EURO 2O24 ⚽ part 2

[DuncinToffee]

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/sports/5091241-euro-2024?page=40&reply=136295952

We were in a bar with a Turkish fan the otherday. A player missed a sitter and he turned to us and said "I hope he dies tomorrow - and all his family!"

Who would you prefer?

This is us. Main annual holiday and it's costing us a fortune. Germany is a lot more expensive than we expected and the transport system is unbelievably awful. I promise you it's even worse being here than watching on TV.

At 90 minutes we felt England were never going to score so we left to make sure we could get a tram. Have I mentioned how bad the transport is? Heard a massive shout, ran back in to watch the replay of Jude's goal and watch extra time.

I think it’s pretty harsh to call Southgate clueless. I massively admire his leadership style and attitude, and maybe that’s skewing my outlook, but surely he has pretty solid reasoning for the management decisions he takes.

I know people have said - both on here and in the media - that he can make poor tactical choices, but I don’t understand why.

The way I see it is that he’s got lots of management experience now - both for England and a few previous clubs - and a whole team of staff to support and advise him, so I guess I’m asking: why does he make the decisions he does? I don’t get it.

On a separate note, I find it hard to read things where he’s getting criticised, as I respect him so much (although I know that’s a separate thing).

I’m so sorry Catriona!! That’s awful. I remember reading that some England fans were stranded in one of the towns that hosted a group stage match a couple of weeks back, which shouldn’t have happened. You would’ve thought Germany would be prepared for hosting. I know it’s a cliche to say that, and that it’s obviously a massive task to host the Euros, but they should have been much better prepared. It reminds me a little of the gate crashing incident at Wembley at the 2020 Euros final, which equally should never have happened, as the stadium should have been much better prepared.

I think we did well after minute 65 - Rice hitting the post, Kane’s miss etc.

Still a few silly mistakes came through which stronger teams would take full advantage of.

I am hugely relieved that we got through this - even if by the skin of our teeth - as it would’ve been awful for that to be Southgate’s last ever game.

I don’t know if anyone else on this thread has been to the theatre to see Dear England, the play about Southgate, but they’re updating it with a new ending - and I bought tickets for the updated version right before the Euros started - so spent most of the game desperately, desperately hoping we’d pull through!!! What a shit updated ending it would’ve been if they’d crashed out now.

Unfortunately, until Jude’s goal, I don’t think we deserved to win, but he really saved our bacon. He’s a superstar. And Harry coming in afterwards to finish off what Jude started 🥰🥰🥰

I really hope we get to the semi finals at least. Please.

I don’t know what our game plan will be against Switzerland, but I hope we can come up with something.

Yeah, that was here, Gelsenkirchen, after the first game. The Germans said as the ground has a capacity of over 62k for Schalke games, but is limited to 54k for the Euros, any problems must be our (the fans) fault.

However, the vast majority of the crowd for Schalke games are locals, who come from all around so come and go from different directions, drive, walk, cycle etc. There is very little accommodation locally, so for the Euros, the vast majority of fans of both teams need to get to Gelsenkirchen station by tram and then trains on to Essen, Düsseldorf, Cologne etc. Tonight we managed to get a tram and a train after the game. Knew it was going too well - the train got as far as Duisberg (half an hour late by then) and announced it was going no further so everyone had to get off.

Honestly we've had so many horrendous train journeys we just expect problems now.

We went to Dortmund last year for a champions league game and I guess I just associated the Germans with efficiency so I was really surprised at how poor the trains were. We travelled via Amsterdam and had a hell of a race to get back there to make a ferry after one train never turned up at all and another terminated randomly somewhere we weren’t expecting. When we got back to the ferry almost everyone had a story about travel with many being forced to fork out huge amounts for taxis etc due to the poor rail provision.

We have driven for that reason and car parking wasn’t too bad but haven’t really seen a single bus in that entire time and journeys seem to take far long by public transport than by driving - which isn’t often the case in the UK.
much preferred the Veltins Arena to Signal Iduna at Dortmund - don’t get the love for the stadium thought it was rundown and not as well organised and the atmosphere between the Germans and the Danish wasn’t great (Lightening didn’t help) and someone went on the roof

I'm shocked by the shitness of German transport but a lot of radio 5 journos have been saying the same.
When I lived in Munich it was brilliant and any event had additional trains afterwards both at Olympiastadion and Allianz.
I travelled all round Germany and Europe by train without issue, I even had one trip where some poor person had a medical emergency and they held the night train to Switzerland in Stuttgart Station until we arrived.
Looks like UK isn't the only place with crumbling infrastructure....

