Village Idiot

He reportedly took some convincing in order to agree to stay. I expect that Lucho will rotate the team more, after what happened towards the end of the past season.

He's been quality for Villarreal, will give Barça much needed depth in the middle.

You just made me youtube it. What a beautiful half-volley

Neymar new 5 year contract at Barça

Barça have bought Umtiti from OL, €25m. He any good? He's in the France squad (hasn't played yet), so I guess there must be *something* in him. Would be nice to not burn money in useless CBs for a chance.

I suppose that the Spanish press is being just clueless/fishing for cheap clicks, but the "Benítez for England" thing is being widely reported over here... Tell me there's nee chance of it happening, please. Both as an Irish fan and as a NUFC fan.

You guys are taking Brexit way too seriously.

I suppose Madrid will want to move Morata on, I can't see him accepting a backup role. And I can't see Zidane promising him a starter role. Regarding the "XXX is better than YYY" discussion. Modric is great, Kroos needs to be accommodated - which isn't a crime by itself except when you're in a team that doesn't do much accommodating, like RM -, and Piqué and Ramos are very different beasts. Actually they are such a great pairing for Spain because of how different they are.

Incidentally, I think the yanks have a chance if they are able to seize their physical advantage + extra rest. I watched the repeat of the Argieland - Venezuela game (hey, I'm on a football binge these days) and Argentina didn't look particularly solid. Their whole gameplan was "give the ball to the guys upfront and let them figure it out".

For a moment I thought they were going for some cringey "Da Vinci of football" pun there.

I don't think they need him, nor that he's better than their current options. But that's never stopped Pérez. With any luck, this means they'll dump Casemiro in order to shoehorn everybody in the side.

I'm really torn about the USA - Argies game. I usually support the yanks in every tournament where Ireland isn't present, but I'd like Messi to win something internationally.

We don't know how to schedule a league with 22 teams. That's why.

Messi beard tracking: http://estaticos.sport.es/resources/jpg/6/0/leo-messi-causa-furor-copa-america-con-barba-1466324485906.jpg

What I'm supposed to do now? Drink more?

Dere's more to Ireland dun diss. I'm not getting into a fight right now. Blokes in this bar are bigger than me.

I just had a few beers, but I'm not used to getting wasted so early. Being Irish is hard.

We are looking thoroughly outclassed at the moment. I guess that's the game where Belgium will turn up.

Yeah, people around here are buzzing for the tournament. I love it myself, despite most games being disappointing.

Iniesta, what a legend. What I would do to see him as a boy in green...

The new kickoff rule is the kind of sensible change that should have been implemented eons ago, but it looks f***ing weird Still amazed that Rosicky is still playing at this level. Did he even get a game for Arsenal this season?

Get in! Best possible result for us.

What a miss! EDIT: Offside

Stuck with 24 for the next one I think. The weird format means that adding more teams now would be a nightmare logistically. The World Cup was like this from 82 to 94. I don't remember - were the group stages bad back then too? The 82 WC had two group stages, the other three had the same format as this EC. And yeah, I think the 1986-94 group stages were even worse, given that in the WC you have several minnows that are automatic #4, which means some of those groups were pointless. There's more upsets since only 2 per group qualify, which you may like or not.