Spain Wales!

Ok. It becomes very difficult to stay humble here...
According to my daughter, no team has ever won with such a score in the Euro.
Now should we not be de facto winner of the next match ? Wales having voted out of Europe, they should not be allowed to play in the Euro cup ;-)

I'd be happy with Spain Wales but I think Germany Belgium, if both teams play as they did today, would be a better final from a purely football point of view.

England Iceland tomorrow. I should be supporting England, but love the underdog in this match.
Spain Italy could match Portugal Croatia for boredom, but then again it could be a stunning game (though I doubt it).

According to my daughter, no team has ever won with such a score in the Euro.>>

Really? no other 4-0 wins? Congrats anyway to Belgium. You'd have laughed at the BBC's online commentary - one minute Trevor Sinclair was posting this:

"Belgium have lost all momentum. They looked like they would start the second half how they finished the first, but they haven't gone on from there".

4 minutes later we got this:

"An absolutely outstanding, world class performance. Man of the match. Performance of the tournament. He has led by example. He had no right to take on two or three Hungarian players, but what a finish."

lol.

I think that the only hope Wales have got is to take Eden Hazard out in the first minute.

[of course I hope they don't do that!]

annhig - I can almost guarantee that Fellaini is thinking the same about "taking out Bale"

lol!

So much for a Spain Wales final.
Italy deserved the win.

It's great to know my punditry skills remain undiminished :-)

Oops.
Iceland Wales final anyone?

A couple of comments:

Our country hasn't faced international embarrassment like this since Friday
It's OK. I think we've got £350 million a week we can spend on the England football team.


ENG proving twice in a week that they're unable to put a decent cross in a box

https://t.co/u5NjfGXVOm


:) :) :)

OMG!


OK, we were disappointed. After that first goal, my sister sent me a text to say she now was willing to believe in Santa Claus.

But, it was not to be. Agree, at the end of the day, the stronger team won, but we I think we would have scored another goal and gone to penalties but for that marginal call on the red card.

France will miss the Irish fans. I have another video to share later :)


England tonight - what can I say except .... way to go Iceland! I am disappointed. I will now support Wales.

Macross: That is one of my favourite Irish songs, about the Irish being deported to Australia. Its my 'party piece'. Look it up on youtube.

http://sport.gentside.com/euro-2016/..._art52375.html

"Who's the Sexy Garda (Police person)". a serenade from the Irish fans to a beautiful French police woman :)

Someone on the TV asked who they could get to coach the England team - Eddie Jones perhaps?

OReilly, it is my favorite Irish song but the fans don't sing the verses and it drives me crazy after ten minutes.

I have heard more about Jamie Vardy's wife in two weeks than anything else. Will England be eligible to play now that they are leaving the EU?

Yes they can still play. They will still be European and part of UEFA. Nothing at all to do with EU membership.
Whether they qualify is another matter.

I wonder which brave fool will accept the poison chalice from Woy.

I haven't seen a more inept performance from an England side since...the last time they bombed out of a major tournament. Roy's team selection was questionable and his decision to bring on Rashford with 4 minutes to go was stupid. He should have taken Kane off with half an hour to go and put Rashford on. Wilshere has again proved he hasn't got it. Surridge was woeful.

Although Gary Neville resigned too, the FA should beg him to take on the job full time.

It admirable how consistent the English are.

After deciding to leave the EU they consequently left the EURO Championship too.

BTW, what about making Boris J the goalkeeper of the English national team? (At least, he has more volume than Joe Hart. And no less skills.)

Whether they qualify is another matter.>>

Hets - we have generally been very good in the qualifying rounds for which the management appeared to have a plan and to execute it well. Thereafter the wheels have regularly fallen off and left England stranded by the roadside while teams that are much weaker on papers speed past them to the later rounds.

If England are serious about finding a decent manager, they need to follow the example of the RFU and appoint someone who has a proven track record of international team management with a level of success in European and World tournaments. Otherwise they might just as well stick a pin in a list of random ex footballers.

