Footcall 2016 Reportshttps://www.footcall.co.uk/index.phpFootcall 2016 ReportsenenDavid Jenner© Footcall 20162016-07-11T03:01:30+01:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Mon, 11 Jul 2016 03:02:48 +0100Portugal Win With A Twenty-Two Yard Eder!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-07-11T03:01:30+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-23https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-23Day 23 in the Footcall House...
Tonight was the culmination of a month of Footcalling shenanigans and of course the final match of Euro 2016. In this showdown we saw host nation France take on Portugal who were without question the luckiest team to make it to the final having only finishing third in their Group.

Both sides had a lucky number seven player, for the French it was Antoine Griezmann, leading Euro 2016 goal scorer and on the other side was Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal's greatest ambassador since that bloke off the Ferrero Rocher advert (he'd have you believe). Well the first incident to occur in the match was Dimitri Payet clattering in to CR7 with what can only be seen as a Steve McMahon style 'reducer' leaving Mr Ronaldo writhing in pain. Of course 70,000 fans (and us at home) all thought he was bunging it on and although he momentarily went off and came back on again he had to concede the injury was just too much for him and he broke down and sobbed and asked to be subbed. Never one to miss an opportunity to be in the spotlight he insisted on being stretchered off even though we all knew he could have made it to the touchline unaided. But carried he was and as the tears flowed he knew his race was run and all he could do was pray his colleagues would do their bit. What is about the Stade de Fance and players called Ronaldo?

One amusing thing we noticed on screen were an unusual amount of moths in the stadium, one of which flittered about Ronaldo's face drinking his tears, and I think we now understand what the Icelandic Thunderclap was all about, they were just doing some pest control!

Anyway, back to the match, Sissoko (France's best player) and Griezmann were the only men to go close and test the relations of Rui Patricio in a pretty dull first half. After the break it really didn't get that much more exciting although Griezmann again went mighty close with a point blank header and at the other end Nani made Lloris earn his appearance money and Quaresma made a theatrical overhead shot straight at the keeper. It looked like we were heading to extra time unless there was to be a late late goal. There very nearly was when Pierre Gignac managed to pickpocket the Portuguese defence but was heartbroken to see his shot hit the inside of the post but stay the wrong side of the line!

Extra time was upon us, the question now was, could we avoid penalties. Guerrero hit the underside of the crossbar from a terrific free kick and still it remained goalless. That was until Portugal's substitute player, Eder, hit a belter of a shot from almost thirty yards out to sneak in past the outstretched hand of Lloris. What a goal! What a time to do it! The Portuguese fans went crazy go nuts. Fantastic. With ten minutes still to play, the stadium erupted and the match sprung to life. Suddenly the French looked purposeful and try as they might to score an equaliser and force a penalty shootout it wasn't to be, the English referee, Mark Clattenburg blew for full time and the match was over.

Portugal had finally won a major trophy after coming so close in 2004. Ronaldo (with his knee strapped up) was overjoyed with emotion at his team's success even though they still only actually won one match in normal time! They were the equivalent of the kid who never shows up at school but still walked it through the exams!

Big Ron did however manage to hobble up the stairs unaided to collect the trophy, I did wonder if they might have to rig up a Stannah Stairlift (other stairlifts are available) to carry him up to the presentation area. It would have been hilarious to see him sitting there like Brian Potter from Phoenix Nights whilst there was a never ending uncomfortable silence.

I'm sure Ronaldo and Co are mighty relieved to got this accolade under their belt, I'm sure Cristiano will be thanking Pepe (Portugal's best player of the tournament) for helping him win this prize. My God, I feel sorry for the other players at Real Madrid now, he's going to be unbearable!


And so to the Footcall League...


Before kickoff this evening, there were six potential winners in with a shout of taking the top spot. Of course that meant players having to choose a different winner from those above them and the odds of betting against the French appeared to be slim. I can announce that Chris Sampson did by the skin of his teeth manage to hold on to the lead and become the new Footcall Champion 2016. I did actually email Chris yesterday before the match but he declined to comment, although by that I mean he probably hadn't seen the email I had sent him! I do wonder if when Portugal had beaten his chosen team of France his chance of success had gone? But he needn't have worried as although he didn't know, his place was secure either way.

Only three players had selected Portugal to go all the way to the final and win it, they were, Joanna Mackenzie who climbed up in to 21st, Sara Borges who magnificently finds herself in 10th and the Player of the Day, Mr Neil "I can't believe my luck (again)" Jefferis who jumped from 17th place right up in to 2nd to claim the runner up place just three points behind Lee Baker. Neil has also cruised in to third place on the Footcall Hall of Fame which you can find on the website.

How the table would have looked had France won, who knows but it was great that we had some excitement to finish the show. So Chris wins the top prize fund of 400 quid but far more importantly than the money, he can lay claim to being Footcall Champion 2016 and nobody can take that away from him! Here's a full run down of the top dozen...

1st: The Isle of Carl - Chris Sampson
2nd: Wilshere Hart Be Enough? - Neil Jefferis
3rd: Bring It Home Boys - Lee Baker
4th: Jamackelyra - Jamie Sains
5th: Veni, Vidi, Vardy - Richard Goodwin
6th: Rocket Boy United - Jasper Dudson
7th: Witty Name XI - Jack Hennerby
8th: Baus - Robert Wrather
9th: Do Euro The Way To Sack Jose? - Graham Weaver
10th: Mummy's Minions - Sara Borges
11th: Darth Vardy - Matt Green
12th: Ischroeckedurmom - Thomas Baus

And special mention should go to my brother Simon and his team Failure Is Always An Option, who once again takes home the Vuvuzela to charm Esther and Reece with a new tune on the most annoying instrument ever created!

In the new Knockout Stages League, Sara Borges backing of Portugal see her take the top spot with an amazing 22 points, just one point ahead of Chris Sampson and Jo Mackenzie who share second. Robert Wrather, Nathaniel "Can I have a new football now Dad?" Ridley, Neil Jefferis and Carmel Sutton all share fourth place.

Finally we have the 10 Division Winners for the highest placed non-prize money players...
Black Division: 2 Birds 1 Stones - Kathryn Rowland
Blue Division: The Champs - Sadie Colyer
Brown Division: Charles De Goals - Jamie Marshall & Ian Pope
Green Division: Home For The Bewildered - John McCann
Orange Division: Euro Lee Dreaming - David Blakeman
Pink Division: Help Me Obi Wan Kanobi - Andy Kirchell
Purple Division: Niraim - Gary Bowman
Red Division: Mrs Miggins Ate All The Pies - Carol Gerrard
White Division: Jumpers For Goalposts - Maxine Read
Yellow Division: The Glorious Tractor Boys - Darren Brame

All these players qualify for free entry in to Footcall 2018.

Well done to all the winners for Footcall 2016 and a special thanks to everyone else who took part, if it wasn't for you, I'd be writing all this nonsense just for myself.

I'd like to give an extra special mention to Christine "Mrs Footcall" Jenner who has had to put up with the "Footcall Situation" (as Glenn would call it) for the past few weeks. I'm most grateful for her support every time we set the Footcall stall out. It might surprise you to know that she is the real football fan in the Jenner household and probably the reason why she's so much better at Footcall than me!

Once again I've thoroughly enjoyed putting on the Footcall show once again, the 10th outing for our little competition. I hope you got a mention in one of my reports (and you were bothered enough to read it), if you didn't get a mention, you'll just have to do better next time. For all those that took part with very little interest in Footcall I hope I added a little something to your life, I was delighted to receive this wonderful testimonial from Janette "Bestofbritain" Rowland...

"Dear David,

I thoroughly enjoyed 'playing' Footcall. I have never taken an interest in football before so it was a life-changing experience! Roll on 2018, I only hope I'm still here to enjoy it!!

Many thanks for ALL your time & work!

Janette"

If you too would like to send me a testimonial, I'm sure it will spur me on to host the event again and I shall happily add it to the Fanbase page on the website.

Thanks once again for taking part.

David


To all the prize money winners, please email me back so we can arrange to meet behind a burnt out skip in a disused car park so I can hand over your brown envelope!

]]>French Resistance Unlock German Enigma!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-07-08T02:14:01+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-22https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-22Day 22 in the Footcall House...
Tonight was the second semi-final where Germany were facing up against the host nation France for a place in Sunday's final against Portugal. Mrs Footcall and myself had spent the day on Centre Court at Wimbledon but we managed to get back just in time for kick off. From the outset France looked to be setting the pace with little Antoine Griezmann up front motoring faster than Mark Cavendish on the final stretch of a Tour de Fance Stage! It was clear Germany had their work cutout with this one. Fortunately the Germans are past masters of riding out pressure and as the first half wore on it was them that had most of the possession. But any England fan will tell you, having the ball is one thing but putting it in the net is something entirely different.

And it was France who had a great chance to score as Giroud burst in to the German half and looked set to get a shot away one on one with the keeper but he didn't anticipate the lightning pace of Howedes sprinting back to save Neuer's blushes. Crisis averted maybe but then the thinkable happened... we had a late late goal! It was the 47th minute and the players really should have been down the tunnel 0-0 but from what was the last kick of the first half Bastian Schweinsteiger felt the absurd need to put his hand out towards a crossed ball and touch it. It was virtually unnoticed and the referee played an advantage which didn't amount to anything so he then blew for a penalty to France! Nobody watching could quite understand what was going on as penalty offences are usually flagged up immediately but this one was on a time delay! And it was little Antoine to do the honours and stick it in the net and take his goal tally to five and France in to the lead one nil. Then it really was half time and this lead Joachim Low with to think about this slightly harsh decision I'm sure he will be removing the referee from his Christmas card list.

On the return the game seemed be a little more entertaining and Germany started to push for an equaliser. The French however were more than a match and looked as sharp as they did in the Quarter Final against Iceland and they were first to the ball and pressing high up the field very effectively. This pressure paid off in the 72nd minute as Pogba won the ball back in the German box and managed to weave it through to Mr Griezmann again to slip between Neuer's legs and double France's lead, nobody could deny the team in blue weren't worthy of this one. This was Antoine's sixth of the tournament and he has scored twice as many as anyone else so is a clear favourite for the golden boot, that is unless you know who goes bezerk in the final.

Despite the German fans reengineering the Icelandic Thunderclap with their hallmark precision there wasn't anything they could do to get their nation back in this match especially when the French fans pipe up with an overwhelming chorus of La Marseillaise! Although full back Kimmich clipped the French crossbar and Hugo Loris pulled off a spectacular save to keep a clean sheet the time soon evaporated and with it were German hopes. Eventually the full time whistle 'blue' to set up a final showdown against Portugal and the finale for Footcall 2016.


And so to the Footcall League...


Chris Sampson has consolidated his lead with yet another four points to predict both finalists for Euro 2016 and he is now four clear of Lee Baker who moves up in to second ahead of Jamie Sains by way of number Group Stages red squares. Richard Goodwin has just appeared like the shopkeeper from Mr Benn to move in to fourth. Jack Hennerby is up in to 6th with Robert "where did he come from?" Wrather just behind in 7th. All these points flowing in really shake up the table and look who's in 9th but me ol mate Matt Green... they say the cream will always rise to the top!

