Euro 2016 - hype, anticipation and general excitement

t/s tomas necid vs gary recid

Is this the game of the tournament so far? I think it might be.

perisic has been superb again

V glad I got back to the flat to see this second half

Just saw a video of one of the stewards picking up a flare that went off on him. Horrific, hope he's okay.

one German-Croatian legend just came on.

99th minute

corluka looking like a water polo player

Corluka's hat is awesome.

There are quite a few Croatia fans who are actively trying to undermine the FA for convoluted political reasons and would see them getting thrown out of the tournament as a win.

Interesting - has anything been written about that?

Aleksander Holiga writes about it a lot and has done some pieces for The Guardian. I'll have a look.

Can't find the one I am looking for but the FA is run by a corrupt, nationalistic, homophobic thug who also owns both Dinamo Zagreb and Lokomotiva Zagreb. He has been accused of rigging the domestic league and has blocked a string of reforms aimed at bringing in greater transparency. There were banners in various parts of the country last week, but particularly Split, saying 'by the grace of God you'll lose all the games'

There is a tangentially related piece here:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/23/croatia-racism-italy-behind-closed-doors

that's the sound of the pulis

lol got krs1 in my head now

also lol ramos booked after a minute

immediately identifed with that great football man of turkish football fatih terim

you need leg beaters?

did he mean leg breakers or people who can run around a lot? or both?

pulis effortlessly using the term 'turnovers' the lexicon of us sports becoming more prominent i think. wonder if it's part of coaching badges these days to study and analyse other sports, adapting basketball pick n roll moves at corners etc

the yin and the yang of the pulis transfer target list that occasionally finds cosmic harmony in the form of a jon walters xp

turnover isnt too bad as american sports terminology loanwords go

finally a great cross and finish!

thought that was a decent finish from nolito there as well

We might finally see a whipping as well.

Turkey getting getting roasted. Expect them to to be carved open second half

what the fuck is tyldseley talking about

'different cultures'

Turkey gettin' mollicated here.

Please stop saying man for man, Tony!

tony:[mumble mumble] man for man [mumble mumble] man for man

clive: u ok tony?

saw a tweet that asked the question: do you reckon pulis is wearing a baseball cap in the commentary box.

answer for me: yes

It's exhibition football. At times.

Only one way to stop that, go man for man man for man man for man.

https://twitter.com/bacitrends191/status/743901859946045440

god bless the trendbots

this is quite like the 2008 spain team

(xp = 404)

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/06/17/21/3569657C00000578-3647322-image-a-55_1466195450024.jpg

a red rag to my greek cypriot pride

So quick question. Why are these flares exploding? They don't normally do that do they?

It was a firework, not a flare.

This is the article i was looking for yesterday:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/nov/17/croatia-fans-terrorism-italy-planned-cry-attention

Yeah that's the one I found - thanks!

Anyone else get the feeling that the Republic could do Belgium today?

Oh yes.

No tbh i think the presumption we can in any way replicate an italian style performance (tactics having played a huge role in nullifying the belgians) is a total nonsense given our disastrous twenty minutes after having taken the lead against sweden, and i doubt we'll be as good nor they as bad again

If this was the first game i'd be inclined to agree but i don't think Belgium can be as slack and disinterested the second time around. Ireland looked hopeless in the second half.

xp, Darragh otm

Im not writing us off and i dont think we will ever be the scuttling cowards trap turned us into under o'neill so im looking forward to it, just not buying the first round results as a predictor is all. The wise men of rte were blowing shite after the italy belgian game and im reacting.

Im not writing us off

lol coulda fooled me

Carrasco and Dembele in, Fellaini and Naingolan out. I can't possibly see Belgium tanking it again.

Ireland look way too deep already here

Booking of the tournament from Hendrick there

There it is.

Inevitable. Very nice goal tho.