QF1: Norway v England

[Furtho]

Good luck to the Lionesses!


It would be really useful if there were a site that included all senior fixtures: Sky's app seems completely unaware of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, for example...

Livescore.com?

[Jah Womble]

Thanks for all these suggestions, guys. A universe of factual delight, right there.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Neither team were up to it defensively today, but England had the players to take advantage. Norway's lapses were something of a surprise as defence is supposedly what they're all about.

[Nocturnal Submission]

I thought England played very well and have been getting progressively better as the tournament has gone on, with one or two standout performances tonight. Poor old Millie Bright keeps on being picked out as a weak link in the defence, which is probably fair enough, and the unit generally seems to have a major error or two per game in it, but the stronger elements have managed to mitigate that. So far.

I do get a bit of a Sarri's Chelsea vibe about the side though. Too many passes from good midfield positions go sideways or backwards instead of forwards, they break slowly following a transition and are a bit shot shy, (against Cameroon they had 68% of the possession but only 7 shots). But the odd clanger aside they're great to watch and very easy to admire.

Sue Smith's earnestness and "everyone's just amazing" co-commentary is slowly starting to grind me down though and Jonathan Pearce's banter with her, usually around some trivial incident where she forgot something or was late for an event, is teeth-grindingly infuriating.

[imp]

„amazing“ has become the word to describe everyfuckingthing, hasn‘t it? I see it on Twitter and Instagram all the time, usually being used by people to promote other people, in the hope that other people will promote them back. Some of these people I know and like and even love, and so I‘m too cowardly to say to them, For fuck‘s sake, stop calling everyone and everything amazing. It seems to be particularly prevalent among writers.

With that little ray of sunshine posted, I declare OTF open for another bright summer‘s day.

[Snake Plissken]

Gary Delaney: "It's disappointing how the word 'legend' has been devalued from 'able to pull a sword out of a stone' to 'unexpectedly returning from the bar with crisps'."

[imp]

Whereas to be photographed drunk at 3am in a fountain in the square of a major European city, with thumbs up and a shit-eating grin, will confer upon you the status of an Absolute Legend.

[Me Old Flower]

This site is good and quick:

https://www.soccerstand.com/es/

(How do they get the goals up so quickly?...they can't have a runner at every ground.)

There will be at least one independent in-play statistician ("scout") at each game. They are the ones who provide live data to clients (media outlets and betting companies).

[E10 Rifle]

Why are they giving Pearce all the England games? Lord but he's ponderous and tedious.

Very, very good performance from England I thought, though you can see the areas in midfield where they might get over-run by a better team who can seize on the odd spell of wayward passing. But the Bronze-Parris combo is an absolute joy to watch.

[Benjm]

The trophy has had England's name on it ever since I cancelled my trip to Lyon and resold my tickets for the semis and final.

[Jah Womble]

„amazing“ has become the word to describe everyfuckingthing, hasn‘t it? I see it on Twitter and Instagram all the time, usually being used by people to promote other people, in the hope that other people will promote them back. Some of these people I know and like and even love, and so I‘m too cowardly to say to them, For fuck‘s sake, stop calling everyone and everything amazing. It seems to be particularly prevalent among writers.

Really? Among writers? They need to do better.

But 'amazing' has been an overused adjective since I was at school. I blame Kate Bush.

[andrew7610]

Whereas to be photographed drunk at 3am in a fountain in the square of a major European city, with thumbs up and a shit-eating grin, will confer upon you the status of an Absolute Legend.

See also: drinking a pint in the pub at Gatwick before 9am in a Superdry polo with your collar turned up.

[Snake Plissken]

Nah. That gets you the coveted title of Bantersaurus Rex.

[Kevin S]

So how do you become the Archbishop of Banterbury?

[wingco]

Great viewing figures for this, too. 7.6 million (or was it 7.9?) Anyway, far, far more than have been watching the cricket world cup.

[E10 Rifle]

As a watcher of both tournaments, don't like the playing off of viewing figures against each other, but it's inevitable because of the ECB's decade-and-a-half-long FUCKING STUPIDITY in keeping all cricket off terrestrial broadcasting.

[Jah Womble]

I dunno - works for me...

Nah. That gets you the coveted title of Bantersaurus Rex.

Is that seriously an expression? It doesn't even work.

[Nesta]

Uh oh, the banter police have arrived

[Gangster Octopus]

Bant-tastic!

[hobbes]

They got you Bant-to-rights.

[Patrick Thistle]

There will be at least one independent in-play statistician ("scout") at each game. They are the ones who provide live data to clients (media outlets and betting companies).

How do you get that job then? I'd love to be paid to just go and watch football matches.

[Patrick Thistle]

How do you get that job then? I'd love to be paid to just go and watch football matches.

I mean I'd probably get bored of it after five years or so