Will anyone else be watching? Germany v Scotland is on Fox this afternoon from Munich. Any favorites? Anyone actually in Germany for these matches. Someone in Germany said Americans were the second-highest number of ticket purchasers for the games.
Hopefully we'll have a few underdog upsets.
Will anyone else be watching? Germany v Scotland
Make a guess!
Just saw on German TV that parts of Munich are under Scottish control.
I hope for a peaceful tournament in total.
Of course! Tomorrow I'll be glued to the screen for Spain v Croatia.
I will be watching! We were in Italy and Germany in 2012 during the Euros and it made for such a fun atmosphere. I remember watching from a piazza in Venice and having my first Aperol spritz.
I’ll be rooting on some favorite Arsenal players but haven’t decided which team I’ll be pulling for, yet.
I'll be cheering Germany on but won't be sad to see Scotland upset. Don't mind the Scots but having English friends who always post about "It's Coming Home". makes me hope they lose.
We will see which German team plays today. The strong team or the team that falls apart early,
I thought someone with a name like Heather would be right behind Scotland!
I'm another who likes to see England get gubbed, even though I've lived there for getting on for 20 years.
My dad was cheering on Germany against England in the Euros in 2000. He got himself worked up, went to bed after the game, had a heart attack and died. I'm sure he wasn't too impressed with shuffling off, but I like to think he would have found some black humour in the situation too.
Of course I'll be rooting for the Germans tonight, it's par for the course.
I hope for a peaceful tournament in total.
Fortunately there won't be any Russian state sponsored 'Ultras' like there were in 2016.
"Euros 2024"
Saw that title and expected to see a question about buying the currency.
Discovered the topic is about a soccer tournament.
a soccer tournament
Not just a soccer tournament, but THE soccer (football) tournament for Europe. A big part of our European culture. The same as an art museum, the local cuisine, or a historic castle, a football match ranks up there as a cultural experience that can give insight into history and life Europe.
Good answer, Carlos. I was thinking nearly the same.
Well that was a very underwhelming game.
1)Bless the Scottish fans, one of the best fan countries. I hope they enjoyed Munich.
2)It was nice of Germany to fell sorry for Scotland and score a goal for them.
3)It's really hard to tell if the Germany team is back to almost 2014 levels or playing such a bad team made them look good. I guess the next game will be the big test. But at least it gets the fans and the team into the game after several years of doldrums.
4)It was exciting to see the same stadium that I went past in Munich.
Before kickoff my prediction would have been that Germany would put at least five past Scotland, so a result in my book. Scotland were terrible and the red card before half time was well deserved though.
I've been up in Scotland the last few days and it's a really big deal that they're there at all. I think it's 26 years since they've qualified for competition at this level. TV coverage has been wall to wall. The Tartan Army is one of the best travelling supports in the competition and Munich will still belong to them tonight.
panic in the German dressing room after such a tight match
The team could not sleep the whole night.
Yes. Serbia and the Slav countries have always had a bit of hooliganism and bad behavior from fans when away.
And I remember England in the 1980s and 1990, all you heard was about hooliganism and fans getting into fights. It really seemed to calm down before Covid and now it's becoming an issue again with the young fans who honestly can't hold their liquor and watch a match. Now with Germany allowing liquor in stadiums it will be interesting.
That said, I'll be watching and cheering for Spain but again never count out Croatia.
One thing I absolute love about football/soccer is the lack of halftime shows and commercials. The just go in play their game and then leave. No OTT opening ceremonies with jet fighters cheerleaders and fireworks. Yes, I do know that the UK does have cheerleaders for some teams and that is just weird IMO. And no mangling of their national anthems by some big name singer like Lady Gaga.
But I always wonder where they get the children that players always walk out with. Are they children of the teams or just local kids who win a contest?
Apologies for deleting my post that you refer to. I hadn't seen your post.
We love being in a country involved in the tournament for it adds a great bit of spice to sit in a pub with fans passionately engaged in supporting their team.
Football hooliganism has been pretty much eradicated in and around stadiums in the UK as a result of greater cooperation between football clubs and the police, dedicated football policing units, football banning orders etc. and has been since the early 90's. When trouble does occur it is usually confined to areas away from the stadiums pre-arranged by opposing groups. Unfortunately the reputation has stuck with England fans and this is often evidenced by over the top policing during international games and also with hooligan elements from other countries. Football hooliganism is a far bigger problem in many European countries than it is in the UK. That's not to say that there hasn't been trouble from British fans since the 90's but it's nowhere near the dark days of the 70's and 80's.