Former Footcall champion young Nathaniel Ridley is showing us old folk how to play this game and he has predicted both finalists for Sunday. Also in this elite band are Carmel Sutton, Sadie Colyer and I shall give my player of the day award to Jill 'Jillikins' Fuller who is saving her best for last with eight points in her favourite Armani handbag (other handbags are available) for the last two games.

Keith 'A Game Of Throw Ins' Firmston the winner of the most popular team name has sent me a terrific email to thank the Footcall team for all their efforts and also he would like to donate his £10 prize money to the Angus Rowland Fund which is very nice of him. I know Elizabeth and Jonathan Rowland will be very grateful.

I've also had a few other testimonials from fellow Footcallers which are very much appreciated. Please keep em coming, they spur me on to keep putting the proverbial pen to paper and turning out this nonsense night after night!

So that just about wraps things up, only one more match (and one more report) to go for Footcall number ten. It's still wide open and the depending whether it is Portugal or France to lift the trophy we won't know what the eight points will do to the table come the final whistle.

See you Sunday!

David


]]>Portugal Knock Two Bales Out Of Wales! David Jenner2016 Reports2016-07-07T00:39:05+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-21https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-21Day 21 in the Footcall House...
Today was semi-final day and today all English, Scottish and Northern Irish fans were gong to be Welsh (just for 90 minutes mind). Of course we would if Dean Saunders would just shut up for five minutes about the car parking ticket he was facing when he got home! Tonight's opposition... Portugal. Yeah I know what you're thinking, "is that the team that have actually won a match in 90 minutes?" and you'd be right! Portugal are sidestepped, slipped, dived, rolled, jumped and hopped their way in to the final four without actually having more goals than their opponents with the regulated match time. Nevertheless they legitimately deserved to be in the semis even if they have looked decidedly second best in some games. Conversely, Wales have played with vim and vigour, guile and style but more importantly they played as a team. You need to look no further than the two talismen of these teams to witness the stark comparison tonight. Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly one of the greatest players in the world, but he can be ar5e whereas his counterpart, Gareth Bale, is equally as talented but carries so much more respect for his attitude towards the game, his country and his fans. The big question was, could either of them be the decisive element tonight?

The first was a slightly cagey affair; plenty of huff and puff but no houses were being blown down. Bale latched on to a sneaky Welsh corner but the angle was against him and it sailed over the bar. later in the half Gareth went on a solo run to try and take on the Portuguese single handedly but his shot went straight at the keeper. Wales held their own in the first half and it finished nil nil.

Come the second half it was Portugal that broke the deadlock with a sublime free kick met by the head of the Crown Prince himself, Cristiano Ronaldo! Back of the net, one nil. Now you can say what you like about the fella (and I pretty well have) but he certainly knows how to get up for a header, he has more hang time than Michael Jordan, even I would have needed a small stepladder to get up to that height and I'm six foot effing six!

Wales were up against it and their troubles were compounded when just three minutes later that man Ronaldo again opened up the game like a can of beans with an incisive ball into the box which was met by his former Man U colleague Nani as he was sliding in to slot it past Hennessey... it looked like the Welsh were sliding out of the tournament. They were missing a key element tonight, a playmaker, they were missing Aaron Ramsey. We knew when he got that yellow card in the Quarters he was going to miss this match and boy did they miss his presence. Bale was having to drop deep and pick up the balls that should have been Ramsey's and even when they brought on the mighty Simon Church (don't worry, I've never heard of him either) Wales just couldn't unpick the Portuguese defence.

So Wales leek two goals after ex-united pair raise the baa and now the game took on a new dimension. Wales had to press for a goal and Portugal just soaked it up. They even hit them on the break and Danilo tried to smash it in and as the keeper fumbled it, Nani slide in again to try and force it over the line. Fortunately Hennessey was quick enough to react and stop it crossing the line. It didn't take too much longer for Wales to be put out of their misery when the full time whistle blew their fate was sealed.

The Welsh were magnificent throughout none more so than their awesome fans in full voice, such a shame they have to go but their time had come. As for Portugal they are in to their second Euro final in 12 years but this time they won't be up against the Greeks so who knows how they will fare in the closing match, will it be Germany or will it be France?


And so to the Footcall League...


We have a new leader! Chris "Rydon" Sampson has taken over from Jasper as the four points for tonight's result has pushed him above everyone else. Jamie "has anyone seen Kelly?" Sains has cruised in to second and is only behind Chris on points scored in the KO Stages. We are into the serious points bracket now and we are seeing some real movement topside. Elizabeth Mailey and Neil Jefferis up in to the yellow money bracket, Robert Wrather and Jonathan Hill also right up there. If anyone ever thought that it's not possible to get back into it from low down the league then look no further than Kathryn Rowland who has risen from 105th after the Group Stages to her current spot of 13th.

Other players to pick up four points tonight include, Anne Herring, Sam Ford, Janette Rowland, Nathaniel Ridley, Carmel Sutton, Louis Norris, Sadie Colyer, David Frost, Sara Borges, Sam Nicholson, Kate Blake, John Jefferis, Mary Ann Schroeck, Hannah Wakefield and Peter Short.

I'm going to give the player of the day award to Joanna Mackenzie who I know just loves Footcall and will be thrilled to see her name in one of my reports especially seeing as hubby Dan has been woeful this year. Well done Jo.

Semi-final number two tomorrow, make or break for many of you.

David


]]>Champagne on Ice!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-07-04T00:59:35+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-20https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-20Day 20 in the Footcall House...
This was indeed the twentieth day in the Footcall House and the final Quarter Final match of Euro 2016. Host nation France would tackle the conquerors of English football... Iceland!

If they the underdogs could just perform like they did against us and mix in a little Welsh spirit, who knows maybe just maybe France could win this match! Well they needn't have worried as Olivier Giroud settled their nerves with an early early goal with a sweet move capped off with a shot that went through the Icelandic keeper's legs. NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Barely seven minutes later the French had doubled their lead with a close range header from Paul Pogba, queue "Seven Nation Army" on the overhead tannoy and queue Mr Pog's infamous Dab Dance.

The signs were looking ominous for Iceland but one thing you can say about their fans is that they are insatiable! The now legendary Icelandic thunderclap and 'Huh!' (a single clap of the hands much akin to an abbreviated crowd chant for Queen playing Radio Ga Ga at Live Aid '86) followed by a Morton Harket style 'Huh!' Apparently the thunderclap is popular with the Motherwell fans in Scotland, perhaps they perfected it down the Ravenscraig Steelworks before it hit the terraces? The thunderclap has certainly taken over from Will Griggs on Fire!

Anyway back to the match! Half time was approaching and Les Bleus seemed to be full control, so much quicker to the ball and they were picking apart the Icelandic defence in a way that England never could. Just before the end of the first half Monsieur Payet added yet another goal to his tally with a well worked goal and just to rub salt into the wounds on the stroke of half time Griezmann broke in to Iceland's half and delightfully chipped the keeper from 16 yards out to take them in to the changing rooms four to the good. Surely there was no way back from here?

On the return, it was desperation stakes for Iceland and boss man Lars Lagerback was contemplating bringing on Onmeheadson and Getmeagoalson but before the fourth official got his board out, Kolbeinn Sigthorsson managed to beat the offside trap and knock in a goal in on the 56th minute and restore a little pride to the little nation. This only upset the French and just three minutes later Giroooooooooooud headed in his second and the fifth for his team. The man was on fire... I know Arsenal are looking for a new striker, this fella Giroud might be worth a look! We also heard some legendary commentary from Glenn Hoddle who used the word "Swas" to describe the ball in to Giroud's head. Just another classic Glennism for his autobiography.

This game had all the hallmarks of looking like when I played for Ditton Minors and we comfortably beat Lenham 19-0 with Russell Booth scoring 18 of our goals. Well it wasn't quite that dramatic but Iceland did actually score another just so that Jack Stripes could pocket a few more royalty coffers with the goal celebration music. And so it finished Five Two to France, a seven goal thriller, not quite as exciting as Liverpool v Newcastle Utd 1996 but it was a cracker and what a difference a few goals make to a match.

France cinque the Icelandic warriors and their dream has melted away but they've won multiple more fans than their entire population! Along with the Irish and the Welsh the Icelandic fans have brought so much character to the tournament. As for France, they did what they needed to do, they showed Iceland the respect they deserved and now they have set up a semi-final showdown with their footballing nemesis, Germany.


And so to the Footcall League...


Rocket Boy United has consolidated his lead as we head in to the semis. With the exception of Gary Bowman and Keith Firmston, the top dozen players all picked France to win. Check out Chris (and Nick) Kotsonis creeping up the league on the inside rail as too is James Ellis and Matt Green. Birgit "Our Germany Correspondent" Hoffstadt has also picked up another two points and is looking at getting off the last page, where all the Footcall no-hopers reside!

The big Footcall headline this evening however is Kathryn and Ellie have had a falling out! No longer are they joined at the hip on identical scores as Kathryn correctly predicted France to win this evening and has now forged ahead by two crucial points, and because of this achievement I'm going to give Kathryn the Player of the Day award. She has only dropped one solitary point in the second stage and is proudly sitting at the top of a brand new Footcall Knockout Stages League table we have introduced for 2016 which you can see HERE

You will also find a new button on the LEAGUE page of the Footcall website. This league table has been introduced by popular demand to reward the Footcallers who score well in the Knockout Stages of the competition. This will run alongside the overall league which obviously determines the overall winner. We still have another 16 massive points to play for with correct predictions of the semi-final winners will bag you four points each and finally eight points can be pocketed for guessing the overall Euro 2016 winner.

Our next match is the first semi on Wednesday night as we have the Real Madrid showdown we've all been waiting for, Gareth Bale versus Cristiano Ronaldo or BALRON as we are calling it! Can the Welsh boyos wipe that smug look off Ronnie's face, fingers crossed eh? I do hope we haven't got any Portuguese Footcallers playing this year!

See you Wednesday night (or Thursday morning)...

David


]]>Carry On Penalty Kicking!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-07-03T02:16:25+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-19https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-19Day 19 in the Footcall House...
Tonight's match saw old footballing adversaries Germany play Italy. A re-run of the Footcall 2014 final where the Germans systematically dismantled the Italians with the engineering of a Porsche engineer.

It has to be said, the first half did not match up to the spectacular billing this match expected to be. Both sides cancelling each other out with only Sturaro for Italy having a shot on target. The second had to be more lively just to keep us from dozing off and

Muller shot saved by acrobatic dive from ..... to deny the German striker his first Euro goal Without doubt the most astonishing fact is that the man who single handedly has scored almost as many goals in the World Cup as England is still yet to get his name on the scoresheet in the Euro Championship!

