As both games are taking place at the same time, we’ll have one open thread for both. Albania is playing Romania and France is playing Switzerland.
Also, I just want to make some comments about Cristiano Ronaldo. Yes, he dives a lot and is petulant. It is worth noting this, however:
Cristiano Ronaldo has been named the world’s most charitable sports star, having donated millions of pounds of his fortune to worthy causes.
The 30-year-old Portuguese star was named by Dosomething.org as the most charitable sportsperson, topping the Athletes Gone Good list of 20 stars.
Also, this:
Ronaldo, known for his efforts to help children overcome debilitating diseases, skips the ink so that he can continue to donate blood. In many countries, a new tattoo can affect how often a person donates blood, with a waiting period between six months and a year employed as a precaution against cross-contamination and diseases like hepatitis.
“I don’t have tattoos because I donate blood very often,” he said, according to Diretta News, while also taking the time to share a photo on his Facebook page that showed him donating at a hospital. He reportedly gives twice a year.
So, by all means criticize his tendency to dive and anything else, but, and I write this as fan of club teams that have long been fierce rivals of his club teams, in an era when so many athletes do so many awful things off the field, it’s refreshing to have one where you complain about his playing and praise many of his extracurricular activities.
humboldtblue
Nicely done, Randinho, to highlight Ronaldo’s very real and very serious charity and social work. I’ve never been a hater and I don’t think he gets enough credit for turning himself into one of the all-time greats with a work ethic and dedication that has rarely if ever been surpassed.
mere mortal
Thanks for this. It is nice to have a story in the spirit of Chief Justice Earl Warren’s observation.
“I always turn to the sports pages first, which record people’s accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man’s failures.”
Randinho
Credit where credit is due. I’m not a hater and if he played for one of my club teams I’d probably be a big fan. I have immense respect for his human and humane side.
petesh
As a Man U fan (currently keeping a bit quiet about it), it was wonderful to see Cristiano Ronaldo’s growth as a player and as a person. He left, and got an entire fleet’s load of money, but he fulfilled his promise of one more year, departed with dignity and would be welcome back. Sure he gets stroppy sometimes (who doesn’t?), usually thinks he deserves the ball (things do often work out well that way) and takes perhaps excessive care of his hair (which is a problem, why?) but he is a great, great footballer and seems to be a pretty good human being.
SRW1
For a guy who has achieved as much as he has in a highly competitive area, the weird thing about Ronaldo is how insecure he appears to become when things don’t go his way.
There’s no doubt that there are lots of Ronaldo haters out there, just as there is no doubt that Ronaldo shouted ‘here’ twice when narcissism was distributed.
On this particular occasion Ronaldo invited the backlash because he couldn’t help belittle what will probably come close to being one of the best achievements of footballing minions. That backlash most likely wouldn’t have happened, at least nowhere near this intensity, if Ronaldo’s magnanimity matched his willingness for laudable charitable giving only halfways.
burnspbesq
Also worth noting: AFAICR, he has never been accused of income tax evasion.
Randinho
There’s also this, which was pretty classy considering the game he had.
cmorenc
As a long-time soccer referee of competitive-level games (albeit well below the European professional level) – it’s not just Ronaldo’s propensity to dive that bugs me, it’s his propensity to egregiously whine and dissent from referees’ refusal to buy his flops. The main reason he doesn’t draw more yellow cards for dissent/simulation is that everyone at the field is so familiar with his floppery that, like the little boy who cried “wolf”, he no longer has any credibility to sell anything but clear bona fide fouls or cynical hackery by outclassed defenders. But he isn’t getting the benefit of the doubt from anyone.
Messi, OTOH doesn’t dive.
But genuinely more power to Ronaldo for his charitable generosity off the field.
Yutsano
A Portuguese friend RIPPED him on Twitter, so it’s a balance.
@burnspbesq: Considering tax evasion is almost its own national sport in Portugal, that’s amazing. And not even the Spanish authorities have any actions against him. Granted their enforcement isn’t EXACTLY top notch, but still they did go after a member of the royal family.
Randinho
Well, that’s a first: the ball just ripped open in the France/Switzerland game.
SRW1
@Yutsano:
Ronaldo’s taxes are most likely done by the Spanish tax authorities. They are also the ones having trouble with Messi’s tax contributions.
Roger Moore
@cmorenc:
And watching that video, you can see why. For one thing, he is able to get the whistle without having to flop. For another, he has good enough balance and speed that in a lot of those cases he’s able to fight through the foul and get past the guys fouling him; I think he’s right to prize the opportunity he gets by fighting through more than the chance he might get with a penalty.
