Austria v North Macedonia

[Hot Pepsi]

This may be a good place to admit I didn’t know North Macedonia was a country.

[ursus arctos]

It is what used to be called the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The name change was the result of a deal through which Greece lifted its veto on FYROM/North Macedonia joining the EU (a process that will still take years)

[Gerontophile]

That volley is only number 6 on ESPN Top 10.

I'm sort of ok with that.

What a fucking goal. Hans Krankl, come back to my place

Again.

[Hot Pepsi]

It is what used to be called the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The name change was the result of a deal through which Greece lifted its veto on FYROM/North Macedonia joining the EU (a process that will still take years)

Oh, I see. I missed that.

[Satchmo Distel]

It's possible Arnautović was making a Balkan point although he's Austrian born without the political prisoner/refugee family heritage that Xhaka has. Perhaps he was racially abusing the ethnic Albanian Macedonians (such as Alioski). He does have form for racial abuse from his Twente youth days, but then he has form for most things.
I liked Alaba's "shut the fuck up" face grab, and the other player who slapped his face. I wonder how many times he's been beaten up by team mates? Double figures at least.

I'd ban the fucker for life if he said what's been alleged.

[ursus arctos]

I'd suggest caution here

The only source for the allegation is a notoriously unreliable Serbian tabloid

[blameless]

Credit to Alaba for trying to play peacemaker and forcibly shut Arnautovic's mouth. Although to be fair, trying to shut Arnautovic up is a good idea at any time.

[Nesta]

Woke stasi literally shutting down freedom of expression with violence there

[Satchmo Distel]

When I tuned in (15 mins in), the ESPN commentator was apologizing for an insensitive comment. What was that about?

Just to tidy this up, I resorted to Twitter:

https://twitter.com/JaxsonReid2/status/1404112554805313537

He's still being given games so I assume the apology was sufficient.

[imp]

Arnautovic has been suspended for the Netherlands game. For once, an alright decision from Uefa, though banning him from the rest of the tournament might have sent an even stronger message about insulting opponents with nationalistic bollocks. He offered up the 'it was in the emotion of the moment' apology I often get from players after games I've reffed. Which is okay up to a point, and I genuinely appreciate the apology if it seems sincere, but in extreme cases like this, and with a player this prone to being a gobshite, the punishment's deserved.