30 June 2016

First semifinalist known after penalties

Poland - Portugal 1:1, on penalties: 3-5

Scorers: 1:0 02 Robert Lewandowski
              1:1 33 Renato Sanches

Quarterfinals without respect

Beginning from Thursday and throughout Sunday the European championship quarterfinals will take place. But before the game starts it will not pay tribute to the Istanbul victims. Despite all the controversies that EURO is experiencing, UEFA has decided today that no minute silence will be held before the matches as those are reserved for tragedies 'related to football directly, or to one of the participating teams or host country'. Maybe the European football organization also forgot that Turkey too was one of the participating teams in this EURO 2016 edition.
On Tuesday night in the deadly terrorist attack at the Istanbul airport 41 people has died and 250 were injured.

29 June 2016

Paris does not forget its remarkable fans

Their team is already out but the French capital do not forget its supporters. For the best behavior throughout the whole EURO 2016 tournament had the Republic of Ireland fans. Today the Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, award the Republic of Ireland supporters the Grand Vermeil medal.
This special Paris price has been given from 1911 for outstanding work, and so far its owners are tennis star Rafael Nadal, jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and many others.

28 June 2016

One more nation adds to the list of hosting EURO 2024

Not even 2016 tournament is over, there is already talks about future EURO hosts as one more nation is now interested to welcome the best European teams in the 2024 event.
Apart from an interested join bid from Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway) hosting the European championship either in 2024 or 2028, where games can be played also in Iceland and Faroe Islands as well, now Germany expressed their interest for staging the event in 8 years time. Hosting of the 2024 country will be expected in 2018.
Lately Germany is in the news of winning the host for the 2006 World Cup illegally - through bribery.

Just one win at the Europa league qualifying start

Kapaz - Dacia Chisinau 0:0

Partizani - Slovan Bratislava 0:0

St. Patrick's Athletic - Jeunesse Esch 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 10 Christy Fagan

Three home wins on the first day of qualifiers, leg one

Flora Tallinn - Lincoln Red Imps 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 35 Rauno Alliku
              2:0 49 Rauno Sappinen
              2:1 57 Joseph Luis Chipolina

Valletta - B36 Torshavn 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 69 Federico Falcone

FC Santa Coloma - Alashkert 0:0

The New Saints (TNS) - Tre Penne 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 13 Scott Quigley
              1:1 16 Stefano Fraternali
              2:1 40 Jamie Mullan

New season begins today

In both European cup competitions new 2016/17 season begins today with first preliminary rounds, first leg games.

For the Champions league all four qualifying pairs are playing today.
- Flora Tallinn - Lincoln Red Imps. Both these teams in 2016 are in good form. We would not be surprised if this ends up in victory for the visiting team from Gibraltar or even a draw, but Flora will record the first win at the start of the competition.
- Valletta - B36 Torshavn. In its first meeting home side has an absolute advantage over Faroe Islands visitors who are playing awfully this season. However, a minimal result is expected.
- FC Santa Coloma - Alashkert. Armenian Alashkert's last two away games looks to improve their form with many goals scored. The team from Andorra will try not to leave the home stadium undefeated but, unfortunately for them, the loss will be inevitable.
- TNS - Tre Penne. Out of the four pairs in the first qualifying round The New Saints have the most easiest opponent. But lately, in their own championship, San Marino team is registering only wins. As they are not a football force in Europe, Wales' TNS should record victory.

We chose three games for you from the first qualifying round in the Europa league that are also in today's schedule.
- Kapaz - Dacia Chisinau, Azerbaijan's football are achieving high results at the moment but Kapaz seems to be struggling with its form. Dacia as well have hard times. Visitors from Moldavia can easily take it, but a draw would be fair for all. 
- Partizani - Slovan Bratislava. Slovakian side are having a tricky trip to Albania. Partizani is not a team to fear from, so Slovan should take this one (easily).
- St. Patrick's Athletic - Jeunesse Esch. Like TNS in the Champions, the Irish team is in the pair with one of the easiest opponent in the Europa league. Luxembourg team has to be very careful of not receiving many goals at the start of their campaign.

27 June 2016

'A small mentality' nation by Ronaldo produced the biggest shock of the night

Italy - Spain 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 33 Giorgio Chiellini
              2:0 90+1 Graziano Pelle

England - Iceland 1:2

Scorers: 1:0 04-pen Wayne Rooney
              1:1 06 Ragnar Sigurdsson
              1:2 18 Kolbeinn Sigthorsson

Lots of numbers from Copa America Centenario

Everything which is good, unfortunately, has to end. This morning finished Copa America Centenario, one of the oldest international competition who already broke many records, like attendance and worldwide TV viewership. We all knew that this was an anniversary, a 100 year old event, edition number 45, which from total 20 teams participated in the tournament - 16 of them were playing the finals with 32 games in 24 days. For the first time in its history one North American country (USA) was the proud host of the competition with 2 confederations participating - CONMEBOL and CONCACAF across 10 cities. But there are more numbers from this tournament.

- Goals and own goals.
Copa America started in January with the 2 play off games for the finals. In those two games in Panama City, Panama we saw 5 goals.
As for the finals itself teams have found the net 91 times in 32 matches, or 2.84 goals per match. Most goals were scored in the second day of the group stage: in day 1 we had 14, day 2 the teams were very efficient with 30 goals and 5 goals less were scored in day 3. In the knockout stages we had 22 goals or 15 in quarters, 6 in semifinals and 1 in the finals (third place and final).
In all 32 Copa America Centenario matches 3 goals repeated most times. 4 games were scoreless, 1 goal we saw 6 times, 2 goals were scored in 4 matches, we saw 3 goals in 7 games, 4 matches finished 5 times while 5 goals repeated 3 times in a match. We also saw 6, 7 and 8 goals in 90 minutes (with Brazil - Haiti happens to be the highest - 7:1).
There were also disappointment for some players as they 'bestowed' their opponents by mistake on 3 occasions. Uruguay treated Mexico, Colombia have scored a goal for Costa Rica and Jamaica has done the same for Uruguay. Only Mexico and Uruguay has won those games while Costa Rica seems to have benefited from Frank Fabra's own goal.

- Players with most goals in a match and top 3 goalscorers.
Some players got up more than 1 goal in a match. Eduardo Vargas (Chile) gave 4 goals in 1 game, followed by Philippe Coutinho (Brazil) and Lionel Messi (Argentina) who both scored 3 goals. 9 players scored 2 goals in 90 minutes: Blas Perez (Panama), Renato Augusto (Brazil), Arturo Vidal (Chile), Frank Fabra (own goal and his for Colombia), Eduardo Vargas (Chile), Alexis Sanchez (Chile) and Edson Puch. Gonzalo Higuain (Argentina) is the only player who scored 2 goals in 2 games.
Eduardo Vargas remained top goal scorer in Copa America Centenario who gave 6 goals followed by Lionel Messi with 5 and 4 from Gonzalo Higuain, both from Argentina.