However in the 65th minute Arsenal striker Mesut Ozil broke the deadlock with a well worked move down the left side capped off with a strike from six yards past Manuel Neuer's near post.

The Italians up until now had been rock solid at the back and they needed to remain calm and work their way back in to the game. Fortune was indeed on their side when Jerome Boateng was ruled to have touched the ball with his arm in the penalty area and so the Italians had found a way back in. The spot kick was duly executed by Leonardo Bonucci with his first ever penalty kick in any match! Deadlock restored... One all... game on!

Both sides had chances at either end to wrap things up for their nation but after 120 minutes of play we still couldn't decide a winner so we were left with the dreaded penalties. Now; we are looking here to the Germans who are past masters of the penalty shootout, and the last time they lost was in 1976 when West Germany were defeated by Czechoslovakia and neither of these two countries even exist any longer! Italy's record for spot kicks, is, at best, indifferent... although significantly better than England. Who remembers when Roberto Baggio spooned it over the bar in the World Cup '94, even Diana Ross in the opening ceremony got her penalty nearer than that...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAKsGT9-XB0
They had however beaten France in World Cup final of 2006 and England in Euro 2012 so it wasn't all bad and they still had the same keeper, Gianluigi Buffon between the sticks. It wouldn't surprise me if he was in the squad in 1994.

That was then, this is now and first up was Insigne scored for Italy to get things underway and then Kroos equalised and it looked like it was all set to be a penalty kick masterclass. Next up was Italy's Zaza who's run up was that of a comedic prancing pony dancing the Nutcracker only for him to clear over the bar and clear out of the ground. If you stick your head of your window right now you might just see the ball in your own front garden! Now it was time for the Germans to enforce their advantage. It was Thomas "I'm brilliant at World Cup but crap at Euros" Muller and he stepped up looking to score his first ever Euro goal. His kick was as lack lustre as wet weekend in Hastings with his half hearted shot going straight into the Buffon's gloves, my two year old nephew could have made a better fist of it than this.

The deadlock had once again been restored. Fortunately Barzagli steadied the Italian ship and then Mesut Ozil who had already got his name on the scoresheet this evening hit the post! Suddenly the pendulum of pressure swung back towards Italy. Next up Graziano Pelle who gestured to Manuel Neuer as to where he was going to put the ball. Well the keeper needn't have worried as he poked it wide of the post! Oh my word, what is going on here!

Julian Dazzler Draxler confidently put Germany ahead again. Next up was Bonucci, who had already scored from the penalty spot this evening, then had his attempt turned away by the big hand of Neuer. Now we were in to sudden death and it was really getting exciting. This was it, all down to Captain Bastian Schweinsteiger to tuck it away to queue the celebrations. Clearly the Man U veteran had clearly not read the script as he too made a right Horlicks of it mimicking Robert Baggio all those years ago by clearing the ball high of the left hand corner. The pressure was all too much for those competing and those watching, we weren't finished yet. It was getting quite confusing exactly what the score was at this point.

We needed a bit of quality to sort this mess out and Italy's Giaccerini who had played a wonderful match confidently put the ball straight in. As too did Hummel for Germany, then Parolo for Italy and a small child called Kimmich scored again for Germany. De Scigilio hit the underside of the bar but it still went in for the Italians followed by Jerome Boateng powering it in to equalise for the Germans once again. Then the direction of Matteo Darmian's shot was predicted correctly by keeper Neuer and it went straight into his hands. So the final honours were left Jonas Hector to convert his spot kick and put Germany through to yet another semi-final. Although Buffon guessed the right way there was enough power on Hector's shot to carry it over the line.

Joy for the Germans, misery for the Italians. What an exciting conclusion to the match proving that once again, penalty shootouts are the crystal meth of the beautiful game!


And so to the Footcall League...


WE HAVE A NEW LEADER! Finally Mr Weaver's long running reign at the top has been toppled by young Jasper Dudson. He's only eight years old and once again proving that Footcall is a young persons game as he follows in the footsteps of Nathaniel Ridley and Amaia Borges Clark. Not only that but Lee Baker has moved up into second. Lots of you predicted Germany to win (sadly not Carol who's race might well be run now that we know her faith in Italy has evaporated). Ellie and Kathryn still copying each other's homework with identical scores and I'm going to award player of the day to me ol mate James Rowland (or "Kathryn's Dad" as he's more commonly known) as he picked his first two pointer after only ever having scored ones in the league up until now. Well done JR you deserve this, please don't let the fact that your wife, brother, sister-in-law, daughter, son and even your own Mother are all miles in front of you in the league table, this is your time now ol boy, have a pint of Harvey's on me!

That'll do for now, see ya!

David


]]>Well well Wales...</br>the UK is even more unpopular in Brussels tonight!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-07-02T02:03:53+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-18https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-18Day 18 in the Footcall House...
Tonight saw the Welsh who were the last remaining home nation team fight for a place in the semi-final against Belgium. This was the biggest match Wales had played in since 1958 when they reached the Quarter Finals of the World Cup only to come up against an aspiring young Brazilian who went by the name of Pele. Maybe this evening they could dare to dream to go one better and restore some pride in the United Kingdom, after England's woeful performance I signed up to Ancestory.com (other genealogy sites are available) to see if there was any Welsh blood in my family tree so I could legitimately call myself Welsh. Apart from when my grandad had a blood transfusion from a bloke called Alwyn, I got nothing! Anyway it wasn't going to stop Mr and Mrs Footcall cheering them on and we were convinced we'd see the Welsh Dragon fly!

Well it was the Belgians who stated the brighter when Lukaku crafted an opening for Carrasco which Hennessey saved, then the follow up from Meunier had his shot cleared off the line before Eden Hazard stuck it over the bar. The signs were looking ominous for Wales. A few moments later their fears were compounded when Radja Nainggolan found himself in clear water thirty yards out and he belted a thunderous strike to bust the net past the keeper's outstretched fingers. What a bullet of a goal. Now the pressure was really on and with Coleman's pre match team talk still fresh in their minds the astonishing happened from the head of Ashley Captain Fantastic Williams as he nutted the ball in off a perfectly delivered corner from Aaron Ramsey. One all, game on! The replay showed De Bruyne wandering away from his post to leave space for Williams' header, Mr Smiley, my old PE teacher, would be yelling at me from the sideline if I'd vacated my duty as right back like that!

In the second half it was clear that Belgian boss Marc Wilmots had stuck a rocket up them in the locker room as they seemed much more accretive after the break. Despite Hazard showing a bit of class it was the Welsh who had the heart and spirit of team unity that England so clearly lacked on Monday. Their tenacity was rewarded by a glorious moment of Euro football magic. The move started with most amazing first touch from Aaron "Man of the Match" Ramsey in the box who threaded it through to Hal Robson-Kanu right near the penalty spot, whilst surrounded by three Belgian defenders the audacious Welshman pulled off the most amazing Cruyff turn to send all three opponents the wrong way and then he side footed it in past Courtois and into the goal. Un-effing-believable! Robbie Savage in the commentary box went completely nuts "If that was Messi, we'd be talking about it for years to come!" Well Lionel can't take the credit for this, from now on this will forever be known as the Robson-Kanu turn! I know that Paul Simon has been approached to write the theme tune for his life story... You Can Call Me Hal.

Two One up, we were still in a daze. Can it be possible? Can they hang on? Will there be another LLG? Well you know what? there was another late(ish) goal, not an equaliser but a magnificent third for Wales from the most delightful cross by Gunter straight on to the head of Sam Vokes who redirected it in to the Belgian net and make it the most magical night and close out the match three one.

What a game, a magnificent result, the Welsh team played like a band of brothers supporting each other, fighting for the ball, looking for goals and motivating their fans. Well done Wales, thoroughly deserved, you made History Boyos!


And so to the Footcall League...


Thomas Baus correctly identified Wales would be victorious and has moved up in to third whilst Jamie & Ian along with Jack Hennerby also bagged two points to move in to the money bracket. The big news tonight is that Carol Gerrard's unbroken record is... well... erm... broken! I'm sure she's wishing this is not the beginning of the end for her Footcall 2016 chances.

John Dawson, Pete Sweeney, Elizabeth Mailey, Euan Vallender, Anne Herring, Bryan Relf, Darren Brame, Sam For and Janette Rowland all picked up two points for the Wales result and are on to the first page. Astonishingly Kathryn and Ellie are still locked together with matching predictions (I'm getting suspicious now) and they are both up in to 42nd.

Well done to anyone else who predicted a Welsh win tonight, there are too many to list all of you but it just leaves me to award player of the day to young Nathaniel Ridley (Footcall Champion 2012) who made a very good run topped off with another two points tonight. I know the Ridleys and the Bojtlers were all enjoying the Wales result in their homeland and quite right too.

Until tomorrow,

David


]]>Portugal go to the Poles to seek a Referee-ndum!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-07-01T02:40:20+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-17https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-17Day 17 in the Footcall House...
Tonight we embarked upon the first Quarter Final match of Euro 2016,with Poland (who hadn't lost a match) facing up against Portugal (who hadn't actually won a match). Astonishing to think that you could get to the Quarter Final of a tournament without winning a game in normal time but the Portuguese like to do things a little differently... maybe England could take a leaf out of their book! Damn it! I wasn't going to mention England tonight and there I've gone and done it in the first sentence!

Well Poland didn't hang about as they carved their notch in the headpost with a lightning quick goal in just 70 seconds from the heel of Robert Lewandowski from 12 yards out. The second fastest goal in Euro Championship history, they really caught the Portuguese napping! A few minutes later Portugal had a good shout for a penalty turned down when Ronaldo was thrown to the floor in the box, fortunately for the Poles the referee was on their side. It didn't take long before the team in red to draw level however with Portugal's new wonder kid Renato Sanches (whose name does sound remarkably like Tomato Sandwiches) crafted a beautiful one two with Nani to power the ball in with his left peg. What a goal, and what a player this lad promises to be! A replay did show there was a big deflection off the thigh of Krychowiak but take nothing away from Sanches he deserved it. One all into half time we went.

The second half certainly lacked the sparkle of the first as both sides seemed to cancel each other out. Cedric hit a bullet of a shot over the bar and Ronaldo had a golden opportunity to seal the deal within the 90 as the ball came over his shoulder only for him to fluff the kick entirely that made him look as good as that fat kid in your class who always got picked last for the school team! Pepe did a sterling job as he has all tournament to keep his team in the contest. It was still locked a one a piece after full time and so we played another 30 minutes just for the hell of it. In all the Extra Time sessions I've ever seen I could count on the fingers of one hand the amount that were ever worth watching. We have seen the Golden Goal which everybody hated, we've seen the Silver Goal which nobody understood and now we've reverted back to 15 minutes either way. But what seems to happen is both teams just dig in for the duration, try and run off the inevitable cramp and pray for penalties. Once again, this is just what happened.