As for children accompanying players onto the pitch at the start of games, the children are usually local kids who have won the opportunity to walk out with the players either through competitions, good work at school etc.
Football hooliganism has been pretty much eradicated in and around stadiums in the UK
Not sure about that, the English hooligans put on quite the show violently storming Wembley stadium in last last Euro cup finals.
We, and I mean my husband, will be watching every game. And calling friends in Heidelberg, Milan, and Croatia during said games.
Not sure about that, the English hooligans put on quite the show violently storming Wembley stadium in last last Euro cup finals.
That was more of a mob mentality rather than hooliganism, hooligans want to fight each other, the Wembley fiasco was simply idiots wanting to get into the game for free. The same can be said about the Real Madrid fans who travelled for the game without a ticket for the recent Champion's League final and who did exactly the same.
Someone in Germany said Americans were the second-highest number of ticket purchasers for the games.
I can't see how this is the case. Tickets were allocated to national team associations with sales initally open to members of the national supporters club before being released to the general public.
According to UEFA, fans from the following countries have purchased the most tickets: Germany, England, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Now time to root for Albania and hope they can right the wrong on behalf of Ukraine.
When did children walking out with players become a thing? I vaguely recalling watching European soccer in the early 1980s and don't recall this practice.
This article for tomorrow's Observer covers much of the ground the post that I deleted did.
When did children walking out with players become a thing? I vaguely recalling watching European soccer in the early 1980s and don't recall this practice.
Certainly well after the 80's, it's difficult to say but it sort of coincided with efforts to make football a more inclusive experience and move away from the intimidating terrace culture.
Well good luck England. Based on the outcomes, it seems the dominant teams keep winning so I have a good feeling about England.
After watching on Fox in English, I think I prefer my football commentary in Spanish. Spanish commentators seem to make the game more exciting, while the Fox commentators seem to just going through the motions.
Thanks for the information on the children partners. Someone told me it was also due to the thinking that people would be better behaved if children were around. Probably not the case but it's always interesting to see the interaction between the players and their child "partner".
I guess the only question today for England is "Is it coming home?"
After watching on Fox in English, I think I prefer my football commentary in Spanish. Spanish commentators seem to make the game more exciting.
Yes I agree, maybe I'm a little biased but the English commentators always put me to sleep haha, maybe except Ray Hudson, he's probably the closest the English can get to how Spanish football commentaries sound.
I guess the only question today for England is "Is it coming home?"
I don't think so, more likely they're going home lol!
Lots of people like to bash the BBC these days, but sports coverage is something they do really well. I think it's probably the best English language commentary you're going to get. You'll find it on iPlayer (if you finagle your VPN correctly) on BBC1 TV and 5Live for the radio.
As a slightly off topic, but sporting, aside, The BBC coverage of Wimbledon is top notch if you enjoy tennis. That's coming up soon.
Nice ball practice of German team at the pool (Instagram).
Unfortunately the reputation has stuck with England fans
Considering how English fans acted eight years ago in France, there is probably a reason for the reputation.
For some reason there's collective amnesia when it comes to violence from other nationalities:
I really hope the English team ups their game. Yes, they scored the only goal but playing defense the whole second half was not a great strategy and they were lucky that like Croatia all their scoring just missed the goal. I think they may have trouble with a better team.
But I do feel bad for Serbia and Croatia who played very energetically in their games and always just missed the goal. Whereas Scotland played worse and actually got an own goal point.
So far no surprises in any of these games. Is it too much to hope for at least one upset?
Is it too much to hope for at least one upset?
No, today we may see one. Austrian team has the potential to be a surprise.
England have a history of an average performance in their opening games particularly against teams that they are expected to win comfortably against. Yesterday's match was only the second time in the last ten Euros that England have won their opening game.
I didn't think it was a bad game, the second half saw a strong comeback from Serbia which opened the game up more and that led to England losing the dominance they had during the first half. There were several missed opportunities where some positions weren't being occupied as expected but in general I think it was an OK match.
I'm expecting Ukraine to win today and possibly an Austria win.
Is it too much to hope for at least one upset?
Well there you go, but perhaps not the direction people were looking at :)
Our family enjoyed the opening Germany v. Scotland match from the Foodhallen in Amsterdam (energetic food hall just outside the canal belt) on Friday. No Dutch team playing, but lots of local interest - at least until it was clear that Germany was much superior. It was a lot of fun to be part of that scene.
I’m from San Diego and 4 of us are going to three matches! We have games in Berlin, Munich and Dusseldorf- can’t wait!