- Teams and goals.
The 2 finalists are the only teams in the competition who achieved double figures: Argentina with 18 followed by 16 from Chile. USA, Brazil and Ecuador have scored 7 times; Colombia with 6; Mexico has 5 goals; Peru, Venezuela, Uruguay and Panama both achieved 4 goals. Costa Rica got 3 goals in whole competition, Bolivia 2 with Paraguay and Haiti scored 1 goal on their appearance. Jamaica is the lone team which have not scored a goal in Copa America Centenario.
Venezuela is the only team who has scored in every game played - 4 goals out of 4.

- Penalties.
Referees were in the 'mood' of giving 4 penalties in the tournament. Different teams have had those penalties: Colombia, USA and Chile. Venezuela was the only team who did not convert the 11 meter punishment. Luis Seija's penalty was saved against Argentina. 
Only 2 knockout matches were decided by penalties. 

- Undisciplined players.
The man in black / yellow were also in the 'mood' of giving 15 red cards.
Out of those, 5 of them were direct and the host country saw them more than any other team. USA is the leader of direct red cards which was showed them on 2 games while Costa Rica, Jamaica and Argentina each received 1 direct punishment.
Even 10 players, from 8 teams finished with 2 yellow cards. Colombia and Ecuador had them in 2 matches while Mexico, Uruguay, Paraguay, Panama, USA and Chile got them on 1 occasion.

- Classification.
At the end of an excitement special tournament the final classification look like this: Chile, Argentina, Colombia, USA, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Panama, Paraguay, Bolivia, Jamaica and Haiti.

The new / old champion will have the right to represent CONMEBOL federation to FIFA Confederations Cup from 17 June until 02 July 2017 in Russia.

New Champions and Europa 2016/17 season begins midweek

Starting from Tuesday, we will have European cup competitions every midweek beginning with the preliminaries. Clubs from low ranking countries will be fighting over four qualifying rounds to have a respective name for themselves as they will give their best efforts to enter into the main and official start of the 2016/17 European cup season which begins this September.

This Tuesday, 28 June, the first qualifying round will start with four pairs, first leg for the Champions league.

18.00 CET: Flora Tallinn - Lincoln.
19.00 CET: Valletta - B36 Torshavn.
20.00 CET: Santa Coloma - Alashkert.
20.00 CET: TNS (The New Saints) - Tre Penne.

Europa league preliminaries starts two days earlier than expected. Also four games will be played on Tuesday, 28 June with its first leg games.

18.00 CET: Kapaz - Dacia Chisinau.
18.00 CET: Partizani - Slovan Bratislava.
18.00 CET: Rabotnicki - Buducnost.
20.45 CET: St. Patrick's Athletic - Jeunesse Esch.

On Thursday all the remaining games will be concluded for the first leg, first qualifying round.

16.00 CET: Aktobe - MTK.
16.00 CET: Dila Gori - Shirak.
17.00 CET: Admira Wacker - Spartak Myjava.
17.00 CET: UE Santa Coloma - Lokomotiva Zagreb.
17.00 CET: Ventspils - Vikingur.
17.30 CET: Bokelj - Vojvodina.
18.00 CET: Atlantas Klaipeda - HJK Helsinki.
18.00 CET: Balzan - Neftchi.
18.00 CET: Banants - Omonia Nicosia.
18.00 CET: Dinamo Minsk - Spartaks Jurmala.
18.00 CET: Levadia Tallinn - HB Torshavn.
18.00 CET: Sloboda Tuzla - Beitar Jerusalem.
18.00 CET: Trakai - Nomme Kalju.
18.00 CET: Videoton - Zaria Balti.
18.30 CET: AIK Stockholm - Bala Town.
18.30 CET: College Europa - Pyunik.
18.30 CET: IFK Goteborg - Llandudno Town.
18.30 CET: Slavia Sofia - Zaglebie Lubin.
19.00 CET: AEK Larnaca - Folgore.
19.00 CET: Differdange 03 - Cliftonville.
19.00 CET: Qabala - Samtredia.
19.00 CET: Kukesi - Rudar Pljevlja.
19.00 CET: Midtjylland - Suduva.
19.00 CET: Odds - IFK Mariehamn.
19.00 CET: Siroki Brijeg - Birkirkara.
19.00 CET: Vaduz - Sileks.
19.00 CET: Zimbru Chisinau - Chikhura Sachkhere.
19.15 CET: Maccabi Teal Aviv - ND Gorica.
19.30 CET: Beroe Stara Zagora - Radnik Bijeljina.
20.00 CET: Domzale - Lusitans.
20.00 CET: NSI Runavik - Shakhtyor Soligorsk.
20.00 CET: Teuta - Kairat Almaty.
20.15 CET: Connah's Quay Nommads - Stabaek.
20.15 CET: Spartak Trnava - Hibernians.
20.30 CET: Cukaricki - Ordabasy Shymkent.
20.30 CET: La Fiorita - Debrecen.
20.45 CET: Aberdeen - Fola Esch.
20.45 CET: Linfield - Cork City.
21.00 CET: Hearts - Infonet.
21.00 CET: Shamrock Rovers - RoPS Rovaniemi.
21.00 CET: Skendija - Cracovia Krakow.
21.15 CET: Breidablik - Jelgava.
21.15 CET: KR Reykjavik - Glenavon.
23.00 CET: Valur Reykjavik - Brondby.

All quarterfinals next week

On Monday we are left only with two remaining matches to be played from round of 16. Towards the end of the week eight teams will battle to enter into the semifinals. Two pairs are already known while for the other two we have to wait which teams will go through from Monday night.

Monday, 27 June at 18.00 CET: Italy - Spain.
Monday, 27 June at 21.00 CET: England - Iceland.

Thursday, 30 June at 21.00 CET: Poland - Portugal.
Friday, 01 July at 21.00 CET: Wales - Belgium.
Saturday, 02 July at 21.00 CET: Germany - Italy / Spain.
Sunday, 03 July at 21.00 CET: France - England / Iceland.

Chile ruler of South America!

Argentina - Chile 0:0, on penalties: 2-4

Will we have defending or new champion?