Up until now Poland had been resolute and strong even ambitious enough to go and win it in normal time but the Portugal just kept them out of the game so the match would be decided from the penalty spot. The first six spot kicks were impeccable from either side and sadly for the Poles, it was they that would crack first when Jakub Blaszczykowski's effort was saved by Rui Patricio. This meant that Ricardo "Tiny Tears" Quaresma was the decisive kicker and after a slightly faltering run up he stuck it in the roof of the net. Queue the celebrations from Portugal, queue the heartbreak for Poland.

So Portugal have managed to Polish off their opponents and move into the semi-finals despite still not actually winning a match within 90 minutes! I really think Portugal flatter to deceive and certainly aren't as clinical as other teams in the event but with Ronaldo on the field we all know they are always a threat.


And so to the Footcall League...


With two points for a correct prediction now we are going to start to seem serious leapfrogging! We now have a joint leader at the top with Jasper Dudson and Graham Weaver both on 41 points. Graham is just ahead by stint of the fact he had more red squares in the Group Stages than Jasper. Still plenty more points to fight for before we are all done.

Chris Sampson and Jamie Sains and Gary Bowman all had Portugal to win and have moved up slightly. And look here... Carol Gerrard is continuing her faultless run with her ninth consecutive correct prediction, she was in 32nd after the GS and now finds herself in 10th!

Quite a few Footcallers picked Portugal in particular Kathryn Rowland and Ellie Fairman are locked together on EXACTLY identical statistics! Same number of GS pants, red squares even the same predictions for every KO Stages match so far. What are the odds on that?Let's see if this continues right through to the final.

I'm going to give Player of the Day to Ben "Thorpey What Have you Got Me Into Here?" Davey who's not had the best of results in his first Footcall, no doubt robbed by all those late late goals but I hope he's enjoying it none the less. Ben, your score ain't all that but it's the taking part that counts and you can console yourself with the fact that you are the only person to score any points today (on the last page of the league table!)

Regrettably Poland's exit (or PEXIT as we are calling it) is my sad result for me personally as I had predicted they would go all the way to lift the trophy! Oh well, another Footcall bites the dust for me, at least I can selflessly enjoy everyone else's success just like Cristiano does when one of his team mates scores instead of him!

Tomorrow... Wales v Belgium, what a cracker that promises to be.

David


]]>Kane you believe it?</br>England Lost to a Cut Price Supermarket!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-28T02:02:36+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-16https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-16Day 16 in the Footcall House...
Today was the day, the big one, the final day of the second round of matches. Ahead of us lay the golden path of glory that is the Quarter Final and first up was the reigning Euro Cup holders Spain doing battle with Italy, the team they destroyed four zip in Euro 2012, what a night that was in Kiev! Well that is a distant memory now and it would fair to say that neither team resembled the squads of four years ago, no Torres, no Balotelli for instance but Iniesta and Jordi Alba were still there for Spain and the Italians still had the old man Buffon in goal.

The afternoon kickoff whistle blew and mother nature herself decided that the pitch had clearly not been watered enough and so the heavens opened and a monsoon ensued! As the water table started to rise the players dug in it was the Italians who took control. In the first half an hour David de Gea made two world class saves to keep Spain afloat. Italy's pressure paid off in the 33rd minute when de Gea parried a free kick from Eder only to see it drop to Chiellini to stab it home. Italy were bossing this match as the Spaniards looked lethargic and in the second half de Gea was once again called upon to keep his team in it. Despite a couple of purposeful attacks that did get the attention of Mr Buffon the signs were looking ominous. Even Mr Shakira Gerard Pique spurned an opportunity to draw level and in the true tradition of Euro 2016 Italy wrapped it up nicely with a late late goal in the 91st minute with a quick break that ended with Pelle volleying it in to make it two nil. Game over! The difference between these two teams was that Italy played with more passion and skill. In a team that doesn't have a superhero in it's squad, nobody expected the Italian inquisition!

The star of the show was undoubtedly the Italian manager Conte (soon to be the boss at Stamford Bridge) as he kicked, headed and volleyed every ball with the players and when the second goal went in he went absolutely nuts clambering on the top of the dug out to celebrate with the fans. He's going to be one to watch in the Premier League next season, he's like the Italian Barry Fry!

So I rushed home to get set for the game all England fans have been waiting for our head to head with the little nation of Iceland. Before we start, let's look at some facts... The population of England is very nearly 51,000,000, the population of Iceland is 323,000 (about the same amount that work for Iceland Foods in England), the England Manager gets paid £3.5m a year, the Iceland Manager is a part time dentist, the Premier League is worth is the richest league in the world, Iceland doesn't actually have a professional league at all, so on paper this, was going to be a piece of p*ss!

A few Footcaller eyebrows were raised when we saw the team sheet included Rahem Sterling as he had failed to flatter in the Group Stages but we needn't have worried as we barely had time to line up our substantial nibbles before the boy Sterling scurried in to the box much like Velma from Scooby Doo only to be brought down by Halldorson in the box. PENALTY! Captain hairpiece, Wayne Rooney stepped up and slotted it home to take the lead. Yesssss! This was it, look lively Footcallers, the floodgates are about to open! Surely we would push on from here and make this the biggest spanking since Wheel Power beat Nova 2010 FC in the Torbay Sunday League 58 goals to nil.

Well low and behold it only took another 34 seconds before we had another goal. Sadly however it was not England doubling up on their score but Iceland effing equalising from their trademark long throw, flick, header combination! WTF? This wasn't in the script, didn't the team watch Wrighty and Dicko talk about this in the pre-match summary? Look for the long throw, it's their secret weapon!

OK, one all is not so bad we can just go and get another one. And herein lies the inherent problem with the English national team, we just can't ever seem to turn it around. Just to rub salt into the wounds, barely a dozen minutes later Iceland managed to tippy tap their way through the statuesque English defence and create enough space for Sigthorsson to get a shot away with just barely enough pace on it to reach the goal line. Somehow it managed to sneak under Joe Hart's outstretched hand and dribble over the line.

OH,
MY...
GOD!
What the chuff happened there?

One minute we were in the lead, the next minute we were fighting for survival in the tournament. Now we were hoping for our own equaliser just so we can take it to penalties and we were only in the 18th minute of the match!

Let's take stock, consolidate, get to half time and wait for Mr H to give the hairdryer treatment to a few players in the dressing room. We made a few runs that could have led to an equaliser but we were either not up to it or Icelanders were equal to it. Despite a Harry Kane volley that the was tipped over the bar we had nothing to write home about before the end of the first half. It was at this point that Mrs Footcall decided to go upstairs and watch a rerun of an old Midsomer Murders just so she didn't have to put herself through England's agony.

On the return try as we might we just didn't appear to have the initiative to decisively dissect delusional defences it really was despairingly dire! Not only that but the boys in blue nearly went three one up when a fantastic overhead kick went right at the gloves of Hart. The second half was classic England, we've seen it before in our earlier games but of course this time it really mattered and this time we were playing a team ranked twenty odd places below us. How can this be happening again? But happen it did and somehow Iceland managed to do the unthinkable and hang on to their lead, not even England's talisman Jamie Vardy could head home a late late goal. Curses! The game was up and England were out. Not since that volcano have Iceland f*cked us up so badly!

I've been writing these reports for 16 years now and I've watched nearly every match in the Euros and the World Cup since but tonight's match ranks alongside the hammering Brazil took off the hands of Germany in 2014 for a team to be so bereft of ideas. The Premier League has a lot to answer for as it provides this wonderful stage that leads us to think that the England team are every bit as good as the PL. Unfortunately that just isn't the case and for the second time in four days England are out of Euro and now we have to raise another petition to see if we can get this match replayed!

In a press conference after the match, England Manager, Roy Hodgson announced his retirement, so the Brexit campaign was right about one thing, there are more jobs available now we've left the EU. On a day that one of the greatest players on the planet, Lionel Messi, has announced his retirement from international football, maybe England might follow suit!


And so to the Footcall League...


The Italy Spain result was fairly evenly divided but England's loss was somewhat more decisive in the Footcall league. Only eight players picked Iceland to win including a certain Simon "The Vuvu should have my name on it" Jenner!

Graham Weaver is hanging on to the top spot as the peloton are gathering behind him like a heard of cyclists ready to overtake. The others to correctly predict Iceland to win include Aaron Sutcliffe, Sara Borges, Eddie Bojtler, June Chapman, Helene Wilkinson and Gracie Rodgers.

I am going to award player of the day to Carol "I've been Footcalling since the start" Gerrard who not only guessed Iceland to win but also picked Italy to defeat Spain and indeed correctly identify all of the winners from the second round! She is the only player to score a perfect eight from eight and is now very nicely placed just outside the money bracket with all of her lives in tact for the Quarter Finals. Well done Carol, please don't forget to rub David's nose in it!

On to the Quarters we go, next up Poland v Portugal.

David


]]>Hazard Lights Up The Belgium Win!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-27T01:51:06+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-15https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-15Day 15 in the Footcall House...
Three more second round matches to be played today kicking off with France v Republic of Ireland and what a start the Irish had when Shane Long was brought down in the box in just the second minute. Robbie Brady did the business from 12 yards out sending a shiver down the spine of Les Bleus. Well the hosts needn't have worried as it was blue was indeed the colour from then on in. It was in the second half when Antoine Griezmann lit the blue touch paper nodded in a wonderful header to draw level in the 57th minute. Barely four minutes later Griezmann tucked away his second to put them in front. As the clock ran down they would have scored a hatful more if it wasn't for the efforts of Darren Randolph wearing the big gloves between the Irish posts. Eventually the Irish ran out inspiration and things only got worse when Shane Duffy (who looks like a dead ringer for one of Boyzone) got himself red carded for a moment of mindlessness. Griezmann nearly had a hat trick but it finished 2-1 and now they face the winner of the England Iceland match tomorrow night.

Match two saw tourney favourites face up against heavy under dogs Slovakia. The Germans looked in command right from the start when Jerome Boateng (who'd make a decent welterweight) hit a low volley into the bottom left corner. From then on it was a one horse race as Slovakia pretty much played like heavy dogs under the influence of a spell. Germany could even afford to miss a penalty from Ozil. Fortunately Germany a new superstar in the making in Julian Draxler (who's first name I really wish was Bobby) who carved his way through the sleepy Slovakian defence to set up a tap in for Mario Gomez. 'Bobby' then put the cherry on the top with delightful head height volley straight into the roof of the net. They nearly went four up but it finished three nil sending the Slovakians home to work on their crazy crazy haircuts.

Finally Belgium went head to head with Hungary in the evening match. Kevin De Bruyne who has one of those young looking faces that make you wonder if he has school in the morning, set up the first goal with a peach of a free kick right on to Toby Alderweireld's head. One Nil, game on. Belgium were sporting a new powder blue kit with what appeared to be the German flag (not the Belgian one) across their chest, with the stripes running horizontally rather than vertically. It's a good job they got the stripes in the correct sequence or this would have been a embarrassing wardrobe malfunction. This new kit was certainly a good omen for the Belgies as they dominated the second half and substitute Bashuayi doubled their lead with his first touch of the game. Then we finally saw a sweet bit of magic from Eden Hazard as he made a dazzling run which started in the Belgian half and finished with Eden curling it in to the bottom right corner. With ten minutes to go this was surely it for Hungary? And it was, as we saw another late late goal this time from Carrasco who went one on one with the keeper and won! Four nil to Belgium what a thrashing, this was why they are ranked number two in the world!