Turkey vs Georgia, what a game! So much better than France vs Austria last night with the French players going down at the slightest touch as if they'd been shot, it ruins the game, ruins the pace and is frustrating to watch.
I had high hopes for today's game and I was not disappointed. I'll be in Istanbul from the 2nd July and whilst doubtful that they'll get that far it would be great to watch a Turkey game there if they do.
YES! Best match so far IMO (well, except the first if you are German like me). I liked watching Austria, but France was not really inspired. And Czechia fought hard against Portugal--shame about the own goal, but Portugal was the better team and deserved to win. But for sure Turkey-Georgia has been the best match so far. I would have loved to see the draw, but the final play came together in the opposite direction.
So Germany prevailed even while looking a bit shaky against Hungary. Kudos for Hungary they didn't let up on Germany but had the same luck as Croatia-nothing went in the net! Germany needs to tighten up their defensive or a better team will come and take them to the cleaners.
And the plucky underdogs Scotland survived another game and actually scored a goal. Scotland kept the Swiss to one point. Now they have to play Hungary. Crossing fingers for them as I find myself hoping they keep winning and probably the loudest and best fans in the stadium.
And on a totally shallow not, how gorgeous are the away kit for Germany. They looked ugly when I saw the shirts in pictures, but they really looked nice on the players and gave them a distinctive look.
According to Adidas, it is the best-selling away jersey ever.
btw: the song German fans are singing in the stadium this year is "Major Tom (Völlig losgelöst)" from Peter Schilling, a song from the 80s Neue Deutsche Welle.
As a Gen Xer I remember the English version of "Major Tom". It was on the radio a lot in the early mid-1980s. Didn't know it had an original German version. The 80s were definitely the decade for German crossover radio, with Nena-"99 Luftballons" and Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" and of course Scorpions "Winds of Change".
Finding out that Stereolab's "Jenny Ondioline" was basically a cover of Neu! "Hallogallo" blew my mind.
Scotland were much better tonight. No embarrassment with that performance. I thought they were going to clinch it with a late goal in the latter stages of the second half. A win against Hungary would be amazing now. All to play for still.
Serbia have announced that they will consider withdrawing from the tournament if UEFA do not punish Crotia and Albania in response to their fans chanting "kill, kill, kill the Serbians" during their match yesterday. If they do withdraw it'll cause havoc within the group!
Meanwhile, fingers crossed for England today in their match against Denmark and also rooting for Spain. I'm hoping it will be a good, intense match without a load of theatrical diving.
Interesting read from the NY Times today
The 2024 Euros have apparently faced a lot organizational problems, contrary to the popular perception of "German efficiency". There have been major issues with transportation, crowd management, and infrastructure reliability which have caused inconvenience for a lot of fans attending the matches.
Public transportation, particularly trains operated by Deutsche Bahn, have been unreliable and overburdened. The network has struggled to handle the extra demand, leading to delays, congestion, and dangerous overcrowding at stations.
The article goes on to argue that the problems seen during the 2024 Euros reflect deeper, long standing issues with Germany's rail system, which has suffered from underinvestment and mismanagement over decades. Not sure about that, but interesting nonetheless lol!
Here's the full article: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5569570/2024/06/18/euro-2024-germany-england-fans-gelsenkirchen-trains/
And poor pitches! The pitch in Frankfurt was attrocious and dangerous.
I do not get the point from NY Times - except that they seem to have no idea what is going on regularly in Germany transport and that they have a summer hole of news to fill.
Yes, there were transport issues at last Gelsenkirchen match (read critical report). Counter measures were installed (report). Today's evening the transport to stadium was working. They just showed it on TV.
That Deutsche Bahn has punctuality issues in long-distance network since months is not new - monthly status available.
Furthermore the main plan of Deutsche Bahn until 2030 was published months ago (report with high-level map and year overview). The current main projects you can see on this page.
In Germany we do 34 match days every football season, means min. 17 matches per stadium each year - maybe more for other competitions. The number of visitors to the stadiums is the same (most nearly always sold out) - sure some more people arrive by car but Germany has much larger events every year which are handled with public transport.
A main issue during Euro2024 are imo more not local fans and more uninformed and unoriented visitors than in regular operations. All this was expected. Furthermore UEFA decided to raise the parking fee at stadiums to 24 EUR compared to typical 8-10 EUR.
I think (and hope) that we will not see such an incident again during Euro2024.