What a cracking game is ahead of us. No one expected that these two teams will meet (again). On their opening night in group D Argentina was the better side and ever since these two South American teams have scored goals in every match played. Hosting this event last year Chile defeated this morning's rivals to penalties and that is how they lift the trophy for the first time. But year later, in the special edition, Argentina seems to be getting (sweet) revenge from 2015. All players remain the same, plus or minus, but there is one little detail after all: Spaniard Juan Antonio Pizzi jumps into coaching Chile instead of winning trainer Jorge Sampaoli. Under its new coach Chile is getting better and better from game to game but the team is still experience some (minor) weaknesses who, Argentina must turn them into their favor. There is not much to say about Los Gauchos, but this year Argentina is playing some extraordinary football thanks to their best player, captain Lionel Messi. Arturo Vidal is back into the team for Chile and Angel di Maria, who scored in the first game, is filling the gap instead of injured Ezequiel Lavezzi. If we add up in the morning action Gonzalo Higuain then the excitement will be guaranteed and Argentina will surely lift another trophy, who will equal Uruguay on 15 titles.

26 June 2016

The hosts, Germany and Belgium onto the next stage

France - Republic of Ireland 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 02-pen Robert Brady
              1:1 58 Antoine Griezmann
              2:1 61 Antoine Griezmann

Germany - Slovakia 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 08 Jerome Boateng
              2:0 43 Mario Gomez
              3:0 63 Julian Draxler

Hungary - Belgium 0:4

Scorers: 0:1 10 Toby Alderweireld
              0:2 78 Michy Batshuayi
              0:3 80 Eden Hazard
              0:4 90+1 Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco

One goal enough for Colombia to take third place

USA - Colombia 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 31 Carlos Bacca

Bronze medal match

In the penultimate game of the tournament two old rivals are meeting again. In the opener the hosts missed the opportunity to write the first three points in the group against the South Americans, and now, three weeks later they are also meeting in an important game for the third place play off. USA will have the opportunity to avenge the loss to Colombia, who after Chile wants to retaliate and grab that bronze medal.
Even if they are playing at home, USA are having hard time to accommodate themselves and the team is playing with a lot of stress. Wanting to release that stress at the last game they have to, at least, play better than before. But their South American rivals look very skilled and better prepared coming to this tournament. Colombia's (unlucky) loss in the semifinal marathon match against Chile just made them more determined and they should return home with a medal.

25 June 2016

Only four goals in 330 minutes after very disappointing opening knockout round

Switzerland - Poland 1:1, on penalties: 4-5

Scorers: 0:1 39 Jakub Blaszczykowski
              1:1 82 Xherdan Shaqiri

Wales - Northern Ireland 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 75-own goal Gareth McAuley

Croatia - Portugal 0:0, 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 117 Ricardo Quaresma

Punishments over gambling

Yesterday the French football league (Ligue de Football Professionnel) penalized 19 players and coaches for gambling on matches in domestic football. Although the organization did not say which games they bet on their names are known, while most of the players are from Nice.
Valere Germain, Kevin Gomis, Olivier Boscagli and Alexandre Mendy are banned for two games and 1.500 euros fine. Jeremy Pied and Albert Rafetraniaina were suspended for three games without a fine. Apart from Nice, players from other French clubs have breached strict gambling rule. Thomas Toure and Cedric Carrasso from Bordeaux received a three match suspension while Chateauroux defender Calvin Mangan will 'go on forced leave' on five games. Sochaux's Pierre Gibaud, Kevin Dupuis from Orleans, Anthony Derouard who plays for Bastia along with his teammate Vincent Leca Boucher are also on the list.
Some greedy French coaches who liked to earn some extra money were not spared also. Nice's duo Alexandre Dellal and Emmanuel Valance, Pierrer Barrieu from La Havre, Caen's Jean-Michel Huriez, Julien Witkowski from Reims and Toulouse coach Robin Crouzil were also punished which completes 19 'famous' gambling names.

The most beautiful goal

Hungary's first goal from Zoltan Gera has been voted as the most beautiful goal said the organizers. That goal was scored at the last matches in the group stage when the team drew 3:3 with Portugal. At the same time this was the most high goal scoring match.
The 37 year old striker is also the oldest scorer at this year's EURO 2016.

Indeed a historic event with a big success

Not even played the last two remaining games in the tournament, Copa America Centenario already breaks records in terms of worldwide TV viewership, total and average attendance and fans' engagement in social media. And the numbers are incredibly enormous, which could only - rise.
Just in USA the 100 year old competition has drawn more than 100 million viewers on the two TV stations, which have the right to broadcast on this continent - Spanish language carrier Univision and English FOX. While for the rest of the world Copa America Centenario has reached unbelievably 1.5 billion viewers in more than 160 countries. Calculating with the final games playing this weekend it is estimating that competition attracted 1.5 million supporters or more than 46.000 per game of the whole 32. And more than 3.5 million users fans were participating in all social media platforms surpassing last year's Copa America edition in Chile.
All these numbers could not be possible with lots of football stars and the best players in the world who have found the net 90 times in 30 games or 3 goals per match.

24 June 2016

Acknoledgement of the first mistake

The organization finally admitted its first mistake (one of many) in the tournament.
The error happened on the penultimate group day at the EURO 2016 game between Croatia and Spain, where penalty was given for the European champions. Seeing how Danijel Subasic left the goal-line prematurely, UEFA's referee director Pierluigi Collina said that Sergio Ramos should have re-taken the penalty (which was saved). According to penalty regulations the goalkeeper have to remain on the line until the ball is touched. 'It was a mistake, unfortunately it happens. It was one single incident where the goalkeeper moved before the penalty kick was taken and it was not spotted by the referee's team.' said the famous Italian.
To sum up, the referee director said that 12 referees were chosen for the knockout stages, including the 'sinner' Bjorn Kuipers (who officiated the above mentioned game).

Groups known for the decisive round in Africa

Twenty teams learned their fate today at just finished draw of the African qualifiers for the World Cup in Russia 2018. Five groups are formed with four teams each in this third round. The campaign will start this fall, 03 October, and will last until November 2017.

Group A: Tunisia, Libya, DR Congo, Guinea.

Group B: Zambia, Cameroon, Algeria, Nigeria.

Group C: Gabon, Ivory Coast, Mali, Morocco.

Group D: Senegal, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde Islands.

Group E: Ghana, Egypt, Congo, Uganda.

From this final stage only the group winners will progress through to the finals.

Spanish sides are denying involvement in match fixing

Three games until the end of last season in La Liga, Las Palmas as visitors were leading 2:0 in the first 11 minutes of the game against Granada. But at the end the home side speed up the proceeding and won the game 3:2. Since then the Spanish media raised a concern that the match was rigged.
This case was opened again on Tuesday night where Jose Guerrero Fernandez claimed that then Granada president gave him 600.000 euros to hand them over to Las Palmas players. However, the clubs are denying that the outcome was known in advance. With that agrees La Liga's president Javier Tebas who said that 'nothing strange has happened'.
But for Guerrero Fernandez, who received threats, this case is not over as 'more proof will come out' from him.