JMG
Well said, Randinho. But being the player the other teams’ fans love to hate is an ancient and honorable role in sports. As Grantland Rice wrote “they never boo a bum.”
SRW1
Side note:
These last group games are conducted in parallel to avoid the infamous ‘non-agression pact of Gijon’ scenario. However, the best four group thirds qualifying for the next round messes that up in that the teams in the last two groups know what will suffice for them qualifying. Not so much an issue for Sweden and Ireland, because they have to win anyway, but Portugal will know whether a draw will do or whether they need to run the risk of opening up if their game against Hungary is still tied towards the end.
raven
Fuck some nil.
SRW1
And the tension whether Albania has done enough is palpable!
tofubo
OT, 2016 sucks
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/19/entertainment/actor-anton-yelchin-killed/
Tony J
They’ve only gone and done it! Well done Albania. Now they wait to see how the other groups finish. I can see from the BBC site that, depending on how the various stats are calculated, they could qualify and face the winners of Groups B or C, which currently means England or Germany, but by Tuesday night could mean Wales, Slovakia, Belgium or Northern Ireland!
It’s a funny old game.
humboldtblue
What a perfect 17 days since the Copa kicked off and a week later we got the Euros going. Great football every day to distract from the fact that the Phillies are who we thought they were (after a hot start) and now we get the finish of the group stage in France and two delicious semis in the U.S..
humboldtblue
@Tony J: Tried to read a Guardian article about past and present permutations from 24-team tourneys. Needless to say it’ll all come out in the wash because the various scenarios on who plays who are too numerous.
Tony J
Yeah, yeah, Cristiano Ronaldo is the kindest, gentlest, sweetest and most wonderful person ever to also be a whining, diving, pouting figure of scorn and derision worldwide for his on-field antics. OTOH, he’s no Pepe, and that counts for a lot.
Seriously though, nice to hear he’s doing some good with that phenomenal talent of his. Let’s just agree that Cristiano is an okay guy with his heart in the right place while that Ronaldo guy he plays on screen is a right James Hunt.
Aldo
So proud of my Albanian boys. Stood up to Switzerland with ten men and nearly tied hosts. Made their small country proud
Tony J
@humboldtblue:
It’s getting to the point where I’m going to have to sit down with a beer and plow through the idiot’s guide to who gets to qualify. Though I’m pretty much convinced that, should England somehow fail to cock-up qualification by losing badly tomorrow, we’ll end up playing someone like Germany or Italy and get eased out 2-1 after extra-time.
Fatalism, it’s always the smart way to vote.
? Martin
Ronaldo should open the Christiano Ronaldo Center For Kids Who Fall Down a Lot And Wanna Learn To Not Grab Their Ankle, Too.
But good on him for extracting wealth from whichever rich guy owns his club and from his sponsors and giving it back to those who need it.
Amir Khalid
@? Martin:
There is in fact no rich guy who owns Real Madrid CF. Per Wikipedia:
WaterGirl
Randinho, i am not a soccer/football fan, but I am impressed with how faithfully you have put up threads for all these matches over the past few weeks. Well done!
Paula
I can’t really comment regularly anymore on the weekday matches, but it’s always nice that I can check these pages rather than ESPN or Fox.
SteveinSC
Off topic and I don’t give a shit. Chichirito and the rest of the Mexican no-minds all praying to Jesus and other outrages to an educated mind. And they got their answer from the baby Jesus–Fuck you! I watched it until Chile scored the first goal and then said, “Well at least Jesus gave you the finger, you little fuck. But 7-0 in front of 65,000 fans. Wow, just wow. I am maybe rethinking my view of the Carpenter of Nazareth. And just on cue the goddam mexicans show their asses calling the Chilean keeper: moricon. Just fuck you, you mexican assholes, fuck you.
Randinho
@WaterGirl: Thank you! Sometimes it has been a real challenge. Yesterday morning I was posting while waiting for a bus using a weak 3G connection. Last Saturday I was returning from having worked out of town and posted an open thread also from a weak 3G connection on an intercity bus.
WaterGirl
@Randinho: Now I am doubly impressed by your dedication! :-)
Misterpuff
@Amir Khalid: Don’t let the GOPers find out about that operation, they’d be milking and skimming that baby to within an inch of its life.
burnspbesq
France was extremely lucky that the referee was where he was when Sagna dragged a Swiss player down by the shirt inside the area in second half stoppage time.