It is a contradiction in terms if the national team's manager comes from another country. It should be banned.

You simply need a football academy where managers are educated. It is like any other job on earth.

However, I often wonder how many Premier League clubs have managers from foreign countries and how much fuss the British press makes about them (like Guardiola). Guardiola is a good example. FC Barcelona and Bayern München were good teams before him and after him.

But foreign managers will be a thing of the past anyway if UK had left the EU.

It is a contradiction in terms if the national team's manager comes from another country. It should be banned.>>

even if I agreed with this in principle [and I'm not sure I do] I'm pretty certain that you wouldn't get many English Rugby fans to agree with you.

<<But foreign managers will be a thing of the past anyway if UK had left the EU.>>

why?

I think foreign managers, like foreign players will get visas without too much trouble should it come to that. I don't have a problem with a foreigner managing a national team, happens all the time in Rugby.
What is needed is more of the money from the top clubs filtering down to bring on home grown talent instead of it being spent on exorbitant salaries and on so many foreign players (and managers).

A brief pause now whilst Wimblevision takes over. Looking forward to some intriguing matches coming up.

I think foreign managers, like foreign players will get visas without too much trouble should it come to that.>>

of course they will, Hets, even if the UK does not remain in the Single Market, which of course we will and will have to pay to do so too; all that will change is that we won't be at the EU table influencing how it works, we'll be sat on the sidelines waiting for them to tell us what to do [which is what I gather happens with Norway - it's called "taking back control"]

What stage is this now? I am totally lost.

Quarter finals - the last 8.

keep up RM!!

Thank you Ann - it's Brexit - it's thrown everything out!

Yawn. Hardly worth me staying up to watch.

I can only hope whoever wins tomorrow does us a favour and slaughters Portugal when they meet.

-I can only hope whoever wins tomorrow does us a favour and slaughters Portugal when they meet.-

Right? I don't know why they bug me so much. Ronaldo, I guess.

Portugal is only 2 ties away from the European Cup.

Nice one lobo_mau :).

ARE YOU WATCHING WHAT?????

[sorry for shouting, but I've just discovered that I have some welsh blood in me]

Sorry what! (no not really)

Wow. What a game. I hope boring bloody Portugal are worried.

Silly grin, and all new Welsh people are welcome :)

Ann, what is going on? Wales 3, Belgium 1 !!!

What a surprise!

Not such a surprise - they have beaten them before.

Wales Iceland final is still on.

After Leicester anything is possible!

Fabulous performance by Wales and a cracking game.

My Welsh friends are going bonkers right now leaving me with the tab. That's OK, great game and what a metaphor for the Brexit vote

Let us avoid any misunderstanding.
We ahve the best team since we are the best people on earth.
However we are, as you have seen in my posts, very humble and modest people.
So we have shown that we were the best but wanted to avoid having to brag about it.
Therefore, in a typical behaviour of Belgians, coming straight from the adversaries of Caesar (de omnis gallis, belgi fortissimi sunt), and inherited from Godefroid de Bouillon (first king of Jerusalem, who single handedly took the city) we decided to let the Welsh win.
Yes, yes, I know we are very good people.

Bon, c'est pas tout ça, où est ma bière que je noie mon chagrin...

Whathello, Belgium have been one of the most entertaining sides in the tournament. Their game against Hungary was a masterclass. It is a pity they had to meet Wales at this stage. I think they thought of Wales as Gareth Bale and ten other blokes (as other countries have) and didn't realise it is a real team, which happens to have Bale playing.
Enjoy your beer.
Time to concentrate on the World cup now ;).

Congrats to Wales, love watching them play to be honest.

desolé, What. Shame that both teams couldn't stay in a bit longer but c'est la vie, nest-ce-pas?

Wales played a blinder and the English are sick as parrots but at least Belgium is now in the same boat with us.

Sport is a great leveller [and producer of cliches]