23 June 2016

European cups without Galatasaray

Galatasaray took UEFA to court about the two years suspension from participating in European cup competitions, but at the end it failed to win the case versus the organization. Today the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said that it would not lift the suspension on the Turkish side for violating the financial fair play rule. This means that whether the team has won the domestic cup title for the new European season it will not be allowed to enter. After carefully reviewing the evidence the high sporting court has issued a statement by saying: 'The CAS panel has dismissed the appeal and has confirmed that the UEFA club licensing and financial fair play had been properly applied by the UEFA adjudication chamber'.

Opening rivals from groups A and D meets again

After a marathon second semifinal game we now know all the finalists which will compete this weekend. The first match at the Copa America Centenario and the last match of the first day in group D will be repeated again for the last two final games at the event.

For a bronze medal match USA and Colombia will meet for the second time. Will the home side take a revenge for the opening loss against the South Americans and take third place in the competition we will find out on Sunday morning at 02.06 CET.

And for the grand final Chile will try to beat Argentina like last year. Two weeks ago Los Gauchos were a better side by defeating Chile for the only time at the tournament. Will Chile experience a deja-vu from the 2015 edition, when they lifted the trophy, 02.06 CET on Monday morning will give us the answer to that question.

Marathon second semifinal finally ends

Colombia - Chile 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 07 Charles Aranguiz
              0:2 11 Jose Pedro Fuenzalida

Information: start of second half was delayed for 132 minutes due to bad weather.

The only true semifinal derby

Game thirtieth at the Copa America Centenario is actually the first and only derby game from the semifinals. At Monday morning's final already awaits Argentina and everything points out that we are going to see a repeated final from 2015. But in order for that to happen last hurdle for Chile is Colombia who has an excellent team. 
Almost identical results in the group phase, both South American teams prove to us that they are both deserving to be at the final match but unfortunately only one will prevail. Mostly draws in their previous meetings we are sure that both wants to avoid the penalty shootout gambling which means that we will have some interesting and entertaining game ahead of us. If they can close down the best two Chilean players (Vargas and Sanchez), then Colombia do not have to worry about the end result. And we are sure that Argentina's coach - Jose Pekerman knows that recipe. But Chile is looking more confident from game to game and, after that crazy 7:0 win against Mexico, will hope to enter the final. Maybe we are not going to see lots of goals, and maybe little bit of thriller is out of the question in this one but we are voting for La Roja (Chilean) win in regular time.

22 June 2016

Ronaldo - the record breaker

Immediately he scored first two goals in the tournament and breaks two records.
Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo is the first player with 17 appearances at the European championships. The 31 year old overcome French defender Lilian Thuram and Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who both have played 16 games.
Real Madrid striker also became the first player who scored at four different EUROs. Totally he gave 8 goals: 2 in 2004, 1 in 2008, 3 four years later with tonight's 2 goals. The best goal scorer in the history of European championships is Frenchman Michel Platini with 9 goals from 1984.

Some surprising results on the last four group games

Iceland - Austria 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 18 Jon Dadi Boedvarsson
              1:1 60 Alessandro Schoepf
              2:1 90+4 Arnor Ingvi Traustason

Hungary - Portugal 3:3

Scorers: 1:0 19 Zoltan Gera
              1:1 42 Nani
              2:1 47 Balazs Dzsudzsak
              2:2 50 Cristiano Ronaldo
              3:2 55 Balazs Dzsudzsak
              3:3 62 Cristiano Ronaldo

Italy - Republic of Ireland 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 85 Robert Brady

Sweden - Belgium 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 84 Radja Nainggolan

Frustrated player

Real Madrid star does not have a fine tournament at all. On the first day at the event he called the state 'a small mentality' (for Iceland), missed a penalty eleven minutes from time (against Austria) on the second day and before the third and final game his bad day seems to be the worst (and funny at the same time) so far.
CMTV, a Portuguese TV station, was making a report about how the team is preparing for the decisive game against Hungary. Asking how he feels before the tonight's game, Cristiano Ronaldo just took the microphone from the reporter and throw it into the lake.
All this was recorded and posted on social media.

Argentina first finalist

USA - Argentina 0:4

Scorers: 0:1 03 Ezequiel Lavezzi
              0:2 32 Lionel Messi
              0:3 49 Gonzalo Higuain
              0:4 85 Gonzalo Higuain

Last team known for third round

Bermuda - French Guiana 0:3

Scorers: 0:1 64 Kevin Ramane
              0:2 80 Arnold Alberlinti
              0:3 82 Roy Contout

This was a re-scheduled match from 01 June where the original game was postponed after 41 minutes due to waterlogged pitch. As it was the last game from second round, we know now all nine teams who qualified for the next stage.
Puerto Rico (group 1), Martinique (group 2), Curacao (group 3), Dominican Republic (group 4) and St. Kitts and Nevis (group 5) plus the four best runners-up teams Antigua and Barbuda (group 1), Guyana (group 3), French Guiana (group 4) with Suriname (group 5) will participate in the third round of Caribbean Cup qualifiers. Together with Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Jamaica - who are the best ranked Caribbean teams - will play mini-tournament from 03 until 09 October.
From these twelve teams in the third round there will be four groups with three teams each. Four group winners will qualify to the final tournament where it will decide Caribbean representatives for the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Mission impossible for USA

With this match is starting the last knockout round in this year's Copa America Centenario. And what an amazing tournament it has been for the hosts as USA is aiming to become the first non-South American country to enter into the final. In the historic moment they will try to beat one of the title favorites - Argentina in their own backyard.
For whole competition the Stars and Stripes are playing little nervously, and although USA are winning the matches from the second day in group A their game is improving. This morning actually the hosts are playing their second toughest opponent in the event (after Colombia) and it will be interesting to see how they will start. But the Argentina's deadly trio Messi-Higuain-Lavezzi will surely give them plenty of headaches (specially the first one). On the other hand there is nothing much to tell for the South American team as everything was said here throughout the tournament.
Because no one wants to gamble in the lottery penalty shootout, in a tense first semi final and at full stadium, we give advantage to Los Gauchos for a win in 90 minutes.

21 June 2016

Two more groups finished tonight

Northern Ireland - Germany 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 30 Mario Gomez

Ukraine - Poland 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 54 Jakub Blaszczykowski

Czech Republic - Turkey 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 10 Burak Yilmaz
              0:2 65 Ozan Tufan

Croatia - Spain 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 07 Alvaro Morata
              1:1 45 Nikola Kalinic
              2:1 87 Ivan Perisic

Another association is penalized

After 100.000 yesterday from Croatian FA, UEFA's cash register will also grow today. For fireworks and clashes with stewards in the stadium against Iceland, the European football organization has fined Hungary with 65.000 euros.

