EURO 2012

What's the difference between Spain and Fidel Castro?

Spain were helped by more than one Shay Giv' error.

I am actually physically appalled that I just typed that.

I'm appalled for you. And also at myself for laughing.

I'm not really sure what that Ireland squad could have done that wouldn't have resulted in a whipping by Spain.

I mean they gave away some soft goals but most of these players are either old and off the pace or just not that good in the first place. And Spain are one of the best teams ever, in midfield at least.

fucking spain... i stay up till 3am to watch the first half hoping to see tons of goals and those fuckers decide to score only once before HT, keeping the other three for afterwards. bastards! not doing anything to make me like them one bit

You want them to give a good account of themselves though xp, give it a bit of a go. Two things really - carry some sort of threat of winning the game (not too bad here as had a couple of threatening attacks, should probably give McClean and Long a shot at it), but above all not to give it up cheaply. If you do that and still get beaten you can't complain.

I mean they gave away some soft goals but most of these players are either old and off the pace or just not that good in the first place. And Spain are one of the best teams ever, in midfield at least.

they played particularly badly and looked v unfit to me. but i agree with you mostly. i think conceding goals in the opening 3/4 mins of every half so far does suggest a lack of concentration though, even against top sides you'd expect a bit more resistance.

xpost otm

also on the fans stuff, fuck roy keane tbh, i was pleased with the fact they were singing at the end, support is a part of sport.

the way he goes on you'd swear he wants the fans to boo the team off

otm on the fans stuff. the press in france is in awe of the irish support and them singing till the end etc. apparently even the most annoying commentators shut up to listen to singing. coming from a country where the team is booed and whistled off the pitch if they are losing, the irish fans are dawesome and def not to be angry at.

he wants the fans to run on and kick the players until they buck their ideas up

i have sympathy for his "losing is not a joke" shtick but he's wrong

of course we overdo the brave losers thing, but still.

surprised to see Ireland as high as 18th in the FIFA rankings. if you look at the teams around them - Sweden, Mexico, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, you can maybe see some models for having a go with limited resources and support not revolving around it all being a huge laugh.

nb i wd take "it all being a huge laugh" over "God Save the Queen" jesus that song makes me wanna kill

I didn't think Keane criticised the fans (I maybe need to see it again) - I thought he criticised the players for coming out and giving it "the fans have been brilliant" when they haven't given the fans anything worth watching.

"the fans aren't just here for a sing-song" isn't the same as criticising them for singing.

i thought andrews spoke well, but i dunno, i am a big fan of him in general. the only one trying to get a goal against croatia.

surprised to see Ireland as high as 18th in the FIFA rankings. if you look at the teams around them - Sweden, Mexico, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, you can maybe see some models for having a go with limited resources and support not revolving around it all being a huge laugh.

zlatan, yaya, falcao, hernandez.....

ireland just don't have the players

Keane otm about it being right to have elevated expectations. Denmark is a small place without huge stars, but they usually manage to make the knockout stages.

I associate Scotland's nosedive with 'just pleased to be here' taking over as the sentiment, sometime around Craig Brown. It's maybe as likely the cause-and-effect is the other way round but still, I'm sure there used to be genuine annoyance at always going out in the first round. Now still having a mathematical shout of a playoff place come the last game is seen as a relatively successful campaign.

Denmark doesn't have huge stars but the base quality of those players is better across the board.

Problem with Ireland is that most of their players come up through the Premiership which isn't adequate training for getting even good English players to play decent international football.

Problem with Ireland is that most of their players come up through the Premiership which isn't adequate training for getting even good English players to play decent international football.

this is otm too. there are definitely better guys not getting a run though, v similar to the england prob except our gerrard/lamps etc are robbie keane and duffer, and john o'shea.

yeah that seems true

plenty of otm but i gotta go bbq and gokart laters

absolutely gutted that our early concession cost us the chance of getting my cherished 'shit without messi, you're only shit without messi' chant off the ground, has bemused spaniards from montecasino to the amber arena that one

i do think you can pick out zlatan falcao yaya as isolated players and try to make it look as if thats the company we`re in but that`s no more an average measure of the player in the teams around us than glenn whelan is of our first team. and zlatan`s shit.

Also FIFA Rankings are bullshit because there's no way that the Ivory Coast aren't way better than Ireland.

the rankings are iffy but the point is about belief in yr ability i think

plenty of otm but i gotta go bbq and gokart laters

busy man

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/files/2012/06/brilliant.jpg

idg kr0-5sen

krosse is 'to crush'. idg why they've decided on 5-0.

smorgas-bored into a coma more like

sweden are seriously up for this for some weird reason. it's like thomas ravelli's eyes have infected their hearts.

games vs england are always a huge deal. no less now when roy is in charge, who this morning was described in one newspaper as a "god".

nb i wd take "it all being a huge laugh" over "God Save the Queen" jesus that song makes me wanna kill

and the little clap they give themselves after they've sung it. eurgh.

why the sex pistols hate?

On a related note - is it true that fucking band are going to be allowed back in tonight? (the England brass thing, not the sex pistols)

i joined the various "keep them banned" groups with pride.

Pukka Pies will be making an official representation to UEFA following the exclusion of the Pukka Pies England Band for the England versus France at the European Championship.

Innocent Smoothie prob sponsor the band.

imo it's grossly offensive to musicians everywhere to describe them as a band

Every nation gets the support it deserves iirc

not fuckin hardly

the aftermath of last night is tearing the RTE panel apart. Brady vs Dunphy right now

civil wars are always the bloodiest

Eh, what's going on?

Jeez, that rain!

game off

looks a bit wet

Play suspended, lightning storm