Just to add that I am also not seeing any issues. I went into the city center (Hamburg) yesterday for public viewing of the Germany match. The earlier match, Croatia vs Albania, was played in Hamburg. One SBahn train was delayed--no more than a normal glitch during rush hour--and while the trains were crowded, the platform wasn't overly so. This despite all the Albanians and Croatians making their way into town right as their game at the stadium ended and all the Germans headed to the public viewing. The people (Albanian fans) walking in the roads did apparently delay my friend's bus by a few minutes . . . .
To be fair, the NYT was not wrong in that the DB has a wretched reputation and infrastructure badly in ned of investment. As a result little hiccups can feel worse than they are.
Oh, and Major Tom is based on the character from a 1969 David Bowie song called Space Oddity. Other fun facts: Lou Bega (Mambo No. 5) and Cascada (Every Time We Touch) are also German.
Having rode the DB trains last year, the delays and cancellations are nothing new-certainly the Euros haven't started it.
And honestly German efficiency hasn't been a thing for 20 years. The NYT needed an article about the Euros and went for the old "it's so awful in Germany".
That said I think the pitches are bad simply due to the newness and the rain Germany has had in the past week or so.
England - Denmark match was more boring passes from England. Why Southgate lets them get a point and instead of keeping the momentum alive and trying for a second goal, has them go on defensive mode for the rest of game, I don't know.
Last corner almost gave me a heart attack lol! Well done Spain, tough match, but could have easily been 3-0 if not for the excellent Italian keeper. Glad Spain are evolving from the overly cautious tiki taka style of the 2010s.
Also thanks to our German contributors for the extra context, I suspected there was more to the story.
Have loved watching all the videos of the sea of orange in Hamburg, and all the bagpipers and kilt wearers in Munich. Frankfurt had all the Danes and the Englanders fill the plazas yesterday. Everyone seems to be having a grand time and lots of fun. The Dutch are my favorite though.
England - Denmark match was more boring passes from England. Why Southgate lets them get a point and instead of keeping the momentum alive and trying for a second goal, has them go on defensive mode for the rest of game, I don't know.
I don't believe that's his plan otherwise why bring on Watkins and Gallagher? I believe the problem lies in putting together a team based on individual's performance during their league games. Yes, Phil Foden is an incredibly talented player and yes, Harry Kane's goal record is impressive but without the necessary support from other players they're going to be ineffective. It's evident from watching other teams that the pace of most of the games is fast and there have been a lot of goals scored from outside of the box so if Southgate wants to keep Kane in the game then he needs to provide him with players that have the pace to support him, Walker and Saka can certainly do that and so can Watkins so I'd like to see him start and also see what Palmer can offer. It's only been England's second game so Southgate is trying to see what works, I certainly don't believe he's happy to just take a point.
I was in Munich during the Germany/Scotland game. The Marienplatz, and just about every other place selling beer, was jammed with Scots. They are slowly heading home. There's been a fair number of English, French, Italians, Czechs, etc everywhere. The bars are full for every 9pm game. Spain/Italy had a good crowd just last night.
I think that's what Germany is doing well at the moment--not just playing strong individuals, but playing a team where the trust and the interactions and mutual support work well. I didn't catch much of the Ukraine game just now, but I got a strong sense of team from them. I do think that matters.
In regards to the pitch quality, the sheer amount of rain before and during some of these games is more than any pitch can handle. These are Bundesliga pitches, and the overall quality is good, even if Frankfurt wasn't up to the rain. Interesting though that the Danes weren't complaining ;).
Okay, I'm going to be cheering on Scotland but I have a feeling they will be leaving after Poland.
We'll see how good Germany is against the Swiss.
Okay, I'm going to be cheering on Scotland but I have a feeling they will be leaving after Poland
Breaks into spontaneous chorus of "We're On The March With Ally's Army"
Nah. Going all the way hen :)
ETA: on the subject of Scotland managers of yesteryear, my claim to fame is that my granny ironed Jock Stein's trousers before he went to join the Masons. They grew up in the miner's rows in Earnock, Lanarkshire, together.
German team shall be motivated against team of Switzerland to keep the chance for Scotland alive. For becoming first in group every player will get 50k EUR. Of course a draw would be enough to make that happen but I assume our team wants to be very sure. Head coach Nagelsmann already announced to start with the same team setup. But, Swiss goal keeper Yann Sommer is one of Europe's best (won Italian's first league with Inter Milano) and knows a lot of the German players from Germany's first league.
Personally I press thumbs for Swiss and Scottish team - maybe by best of 3rd places.