New ball from Adidas

Beginning this weekend, when the first knockout round will commence, new ball will be introduced. Sixteen lucky teams for the first time will try 'Fracas' who will be in play from Saturday and up till the final. This is not the punishment for 'Beau Jeu' ball, which burst out during France - Switzerland game last Sunday.

Accusations in both ways

Who is responsible for the state of pitches at the EURO? After many omissions at the event, in the two way relations UEFA - hosts, many teams have problems about the pitches they are playing and also coaches are expressing their outcry. Pitches in Marseille, Saint Denis and Lille are terrible and scandalously the European football organization has blamed the hosts over its conditions. But the French grass association replied back that the pitch consultant has to take the blame. French grass company also hit back at UEFA by saying 'The organizers of the competition want to clear themselves of any responsibility by discrediting the high profile professionals, who are experts of French pitches. This stance is at the very least scandalous, when we know these (experts) were systematically excluded in any of the decision making process and their advice ignored'.

20 June 2016

Unwanted fans flown back

Eleven supporters from various Spanish regions, who were arrested two days ago when their team played against Turkey, were deported from Nice. With regular airline today they were sent back to Spain, who most of them were neo-Nazis.
Four of the hooligans beat up the supermarket employee who refused to sell alcohol. French media have stated that all deported had swastika tattoos with characters of Goebbels and Hitler.

A win and a draw

Russia - Wales 0:3

Scorers: 0:1 11 Aaron Ramsey
              0:2 20 Neil Taylor
              0:3 67 Gareth Bale

Slovakia - England 0:0

First EURO 2016 fine

Croatia has been punished with 100.000 euros for their fans' behavior against Czech Republic at the second round of group D. The association (HNS) has been penalized for four offences: fireworks, throwing various objects on the pitch, crowd disturbances and racism. Despite the fine, UEFA's disciplinary committee has banned the Croatian FA to sell tickets until the end of the championship to its citizens.
Another disciplinary action is taking place against HNS for the game against Turkey in the first round. Pitch invasion and fireworks are to blame for this case and the decision will be announced 21 July.

Europa league begins at the end of the month

Almost 100 clubs will participate in the first qualifying round of the Europa league. New 2016/17 season will be opened at the last day of June with the first leg, with the second to be played week later.

Midtjylland - Suduva.
Infonet - Hearts.
Stabaek - Connah's Quay Nommads.
Ventspils - Vikingur.
Linfield - Cork City.
Levadia Tallinn - HB Torshavn.
Atlantas Klaipeda - HJK Helsinki.
IFK Goteborg - Llandudno Town.
St. Patrick's Athletic - Jeunesse Esch.
KR Reykjavik - Glenavon.
Shamrock Rovers - RoPS Rovaniemi.
Valur Reykjavik - Brondby.
Aberdeen - Fola Esch.
Nomme Kalju - Trakai.
Dinamo Minsk - Spartaks Jurmala.
Breidablik - Jelgava.
NSI Runavik - Shakhtyor Soligorsk.
AIK - Bala Town.
Differdange 03 - Cliftonville.
Odds - IFK Mariehamn.
Domzale - Lusitans.
Bokelj - Vojvodina.
AEK Larnaca - Folgore.
Dila Gori - Shirak.
Videoton - Zaria Balti.
La Fiorita - Debrecen.
Neftci - Balzan.
Qabala - Samtredia.
Banants - Omonia Nicosia.
Zimbru Chisinau - Chikhura Sachkhere.
Pyunik - Europa.
Maccabi Teal Aviv - Gorica.
Teuta - Kairat Almaty.
Partizani - Slovan Bratislava.
Beroe Stara Zagora - Radnik Bijeljina.
Kukesi - Rudar Pljevlja.
Siroki Brijeg - Birkirkara.
Slavia Sofia - Zaglebie Lubin.
Skendija - Cracovia Krakow.
UE Santa Coloma - Lokomotiva Zagreb.
Vaduz - Sileks.
Rabotnicki - Buducnost.
Spartak Trnava - Hibernians.
Kapaz - Dacia Chisinau.
Sloboda Tuzla - Beitar Jerusalem.
Cukaricki - Ordabasy Shymkent.
Admira Wacker - Spartak Myjava.
Aktobe - MTK.

UEFA did the pairs for second qualifying round as well. 14 July is scheduled to start leg one and the conclusion of the round will be 21 July with leg two.

Dila Gori / Shirak - Spartak Trnava / Hibernians.
Dinamo Minsk / Spartaks Jurmala - St. Patrick's Athletic / Jeunesse Esch.
Partizan - Slavia Sofia / Zaglebie Lubin.
Bokelj / Vojvodina - Stabaek / Connah's Quay Nommads.
Nomme Kalju / Trakai - Maccabi Haifa.
Hibernian - Valur Reykjavik / Brondby.
NSI Runavik / Shakhtyor Soligorsk - Domzale / Lusitans.
Austria Vienna - Kukesi / Rudar Pljevlja.
Aktobe / MTK - Qabala / Samtredia.
Beroe Stara Zagora / Radnik Bijeljina - Atlantas Klaipeda / HJK Helsinki.
Shamrock Rovers / RoPS Rovaniemi - UE Santa Coloma / Lokomotiva Zagreb.
Neftci / Balzan - Skendija / Cracovia Krakow.
Grasshoppers - KR Reykjavik / Glenavon.
Midtjylland / Suduva - Vaduz / Sileks.
Zimbru Chisinau / Chikhura Sachkhere - Osmanlispor.
PAS Giannina - Odds / IFK Mariehamn.
Siroki Brijeg / Birkirkara - Infonet / Hearts.
Maribor - Levski Sofia.
Piast Gliwice - IFK Goteborg / Llandudno Town.
Partizani / Slovan Bratislava - Breidablik / Jelgava.
Sloboda Tuzla / Beitar Jerusalem - Banants / Omonia Nicosia.
Admira Wacker / Spartak Myjava - Kapaz / Dacia Chisinau.
Aberdeen / Fola Esch - Ventspils / Vikingur.
Hacken - Linfield / Cork City.
Teuta / Kairat Almaty - Maccabi Teal Aviv / Gorica.
La Fiorita / Debrecen - Torpedo Zhodino.
Iasi - Hajduk Split.
Videoton / Zaria Balti - Cukaricki / Ordabasy Shymkent.
Differdange 03 / Cliftonville - AEK Larnaca / Folgore.
AIK / Bala Town - Pyunik / Europa.
Levadia Tallinn / HB Torshavn - Slavia Prague.
Genk - Rabotnicki / Buducnost.
Sonderjyske - Stromsgodset.