And so to the Footcall League...


A lot of clean sweeps today with one pointers a plenty and even Dan "Super Footcaller" Schroeck has moved up on to the first page. I thought I would give a mention to the Division leaders this evening. All the Division winners outside of the prize money bracket in yellow on the league will be invited back to compete in Footcall 2018 which is a nice. So this means you might not necessarily be top of the league to qualify for the free entry.

So Thomas Baus is heading up Black Division but he's in the money so we move down to John & Darryl who will be the team to qualify for free entry but they are only one point ahead of Neil Jefferis. Chloe Norris is just hanging on to the lead in Blue ahead of Jonathan Hill. James Ellis is fighting it out in the car park with Pete Sweeney at the top of Brown. Sean Woodbine is only just ahead of Kevin Appleton in Green. Jack Hennerby who is actually top, is heading up Orange just ahead of David Blakeman. Tat Wah Liu is one ahead of Andy Kirchell in the Pink Division. Jade Amos and Andy Brunt are neck and neck at the moment at the top of Purple. Carol "I don't quite believe this" Gerrard is top of Red but only by nature of her better Knockout Stages record over John Dawson. David Hitch is just ahead of Alan "Cut my arm off and you'll see Footcall running through me!" Church in White and finally James Rowe are going toe to toe with Dean Smith in the Yellow Division.

That'll do for now, England up next, deep breath...

David


]]>Shaqiri, Shaqiri... What a Stunner!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-26T01:15:00+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-14https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-14Day 14 in the Footcall House...
Today marked the start of the second phase of Euro 2016 and the second part of Footcall 2016. First up we had the Swiss take on Poland and it was the Poles who went ahead in the 39th minute from a terrific break to put away the ball by Blaszczykowski (pretty good name on a Scrabble board) and Poland took their one nil lead into the second half. After the break Switzerland nearly equalised with a terrific effort that belted the bar. Time was pushing on and the Poles were defending deep and were made to pay in the most spectacular way. As the ball pinged about the Polish box it came across the edge of the penalty area and Xherdan Shaqiri performed the most sublime overhead bicycle kick so good he managed to power it in off the right hand upright. What a goal, the players went mad, the fans went mad, Jonathan Pearce in the commentary box went mad! One all and we have a new contender for goal of the tournament. I think Frank Sinclair would have been proud of that one.

Eventually the clock ran down and it finished level, even after extra time, so we knew what that meant... penalties! Granit Xhaka unfortunately showed that he didn't have nerves of granite as he hit it high wide and handsome just like Chrissy Waddle in Italia '90. After four penalties each it was down to Grzegorz Krychowiak to bury it top left and start the Polish celebrations. Poland were through and Swiss were off home.

Game number two was a home nations match with Wales facing up against Northern Ireland. It would be fair to say that although there was a lot of energy in the first half it lacked goalmouth action we all crave. In the second half the deadlock was broken when Gareth golden boy Bale whipped across from the left side and teasing cross for Robson Kanu's to stick his toe on it but he was beaten to it by the Gareth on the opposing team, McAuley that is, and he toe poked it in past his own keeper. Doh! This was the 75th minute so the Welsh had to play a tense quarter of an hour defending their lines very successfully. Well done Wales, who would have thought they could have got to the Quarter Final before this tournament started?

Finally we had a rather tepid evening game between Portugal and Croatia. Not much happened, in fact it was so bad there was only one (yes one) shot on target! It came in extra time in the 117th minute when Nani appeared to play a shot come pass (who knows what it was) that fell perfectly to Ronaldo who smashed it at the keeper only for it to bounce out in to Ricardo Quaresma's head. You could barely call it a shot on target as he was all of one yard out. This late late winner, let's face it, it doesn't come much later than 117 minutes, to break Footcaller's hearts up and down the league table. This was a game for the purists and props have to be given to the two principal defenders at either end in Corluka and Pepe. In the dying seconds of the match we very nearly had an equaliser from Domagoj Vida volleyed it just wide of the Portuguese post, the poor fella could have had a hat trick tonight. So Ronaldo and co march on to the Quarters to face Poland and Quaresma was off to have another tear tattooed on his face.


And so to the Footcall League...


Once again we had a terrific turnout of Footcallers complete the KO Stages and all but 17 of you managed to get in before the 2pm curfew. We had two significant casualties from the deadline today in Thomas Millward who was in 20th (only 7 behind the leader) and Colin "Absolutely Gutted" Cunningham who was actually sitting pretty in the money bracket in 9th, just six off the top spot. Both failed to get their entries in and so they remain on the points they have already accumulated and no doubt will watch waves of players overtake them.

If you click on the League Table link above you will see we have the new format of table for the KO Stages highlighting the player at the top (red) with the 11 teams below that in yellow, this is the all important money bracket. These second round matches are all worth one point for each time you guess correctly to win. Graham Weaver who is currently top of the pile gave an interview earlier today to one of our Footcall correspondents. Graham was actually in Paris to see the Wales Northern Ireland game with his son Joey and he explained how his last few Group Stages matches all seemed to go against him and he thought he was destined to lose the top place. But hang on he did and now he's looking to rediscover his early form in the KOs. Good luck to you Graham and all the Footcallers chasing you.

Graham did manage to pick up two out three today as did many players and there were quite a number of people who got three out of three (myself included). I'm not going to name all of them as this report is long enough as it is. So let's give some credit to some unsung heroes of the day... Jamie Sains, Jasper Dudson, Carol Gerrard, Ian Sayer, Maxine Read, Gary Bowman, Andy Kirchell, Neil Jefferis, Matt Green, David Blakeman, James Rowe, Russell Morris, Jon Hill, Elizabeth Mailey, Matt Clark, Emily Rodgers, Dan Schroeck, Anne Herring, Sam Ford, Euan Vallender, David Frost, David Bourne, Janette Rowland, Wayne Scott, Kathryn Rowland, Eleanor Fairman, Sara "Hello!" Borges, Carmel Sutton, Jill Fuller and Peter Short all got a clean sweep today.

I shall give player of the day to June "This is my first Footcall experience and I love it!" Chapman who also cleaned up today with a three out of three and not only that, it's June's birthday today, so a double celebration is in order. Well done June keep up the good form!

Until tomorrow,

David


]]>Irish Eyes Smiling On Brady's Bunch!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-23T04:05:00+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-13https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-13Day 13 in the Footcall House...
Today was the final day of the Group Stages of our little ol competition we like to call Footcall. Not only was it all to play for on the field but it was all to play for at the top of our league table with a fair number fighting it out for the half way top spot.

First up this afternoon was the round up of Group F with Hungary up against Portugal and Iceland v Austria. To be frank I'm too confused (and tired) to run through all the permutations but let's just say my stats man Matt "I have a spreadsheet for a brain" Clark kept me informed with the situation throughout the day. Well Zoltan Gera (ex Fulham) lit the blue touch paper for Hungary with a bullet of a shot in the 19th minute. Something told us this was going to get hot. And it did when Nani equaliser with a lovely near post finish. Game on! In the second half Hungary forged ahead again when Dzsudzsak's free kick was deflected into the Portuguese net. With the pressure piling on the boy Ronaldo scored his first goal of the tournament with sweet sweet flick with the inside of his heel... whilst in mid air! A goal that reminded me of my glory days down Ditton rec with Nick D'Avanzo doing Coca-Cola skills! Portugal's joy was short lived however when Dzsudzsak scored a screaming left peg into the left corner much to Ronaldo's disgust at the piss poor defending of his colleagues. So once again it was down to Cristiano to do the business again and bring his team level with a magnificent header that even I would need a step ladder to get to. And so it finished three all, what a game, the best of the tournament for my money. Both teams had done enough to stay in the competition.

Iceland in the other game were playing Austria and the boys from the little nation who have more Nobel Prize winners per head than any other nation, went ahead in the 18th minute with Bodvarsson from six yards. A goal straight out of the Gary Linekar handbook. In the second half the Austrians were awarded a penalty and this was the slimmest of lifelines to get back it but would you believe it Dragovic hit the outside of the post! It was backs to the walls now for Iceland but they just couldn't stop Schopf from tangoing through the defence to draw level sending the stats man into meltdown. Now we all know this is the tourney for the late late goal and they don't come much later than Iceland's winner which came in the 94th minute from Traustason. Magnificent, Iceland won and were through, Austria were going home.

In the evening we saw Belgium face up against Sweden. The Belgians really had the dominance in the game and the Swedish keeper was tested numerous times but the first half did in fact remain without a goal. The second half carried on where it left off and despite all the efforts of the Belgian strike force it looked like it was going to finish nil nil that was until Mr Mohican, Radja Nainggolan powered home the winner in the 84th minute. Ibrahimavich had chances bring the Swedes up level but without success and the final whistle went leaving Belgium to march in to the KO Stages and for Sweden to march home. Poor ol Zlatan immediately announced his retirement from international career, that is of course until he finds out he has Icelandic grandparents!

The other game going on was Italy (already qualified) agains Ireland who really needed a win. Some great opportunities early doors for both teams and a very strong Irish shout for a penalty but the ref stood firm. The first half finished goalless. in the second half, Insigne went jolly close as he hit the post. Ireland were defending like troopers and then super sub Hoolahan (autocorrect wants to call him Hooligan!) was one on one with the keeper and he just toe poked it right into his chest. things were getting desperate and with the weight of a nation on his shoulders Robbie Brady the hero of the hour bobbed up to nut home a pechy little cross from Hoolahan past the outstretched keeper's hands. What a goal, what a celebration! With just five minutes left, Ireland were able to keep a cool head and see out time. What a match, they were through!


And so to the Footcall League...


I deliberately left the scores blank in the final games this evening to build the tension of who were going to be the league leaders and I can announce that Graham Weaver has managed to hang by the skin of his teeth to top spot. For the past few games he really has been treading water as it's been some time since his last red square. But he finished on 36 points with 8 red squares. Well done Graham, a cash prize (to be announced soon) will be coming your way! The drama of the evening games meant that we have a new runner up with Lee Baker racing up on the inside rail with four glorious points to put him in to second place by virtue of the fact he has more correct results than Thomas Baus (unlucky Tom). Jasper Dudosn hung on to fourth and Richard Goodwin the form player appeared from nowhere to finish 5th. James Vallender is in 6th, Jamie Sains in 7th and Keith Firmston lifted his game to finish 8th.

