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    So, so far then, then

    Having grown up with the 24-team format for Mexico '86 and Italy '90, I was a bit nostalgiaically excited for this. '86 was a brilliant tournament, and while '90 sucked, it had a good number of outstanding knockout games.

    I suppose what those tournaments had, however, were teams like Morocco or Cameroon or teams that you hadn't normally seen. When you have teams from the same continent, they're a little too familiar with each other.

    I like Hungary and Iceland and Wales and Albania and Norn Ireland being in a tournament, especially when some of them were locks for falling short in a playoff over the past 20 years.

    But as mentioned above, there were no classics. Classic moments, yes, but no classic games. That said, we had two scorchers in a row with Spain's reign, and hopefully the Champions Leagueesque 2020 will be better.

    Comment


      So, so far then, then

      I dunno. Wales v Belgium will live long in my memory.

      As will Iceland v England for very different reasons.

      I'm not sure what a "classic game" is but those games kept me gripped right until the end.

      Comment


        So, so far then, then

        Wales v Belgium seemed to be pretty widely thought of as a classic game.

        Comment


          So, so far then, then

          Borracho wrote: Good things about Euro 2016:
          * Zaza's cameo.

          Comment


            So, so far then, then

            I wouldn't exactly call it a classic but Hungary v Belgium was really entertaining end-to-end stuff (admittedly with one team a lot more competent than the other), although I wish Hungary has scored at least once to make it more of a game and reward their totally gung-ho style of play.

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              So, so far then, then

              Well, I obviously enjoyed the whole proceedings.

              The first goal for us against Slovakia - just knowing that we had scored a goal in the tournament - was a mental experience and then winning, after conceding a goal, pushed it even further. We knew that game was crucial and, suddenly, getting to the knock-outs seemed a possibility that I hadn't dared contemplate. Previous to the England game upped the ante as far as atmosphere was concerned with the singing of the Welsh supporters in the concourse being more than I had seen in most matches after a victory. At half-time, it was just beyond mental. In retrospect, it was probably a good thing we didn't win otherwise people's heads would have exploded. The Russia game was just a dream - especially as I had to have a pre-kick-off nap - and we were suddenly looking like a team that could be confident against any opposition and, of course, when it turned out to be Northern Ireland, we were - aside from the slight let-down that it was another British team. Of course, it was a terrible game but we won so cared the square root of fuck all. That was it for me being over there but, I have to say, I was looking forward to watching the next match on TV for a change and, while warning my wife that I am not a fun person to watch a match with, celebrated Robson-Kanu and Vokes goals moreso than I had been at matches. The eventual defeat to Portugal felt better watched at home not that I had a choice. The lovely thing was that, from the Russia game onwards, we had won, if you see what mean. No-one was going to be broken-hearted or disappointed, there was very little chance - aside from a broken leg or rash sending off - that this tournament was going to leave anyone feeling like 1977, 1993 or 2003. The players' heads would have been held high.

              Of course, the players were just fantastic - from Bale and Ramsey to Danny Ward. Bale had a quieter tournament than expected but, often, that wasn't to do with him but with the opposition. He didn't have a great match against Portugal when he could have been the player to drag us though but such is life. Ramsey and Allen had contrary tournaments - Allen initially running the show in the group games, while Ramsey faltered somewhat, and then fading a bit. Ramsey warmed up through the tournament and, of course, was the missing vital link in the end. That Ledley played such a lot and was important in many matches after breaking a leg so close to the tournament was a revelation. Gunther and Tayloe also a revelation, especially in the opening game but continued to be important throughout the tournament - noticeable by their absence when they weren't allowed to get forward such as in NI game. Hennessey, Williams, Chester and Davies were so wonderfully dependable, it almost become unnoticeable in the end. All three forwards that came on played their part excellently but Robson-Kanu's contributions was vital. Not only his excellent goal against Belgium but him coming on changed the Slovakia game and, of course, he scuffed the winner. I saw him score his debut goal against Scotland and he has since become a cult hero. It was a model case of how supporters can raise a player (or, more, probably, good management). He scores two for the country before this tournament and then scores two of the most important goals ever including the goal of the tournament. Coleman quite simply did not make any major mistakes in the whole tournament - certainly not game changing ones - and, while he was blessed with minimal injuries, dealt with injuries and suspensions the best he could. We have seen so many good players, good teams and good managers for Wales but these are the best Welsh team, some of the best players (still early in some of their careers) and the best manager. Speed may have been able to do this as well but, tragically, we will never know.