Official start of qualifying next Tuesday

UEFA today did a draw on the first two qualifying rounds for the new Champions league campaign - the 2016/17 season.

First qualifying round:

Flora Tallinn - Lincoln
TNS (The New Saints) - Tre Penne
Valletta - B36 Torshavn
Santa Coloma - Alashkert

28 and 29 June will be the first leg and the return 05 and 06 July.

Second qualifying round:

Qarabag - F91 Dudelange
Hapoel Beer-Sheva - Sheriff
Olimpija Ljubljana - Trencin
Salzburg - Liepaja
Vardar - Dinamo Zagreb
TNS (The New Saints) / Tre Penne - APOEL
Zrinjski - Legia Warszawa
Ludogorets Razgrad - Mladost Podgorica
Dinamo Tbilisi - Santa Coloma / Alashkert
Zalgiris Vilnius - Astana
Skenderbeu - Ferencvaros
BATE Borisov - SJK Seinajoki
La Valletta / B36 Torshavn - Crvena Zvezda
Rosenborg - Norrkoping
Dundalk - FH Hafnarfjordur
Flora Talinn / Lincoln - Celtic
Crusaders - FC Copenhagen

First leg is scheduled to be played on 12 and 13 while a week later - 19 and 20 July will be the second leg.

Closing week

It has been a fantastic tournament so far but unfortunately next week are the last seven days from the Copa America Centenario. And everything points out that we are going to see a repeated final from the 2015 edition. But in order to do that the two potential finalists will have to beat one more hurdle - USA and Colombia. Will one of these two nations are going to prevent Argentina and Chile to meet once again we have to wait and see on Wednesday and Thursday.

- Wednesday, 22 June at 03.07 CET: USA - Argentina.

- Thursday, 23 June at 02.07 CET: Colombia - Chile.

At the weekend last two games will be played: the bronze medal match (third place play off) and the grand final. Both will start on Sunday and Monday mornings at 02.07 CET.

Draw for the last round

This Friday at CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, the World Cup qualifiers draw will be conducted for the African continent. Some interesting matches awaits for us from October as 20 best teams will be fighting for the first 5 top spots that will qualify them for the finals in Russia.

Last group days and beginning of knockout round

The EURO 2016 slowly is entering into the third round of group matches and on the weekend we are going to find out the first six quarter-finalists (while the remaining two pairs is the following Monday). Schedule for next week:

Monday, 20 June at 21.00 CET: Russia - Wales => group B.
Monday, 20 June at 21.00 CET: Slovakia - England => group B.

Tuesday, 21 June at 18.00 CET: Northern Ireland - Germany => group C.
Tuesday, 21 June at 18.00 CET: Ukraine - Poland => group C.
Tuesday, 21 June at 21.00 CET: Czech Republic - Turkey => group D.
Tuesday, 21 June at 21.00 CET: Croatia - Spain => group D.

Wednesday, 22 June at 18.00 CET: Iceland - Austria => group F.
Wednesday, 22 June at 18.00 CET: Hungary - Portugal => group F.
Wednesday, 22 June at 21.00 CET: Italy - Republic of Ireland => group E.
Wednesday, 22 June at 21.00 CET: Sweden - Belgium => group E.

Saturday and Sunday, we are going to see the first six round of 16 matches with times as 15.00, 18.00 and 21.00 CET (each day with three games).

It is time for a new season

We have not even recovered from last month finals and already the European football organization will be conducting draws for the new season. The 2016/17 official start for this summer's qualifiers will kickoff from the end of June.
This Monday, 20 June UEFA will stage a draw for the first and second qualifying rounds at 12.00 CET for the Champions league.
One hour later, at 13.00 CET we will know the pairs for the first qualifying round followed by second qualifying round draw from 14.30 CET. These two separate draws will be for the Europa league.

Various charges from UEFA

In a not so efficient EURO games so far for the viewers and amid poor security, the European football organization continues to pursue its main goal by imposing miscellaneous bans and fines for the associations.
Just for one 'curious' player that wanted to take a selfie with Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese FA is accused of a 'field invasion'. That 'one man invasion' occurred on Saturday when the team played out a scoreless draw against Austria. Case is opened for Hungary as well. The FA is charged with crowd disturbance for their game against Iceland. And lastly, Belgian team was on the wall also. Fireworks and throwing of various objects onto the pitch are to blame for their fans' behavior. Those were thrown onto the pitch when the team played with Republic of Ireland.
These are only disciplinary proceedings who were opened against the FAs and possible punishments will be known on Tuesday.





19 June 2016

European goal scoring drought goes on as round three began tonight

Romania - Albania 0:1

Scorer: 0:1 43 Armando Sadiku

Switzerland - France 0:0

Madness of goals as Argentina and Chile march into semis

Argentina - Venezuela 4:1

Scorers: 1:0 08 Gonzalo Higuain
              2:0 28 Gonzalo Higuain
              3:0 60 Lionel Messi
              3:1 70 Jose Salomon Rondon
              4:1 72 Erik Lamela

Mexico - Chile 0:7

Scorers: 0:1 15 Edson Puch
              0:2 44 Eduardo Vargas
              0:3 49 Alexis Sanchez
              0:4 52 Eduardo Vargas
              0:5 57 Eduardo Vargas
              0:6 74 Eduardo Vargas
              0:7 87 Edson Puch

Last two quarterfinal matches

At the fifteenth day of the Copa America Centenario the remaining two quarterfinal games are about to be played. And it happens to be the last one to be one of the derby match from this first knockout stage event.

- Argentina - Venezuela. How can you oppose a team where in it has one of the best football payer in the world? The answer: very very tough. Mighty Argentina takes over Venezuela who likes to enter the semifinal stage where the team wants to go further than 2011 when Venezuela got that fourth place in Argentina. But nowadays things are changed as they oppose plenty of stars, who one of them seems to be the best player in the world Lionel Messi. And we expect that 'little killer monster-alien' (Messi) will shine this morning and helping Los Gauchos towards the next stage. Venezuela could have avoid Argentina if the team got that first place from Mexico in group C but we are afraid that Venezuela's dreams ends here.
- Mexico - Chile. This happens to be one of the cracking match to watch from this knockout round. Both teams are playing some excellent football but lately Chile's form is weak at the moment. The 2015 champions under its new coach a still a threat to everyone but the team seems to be still adapting playing together. On the other hand Mexico with its best 11 on the field certainly are favorites to take the 2016 edition as El Tri likes to continue with its good form of games. With lots of stars from both teams Mexico seems to have a little advantage from the South Americans.

