Kaizero

Croatia 2-1 Albania Germany 5-0 Hungary Scotland 0-2 Switzerland Slovenia 1-1 Serbia Denmark 0-1 England Spain 2-2 Italy Slovakia 1-0 Ukraine Poland 2-2 Austria Netherlands 2-4 France Georgia 2-1 Czechia Turkey 2-2 Portugal Belgium 0-2 Romania

Off-topic, but just realized you can literally see the rabbit hole deepen by looking at my list of "to-read" bookmarks that I'll never open again

Just for the record, I'm in no way saying I have an intimate knowledge of the relations between the countries in the region - my knowledge of that is based on having had a few deep trips down the rabbit hole that is ADHD-hyperfocus wiki-binges

Can't understand how most people are opposed to a 32 team tournament for the Euros or a 64 team tournament for the WC - even though that would give us more matches between nations most neutrals would never watch if they weren't happening during a tournament, especially as the ones complaining about the possibility of more nations at the EC/WC almost universally praise the matches between "lesser" sides and say they enjoy watching nations they'd never normally watch 🤷🏼‍♂️

Georgia + Armenia = Friendly Turkey + Armenia/Georgia = Unfriendly Granted, I would think Armenians hate Turks a lot more than Georgians. Erdoğan essentially said Georgias second largest city belonged to Turkey in 2017, and that's just recent history - lest we forget Georgia was under Ottoman rule for centuries. https://eurasianet.org/georgians-wary-of-turkeys-rising-influence-in-batumi That said, in recent history things have been fairly cordial, bar the odd "Georgia should be Turkish" comment from Turks every now and then - but the existence of those views among Turks is why there's tension/distrust/hatred.

It's almost like these two nations have intensely hated each other for hundreds of years.

Apparently the "bother" has been severely exaggerated by media outlets and actually didn't go beyond balled up paper being thrown at eachother by both sides, words being shouted - in addition to an empty plastic bottle (or a few) having been thrown into the air

As a neutral, it really, really, bugs me how shit Southgate is making England play given how offensive and technically gifted most of this generation of England players are

I mean, the guy might have been responsible for this incident:

Guy in charge of Norwegian ref's said something in response to one of the TV pundits ranting about what you're saying that most people forget when lost in their blind hatred against the concept of VAR, I'll paraphrase a bit since I'm translating: "Referees implement and react to the rules they are instructed to follow. The position of the arm is in direct violation of (not sure how to translate the rule, but the number was #12 at least ) of the rules of the game as they are today. Neither the EC referees or VAR is where your complaint should be directed, you can direct it to IFAB, here is the address: The International Football Association Board Münstergasse 9 8001 Zürich Switzerland"

An absolute 100% classic England performance under Southgate this.

On that note, I was deep in a wiki-bing the other day and saw that Robinho had started on a nine year prison sentence in Brazil for gang raping a 22 year old.

https://time.com/5079487/die-hard-christmas-movie/

Winner: Germany Best Loser: England Golden Boot: Florian Wirtz # of Red Cards: 8 England Eliminated: Final Matchday 1 Germany 3 - 1 Scotland Hungary 0 - 2 Switzerland Spain 3 - 2 Croatia Italy 2 - 0 Albania Poland 1 - 3 Netherlands Slovenia 0 - 2 Denmark Serbia 1 - 1 England Romania 1 - 1 Ukraine Belgium 3 - 0 Slovakia Austria 1 - 4 France Turkey 2 - 2 Georgia Portugal 3 - 1 Czech Republic

Didn't just feel like it, was it not something like 7 out of 23 Senegal players that got a transfer to a PL club following the WC?

Used to love following the transfer window after major international tournaments back in the day to see if any of the "unknown" players that shined at the tournament would get snapped up by big clubs.

I support Norway (duh) and the US (because why not) when it comes to international football. However, me doing so I swear is the sole reason both sides are stuck with Pardew-esque manager situations.

I'm all for a 64 nation WC and a 32 nation EC tbh. If EC 2024 was 32 nations, the ones that'd be there now (out of the non-qualified sides) would likely be Greece, Wales, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Montenegro, Israel and Luxembourg. None of which I'd have an issue with seeing get three matches in an EC tournament (bar Israel, of course, but for political reasons - not sporting). Out of the teams in the EC qualifiers, that'd mean only 24* (26 if we were to include Russia and Belarus) would not qualify for the final EC tournament. That means more sides would qualify for the finals than didn't, but nobody cares about the EC qualifiers - I want to see teams play at the EC itself. So even if it seems kinda dumb on paper to have more teams qualify than not, it'd make for a more fun final tournament and more nations/fans involved - as well as increasing the likelihood of a minnow nation or two managing to put together a run that'd create some upsets. As you, I hate the concept of three teams advancing from a group of four. I support any move, be it less nations at the tournament or more, that would ensure that we can get back to two out of four teams advancing from the group stage. * It's past midnight and I generally suck at counting, so don't quote me on that being the correct number

Have to admit a slight bias towards him as he's a big follower of the same philosophy Kjetil Knutsen implemented at Bodø/Glimt In essence, it's just "each player in each position know what their role to play on the pitch is so in-depth that you can swap a first team player for a back-up/youth player in the same position and you'll barely notice a difference".

2.16 PPG average, most in St. Pauli history (discounting caretakers). Going back ten seasons before Hurzeler got the gig, their managers averaged a PPG of: 1.45 | 1.12 | 1.43 | 1.42 | 1.20 | 1.33 (again not counting caretakers). Yes, guy is yet to prove he can do it at another club - but you can only find out by letting him try. I'm all for this type of manager appointment instead of any of the normal merry-go-round appointment PL clubs usually make out of fear.

Additional sidenote: I'm of the (probably quite unpopular opinion) that national teams should mainly hire foreign managers to avoid any inherent national bias regarding players, ensuring an objective look at the current crop of players in the nation they manage as well as somewhat of an emotional disconnect when it comes to selections/performance.