              As far as the other matches were concerned, no one ever told me that qualifying and travelling to watch the matches fucked up your tournament watching so much. In previous tournaments, I would have had all the games planned out on my calender and would have worked out which ones I would watch live, which on highlights and which, nowadays, on catch-up. This tournament was fucked for watching other games. The only one that stick out are the Croatia/Czech Republic game, Poland/Switzerland, Ireland/Italy, the boring half of Portugal/Hungary and, of course, Iceland/England. I have to say that I really enjoyed those games. It wasn't a classic tournament perhaps but, there again, there are a rare amount of those. As I said, the top teams underperformed but the Wales, Iceland, Hungary, Northern Ireland and Albania stories have made this a different tournament. Indeed, it is a bit of a shame that, amongst the talk of us and Iceland, Albania's story in particular as well as Hungary's return were overshadowed somewhat. It must be remembered also that, for all the talk about expanded qualifying and final tournament, only Hungary qualified through the third place ruling.

              The Welsh supporters have rightly received plaudits, almost to a cliched extent, but there was a wonderful feeling that Welsh fans were changing from sub-England hooligans who would fight amongst themselves due to inter-club rivalries to the happy, singing, friendly supporters who wouldn't cause any trouble and will drink your bars dry. I was always suspicious of this reputation that the Irish fans had for this but, now, I am enjoying us being seen as this and have a feeling that it is a permanent change. OK, the Swansea/Cardiff "Together Stronger" Welsh Dragon flags are a bit much but it is still generally 'a good thing' and, certainly, makes life more comfortable travelling around. Maybe, after the kicking the England supporters got from the Russians, a sea-change amongst England supporters will also happen. Indeed, after the joy of finding the bars open in Lens, the England supporters we mixed with pre-match were great and the atmosphere was great with very little real segregated in the ground. A special mention must also go to the Slovakian supporters who started the tournament in the right spirit by clapping us out of the ground in Bordeaux. The Russian supporters we saw were benign rather than the hardcore ultras that had obviously hightailed it out of Dodge after the first game. The Northern Irish were good value, for the most part, as well and were the only ones that I saw that turned our supporters of the underdogs atmosphere against us.

              Away trips are often the sorts of events where responsibility and maturity go AWOL, anything can happen and often do. The Euros has been a massive extended version of these. From the reasonably sensible trip to Bordeaux for the first game to the quite mental trip that saw me flying to Spain on the Saturday before the game in Toulouse on the Monday via a commando 24 hour trip to Lens in between. The trip to Paris, though it was a last minute offer of a ticket and a lift with complete strangers that got me there, was quite conventional in comparison. That is the other point - not only did I get to meet up with lots of old friends that I haven't seen for way too long - a couple of who had survived cancer since I had last seen them. I also met up with people who I had never met before but, over the period of a couple of days, became very good friends and travelling companions. Not just Welsh either but Basques and a Gambian who came along for the Welsh ride.

              There is, of course, the usual stories of too much drinking beer, eating red meat, singing, dancing, embracing that you get with all away trips but all the above felt particular to being at a major tournament, perhaps to this one. As Uros Pedric said elsewhere, it's been so much fun, why didn't we qualify before? Perhaps, it was so much because of not qualifying for 50 years and 1977, 1993 and 2003 and the death of Gary Speed being so terrible. It is the old "you have to endure the lows to enjoy the highs". Obviously, I would rather Gary Speed be still here and not having qualified but that isn't a choice. Sorry, that last little bit is clumsy but I think you know what I mean. As it goes, I know that Russia and Qatar aren't going to be anything like this last month even if we do qualify. Perhaps, 2020 will. I know that qualifiers will be great fun not least because we have the same team, manager etc for the next load.

