

Right-back

We have Smallbone, instead of backbone. 🙂

Manger

Play

It made me hesitate to click all the women's football links on the beeb today. 🙂