Euro 2012 - day four open thread
France vs. England right now, with Ukraine vs. Sweden later.
Great matchup of the cross-Channel rivals today, who are the two favorites in Group D. A pet peeve: announcers always say England has had "46 years of misery." But obviously, they weren't miserable immediately after 1966, when they won it all. It should be more like 42 years.
Allez les Bleus!
I just realized that this is also Go Blue! So everyone should be rooting for France!
You can buy a t-shirt at the M-Den with that exact slogan, actually.
I actually have one of those shirts. I just remembered which is why I added that Michigan-related fun fact so people without a rooting interest root for France
When I was at Michigan, they had stickers at the book store with "Go Blue!" in just about every language.
I had a girlfriend at the time who spoke Arabic. When I showed her the Arabic sticker, she asked "What does it mean 'Go You Blue'?"
What a miss by England. Damn
Lloris did just enough to push him to a tough angle
Oxlade-Chamberland is something the English National team really has lacked in the past. He is very skilled on the ball and create not only for himself but for others. Really want to see if Roy Hodgson plays him along side Wayne Rooney after his suspension,
I think im going to root for Sweden in this group... For no real reason, i'm just not a huge fan of France or England...
Oh well... should be a great game though.
So far this looks like this will be settled by whether England gifts a goal on a horrendous goal keeping mistake or France gifts one from their comical central defense.
France's central defense isn't that bad. Most people don't really know Adil Rami but he was a stud at Lille before going to Valencia this past season.
Mexes is solid but error-prone. And makes terrible hair choices.
Except they've been carved open once and nearly three more times.
Welbeck and Oxlade-Chamberlain's speed is the main problem for them. Mexes and Rami are both big lumbering CBs.
Speed kills.
Koscielny may be the answer for France. I'm a little surprised he didn't start.
I don't think so. They've been playing Mexes and Rami for the friendlies leading up and they played pretty well. And Koscielny had his first good season this year after a couple error-filled ones. Mexes and Rami both had better track records
Also, on French TV before the game they were talking about the team and potential position battles. Arsene Wenger is one of the broadcasters and he said nothing about Koscielny.
Thought this was funny haha
England ahead! Shock!
England goal.
WOW what a service by Steven Girard.
IMO it was a good service but a keeper's ball, it was way too deep and frontal for the goalie not to go for it
Julian Lescot and his five-head put England ahead.
Free header from 4 yards.
Do they play Seven Nation after every goal or something? Is this Beaver Stadium?
Great free kick, bad marking by Diarra.
Why did M'Vila have to be injured....
Nothing makes English broadcasters happier than a slick passing team going down to a blunt, set piece headed goal.
Hehehe there's still hope French fans
ESPNStatsInfo England is 6-3-4 when scoring first at Euro. Last loss - 2004 group vs France in the group opener. 6/11/12 6:33 PM |
England looks like a foosball team when they're defending. Two flat lines of four.
NASRI! LETS GO!
France ties it up. Getting good now!
Nasri scores for France 1-1. Manchester City players with both goals in the game.
Wow - beautiful shot by Nasri. All tied up.
Nasri ties it up. Hart beat near post.
Great shot by Nasri, though.
At what minute did Lescot and Nasri score?
At work trying to find a live feed....=/
30 and 39
You should be able to pick it up on ESPN3. Also available in Spanish if you are so inclined.
Great match so far!
Beautiful goal by Nasri. He needs to be big for them to win
Nike's fixation with shades of gold apparently extends to soccer as well. France's colors are blue, white and red, but Nike decided to give them a blue-and-gold ensemble. Weird.
Yeah, not a fan either. They should go back to their blue shirts with a red stripe, white shorts and red socks. They were that way for 30 years with various designs, why change a good thing?
France was an Adidas team for pretty much all that time. I guess Nike wants to break new ground. Personally, I liked their Adidas uniforms better. Nike should at least go back to the national colors.
I agree. I've only really liked a single one of their Nike jerseys so far. For the most part the Adidas ones were great though
Those are the Nike pro-combat France uniforms.
but blue and gold were the French colors before the revolution.
(OK, I'm not really that old.)
I can see why they wouldn't want to look anything like the team that showed up for the last two major tournaments, even if it means turning the clock back a few centuries.
Yeah, but since the monarchy was abolished, France has not used the fleur-de-lis or the color gold for its official symbols. Those have become associated with the monarchy and the tricolor with the republic.
Anyhow, besides all that, France's teams have worn blue, white and red for a good century now. No need to change color schemes.
Does anyone know where to find a streams for these games outside of ESPN3 (my internet provider blocks the service)? For the love of god these, ahem, overseas streams are littered with ads that literally make the game unwatchable (you can only hear commentary).
Any insights?
thefirstrow.eu
every sport you can possibly imagine. ads go away after like 15 seconds
Milner nearly plays Nasri in with a backpass.
Referee is being pretty lenient. He could have already given out a couple more cards
Better than the officiating in the Poland-Greece opening match. I'd rather have them too lenient, then too strict.
Heja Sverige!
Does Schevchenko still play for Ukraine?