              Comment


                So, so far then, then

                Lovely post.

                I think there were just five come from behind victories in 51 games. That doesn't seem like much to me, but I'd be interested if anyone knew with any statistical certainty.

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                  So, so far then, then

                  Thank you, I just wanted to contextualise it a bit really.

                  We did Belgium so would be amazed if there were only 4 more. Interestingly, for us, there wasn't really a pattern and, i suppose, apart from superstition, there doesn't need to be. We scored first in every single game apart from the Belgium one but, of course, we lost the England game after scoring first. All three of our group games had three goals in. None of this means anything really.

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                    So, so far then, then

                    We didn't score first in the Portugal game.

                    Comment


                      So, so far then, then

                      It may not have been a classic tournament, but it may well become one. While we wait for the World Cup to offer a similar "vibe" (2030? Ever?), over the coming years we can anticipate nostalgic reviews of 2016 ("Remember when you could just travel around and get tickets and drinks without the retina scan and DNA test?").

                      But I'll be watching from my sunset home, and the TV coverage will be spectacular (Keeper GloveCam!), so piped fan noise won't bother me much by then.

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                        So, so far then, then

                        Hungary vs Portugal was a classic.

                        Comment


                          So, so far then, then

                          Winners coming from behind:

                          England 2-1 Wales
                          Croatia 2-1 Spain
                          France 2-1 R Ireland
                          Iceland 2-1 England
                          Wales 3-1 Belgium

                          Comment


                            So, so far then, then

                            Jonathan Wilson is scathing in The Guardian

                            Comment


                              So, so far then, then

                              Ray de Galles wrote: We didn't score first in the Portugal game.
                              Ha, of course. The lack of meaning of such signs increases.

                              Comment


                                So, so far then, then

                                If I may, I'd like to describe my tournament experience (my first) as an England fan. Hope it's not too boring and doesn't offend the AEB too much.

                                Been watching England for 6 years, for away matches the atmosphere had been becoming really enjoyable, the number of bellends down to around 10% with the rest enjoying visiting a foreign city and mixing with locals. But then came..

                                Marseille
                                It was clear straight away that all our worst knuckle draggers were out to play, generally behaving abnoxiously and offending people. But saying that, from what I saw, the violence was not instigated by England fans (though plenty of morons responded in kind). Spent the first two days constantly running for cover amid a hail of flying glass and tear gas.

                                On the first night local gangs were raiding bar to bar and throwing bottles and furniture around. I was in one such bar eating my dinner with my friends (nice atmosphere, placid England fans and locals, no-one singing) when it was attacked. Fortunately we saw what was coming and legged it.

                                Come matchday, I was in the square behind the Old Port (the main knuckle draggers were in the English/Irish pubs on the Old Port itself). Again,friendly atmosphere, people were singing, but not about German bombers or the IRA. Then the Russians attacked. Saw about 30 seconds, absolutely terrifying, luckily we were able to run away from it again.

                                Thats the short version of the violence. The best pieces I have read on this are Garcia's piece on the "beer and tear gas" thread and the statement from the FSF.

                                On to the football. England 1-0 up, playing with confidence, concede a last minute equaliser. A crushing blow that we never quite recovered from.
                                And on to..

                                Lens
                                Lovely, just lovely. We were feeling rather sheepish (ahem) bearing in mind what we'd just come out of, but the Welsh fans were great, in fact everyone was great. Wales sat too deep when they should have carried on attacking, Hodgson would have probably tried to play all three goalkeepers. We fluked a late win and managed to convince ourselves again that we could win the tournament. So full of optimism we travelled down to..

