What sports teams do you support?

[Lianachan]

My predictions would have you playing the Brexiteers at Wembley on Tuesday. They've contrived to play practically, if indeed not actually, all of their games there. Again - they did that for Euro 96 and the world cup in The Year That Shall Not Be Named too.

[Arneb]

That seems to be the most likely outcome, yes. I can't see France not winning against Portugal, and that would put us in second if we win or draw, which seems more likely than us losing. The difference between now and '18 being that we don't absolutely have to win and we have a weakish game and a good game behind us instead of two shitty ones.

IIRC, the large number of matches in England was a consolation prize after England had been corrupted out of two good FIFA World Cup applications.

And never mind the location: I remember well (and Richard will confirm it), winning against England at Wembley is SO much more fun than winning at, say, Bishops Stortford municipal football grounds.

[Lianachan]

A goal down but thumbs pressed for Germany. Surely having a superhero in your team can’t do any harm.

[Arneb]

By golly, what pathetic defending!

[Arneb]

This is exactly the way Mexico, Sweden and South Korea did it, and so far, just as successful

[Lianachan]

The English media, which is forced on us here, will be fucking insufferable if Germany go out. They hate Germany.

[Lianachan]

Havertz!

ETA - shit, that was quick. As you were everybody.

[Richard A]

Indeed, I remember an afternoon in, indeed Bishop's Stortford, with Arneb watching 'schland beat us - at, I believe, Wembley. That comment could almost, almost make me smile at the idea of Germany not getting that far this time. And even Klinsmann, a pundit on the BBC discussions on the game, says his Nervenstärke is in danger. But come on, there are greater things at stake right now. Viktor Orban cannot be allowed to enjoy his palinka at Hungary going through. Even us losing to Germany at Wembley - again - would be an acceptable price to stop that. And hey, Germany could win or draw and we could still play one of the others.

And if all else fails, there's still the consolation prize - we lose to Germany but then watch them being thrashed by Italy or someone!

In the meantime, gaining some amusement at the British commentator consistently (I have to give them that) getting the pronunciation of the Hungarian players' names wrong.

[Arneb]

Dom't anyone say I didn't warn you.

[Lianachan]

Goretzka!

[Arneb]

This fucking Sané idiot. Just pass tve fucking ball, and it!s Switzerland, not England.


Played 185, won 92, drawn 41, lost 52
Now we have to beat Brexistan in order to keep the count level.

[Lianachan]

Now we have to beat Brexistan in order to keep the count level.

It was a great match, and you can count on the enthusiastic support of an entire nation here (except some fucking Tories, but fuck those guys). Actually, a day of good matches.

GROUP E
Slovakia 0 - 5 Spain
Sweden 3 - 2 Poland

GROUP F
Germany 2 - 2 Hungary
DDD 2 - 2 France

Tomorrow:

Nothing!

[Arneb]

Of course, everyone was looking at the tournament tree and noticed that, among the big guns, the big big guns (Italy, Spain, France, Portugal) are all in the other half. So we just have to beat Brexistan at Wembley (which, naturally, we will), then it's a walk in the park with Sweden or Ukraine in the quarterfinal, after which the Netherlands or something even easier will be resolutely shoved aside in the semi. And since die Mannschaft always outgrows itself in the really, really, really big games, we've practically won the thing already. Minutes after being nearly brought to our knees by the Hungarian football giants doing nothing but apply the very recipe brought up against us regularly and with great success since the fall of 2014, a mere seven years ago: Resolute defending and a few well-placed counterattacks. Yes, it's that easy.

Meanwhile, our goalie blathered on how we struggle against weaker teams, but always get better against stronger teams. Which I guess you can say after winning 3 out of 11 attempts against teams placed above you in the FIFA rankings in the last 4 years.

What the fuck are they thinking? England don't even need to play strongly. Run-of-the-mill 4-4-2 with a defense-oriented midfield that springs into action the moment we forget, again, to secure the penultimate line will probably do nicely.

