Orban Decay: Hungary v Portugal

[Satchmo Distel]

Various Ronaldo landmarks:

https://twitter.com/OptaPaolo/status/1404817346846396425

re. his "39th app at a major tournament (EURO & World Cup), an all-time record for a European player", Messi has 47 (due to there being more Copas than Euros) which I assume is the world record.

[Third rate Leszno]

I was lucky enough to go to the 3-3 draw between these in Lyon 5 years ago, not expecting as much excitement this time though.

[Ray de Galles]

It still feels fundamentally wrong that Gábor Kiraly and his trackie bottoms are not appearing in this fixture.

[Ray de Galles]

Whatever the madness behind of having a capacity crowd in is, it sure makes for the first proper tournament feel to the game.

[Belhaven]

I hope Portugal win this game 8-0.

[imp]

C'mon Portugal, crush these fascist pricks! (they'll not get eighth past Gulacsi, though, who is a genuinely great bloke who pissed off the Hungarian right by speaking out against racism and homophobia. So don't crush them, but please beat them.)

[steveeeeeeeee]

Really negative 11 picked by Fernando Santos. Of the 2 holding midfielders, hopefully Carvalho will venture forward occasionally because Danilo has no attacking ability.

[Ray de Galles]

The base colour of the Portugal change kit looks almost white on my screen, rather than the pistachio (or "light teal" as I think it is officially styled) it's appeared when I've seen it before on photos and in shops.

[Sean of the Shed]

Hungary being managed by Mike Ehrmantraut.

[Billy Casper]

Nice to see Ian Holloway has found a new job. I never thought he'd end up in Hungary though.

[Ray de Galles]

Hungary being managed by Mike Ehrmantraut.

Or Ian Holloway.

Cross-post, I'm clearly on something of a delay!

[johnr]

I do hope that ITV are not paying John Hartson for his contributions, cos so far all he has offered us is 'Ronaldo is a big-game player'.

[steveeeeeeeee]

The base colour of the Portugal change kit looks almost white on my screen, rather than the pistachio (or "light teal" as I think it is officially styled) it's appeared when I've seen it before on photos and in shops.

100% pistachio on my cheap Technika TV.

[Incandenza]

The base colour of the Portugal change kit looks almost white on my screen, rather than the pistachio (or "light teal" as I think it is officially styled) it's appeared when I've seen it before on photos and in shops.

Looks white to me during play, when there's a close-up or a view pitchside, I can see it as the light green.

[EIM]

Looks pale blue with a hint of mint here.

[Jah Womble]

No yellow card for Bruno Fernandes. But then I guessed there wouldn’t be.

[Felicity, I guess so]

One of those darker hoops would be a nice kit, maybe

[Incandenza]

Szalai kicked in the toes/top of his foot and goes down clutching his Achilles and pounds the turf in agony

[Ray de Galles]

One of those darker hoops would be a nice kit, maybe

Oh, I love the kit as a whole - just disappointed at how it looks on the screen I'm currently watching on.

Will reassess when I am back on my home TV for the second half.

Hungary seem to be diving an awful lot.

[Incandenza]

Good chance for Jota there

[imp]

I remember all those black-shirted Hungarian fans in Marseille in 2016. Their team plays in red, they wear black. Just wondered if there was some sort of ideological attachment to the black...

[San Bernardhinault]

Because of football history and a feeling that they should be great I always want Hungary to succeed. Because the country is particularly fascist by modern European standards and the Orban regime would take advantage of any success and seems to be invested in football in a way that, say, the Tory government in Britain isn't, I should want them to get utterly crushed. I normally detach my allegiances from politics because too many countries are run by scum, but this is an instance where success would particularly bolster the scumbags so I'm fighting all my pro-Hungary and underdog instincts here.

[steveeeeeeeee]

(to John Hartson) Both times Jota has had a shot on target, he has been in the best position of any player on the pitch to take that shot. Just because both shots were saved, doesn't mean he should have passed to someone else.

And Portugal are asking William Carvalho to play a Renato Sanches role, which is mad, because Renato Sanches is on the bench and can do that ball-carrying through the lines better than anybody.

[RobW]

Like Ronaldo, I'll be missing like that later tonight. Ref letting a lot of obvious looking fouls go.

[Nesta]

I remember all those black-shirted Hungarian fans in Marseille in 2016. Their team plays in red, they wear black. Just wondered if there was some sort of ideological attachment to the black...

They sit at the front, and they're pretty angry. The A-Row Cross, if you will.