Other players to pick up red squares today were, Chloe Norris, Chris Kotsonis, Thomas Frost, Darren Brame, Matt Clark, Mark Hudgell, Amaia Borges Clark, David Bourne, Peter Arnold, Sam Nicholso, Louis Norris, Steve Russell, Sarah Cummins and Tony Nicholson all of whom have climbed up a few more spots before the next stage. At one stage my brother was on for a three pointer when Iceland were one nil up, but it didn't stay that way so he was relieved to only score one point and finish where he intended to at the foot of the table!

I could give player of the day to Lee Baker, but he's got some cash coming so sod him, I'm going to give the award to Mike "Kanu Believe It" Davies who also bagged four juicy Footcall points today as he has cruised in to 60th place. Well done Mike, I know we've never met and I know nothing about you but today is your day!

That's it for the Group Stages now we move on to the Knockout Stages where there is so much to play for. A whopping 32 points is up for grabs. More details to follow as soon as we have changed the stage set for scene two.

In this part of the completion we do not need the scores, just the teams you think are going to win but you do need to complete all the matches right through to the ultimate winner.

You will receive 1 point for each team you guess correctly to get to the quarter finals, 2 points for each semi-finalist, 4 points each finalist and 8 points for predicting the winning team. This gives a possible 32 points in total.

Good luck everyone and look out for the next important email to tell you that you can login to your account and make your predictions.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT THE NEXT STAGE...

The kickoff for the first match is on Saturday at 2pm and this is your absolute deadline to get your predictions done for the KO Stages. there is no more money to pay and you really can turn your scores around and win some prize money. SO put 1.49pm in your diary and make sure you do not miss the deadline or you not score any more points than you already have. There are no extensions on this deadline.

In the words of Shaw Taylor... "Keep em peeled!"

David


]]>Blank Czechs Provide Turkish Delight!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-22T03:33:00+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-12https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-12Day 12 in the Footcall House...
Today saw the roundup of Groups C and D. Afternoon kickoffs were Northern Ireland v Germany and Ukraine v Poland. The permutations were...

N Ireland - A loss could see them out with 3 points. A win will see them through whilst a draw will keep them in 3rd with 4 points.

Germany - Only a loss to N.I. and Polish avoid defeat will see them into 3rd with 4 points.

Ukraine - OUT (Time to head home)

Poland - A win guarantees qualification, as does a German win. Can only drop to 3rd with 4 points if they lost and Germany do not win.

Germany started their match against NI with rigorous intent, although NI had a great run into the competition they were always going to be up against it when playing the World Champions. Wave after wave the Germans pummelled their opponents goal but little did they know they were facing the Northern Irish Manuel Neuer in Michael "I have Spidey Senses" McGovern. The man was on fire! If Germany smacked it from distance he parried it, if they tried to dribble it in to the net McGovern pinched the ball off them and tied their shoelaces together in the process. It was like watching a film where the saves were all carefully choreographed except we all knew NI were fighting to stay in this thing. Eventually however on the 29th minute Gomez did breach the defences of the best player in the tournament to date and Germany went into the break one up. On the return the boys in green defended their half like lions with captain catcher between the sticks. They knew if they could hold the match to a one nil loss or even sneak a draw there was a good chance they could go through. Well despite all the German onslaught the little league boys did it. What a match! I've not seen keeping like this since 1982 when Jon Gibbons played in goal for my school team (Ditton Primary) and we lost to East Malling Backlands 10-1. We were thrashed, but Jon (who was actually a year younger than the rest of us) got man of the match for his heroism in goal. God alone knows what the score would have been if we didn't have him!

Meanwhile Ukraine were playing Poland. Ukraine were demob happy as they knew they were on their way home regardless. There were a few chances to several players with names with many a consonant but the first half was slightly unremarkable. After the break the stalemate was broken when Blaszczykowski powered it in on the 54th minute. Things got a bit more lively after that with chances at either end but eventually it stay one nil to Poland which meant they went second behind Germany with NI in third waiting for the nod from the UEFA big wigs.

The evening games saw the Group D matches conclude and the situation was as follows...

Croatia - A draw or better guarantees qualification. A win would top the group.

Spain - QUALIFIED - Will top the group if defeat is avoided.

Czech Republic - Can only qualify with a win and a Croatian loss.

Turkey - Need a win to stand a chance of going through in third.

Those dark ponies Croatia played the Spaniards who actually got things underway early doors with a goal by Morata in the 7th minute. Later in the half Rakitic nearly scored twice in one attempt as he pinged it off the underside of the bar and on to the post! How on earth it didn't go in only de Gea will know. However their desserts were just when they equalised in the 45th minute with a dainty little flick that even Gianfranco Zola would have tipped his hat to. In the second half Spain were awarded a rather soft penalty and Sergio Ramos stepped up to take only for keeper Subasic did his best McGovern impression and saved it. The replay showed that he was almost four yards off his own line but the ref didn't ask for it to be retaken so the play continued. It was looking like one all and then to get things back to normal in this tournament we saw yet another late late goal as Perisic powered home a great shot in the 87th minute. Two one to Croatia, who would have thought that? The Croatians finished top of the table and Spain second.

In the other game Turkey were playing Czech Republic and the Turks just had to win to give themselves an outside chance of qualification. Well they made a great start when Yilmaz got his name on the scoresheet in the 10th minute. Although the Czechs gave it a good go and several attempts, Turkey were equal to everything and in the 65th minute they even doubled their lead. Volkan Babacan (great name) in the Turkish goal did a sterling effort keeping his team in the lead. And the full time whistle went and it was indeed all over, Czech Mate!


And so to the Footcall League...


Graham is hanging in there topside as Jasper Dudson moves up in to third. Jack Hennerby and David Hitch did well as too did Neil Jefferis, James Ellis, Pete Sweeney, Melvyn Stringer, David Blakeman, Robert Wrather and Andy Kirchell. Anne Herring scored another three pointer as too did Peter Mulvey (hey Pete, do you remember when you were near the top of the league?), Aaron Sutcliffe, Chris Amos, David Kilbey, Ester Eatwell, Wayne Scott, Amaia Borges Clark, Sean (no relation to James) Ellis, Barney Paver, Alister Barton and last but by no means least Neil "I've got it all to do in the Knockouts" White.

Player of the day must go to Richard Goodwin who scored back to back threes this afternoon and was on for another possible four points I believe this evening. He has leapt up in to 12th and is very handily placed to the forthcoming KO Stages. More details about that to come.

I would like to backtrack a few days and give special credit to Kathryn Rowland who was the only Footcaller to predict Portugal and Austria to finish nil nil and I should have mentioned her in my report as the sole possessor of a red square for that result.

Final games of the Group Stages tomorrow, see ya!

David


]]>England and Wales Make It A Double!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-21T00:36:40+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-11https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-11Day 11 in the Footcall House...
Now it was time to wrap up Group B with England v Slovakia and Wales v Russia in the ITV simulcast (isn't it a shame you can't get BBC commentary when the games go over to the dark side). The permutations were as follows...

Russia - Anything other than a win will see them eliminated. Even a win could put them in 3rd with 4 points.

Wales - A loss will see them 3rd with 3 points. A draw would be enough to qualify if England avoid defeat against Slovakia. A win will guarantee qualification.

Slovakia - A draw will only be enough to qualify if Wales lose.

England - A win to top the group, could also top the group with a draw if Wales fail to win. If England lose, A Welsh win could see them out.

Got that?
Good.

So a win lose or draw for England could see them through and at times they appeared to try all three! Managed Hodgson made big time changes most notably leaving Captain Rooney on the bench. However Vardy looked the bees knees from the kickoff yet still nursing the long term wrist injury, he looked like Michael Jackson in one of his pretentious videos where he wore a fake cast on his wrist. The only difference being, tonight Vardy's wrap looked like it gone in the whites wash with a red sock! In the first half Vardy, Lallana and Sturridge all tested the Slovakian keeper's reactions. Time and again England were camped out in the Slovaks half but try as they might they just couldn't unpick the resolute defence. The frustration continued into the second half when Smalling almost gave a gift to their opponents as he tried to chest it back to Joe Hart. Soon after this wake up call England were generating the Slovakian box once again, Clyne went jolly close as did Deli Alli who tried to emulate Payet without success. At times little England look world beaters as they demonstrate signs of quality on the pitch then in the next moment it looks like a Soccer Aid match with a selection of overweight B List celebs trying to reenact the glory days of when they could fool their kids with a cheeky stepover!

In fairness to Slovakia, they showed just how to park a bus, take out the keys and wait for the cavalry to come. They defended like lions in their own half and Weiss even managed to test Hart at the other end. But for all the bluster, it finished nil nil. Good enough for England but what about Slovakia?

As Wales took on Russia the team that held England to a draw, this was going to be their ultimate test. Well the red Dragons looked sharp right from the start. Vokes went mighty close and then in the 11th minute Aaron Rampant Ramsey sidestepped the keeper and tucked it away. Could the Welsh fans dare to dream? And barely nine minutes later, the left back Neil Taylor found himself in the proper nose bleed zone one on one with the keeper. He had two goes at it but but adam and eve it, he blooming scored! His first ever goal for his nation, in fact only the second goal he had ever scored! His last goal was in a non-league Welsh match with a crowd of just 278, about the equivalent of the ITV4 viewing figures this evening! Well done Mr Taylor take a boo my son, take a boo (as Andy Gray used to say). Russia clearly had thoughts of two weeks off in Brighton as this was pretty much a one horse race all topped off by Gareth Golden Boot Boy Bale popping in the third of the match and his third for the tournament. That was it, three nil folks all over. Wales top the group on 6 with England on 5 and the resilient Slovaks in third hoping for the "Who Can Piss The Highest" vote to go through.


And so to the Footcall League...


DON'T FORGET TO SCROLL DOWN TO PAGE FOUR TO SEE THE CURRENT LEAGUE STANDINGS.

Graham Weaver is hanging on to top spot by his fingertips as Thomas Baus moves above Colin Cunningham into second. Jamie Sans had a good day predicting the England game to be goalless. There were very few red squares in this game tonight so let's give credit to Thomas Millward, Dean Smith, Jade Amos, Carol Gerrard, Ian Sayer, Kevin Appleton, Dave Billington, Jim Hendrix, Robert Wrather, James "What a great day we've had today" Ridley, Carmel Sutton, Sam Nicholson, Kate Blake, Tom Hutchison, Eric Church, Adam Botting, Dan Mackenzie, Ben "I beat Steve Davis don't you know" Sizer and Tony Nicholson are just a selection of those who had England to draw so they picked up one point.

In the Wales result, only Steven Hood nailed it 3-0 so that must be one of the predictions of the tournament other notables include Jasper Dudson, Tat Wah "I knew David met Steve in 2000" Liu, Bryan Relf, David Hitch, John Dawson, Jack Hennerby, Kelly Sains, Neil Jefferis, Mark Paver, Chris Kotsonis, Richard Goodwin, Pete Sweeney, Yasmin Coupland, Jonny Hill, Lee Albrect, Sara Borges, Gemma Simms, James Parker, Pam "I had a much better day yesterday" Herbert, Kathryn Rowland, Daniel Griffiths, Eleanor Fairman, Mark Hudgell, Sadie Colyer, Anne Herring, Nathaniel Ridley, Iain Baker, Steve Cowland, Andy Green, Christopher Lane, Daniel Volusek, Jason Hudson, Mike Davies, David Kilbey, Keith Reynolds, Paul Wakefield, David Wootton, Craig Amos, Barry Smith, Adam Jones, Amaia Borges Clark, Roy Trute, Louis Norris, Colin Jessop and Ella Loughlin all picked up one point. Boy that was a big list (I won't be doing that again I can tell you).