18 June 2016

Six Spanish supporters arrested

Yesterday night six Spanish fans were arrested in Nice. Three of them were apprehended for carrying neo-Nazi banners while the remaining three got caught by smuggling flares onto the stadium against Turkey. UEFA seems to be more strict about flares into the games but some fans got them inside without any difficulties...

EURO 2016 is continuing its old habit: low number of goals in three games

Belgium - Republic of Ireland 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 48 Romelu Lukaku
              2:0 61 Axel Witsel
              3:0 70 Romelu Lukaku

Iceland - Hungary 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 40-pen Gylfi Sigurdsson
              1:1 88-own goal Birkir Saevarsson

Portugal - Austria 0:0

Croatia awaits decision on Monday

Yesterday's ugly scenes at Czech Republic - Croatia game trigger UEFA to open an investigation against the Croatian team. Its supporters did not act nicely on the stands so the European football organization will be charging them on four offences: fireworks, throwing various objects objects on the pitch, crowd disturbance and racist behavior. Final decision will be expected 20 June, day before the team's deciding game against Spain. 
One investigation is already ongoing against Croatian association due to fans' behavior against Turkey on the first day of matches in group D.

Penalty shootout lottery lucky for Colombia

Peru - Colombia 0:0, on penalties: 2-4

One game also this morning from quarterfinals

The first place team in group B welcomes group A's second placed Colombia. Considering that Brazil did not had an attractive first team (best players present), Peru came from 'not so interesting' group while its rival played had one tough team so far (USA). Most of their meetings have finished up in a draw and it looks like that this, as well, will finish in a stalemate. The two South American teams know each other pretty well, playing numerous times but this is a neutral ground and Colombia seems to have a slight advantage over its opponent. Its no doubt that the two Argentinian coaches are telling their players to have fierce battle on the pitch but Jose Pekerman's side looks that it will snatch the victory for Colombia.

Not a (single) day without an incident

Finally at the eighth day we saw a four goal thriller in a match, but towards the end from happiness the game went (once again) to some ugly scenes in the stands. And in the spotlight tonight were the Croatian fans.
Four minutes to go from normal time in tonight's match between Czech Republic and Croatia, all of a sudden a big scuffle broke out in the Croatian sector - fighting among each other. As that was not enough some 10 flares were thrown onto the pitch. UEFA said it would consider things on Saturday after the arrival of all reports from the game but it will not look good for the team as it was punished on numerous occasions.
These 'sports terrorists' called by coach Ante Cacic are causing trouble for sometime for Croatia throughout Europe, as many times the team ends up being penalized from UEFA - either financially or playing on empty stadiums.

17 June 2016

Finally we saw four goals in a match at the eighth day

Italy - Sweden 1:0

Scorer: 1:0 88 Eder

Czech Republic - Croatia 2:2

Scorers: 0:1 37 Ivan Perisic
              0:2 59 Ivan Rakitic
              1:2 76 Milan Skoda
              2:2 89-pen Tomas Necid

Spain - Turkey 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 34 Alvaro Morata
              2:0 37 Duran Nolito
              3:0 48 Alvaro Morata

Incidents in Germany

The host does not have the only problems with the supporters as yesterday night one incident was switched to neighboring country Germany.
According to local police six Russian fans, aged between 26 and 30, were apprehended after they attacked two Spanish tourists in Cologne. Unsure if they were deported from France or not the troublemakers were travelling back from EURO games, where the supporters hit and kicked their victims and severely injured one of them while a Spanish woman managed to escape. Five of the assailants were immediately apprehended while the remaining one was caught on the run.
In their bags police found used EURO 2016 tickets from England - Russia game which was played last weekend.

USA into last four

USA - Ecuador 2:1

Scorers: 1:0 21 Clint Dempsey
              2:0 65 Gyasi Zardes
              2:1 73 Michael Arroyo

Northern Ireland supporter died in the stadium

A 60 year old Northern Ireland fan unfortunately passed away at Stade de Lyon during his team's match against Ukraine. He collapsed in the stands, who was treated by paramedics but were unable to animate him.

Hosts are targeting semi finals

First quarter final match from Copa America Centenario sees the hosts take on Ecuador. Taken first place in the first group, USA are basically playing second toughest opponent at the event (after Colombia) while for the South American team this is the third (after Peru and Brazil). Almost similar goal difference have both teams and that proves that this game will be tough to predict. Lately USA are struggling to achieve a win and are not the same team as before i.e. lost their good form on winning matches. Ecuador is (also) not playing very well and that is why we say that it will end up in stalemate.

16 June 2016

Trouble never ends

Fan zones in France are considered to be the most guarded area but unfortunately two supporters were stabbed last night in it. A Frenchman and an Belgian were treated for wounds inside the fan zone in Lyon where scuffle broke out among the locals who sang France's national anthem and Albania fans. Police did not find any weapons and no arrests were made.

EURO teams should watch Copa America Centenario (more often)

England - Wales 2:1

Scorers: 0:1 42 Gareth Bale
              1:1 56 Jamie Vardy
              2:1 90+2 Daniel Sturridge

Ukraine - Northern Ireland 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 49 Gareth McAuley
              0:2 90+6 Niall McGinn

Germany - Poland 0:0

Will hooligans list be created?

In a wake of ugly non-football scenes happening at EURO 2016 these days, the host for the next World Cup finals in Russia is seriously considering making a blacklist for hooligans prior to the event. That was said by Russian deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich, He also added that there could be no question of abolishing visa requirements entering Russia for the potential troublemakers. TASS agency reported that Dvorkovich said that on the sidelines SPIEF (St. Petersburg International Economic Forum) which began today in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Not so very promising start from the EURO

Not even entered into its first week of play, the much anticipated European football championship did not start well at all. It turned out to be that we have more convicted fans in prison than we are having high number of goals in a day. And because we have to see little action on the pitch fierce battles dominates on the streets with lots of unnecessary violence.
Up until Thursday, French police said that they have arrested 323 people accused of riots, stealing or damaging properties, and out of that number 196 are in detention. On the stadiums we have limited number of goals in one day - up to 7, but 8 fans are convicted on jail sentence while others 3 are on suspended sentence. Twenty-four supporters were accompanied towards the borders which most of them were arrested on Tuesday in the southeast part of France. Those numbers (except for the goals scored) were issued today by the French interior ministry. And the security, which is dreadful so far, is a story by itself (maybe French authorities are more oriented on the strikes rather than securing EURO 2016).