France vs Belgium & Portugal vs Slovenia today.
Can't call the first game - neither have been amazing so far, but expect Portugal to win relatively comfortably.

Just saw this on the BBC HYS:

Comment by Honest discussion at 22:05 30 Jun
Honest discussion
22:05 30 Jun
Spain just dont seem to understand tournament football. You’ve only got a limited number of goals, don't waste them in the early rounds! It’s all about doing the minimum possible. Someone send Gareth over to have a word.

😂😂😂😂

I would love to go to an England match. But I find loud men really intimidating especially if alcohol is involved (childhood trauma). I don’t enjoy overly macho energy either so worry if the chanting would be off putting.

Would I be uncomfortable if I went?

Thanks in advance to anyone who has experience and answers.

Home games at Wembley are usually quite tame. Avoid blocks 107 - 116 and you'll be fine. The upper tier is usually quite quiet.

Have you been to a Lionesses game? You might like that better.

I have only been to a few England friendlies at Wembley where the atmosphere was quite relaxed but still loud.

You could try England women, completely different atmopshere to the mens game.

I’ve been to two England friendlies at Wembley, and both were lovely and relaxed (England-Australia last year and England-Iceland last month).

Both matches had a chilled vibe and were very family-friendly, with loads of kids at both. I don’t recall any agression or chanting at either match, and enjoyed both (although less so at the Iceland one due to us losing unexpectedly! 😂)

The atmosphere at the Australia match in particular was amazing and really enjoyable - and it was boosted by the fact we won! There was a bit of booing, but it was quite minor.

I liked the atmosphere of England actually but there are drunk men but for me totally not intimidating even with some booing and anti england

i found Denmark Germany much more aggressive vibe to be honest between the two teams

I've been to both the England men's and Lionesses matches at Wembley and it has always been absolutely fine. Admittedly, I always sit in the family sections as I take DC with me, but the atmosphere around the stadium (inc outside and in the food areas etc) has never felt aggressive or intimidating. People have even been good natured in the lengthy queue to get to the tube post-match! In my experience, the atmosphere at Lionesses' games has generally been better than the men's as you get an even higher proportion of women and children (although still plenty of men in attendance too).

It's being reported that UEFA are investigating Jude Bellingham for a crotch-grabbing gesture he apparently made towards the Slovakian bench last night. He claims it was an inside-joke gesture towards some close friends who were at the game, not directed at Slovakia. Based on precedents (involving e.g. Simeone and Cristiano Ronaldo), he could be fined or even suspended. So silly - just why do it, inside-joke or otherwise? Daft bugger.

I thought it was a bit of a strange defence from him, saying he’d aimed it at close friends - that didn’t make any sense to me. And if he had intended to aim at the Slovakia bench, that is just really poor sportsmanship - especially given England had just won with a last-gasp victory.

I have to say, this behaviour from Bellingham has really surprised me. Ever since I’d heard of him a couple of years ago, I’ve just been in complete admiration - that might sound overblown but I just find him very, very impressive.

He comes across equally well on and off the pitch, which is no mean feat, especially considering he’s just turned 21. He’s a phenomenally talented footballer and beautiful to watch on the pitch, and I also enjoy watching him in interviews because he gives such insightful, thoughtful answers and is just quite charming. He just comes across as a lovely and humble guy, normally. So this has really been an unpleasant surprise.

Maybe he did out of frustration or even out of carelessness? Who knows? I know there’s been an insane amount of pressure on the squad over the last few weeks - with much of it being on him, in particular - so maybe that’s contributed to him doing this. But he strikes me as so level-headed and intelligent that surely he wouldn’t risk losing what the team have built up so far with something as silly as a rude gesture. And given he won the match anyway - and was the decisive factor in the win - what was the point of the gesture? I don’t understand at all.

Yes I've just read that UEFA are investigating Jude Bellingham for that crude gesture.

It's just so arrogant and senseless. Of course it wasn't an inside joke. He was facing directly at the Slovakian bench. You would think he had more sense seeing as others have been fined and suspended previously for similar gestures. But no he's arrogant and it's fairly well documented from other team mates he plays with or has played with.

Belgium to win…..I have it in the sweepstake👍