Player of the day must go to Russell "I was robbed of a perfect 6" Morris who scored the most points today, a very creditable four which moves him up in to 29th. Well done Russ, it was about time you did something spectacular.

That's it for now, Group C and D tomorrow night.

David


]]>Sadiku Had All The Answers Without Needing A Pen!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-20T01:39:33+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-10https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-10Day 10 in the Footcall House...
Hello again! What could be better than a Footcall report? How about two Footcall reports in one day?

Today saw Euro 2016 embark on the final leg of the Group Stages as the four teams in Group A all played simultaneously to avoid any naughty tactics (we don't want another re-run of the "Disgrace of Dijon" again! So host nation France teed it up against The Swiss whilst the other game was an all Eastern duel of Romania v Albania. I wonder how many Footcallers could point to these two countries on a map? (Mrs Footcall, you can put your hand down!)

The top two teams in each group would automatically qualify for the Knockout Stages then we have the best six teams from the eight placed teams who finish third. As in Footcall, there are plenty of criteria to separate the teams tied with the same number of points and (briefly) they are...

1. Points
2. Goal Difference
3. Goals Scored
4. Disciplinary Record
5. FIFA Ranking
6. Who's Got The Best National Anthem
7. Who's Bribed The UEFA Officials The Most
8. Who Can Piss The Highest

Got that?
Good!

So France were top of Group A and already through before this match started but Switzerland could go top with a victory. Romania could go through but hope Switzerland lose but the win must be bigger than the number of goals the Swiss score! Albania sadly are likely to be out even if they did win although they could get through on the slim chance of being one of the highest placed third place teams.

The French most definitely started the brightest and Paul "Pob" Pogba certainly appeared to have the bit between his teeth as he went close numerous times even skimming it off the top of the bar, in fact Switzerland barely had a go on goal at all. Astonishingly the first half finished without a goal mainly thanks to the efforts of Swiss keeper Sommer. After the half time oranges, France picked up where they left off peppering the goal like Swiss cheese but try as they might time and again they came up dry. I'm sure many Footcallers who had France to win were desperate for a late late winner and we very nearly had the goal of the tourney as Sissoko beat off a raft of Swiss defenders to cross it to none other than Dimitri "Up The Irons" Payet. At full speed, the French striker (who started the match on the bench) connected with the ball as beautifully as a John Daly drive only to see the ball smack the underside of the bar and ping out back on to the pitch. If that had gone in we'd still be talking about it for years to come and if you were to go to Lille now you'd still see that crossbar trembling! In the dying moments of the game it was the Swiss who nearly snuck a winner when Bacary Sagna pulled Blerim Dzemaili's shirt in injury time and there was a good shout for a penalty for the team in red. It finished goalless. Besides Payet's wonderful effort perhaps the most memorable thing about the match is that the Swiss had five (yes five) of their shirts torn in tackles with their opponents. Now I know shirt pulling is something we all deplore and UEFA really need to take a closer look at this epidemic but Holy Shirt! (damn auto correct) Switzerland need source a better kit supplier, their shirts were definitely NOT Swiss made!

Hop over to BBC4 for a the match other match in Group A, well if you switched over after the France game you would have only seen five minutes of it as they were into extra time. This was a game Romania needed to win especially as Switzerland had not won. However it was the Albanians who were the show stoppers this evening as their striker Lenjani went so so close early doors. As it neared half time Albania who were showing slightly more promise finally got a break through with a sweet header by Sadiku to loop over the Romanian keeper and score a historic goal, their first ever in a major competition! The whole team celebrated together even the subs all piled in on goal huddle. All they had to do was hang on for another 47 minutes plus stoppage time. In the second half Romania did come close and were given offside when they were clearly level but the Albanians rode their luck until full time whistle and achieved the unthinkable. Romania sadly have to head home but Albania have a slim chance of getting through on third place ruling. Maybe I might just get a discount at my local car wash tomorrow!


And so to the Footcall League...


Very few three pointers today but Colin "Don't call me Ritchie" Cunningham cruisers in to second, Jamie "Where's Kelly now?" Sains is up into 12th and now we find Christine "Mrs Footcall on a Roll" Jenner is now on the first page up into 49th, whatever next? Jonathan "I hate football but LOVE Footcall" Hill and Andy "I'm cooking now" Kirchell, Euan "four red squares" Vallender, Mary Ann "Getting Hot!" Schroeck, Nick "Footcall is definitely not a fix" Rowland and Roy "I wish my predictions were as good as my smash!" Trute all picked up valuable three pointers.

We have two players of the day in Christopher "Dagenham's Finest" Lane and Pam "Let Me Show You How to Play Footcall Les" Herbert who were the only players to pick up four points today. Well done, great Footcalling.

That'll do, England and Wales wrap up Group B tomorrow.

David


]]>Big Ron Atkinson Would Score More Than Big Ron-aldoDavid Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-19T19:35:43+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-9https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-9Day 9 in the Footcall House…
After a good night's sleep and the feeling in my legs return, 24 hours on your feet is a long time (Mrs Footcall likes to remind me I'm not 18 any more), we have the final lot of second game matches to review.

First up, Belgium v Ireland, both of whom who were frustrated from their first games. First chance fell to Hazard but he spooned it over the bar like a perfect lob wedge. The first half unfolded it seemed clear that it was higher ranked team were in charge. Belgium are ranked number two in the world don't you know but you wouldn't have known that from their game against Italy. Despite a number of chances, one of which saw Hoolihan head it off his own line, the first half finished with clean sheet on both sides. On the return, Shane Long was lucky to keep his contact lenses in as Toby Alderweireld felt the need to introduce some Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) into the action and perhaps was unlucky not to get a penalty for it and whilst the Irish protested they took their eye off the ball and let De Bruyne brokedown on the right. Sorry, that should be he broke down on the right side of the field (his mental capacity was never in doubt) and he crossed it Romelu Lukaku who slotted it home and silence the football pundits the world over. Thirteen minutes later they doubled their lead as Witsel header home a towering header, I guess you could say "Axel Rose!" As the game neared it's conclusion Eden Project Hazard sidestepped the linesman and did a storming run to cross to R Lukaku (don't forget there is a J Lukaku also in the side) and he was able to side foot it in to the Irish net much to the Belgian and Everton fans delight. Three nil, game over.

Game two saw the two surprise nations of the tournament meet as Iceland took on Hungary in Marseille. Come on man think, there must be a pun to make of "Hungary men going to Iceland"?! Anyway back to the action... Iceland had to two golden chances to test Gabor "do you like my trackie bottoms?" Kiraly but to no avail. that was until the 39th minute when the hapless keeper came out to catch a cross but looked like he was trying to catching a cold fish. As the ball pinged about a penalty was given very soft foul and it was Sigurdsson who put the Icelanders up one nothing. In the second half it was the men from the little nation to hang on to their slender lead. Hungary are a quality team and they really pushed for an equaliser and would you believe it, yes I know you can in this tournament, we had yet another late late goal. This time in the 88th minute Birkir "he who has the 1940s face" Saevarsson, turned Nikolic's cross in to his own net! I'm sure he exclaimed in Icelandic "Fjandinn!" to curse his own bad luck! One all it finished.

Final game was Portugal versus Austria who's strip for Euro 2016 looks remarkably like West Germany 1974. No doubt they thought they it might bring them some comparable results. The team in white had the first chance and Harnik missed golden op to head them into the lead. From then on it was backs against the wall as Ronaldo and Co threw everything at the Austrians but nothing worked. Despite claiming a Portuguese cap record, it's clear that Cristiano is getting a bit pissed off with games not going his way, shot after shot were saved or put wide and in the 79th minute he was brought down in the box and awarded a penalty. Surely this was it, the floodgates would be opened and big Ron stepped up to slot it home but Noooooooo! he hit the post. Just to rub salt in to the wound he was judged to be offside when he did actually head the ball in the net from a free kick! For Fuchs sake what is he going to do get the ball in the net in this competition? Full time whistle went and it finished nil nil.


And so to the Footcall League…


James Vallender up into second with Thomas "The Hitman" Baus joining him. God alone knows how Jamie Pope and Ian Marshall are doing near the top and Colin "see John, I'm better at painting and football predictions than you" Cunningham has done well. Will Relf who got the Czechs to draw yesterday has lost ground to his brother George (and his dad Bryan) who both predicted Iceland to draw today. Chris Kotsonis has had a wonderful run recently is now top (of the second page) and Excalibur Swick is also scoring well. David Frost picked up four points as did Dean Baker and Matt "Amaia's Dad" Clark as well as Iain Baker and Andy Kirchell. Not only that but Tony (big Lukaku fan) Gardner also collected four points. As too did Kirsty (emoticon for a team name) Yelton and Danydogs Danny Ridley even Nick Rowland (let's face it was having a torrid time) even scored well today and Kelvin "this is the start of my run" Lander picked up his first red square. Poor old Gracie Rodgers is now fighting it out for the Vuvuzela prize.

We had two players score six out of nine, the first being Thomas "I'm catching you now Dad" Frost is now up into 76th but my player of the day is none other than Christine (no I didn't make him do this) Jenner. Her two red squares have propelled into the top 100 and has placed her turn of fortune on the lucky donkey statue she saw in Ypres in Belgium and that accounts for her getting the Belgian result exactly right. Well done Mrs Footcall you deserve this (and so do I).

That'll do for now, no rest for the wicked, I'll have another load of drivel to write before I know it.

David


]]>Czech Point Tomas!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-18T23:22:00+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-8https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-8Day 8 in the Footcall House...
Welcome back one and all, did you miss me? I've just completed a marathon 24 photo shoot in London but now the wanderer has returned to his Footcall flock to pick up where he left of. Well seeing as I have no idea what time it is as I haven't been to bed for 37 hours so I'm going to keep this brief. Anybody who said "Thank god for that" will have to stay behind and write out "Footcall is the best thing since we sent a Briton into space" 100 times.

So that I can give some praise where praise is due, I'm just give the the results for the Friday matches and the Footcall league...

Italy 1 v 0 Sweden
This was flat like Diet Zero left in direct sunlight all afternoon!

Czech Republic 2 v 2 Croatia
This was smoking like liquid Nitrogen about to boil over!

Spain 3 v 0 Turkey
This was effervescent and lively like half a dozen Alka Seltzers in a pint glass!


And so to the Footcall League...