[ETA]OK, I admit I was prettty much in the same mood after Algeria in '14. And we know how that turned out. Still, let's hope the Penalty Squanderer and his band of highly-gifted kids fall into the trap of trying to out-football us with their idea of o jogo bonito à Inglesa. Then, we'll have a chance.[/ETA]

[Richard A]

Do I detect a note of doubt there, Arneb? Mind you, after all the hype, a win over Germany at Wembley would be sweet indeed! Who knows? I thought we'd get soundly thrashed by Croatia. But this tournament has been weird. Germany thrash Portugal - and then merely draw with Hungary? (But then, as Arneb, pointed out, they didn't have to do more, so why risk it?) Turkey get beaten 2-0 by Wales?

O jogo bonito - Gareth Southgate has been criticised for producing play that's been steady but not beautiful. So indeed, provided we don't get lured away from that, it could be interesting.

As Arneb says, the real reckoning for Tuesday's victor will be in the final. Which I reckon will be against either Italy or Belgium.

Just looked at the venues for next week. England play Germany at Wembley, Sweden play Ukraine at Hampden Park. Then the respective victors play each other at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. But Italy requires anyone who's been in the UK in the previous 10 days to self-isolate for 5 days on arrival. Which means that anyone who's been at either of the two Round of 16 games won't be able to be at the stadium in Rome on 3 June. A fair incentive for the confident Germans, Swedes and Ukrainians to stay home until next Saturday!

[Lianachan]

After 2 days of staring wistfully out of the window, Euro matches resume today.

ROUND OF 16

17:00 Wales v Denmark
20:00 Italy v Austria

[Lianachan]

Wales ripped to bits by an extremely good Denmark side. Lucky to only loose 4-0, really. Leaving Europe should please the 52.53% who voted for that in Wales in 2016.

[Arneb]

Italy - Austria looks like fixture just as one-sided. They'll teach the Schluchtis the waltz, I'm afraid.

Denmark played well, but Iwas quite disappointed b, Wales. Did they place even one dangerous shot? I forget.

[Lianachan]

They did have a shot that wasn’t far wide very early, after about 7 mins or something, but I think that was probably about it. Yes, Italy are very unlikely to be even slightly inconvenienced by Mozart’s good skiing lads.

[Arneb]

After 2 days of staring wistfully out of the window, Euro matches resume today.

What about Copa America then?

[Lianachan]

Great Colombian outrage at being beaten 2-1 by Brazil, when the ball bounced off the referee straight to a Brazilian for their first goal and their second was in the 10th minute of injury time. Otherwise, not much to report.

[Lianachan]

Wales 0 - 4 Denmark
Italy 2 - 1 Austria AET

Italy didn’t turn up until extra time after 0-0. Austria played well.

Next:

17:00 Netherlands v Czech Republic
20:00 Belgium v Portugal

[Arneb]

Dang, that was some game. Found myself rooting for Austria when the impossible started to look possible. Great evening with the two eldest kids, the telly and some snacks I'd smuggled in in the afternoon. Beer, too, but family-friendly

[Lianachan]

Sounds like a very good evening, apart of course from suffering an Italian victory.

[Richard A]

We watched the 1st half and Arneb's point, that the Italians hadn't yet turned up, was spot on. So we didn't bother for the 2nd half.

Wales was indeed disappointing after the first 10 minutes or so. I did start to think that Schmeichel could have stood there enjoying a beer and it would have made no difference.

This afternoon, Belgium play Portugal. Normally I'd say it would be an interesting match, but after Portugal's annihilation by Germany, I'm expecting an evening of moules frites and Westermalle.

[Richard A]

Well Netherlands v Czech Republic is proving a lot more interesting than I thought it would. Wouldn’t be surprised if it goes to extra time. And Arneb, if a) Czech Republic win and Germany win as expected on Tuesday, die Mannschaft are going to HAVE to learn to deal with a team that knows how to defend.