Pots known for next week's draw

Next Friday CAF will be staging the draw for the final round of the African World Cup qualifiers. At the African football organization's headquarters on 24 June in Cairo, Egypt third round will be known for a 13 months long qualifying campaign and FIFA has finally revealed the pots.
Twenty teams have qualified for this stage. Five groups will be formed with four teams each. Matches will be played from October 2016 until November 2017. African continent is having one of the toughest route towards the World Cup as only the five group winners will qualify for the 2018 finals in Russia. And already we are seeing some of the favorites will clash each other i.e. some are inevitable for two strong teams to be on the same group, but (unfortunately) only five of them are heading towards the world's football biggest showdown - the World Cup finals.

Pot 1: Algeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal, Tunisia.

Pot 2: Cape Verde, Egypt, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Mali.

Pot 3: Cameroon, Morocco, Guinea, South Africa, Congo.

Pot 4: Uganda, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Gabon, Libya.


Continuing violence

Not even a week long in the European championship and under very poor security on and off the stadiums, fresh incidents has occurred these days.
Yesterday night the use of firecracker is investigated by UEFA. Surprisingly, where no one expected, on Portugal - Iceland match there was a petard thrown right after the Portuguese goal. How was smuggled in nobody knows but the European football organization will investigate this (tiny) detail.
And tonight English supporters gave more trouble to the authorities. French police had to break up a group of around 200 English fans with tear gas near the Lille's railway station. As they came along on their way they damaged cars and shops. The Englishmen came to support their team who is playing against Wales on Thursday afternoon in the nearby town of Lens. According to reports, despite the ban of 12 hours some small supermarkets were still selling alcohol. The outcome: 36 arrests.

15 June 2016

Second round of group matches has already begun

Russia - Slovakia 1:2

Scorers: 0:1 32 Vladimir Weiss
              0:2 45 Marek Hamsik
              1:2 80 Denis Glushakov

Romania - Switzerland 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 18-pen Bogdan Stancu
              1:1 57 Admir Mehmedi

France - Albania 2:0

Scorers: 1:0 90 Antoine Griezmann
              2:0 90+6 Dimitri Payet

Knockout stage, part one

Over 12 mornings, 24 matches were played in all 4 groups. Now that those fixtures are all over, from Friday we are getting off to real business - the quarterfinal stage. After Chile - Panama, who was the last 'mysterious' match, we now know all four pairs which will be played this weekend. Some intriguing and interesting games awaits for us but the last one will surely be a cracker.

Friday, 17 June at 03.36 CET: USA - Ecuador.

Saturday, 18 June at 02.06 CET: Peru - Colombia.

Sunday, 19 June at 01.06 CET: Argentina - Venezuela.
Sunday, 19 June at 04.06 CET: Mexico - Chile.

Vargas and Sanchez's doubles gave Chile last ticket to quartefinals

Chile - Panama 4:2

Scorers: 0:1 05 Miguel Camargo
              1:1 15 Eduardo Vargas
              2:1 43 Eduardo Vargas
              3:1 50 Alexis Sanchez
              3:2 75 Abdiel Arroyo
              4:2 89 Alexis Sanchez

Argentina - Bolivia 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 13 Erik Lamela
              2:0 15 Ezequiel Lavezzi
              3:0 32 Victor Leandro Cuesta

Two teams clash each other over knockout stage

In the last two games of the group stages, one of them will be very interesting to watch. And that game will give us the final traveler among the next stage plus top 16 teams plus Argentina, who already qualified with maximum points from the first two days in group D.

- Chile - Panama. A highly entertained game ahead of us with the final prize - reaching quarterfinals stage. Last year's winner of the tournament Chile are having some difficulties winning the matches and (somehow) they are managing to do so. With plenty of stars in the team Chile is an absolute favorite to write new three points. Panama's job seems to be much difficult as they have to win over big margin as a draw will not suit them. They will surely do its best but we think that (uncertain) Chile will take this crucial match.
- Argentina - Bolivia. 'Poor' Bolivia lost both games over the two days in the group is opposing a side who won first two matches.Without a chance Bolivia is not playing for pride and honor and we are sure that Los Gauchos would like to continue winning all games until the end, no matter if they count on classification or not. We may not see plenty of goals in this one but we are sure that Argentina will try hard and make this morning worth staying up for.

Chinese giants in Australia

Chinese conglomerate has entered the Australian Hyundai A-League. Ledman Group has purchased Newcastle Jets on Tuesday. From May 2015 the club was taken from Football Federation of Australia after previous owner's licence was revoked.
Based in Shenzhen, PR China, Ledman Group is a high tech LED manufacturer. The business giants is an owner of Shenzhen Renren FC who competes in China's league two, are an official partner of the Chinese Super league and also became main sponsor of the Portugal's second league - Ledman LigaPro, earlier this year.

A fine, probable suspension, deportation...

Main news of the day is the UEFA's disciplinary committee has punished Russia with 150.000 euros The fine included racist behavior, use of fireworks and massive brawl inside the pitch during England - Russia match. European football organization also has threatened that if their fans are not calm down and repeat violence from last weekend, then Russia will be disqualified from the event. Many fans are injured during their clash while around 40 are arrested and charged. Further more German national TV stations are angry that UEFA did not provide footage of the clash after the mentioned match. Right holder of EURO 2016 in Germany, ARD and ZDF are furious that UEFA's worldwide TV feed did not show the brawl at the stands. The thing is that everything needs to be shown on TV so that viewers can express their own opinion. 'We would like to think that we get all relevant footage. We were not satisfied with the footage we received after the final whistle of the England - Russia match. We have made this very clear' said by Dieter Gruschwitz who is ZDFs sports director. The accused party (UEFA) is 'defending themselves' by telling that violence cannot be shown on TV.
In other news, more Russian supporters who are travelling to France may be deported. Around of 50 members group have to return back, after they wanted to attend Wednesdays's match with Slovakia in the northern city of Lille. And because of that match local officials are closing bars from midnight on Wednesday and whole Thursday over fears of new (possible) clashes.

14 June 2016

Europe's strength: for third consecutive night each match is up to two goals

Austria - Hungary 0:2

Scorers: 0:1 63 Adam Szalai
              0:2 87 Zoltan Stieber

Portugal - Iceland 1:1

Scorers: 1:0 31 Nani
              1:1 50 Birkir Bjarnason

Group C gave Mexico and Venezuela into quarters

Mexico - Venezuela 1:1

Scorers: 0:1 10 Jose Velasquez
              1:1 80 Jesus Manuel Corona

Uruguay - Jamaica 3:0

Scorers: 1:0 21 Abel Hernandez
              2:0 66-own goal Je-Vaughn Watson
              3:0 88 Mathias Corujo Diaz