Euro 2012 - day four open thread

Submitted by snarling wolverine on

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.

M-Dog

June 11th, 2012 at 8:26 PM ^

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'?"

 

Fhshockey112002

June 11th, 2012 at 12:20 PM ^

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,

flysociety3

June 11th, 2012 at 12:22 PM ^

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.

Needs

June 11th, 2012 at 12:22 PM ^

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.

mzdmv

June 11th, 2012 at 12:41 PM ^

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.

snarling wolverine

June 11th, 2012 at 12:44 PM ^

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.

Yeoman

June 11th, 2012 at 12:59 PM ^

but blue and gold were the French colors before the revolution.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Pavillon_royal_de_la_France.svg/320px-Pavillon_royal_de_la_France.svg.png

 

(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.

snarling wolverine

June 11th, 2012 at 1:24 PM ^

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.  

State Street

June 11th, 2012 at 12:48 PM ^

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?