                                St. Etienne
                                What? Hodgson's making six changes? Doesn't sound a very good idea to me. Apparently the mayor of St. Etienne praised England fans behaviour but most of those that I saw were behaving like dickheads. Blanket Slovakia defence that we couldn't break through. In the difficult half of the draw now. We should have been playing in Paris on Saturday but now we're playing on Monday in..

                                Nice
                                Lovely city, very affluent (if expensive), bathed in sunshine. England and Iceland fans mixing. Most the morons seem to have gone home now, probably too difficult to co-ordinate themselves for the second round (I'll remember for future reference). 1-0 up after three minutes, we'll cruise to victory now. What followed was certainly the worst England performace I've seen live, possibly ever. Normally I'm pretty gutted when England get knocked out but this felt like relief, like seeing an old family dog being put down and out of it's misery. And not even a dog that you like very much, one that shits everywhere and barks all the time.

                                But tomorrow's another day. I have renewed my membership. Roll on Slovakia away in September.

                                Comment


                                  So, so far then, then

                                  Cheers for that, FWN, good to see that perspective.

                                  Comment


                                    So, so far then, then

                                    Aye, a good read.

                                    Comment


                                      So, so far then, then

                                      Normally I'm pretty gutted when England get knocked out but this felt like relief, like seeing an old family dog being put down and out of it's misery. And not even a dog that you like very much, one that shits everywhere and barks all the time.
                                      Hahahahahaha

                                      Comment


                                        So, so far then, then

                                        Today's events have reminded me that, unlike RdG, that I haven't mentioned the host nation. After today, it seems to churlish to mention that, since my teens/early 20s when I used to visit there a lot, I have become somewhat jaded by France. I had a holiday 10 years there but we were a bit remote so had hardly any interactions wiv yer French.

                                        One of the lovely things about spending time over there for the Euros was that I re-engaged with France and the French. Aside from all the stuff about how they cook and serve red meat so wonderfully (although no viande de cheval, unfortunately), they were wonderfully accommodating and, even, friendly hosts, even in Paris. Actually, I realised that Paris is less rude probably because I can afford to eat, drink and sleep there now 30 years on.

                                        Back to the Euros though, I think that they organised the whole tournament fantastically. I appreciate that the Russians, English and Croats somewhat took advantage of this early doors but, once the Russian ultras had buggered off, the atmosphere was fantastic, the security not too paramilitary (I didn't have guns pointed at me personally) and the facilities wonderful.

                                        OK, Bordeaux started off badly. Meeting up with rick derris of this parish at the train station proved difficult as they had major refurbishments in the train station which meant we couldn't see each other across the station concourse for half an hour. When we did, we had a 45 minute walk down a street that was lined with kebab shops, Chalet Poulet, sex shops and 'massage parlours'. I actually posted "I hope that they finish Bordeaux in time for the Euros" on that walk. When we got to the hotel, it got a bit nicer, mainly because we walked into the proper IBIS rather than the budget one we were booked into next door. Once we went to Bordeaux itself though, it was fantastic and brilliantly Euro 2016-centric. When we initially turned up, I instinctively though "How can I escape these red-shirted bucket-hatted buffoons?". However, I hadn't realised that this was the tournament where the Welsh became the Irish of the 21st Century and we weren't going to start lamping each other.

                                        There were a few negative points about Bordeaux. Firstly, after seeing the wildly celebrating al fresco newly Europe-friendly Welsh supporters entertaining the French locals, I was met by the glum and indoor 1927 Club welcoming committee. Secondly, the trams to the stadium were the most packed and loudly singing I have ever seen any public transport.

                                        However, after that, we turned up at the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux which is one of the most beautiful stadiums I have ever been in. The match I have spoken about before, the walk back from the match subsequently was one of the most beautiful I have ever taken and then I had my only experience of a Fanzone. It was quite nice actually - the weather was lovely, everyone was getting on, the beer wasn't too over-priced and Russia scored an equaliser. It was only Ray De Galles manbag not being let in by security that forced me out in the end. I had to go and eat duck, chips, sardines on toast, chips, smoked salmon and chips due to a tall Croatian.

