Be Excellent To Each Other

I've put a tenner on Eddie Howe being next England manager at 8/1. He won't, and shouldn't be, but just in case I need something to soften the blow. Needs to manage a top team or turn Bournemouth into a top team first.

#Cough#



I have also been reading Danny Baker's twitter feed from last night...you can actually measure the number of glasses of red wine he had drunk. My favorite being:

"Shut up Glenn Hoddle, you empty TV cash gobbling vacuum. Just shut the f**k up. You are making this worse."

If it's any consolation, my team lost in the Copa America final against Chile, and Messi has apparently ragequit (lol, bless him, he can't leave till he wins us a big, shiny trophy).

I feel like 1/1000000000 of England's pain.

*patiently awaits death by projectiles*

For me with regards to England, it's been probably about 15 years. There's simply no pleasure or joy from ever watching them, ever, in anything, so yes as you basically say, just forget about them and enjoy the truly special players and teams you get in these tournaments.

I still love watching England, even when they're rubbish. There's no other team that can match them when it comes to pure drama.

Maybe Brasil, or Portugal from 15 years ago (check the eliminations from Euro 2000 and WC 2002. Also worthy is how we were out of WC qualifier for France98). But Portugal players have become way too professional and cold headed in the last 10 years.

I usually support England, but as with probably everyone else in the world I was rooting for Iceland yesterday.

This almost made good on not qualifying for the tournament at all..

(due to iceland btw)

Go Wales! (Shit at voting in referendums, but good at football).

Mind you, Bale needs to sort his hair out. Just shocking.

You beauty!

Crikey

Holy mother of cromulence!

They've been brilliant, but Ramsey will be missed in the semi.

They've got to fancy beating Portugal though, as they've been rubbish overall.

Bale v Ronaldo

Serious gurn-off

Hopefully Ronaldo will not find his form yet!

Man, wish I was in Cardiff for street photography tonight!

Should have kept his dogs fed.

Cracking second half, Germany v Italy.

And... Bravo

Yes, after an awful first! Then some truly dreadful penalties followed by some great ones.

I was rather hoping the penalties would continue a little longer - I wanted to see Buffon and Neuer step up.

Weird penalties indeed.. that Zaza one is destined to become legendary

Specially considering he came in as a substitute at 120 min

How does it feel to be Portugese this week? Confidence high?

I'm a pessimist by nature, and even though we are very good at penalties, i wasn't very convinced last Thursday against Poland.. But i'm completely hyped for tomorrow, which isn't probably much of a good sign.

Now i feel confused on how i feel about it.

Oh, no. Wales don't deserve this

I feel that the first half of the German team yesterday was among the best performances of the tournament so far. It's quite sad to see them go like this, even though i think France might be a better prospect for Portugal.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/36743405

Congrats to Clattenberg for getting the final!

France v Portugal, what an uninspiring final lineup. Would have rather seen Germany v Wales!

Three of the portuguese players were born in France and have french citizenship. Traditionally French squads also had players with Portuguese ancestry (Pires is the most famous example). Griezmann mother is Portuguese and his grandfather was a football player at Paços de Ferreira.

I know, this doesn't help my case, but i'm trying to stir some drama in case the game is dull (which is very probable).

My fiver on Griezmann to get golden boot is looking good though!

(My tenner on Germany to win less so)

Where is your faith in Pinot?

I spent a fortune on Burgundy last month.

Snivelling Ronaldo being carried off there. Can't summon up much sympathy with some of his tantrums etc in this tournament.

But oh, those moths!

Kinda glad the tournament is over now. Some of those matches were pretty dire affairs. I can't help thinking that having two yellow cards equalling a one-match suspension does more harm than good, especially with how easy it can be to pick up a yellow sometimes. Perhaps change it to three yellows or wipe the slate a round earlier maybe? Certainly Wales were a lot more ordinary without Ramsey for instance.

It used to be three yellows to a red, IIRC, but it means every single counter chance is ruined by professional fouls.

But a professional foul is a straight red, so would make no difference.

No it isn't. You don't get a red for taking out a player initiating a rush towards the opponents' goal, for example.

I think it just needs more card types.

Taking your top off after a goal should not merit the same punishment as fouling someone or deliberate hand ball.

I'd like to see 3 or 4 levels of card, I'd also like to see rugby style sin bins for the 2nd harshest card, but then I'd like to see quite a lot of stuff from rugby come into football (stopped clocks, audible referee calls, greater respect of the referee - backed up by a card, video replays of important calls and manager challenges of referee decisions - maybe 1 per half)

Depends if they're the last defender or not, and if the referee sees it as deliberate (which it must be to be a professional foul).

Well, I have never seen a player get a red card for obviously taking out a player in a counter rush unless it was the last defender.

Professional or not, my actual point still stands, which is that counteroffensives would be ruined by allowing more yellows.

What? Taking your top off after a goal is punished?

There's no rule about the 'last man'.

The rule is anything that is preventing a clear goal scoring opportunity = red card.

Yup. Mandatory yellow card if you pull your shirt up over your head. 'Unsporting' apparently.

Professional sporting associations are all such unmitigated self-important wankers.

Now, I thought this had all come about after kit manufacturer's and advertider's conokdunts that by removing shirts during goal celebrations took away a lot of their already paid-for advertising potential, as goal celebration photographs are the most reproduced in newspapers and on the Internet?

That was certainly a part of it. As it banning non-official advertisements (see Nicklas Bendtner for details).

I'm not convinced that takes away from my earlier.

The yellow accumulation rule is fair enough. There should be a way to punish all those "professional" fouls as it was said earlier. What i also agree is that some yellows are beyond ridiculous, like the no-shirt thing and handballs in no-danger zones.

Basically i don't have anything to add to this topic except that i'm happy beyond measure. Sunday night was amazing, and so was yesterday.

The Moth should become the official mascot of the portuguese national team.

Shit final, and the wrong team won.

There was an interesting suggestion on the Beeb website... if someone gets two yellows in a tournament they can play in the next game, but have to start on the bench.

Or basketball style: three levels: Six Normal fouls (talking back to the ref, normal foul tackles, accidental handballs, minor unsportsmanlike conduct), two flagrant fouls (dangerous play, flagrant handballs, cynical fouls, diving) and ejection (assault, extremely dangerous play, racist or homophobic behaviour)