Was at England v Switzerland on Saturday and got chatting to the bloke stood next to me before the game. Turned out to be Lawrie Wilson’s uncle! Lovely bloke, who said Lawrie has nothing but good things to say about Charlton.
The celebrations for when we won the penalty shootout are unlike anything I’ve had at football probably since Wembley 2019.
And what a place Düsseldorf is by the way. Perfect party town worthy of the celebration!
the more games the merrier as far as I'm concerned
Each to their own, but I prefer quality over quantity - the 3rd place thing means a lot of the 3rd group games in particular lose that sense of jeopardy, and a lot more teams playing for draws etc.
The old Euros used to be ridiculously small, 8 teams between 1980 and 1992 and 4 before then! Just qualifying for it, never mind winning it, was a major achievement.
Breaking news... The referee for the England v Netherlands game is non other than German Felix Zwayer who was given a six month ban for taking a bribe many years ago. Jude Bellingham got a 34k fine in 2021 when at Dortmund he slagged him off for not giving Dortmund a penalty yet giving a less obvious pen to Bayern Munich in a match that they lost 3-2. Jude said what do you expect from that ref with his past.
Don't be surprised if Jude gets 2 yellows in this match 🤦🏻♂️
Breaking news... The referee for the England v Netherlands game is non other than German Felix Zwayer who was given a six month ban for taking a bribe many years ago. Jude Bellingham got a 34k fine in 2021 when at Dortmund he slagged him off for not giving Dortmund a penalty yet giving a less obvious pen to Bayern Munich in a match that they lost 3-2. Jude said what do you expect from that ref with his past.
Don't be surprised if Jude gets 2 yellows in this match 🤦🏻♂️
I don't see his appointment having any infleunce on the match.
That being said, it's insane that he's still refereeing, let alone at the Semi final of a major tournament.
Breaking news... The referee for the England v Netherlands game is non other than German Felix Zwayer who was given a six month ban for taking a bribe many years ago. Jude Bellingham got a 34k fine in 2021 when at Dortmund he slagged him off for not giving Dortmund a penalty yet giving a less obvious pen to Bayern Munich in a match that they lost 3-2. Jude said what do you expect from that ref with his past.
Don't be surprised if Jude gets 2 yellows in this match 🤦🏻♂️
Jude can be a bit of a prat sometimes. Shouldn't of brought up stuff about that ref when Jude himself was only about 5 years old. Especially when the ref was actually one of the ones who came forward to the authorities. (Though he did take 300 euro hush money at first.)
Just in case Felix gets a chance to read this I know as we all do Felix has integrity and won't let him, his country or the sport down.
Dont Germans have a stronger rivalry with the Dutch than they do us
Be like having a Scottish Referee in charge of this one
That's true, I forgot about that. According to Callum above he has already been in charge of a Dutch game. I would never be pleased to have a home nation referee in charge of one of our games and I guess the feeling is mutual for all of us home nations. Guess we are just very small minded petty people.
Breaking news... The referee for the England v Netherlands game is non other than German Felix Zwayer who was given a six month ban for taking a bribe many years ago. Jude Bellingham got a 34k fine in 2021 when at Dortmund he slagged him off for not giving Dortmund a penalty yet giving a less obvious pen to Bayern Munich in a match that they lost 3-2. Jude said what do you expect from that ref with his past.
Don't be surprised if Jude gets 2 yellows in this match 🤦🏻♂️
I don't see his appointment having any infleunce on the match.
That being said, it's insane that he's still refereeing, let alone at the Semi final of a major tournament.
I don't think any bribes come into it now with this ref but if has a memory then Bellingham may be wise to curb his usual in the refs face as the Dutch will look to make a meal of any contact. From the point of view that most games Jude will do tackles and challenges that are 50/50 to being a yellow. That's why he is such a talent with the effort and skill but his tackling can be near the mark. With England's record of their young stars getting red cards in Tournaments: Beckham and Rooney we really don't want a hat trick.
Hopefully they’ll make it 32 soon. Will make it so much easier to split 32 into 16 and stop all this best third placed team nonsense.
God no... UEFA only has 55 Members, more countries will qualify than not.
32-teams is ideal for a World Cup... 16-teams is ideal for something like the Euros
It’s only an extra 8 teams and it would make the format so much better. There are plenty of half decent teams, eg. Norway, Finland, Greece etc who could have qualified. It doesn’t mean that San Marino or Wales would get in.
Comments
The only other one I can think of that came close was Austria v Netherlands.
Italy: Austria (aet), Belgium, Spain (p), England (p)
Portugal: Croatia (aet), Poland (p), Wales, France (aet)
So.... previously only 3 knockout games, no? - quarters, semis, final
What.... and we've had the same format with 4 x 3rd place teams advancing?
The celebrations for when we won the penalty shootout are unlike anything I’ve had at football probably since Wembley 2019.
And what a place Düsseldorf is by the way. Perfect party town worthy of the celebration!
32-teams is ideal for a World Cup... 16-teams is ideal for something like the Euros
I prefer 16 teams over 24 in the Euros too.
The referee for the England v Netherlands game is non other than German Felix Zwayer who was given a six month ban for taking a bribe many years ago.
Jude Bellingham got a 34k fine in 2021 when at Dortmund he slagged him off for not giving Dortmund a penalty yet giving a less obvious pen to Bayern Munich in a match that they lost 3-2. Jude said what do you expect from that ref with his past.
Don't be surprised if Jude gets 2 yellows in this match 🤦🏻♂️
That being said, it's insane that he's still refereeing, let alone at the Semi final of a major tournament.
Shouldn't of brought up stuff about that ref when Jude himself was only about 5 years old. Especially when the ref was actually one of the ones who came forward to the authorities. (Though he did take 300 euro hush money at first.)
Just in case Felix gets a chance to read this I know as we all do Felix has integrity and won't let him, his country or the sport down.
- Italy 2-1 Albania
- Turkey 0-3 Portugal
- Romania 0-3 Netherlands
The ref for the other semi will be Slavko Vincic of Slovenia who‘s overseen:
- Hungary 1-3 Switzerland
- Spain 1-0 Italy
Sounds as if a decision will be made between Daniele Orsato of Italy and Syzmon Marciniak of Poland for the final.
Be like having a Scottish Referee in charge of this one
That's true, I forgot about that. According to Callum above he has already been in charge of a Dutch game. I would never be pleased to have a home nation referee in charge of one of our games and I guess the feeling is mutual for all of us home nations. Guess we are just very small minded petty people.
I don't think any bribes come into it now with this ref but if has a memory then Bellingham may be wise to curb his usual in the refs face as the Dutch will look to make a meal of any contact.
From the point of view that most games Jude will do tackles and challenges that are 50/50 to being a yellow. That's why he is such a talent with the effort and skill but his tackling can be near the mark.
With England's record of their young stars getting red cards in Tournaments: Beckham and Rooney we really don't want a hat trick.