What sports teams do you support?

[Heid the Ba]

Germany 1 - Norway 1.

I started watching this part way through and too a few minutes to realise that Germany were in all red and Norway in white tops and black shorts. whose idea was it that they would wear one another's strips?

[Lianachan]

You mean you missed them swapping shirts at the start?

[MM_Dandy]

Finally, the professional winter sports in North America have wrapped up their seasons. The NHL finished just a day sooner than the NBA, despite having a week head start, the same number of games and identical playoff formats. The NBA helped the cause by not scheduling alternate dates for successive playoff rounds, resulting in a 9-day gap between the penultimate and final rounds. In the NBA, the finals had every reason to be a somewhat disappointing one-sided affair after Kyrie Irving's injury left the already short-handed Cavs with a roster of LeBron James and a cast of vagrants. But, to Cleveland's credit, they fought extremely hard each game, made the most of what they had left on their roster, and we ended up with an exciting series. In the end, LeBron should have become only the second player to win the Finals MVP as a member of the losing team, but it was instead awarded to Andre Iguodala - the guy who mostly responsible for guarding LeBron James and helping to "hold" LeBron to series averages of 35.8 points, 8.8 assists, and 13.3 rebounds. Oh, well.

[Мастер]

Go Venezuela! (NSFW)

[Arneb]

Germany 3 - 0 Denmark, in the under-21 European football championship, second of three first-round matches.

Nobody cared about this competition, but then Germany won, for the first time, in '09. 6 players from that team went on to become World Champion in '14. So everyone now is interested in seeing our future World chamions perform. In an extraordinary feat of football overkill, the second public channel carried that match, and before it even ended, the first public channel started to carry the Germany - Sweden women's Word Cup match in Canada (currently, 2 - 0, 15 min from time).

I watched it with my son. It was very nice, because watching sports with your son on a Saturday night is great male bonding and father - son relationship building ("OK, I'm fetching a beer - you want something?" - "I'll have some milk"). Also, watching Germany play football is almost always a pleasurable experience these days. If you're German.

For proof, 3-0 in the 79th minute
Min 82, 3 - 1

[MM_Dandy]

The land of the free and the brave prevails. Oh, and USA and England advance as well.

[Arneb]

Since tomorrow's fixture in the U-21 Euro is Italy vs. England, I am conflicted about whom to root for. You all remember the dramatatic events of 2012, of course.

[Lianachan]

That's trumped by this, this, and this.

Viva l'Italia!

[Мастер]

Venezuela!

[Arneb]

Italy 3 - 1 England
Portugal 1 - 1 Sweden

In the final games of group B in the under-21 European championship. The vagaries of the torunament rules mean that by this result, BOTH Italy and England are out of the tournament.

I think we can all agree that this was a very pleasant evening.

[Lianachan]

Agreed, Arneb. Good job all round.

Not even this generous bukkake offer could have compelled me to support England.

[Arneb]

Please tell me this is a fake! Please!

[Lianachan]

I'm afraid to say delighted to report that it's genuine.

There's a video containing the banner here that is further evidence of its veracity.

[Heid the Ba]

This is causing some hilarity in our office this morning.

[Arneb]

Germany 1 - 1 France; Germany win after extra time and penalties.

I should have liked this because this was the way Germany always won knock-out games at tournaments: Play like crap, then crash in a dubious free-kick or penalty, then win the shootout. It has becoem known as the Chelsea Way of late.

But I didn'T like it. They were really bad. And the French were really good AND looked better.

[Lance]

the French were really good AND looked better.

This is not the first time France looked good to Germany.

[Мастер]

Brumbies about to bite the dust, one minute from now.

[Мастер]

Highlanders leading the Waratahs, 15-14, at the half.

[Мастер]

Two New Zealand teams in the final on July 4.

[Arneb]

Portugal 5 - 0 Germany in the under 21 European Cup semifinal.

That hurt

[MM_Dandy]

Germany 1 - 1 France; Germany win after extra time and penalties.

I should have liked this because this was the way Germany always won knock-out games at tournaments: Play like crap, then crash in a dubious free-kick or penalty, then win the shootout. It has becoem known as the Chelsea Way of late.

But I didn'T like it. They were really bad. And the French were really good AND looked better.

From the sounds of it, France left a couple of goals on the table; you can't help it when the opponent doesn't close the deal. The worst part of it is that the game happened in the quarter-finals, with possibly the next-best match-up in the next round.

[Arneb]

From the sounds of it, France left a couple of goals on the table; you can't help it when the opponent doesn't close the deal. The worst part of it is that the game happened in the quarter-finals, with possibly the next-best match-up in the next round.

This is entirely true of course. As I said, this is how Germany (male) used to win championships
And of course, I prefer my team, instead of les dames Francaises, to play You.Ass.Ay.
Fun fact: the timing of the two semifinals (01:00 h CEST) shows which of the continental markets is the important one in women's soccer. They wouldn't ever have scheduled it that way if this was a men's tournament. IIRC, the'94 final in the US was at two in the afternoon where it happened.

[Arneb]

Sweden 4 - 3 Portugal after penalties; 0 - 0 after extra time.

That one was a real smasher. Fast, technical, aggressive one-touch football, almost no fouls (no yellow cards - in a final!), no dirty diving, no complaining, whining or playing the dying swan; riveting scenes, excellent chances squandered by a hair, everything topped by dramatic penalty shootout.

From the German perspective, it was very sobering that yes, you can keep the Portuguese team from scoring for 120 min... But as usual, the Portuguese, after having thrashed everyone's odds-on favourite in the semi, set themselves up for lots of saudade this night.

If you don't love watching this final, you'll never love football. OK, soccer.

[MM_Dandy]

And it's all set: the Evil Empire vs the Empire of the Sun for the WWC finals! USA! USA!

[Heid the Ba]

I'm still laughing! It should be a good final.