To get everyone in the mood for Scotland vs Hungary tonight, here's a link to some Scottish folk music on Youtube -
In this music style I would prefer Acid Folk from Perplexer. Vocal Radio edit is even better but did not find it.
In case Scottish team has to leave I would put Scooter's "Loops and Pipes" on loop.
For fans of the 80s I recommend Dream Academy - "Life In A Northern Town"; the original of ""hey ma ma ma ma”". Their video is like a time travel.
You got all the good pipes and drums tunes lol
I'm not joking when I say Scott Brown is Scottish folk music. Large swathes of Scotland are still rocking to the hardcore in 2024. That tune came back as a bit of an anthem at referendum time, so yeah, works great lol
Slightly off topic, but my favourite techno / hardcore football crossover must be at Feyenoord games. Speedy J - Pullover is a chant and Paul Elstak shows up at Champions League games. Gabber and hardcore are part of folk culture in Rotterdam too :)
In my very young days (late 70s) the Scottish pipers were always a highlight of the annual military parades from allied forces on Berlin's Strasse des 17. Juni. I grew up just 200 meteres away. So I was visiting everyone of it.
During Cold war the British troops in total were very popular but Berlin has a special heart for Scotland - cannot tell you why. The Scottish office in Berlin got a warm welcome when opening in 2018.
I think a whole battalion of pipers has travelled to Germany for this competition. They seem to be everywhere you look when you see TV coverage of cities where Scotland are. There was even a piper in Berlin the other night, outside the studio at half time.
"In Germany, a Tournament Runs Smoothly, but the Trains Do Not"
Sweltering train cars, frequent delays and regular cancellations: At the Euro 2024 men’s soccer tournament, Germany’s faltering rail system emerges as a tough opponent.
Disappointing in the end for Scotland. Again, thought they were going to get it in the dying minutes. Hungary just got lucky on the break. They were pretty poor too. On top of that, Scotland were absolutely robbed of a really obvious penalty in the first half.
I hope Vargas is doing ok.
At least it wasn't Orbán who scored for Hungary.
Oh Scotland, if fans could boost teams, you'd be number one. I for one am going to miss the feisty Scots.
As for Germany it looked like the bizarro team showed up today and I fear they may not make it out of the knockout group. Their defense needs to get better quick.
And the USMT is playing in the Copa America so more soccer than I can handle now.
"In Germany, a Tournament Runs Smoothly, but the Trains Do Not"
As written already and somehow proven by repeated dramatism from NYT:
"I do not get the point from NY Times - except that they seem to have no idea what is going on regularly in Germany transport and that they have a summer hole of news to fill."
See earlier entry for more details.
On top of that, Scotland were absolutely robbed of a really obvious penalty in the first half.
I disagree, in fact it looked more like a foul against the Hungarian player.
It was a really boring match and let's face it, Scotland were never going to go far in the competition, they just don't have the players, there's a very small pool to select from and when up against some of the world class players they have no chance.
Scotland were never going to go far in the competition, they just don't have the players, there's a very small pool to select from
Bigger than the Croatian pool yet somehow they managed to find a couple of dozen to get them to a World Cup Final.
They also have Modric, who just put it in the net in an impressive manner after being denied a PK goal by an equally impressive Italian man-mountain of a goalie. He is a pivotal player for the Croatians. Game isn't over, but as it stands Croatia would eliminate Italy.
ETA: Holy moly. What a finish to that game.
That was unbelievable. My husband is Italian, so we were happy with the result -- but my goodness you couldn't help but feel bad for the Croats.
Joe, the keyword is "finish". Not sure if you saw the game, but Italy we're about to be eliminated, then at the last moment they scored a goal against Croatia, and so pass to the next round. Remember Italy were the winners of the last Euro cup, so for them to be eliminated from the tournament in the group stage would be a big upset.
In football, it is as much the weight of history, context, expectations as much as the actual game itself. Just because there's a lot of goals scored doesn't necessarily mean an interesting game. At the same time just because it's a low scoring game doesn't necessarily mean it's boring. The back and forth and anticipation is just as riveting.
Looking forward: today over 80 million federal team coaches - common joke in Germany that everybody knows everything better than the actual head coach - expect to know the next opponent. Does Danish team seem most likely?
The two regular inner defense players are out of order for the next game (2nd yellow and injury), so the second line will do the job.
btw: the HQs of German team in Herzogenaurach is like all the other recently flooded areas affected by mosquito plague. Tip for travelers in that region also down to Lake Constance to buy a mosquito protection spray.