                                        Lens had been described as "Port Talbot without the pubs". I liked it but, there again, I quite like Port Talbot. The police played a blinder by stopping all booze on the way into Lens and then surprisingly opening the pubs when we were there. Everyone was so pleased that we could drink beer that no-one kicked off. An English guy shared his baguette, salami and cheese, a football was produced for everyone to kick around and, for a moment, I thought The Farm were going to start singing "All Together Now". It seemed like a real football town - having a stadium of 33000 in a 30000 town - it had slag heaps bigger than in the Valleys and the stadium looked like a slightly bigger Prenton Park. I would go there again so I can make RC Lens my French team.

                                        After a time in a village in the countryside that was like those ones that Cantona visits in the beer ads where we won over the locals with our Welsh dragon flags, drinking and eating red meat, we repaired to Toulouse for the day. I last went to Toulouse 30 years ago for my post-O-level trip and was frankly appalled by the "No Spitting" signs, the McDonald's milkshakes made with rubbish French milk and having ham sandwiches thrown at me by the Foreign Legion en route to Algeria. It is safe to say that it has improved a great deal since then. It has obviously had a revamp in the city centre and, it has to said, the most sophisticated French I saw were in Toulouse. The stadium was wonderfully European wonderful but, to be honest, I was so glad to see that the violent Russians has been replaced by the sort of morose ones and so much in need of a pre-match nap by then that I can't comment fully. Much less full trams than in Bordeaux and a metro that is easily navigated by a drunk Welshman was welcome though.

                                        A quite frankly unexpected and last-minute return to PAris for the Round of 16 match was next. I had stayed overnight in Paris before a wonderful train trip to the first game in Bordeaux and, staying in Montaparnasse, had had a great Parisian night eating charcuterie, drinking beer and soaking up the sophisticated smoking outside a bistro vibe. I kept on getting texts throughout the tournament saying that I had won a competition where the prize was a free hotel room for however long Wales were in the Euros. I had booked my previous hotel rooms and assumed that anything that seemed too good to be true probably was. Anyway, this time I decided to give it a go. Bugger me but it was a spa hotel next door to the Louvre. I spent the first night assuming I was going to kidnapped and organ-farmed but, having woken up whole, I realised it was bona fide. I met the rest of the World Famous 1927 Club in a restaurant where they served meat so rare that a good vet would have it back on its' feet within a couple of hours on a bed of lettuce.

                                        You will have all seen the Wales/Northern Ireland game and realised how shit it was and, to be honest, the PSG stadium wasn't great shakes - along the lines of the modern antiseptic Anfield. However, after the match, we repaired to a ridiculously local restaurant where we didn't eat but drank and sang and, while I like to think that we entertained the locals and NI supporters, probably acted like the sort of supporters you tend to avoid.

                                        All the way back from Paris, I spoke in the French borne of two years service in the language labs of Porthcawl that had kicked in three weeks earlier and was appalled whenever yer French spoke to me in English. I assumed that, by missing out the consonants, I had the accent down pat. So, in the end, the French were still a bit rude but, on the whole, fine and epicurean hosts.

                                        Comment


                                          So, so far then, then

                                          This red meat thing...your arse will fall out one of these days.

                                          Comment


                                            So, so far then, then

                                            Parc de Princes is a great ground and quite the opposite of a "modern antiseptic" stadium.

                                            It's a heartening example of seventies concrete brutalism and is still very recognisable as the Five Nations venue of my TV-watching youth despite a little bit of cosmetic PSG branding.

                                            Comment


                                              So, so far then, then

                                              Calvert wrote: This red meat thing...your arse will fall out one of these days.
                                              Ha, I wouldn't worry. One of things about travelling back and forth is that I indulged in a Calvertian vegetarian diet wen I was back (and since). My colon and kidneys are starting to forgive me.

                                              Comment

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