Graham Weaver is just about hanging on to top position with a slender two point lead over Ray Amos. James Vallender has made solid progress picking up five points to move into third. Looking further down, Lee Baker, David Hitch, Jamie Sains, Jack Hennerby, Melvyn Stringer, Elizabeth Mailey, George Relf, Adam Palmer, Matt Green, Chloe Norris, Sean Broad, Daniel Volausek, Chris Amos, Dean Baker, Sean Ellis, Paul Wakefield, Andy Green, Colin Jessop, Colin Baker, (there are a lot of bakers in this competition), Alister Barton, Dave Herbert and Tony Nicholson all had very good days all scoring well to boost the league position.

Player of the day has to go to the one person who for the first time in Footcall 2016 has achieved the 'Perfect 9' with three consecutive red squares all in one day and that person is Jasper "Dad you're rubbish at Footcall" Dudson! His team name Rocket Boy United could not be more apt in describing his tremendous Footcalling efforts especially on the day Tim (GB's own Rocket Boy) Peake has returned safely. Well done Jasper, your predictions were out of this world; stella performance young man!

I'm going to leave it there and return with another report tomorrow for the three matches that took part today. Can I go to bed now?

Until then, go away!

David


]]>St Woy has Slain The Coleman!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-17T02:01:01+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-7https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-7Day 7 in the Footcall House...
WARNING... the following report contains some severe patriotism with a slight hint of sarcasm but none of it should not be taken at all seriously.

This was the day, the day of all days, the day we had been waiting months for since the Euros were drawn... Northern Ireland were going to take on Ukraine, queue the obligatory scratched needle on the record, err no... shuffle papers... this was the day England were taking on Wales. Yes! Now we're talking!

Now there are many of you folk out there that say that the Welsh were a one man team but that's not the case, I'm here to tell you that they have got a full squad of full time players. Admittedly most of them can plaster a decent living room if asked but that's beside the point but this Welsh team of part time brickies were prepared to bring the fight to the English. Although England had the lion's share of the ball, just before half time it was that man again, Gareth "do you like my top knot?" Bale, who struck a gem of a free kick up and over the wall to beat Joe Hart's outstretched hand and I'm sure for a split second poor Joe must have thought his contract with Head & Shoulders wasn't worth the paper it was written on! Bale was nearly 35 yards away from goal, surely the keeper should have saved it? Well don't get me started about whether the defending team should have a wall or not, grrrr! Wales were one nil up, can you believe it? The Welsh players could, the Welsh manager could and the Welsh fans could (maybe not James Ridley) but everyone else from over the Severn Bridge certainly could.

After the break, the Welsh team did what they they all got an NVQ certification in, they built a wall! Not a brick wall but a defensive wall to protect their goal leaving no choice for Mr Hodgson to gamble. He threw on another striker (Vardy) then another striker (Sturridge) then yet another striker (Rashford). This reminded me of that classic "Striker, Striker Striker!" scene from Airplane! Our formation went from 4-3-3 to something that resembled 1-2-7 and at times there were twenty men or more in the Welsh box! Well the gamble paid off, but barely through skill, more through attrition. As the ball pinged about the box it fell to none other than Jamie "Leicester's golden boy" Vardy as he spun and buried it in the net. Offside! the Welsh defence screamed, sadly not this time; the last man to touch it was off the head of defender Ashley Williams. The goal stood and 1-1 came up on the vidiprinter!

Maybe it looked destined to be a draw but you're forgetting this is the tournament of the late late goal. Having been thwarted in extra time by Russia on Saturday this time it was England's joy as in the 92nd minute, second sub Daniel Sturridge tripped the light fandango through the Welsh defence to twinkle toe poke the ball past the diving Hennessey! The final whistle blew and it finished two one to England... never in doubt, never in doubt.

Game two was indeed Northern Ireland versus Ukraine. A harmonious colour palette took to the field in Pantones 354 and 116 respectively and whilst the first half was packed with goal mouth opportunities sadly it was bereft of any goals. In the second half the players returned to some quite serious rain settling in but undeterred the boys in green forged ahead and in the 49th minute McAuley headed a beautiful cross right into the corner of the net to make it One Nil. A few minutes later the unthinkable happened, the match was abandoned! The conditions had worsened so much it started to hail, not just the tiny little stones but the giant golf ball sized ones you read about in the Fortean Times, I shot you not (damn autocorrect)! It was so bad the referee had to call a temporary halt to the match so they all went in for cup of tea and a slice of cake. When it resumed all the Northern Irelanders had to do was protect their lead the three points would go to NI, but you're forgetting this is the tournament of the late late goals! This time it was in the 96th minute (again I shot you not) when McGinn latched on to a parried ball and slide it in and double their lead. Two Nil and game over.

Match number three was the indomitable Germans against the one man team of Lewandowski and Friends from Poland. Astonishingly despite relentless German pressure the first half finished nil nil. After the break it was the Poles who were dancing through the German goal area which culminated in Arkadiusz Milik ludicrously trying to head the ball when it was below knee height only to bury his face in the turf and see the ball ping off his nose and go out of play. Why didn't he kick it? Who knows? Later on he had another chance as he attempted to connect with the ball across the area but rather embarrassingly had a total air shot that would have cost him a stroke if he was playing golf. Time was running out but you're forgetting this is the tournament of the late late goals! Well sorry to disappoint there wasn't one in this match so it finished, as it started, nil nil.


And so to the Footcall League...


Two One to England was a popular scoreline for the Footcall community, heck, even I got that one right! If you picked up a red square for that result, well done, but you didn't gain too much ground so don't get too over excited.

However predicting Northern Ireland to win 2-0 was a rare bird indeed and only two (yes two) Footcallers got this spot on. The first being young Euan "what does my Mum know about football anyway?" Vallender and the other being Footcall Pundit and Chief of Brown Envelopes Mr Neil "YTee" White who was presented by me with his first red square in a velvet lined casket with a gold plaque on the top. I'm sure I could detect a tear in his eye so I was out of there before the ink had dried on my autographs! Well done big man, you deserved it.

As for the Germany Poland draw, well that was predicted by only one (yes one) Footcaller, the magnificent Ray Amos he of the mighty Amos clan that gather on the Marden plains to discuss all things Footcall in the setting sun (what an earth am I going on about?) What I am trying to say is that picking up a red square in field full of ones and zeroes is a terrific achievement. Well done Ray.

But my player of the day is Footcall stalwart Alex "this MUST be my year" Church who was the leading points scorer of the day with a sumptuous 5. One red and two ones. Nobody else topped this achievement so he made great strides up the table into 43rd.

That's enough waffle from me, I'm outta here.

David


PS. Tomorrow's report may be a little late and indeed the league tables may not get updated until Saturday as I have an interview with the FA. I can exclusively reveal that my Footcalling capers have drawn some attention of the big wigs in charge of English football. I'm not sure what I'm being called in for but if things go tits up in the latter stages I'm sure they will be recruiting a new man to lead England in to the next World Cup, I'm clearly the obvious choice. Either that, or they might want me to write the match reports for the FA Newsletter!

]]>Slovakians Not Russian Home Just Yet!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-16T01:26:14+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-6https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-6Day 6 in the Footcall House...
Back to the triple decker sandwich of games today as Switzerland kicked things off with the afternoon match against Romania. An early penalty awarded for some shirt tugging that would be quite at home in a UFC match fell to Romania and that man Stancu scored again from 12 yards out. Maybe I have a solution for all this garment stretching... VELCRO! All we have to do is replace the seams of the shirts with Velcro and then it will be patently obvious when there has been any infringement! Genius eh? Leave it with me and I'll have a word in UEFA's ear. An open game ensued and it took a sweet sweet left foot strike by Mehmedi for the Swiss to draw level. A few more chances came and went but it stayed 1-1.

Game two saw England's new best friends, Russia, take on Slovakia. In the 32nd minute Vladimir Weiss done half the Russian defence with his sleight of hand and misdirection and to pass the ball in to the Russian net and thirteen minutes later they doubled their lead with a sweet sweet right foot strike by Marek Hamsik. He pinged it off the post and I remember my old PE teacher, Mr Springett telling me that g-going in off the p-post d-d-d-doesn't get any b-better than that! (he was a super teacher but his stammer was always slightly distracting). Although Russia did put some pressure on in the second half where they managed to score a goal, it was too little too late and it finished 2-1.

The final game would see the hosts, France, face up against Albania. The first half was moderately lack lustre and to be honest I've seen more spit and polish in an Albania car wash and the best bit of talent came from a nifty little bit of footwork from French winger Kingsley Coman. The second half was a little more lively as Hysaj went mighty close for the Albanians with his header hitting the post. This was then matched at the other end by Giroud but it remained nil nil. It looked for all intents and purposes this was how it was going to stay but dont forget this is the tournament for late late goals and in the 90th minute Antoine Griezmann headed a sweet sweet cross to put Les Bleus into the lead. I suspect at this point all the Footcallers who had predicted 1-0 were screaming for the whistle but little did they know there was another seven minutes to play and in the 96th minute Payet sealed the deal with a sweet sweet strike into the bottom right corner and close out the match two nothing.


And so to the Footcall League...


We have a new boy at the top! Graham (I need to thank Chris for introducing me to this) Weaver has joined Ray Amos topside on 22 pints (err, sorry, points). They are both well clear of John McCann in third on 19. All three players know each other so there could some friendly rivalry going on. PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

Switzerland v Romania finishing one all was a very popular score and I couldn't believe just how many people got that scoreline right. Conversely Russia losing to Slovakia only offered up a few red squares, most notably, Andy (he was on Wipeout don't you know) Kirchell, Gemma (check me out Mr Barker) Simms, Toyah (my first Footcall foray) Wood, Steve (I've holed a longer putt than Terry Wogan) Loughlin, Dan (super mega awesome Footcall fan) Schroeck, Robert (who knew all these Americans understood soccer) Wrather, Yasmin (anyone seen Max?) Coupland, Carol (so much better than my boy David) Gerrard and Gary (Richard, you never told me Footcall would be so much fun) Bowman!

I know a lot of players did very well today, nobody had a perfect 9 but there were a few sevens and so my POTD award goes to my ol chum, Mr Iain (I Want My Ball Back!) Baker. Until today the poor fella had been languishing in the high hundreds with no red squares and barely a One pointer to shake a stick. I received a number of abusive texts telling me "Footcall was a stitch up" and "Oi Jenner, what sort of competition are you running here?" I had to talk him down from a number of proverbial ledges as he threatened to take me to OFFTWAT, the Footcall Ombudsman. He even wanted to change his team name to "I Want My Monet Back!"

Well what a difference 24 hours makes. Mr B scooped a bountiful heap of points today including not one but two, yes two, red squares and now he's cock-a-hoop and fallen in love with Footcall all over again. That's what this crazy little game does, just when you think you are out, it pulls you back in again! Admittedly, Iain is still in 83rd so he's not pulling up trees here but he's not quite in the doldrums where he once was.

That'll do for now!

David


]]>Iceland Freeze Out Poor-tugal!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-15T02:08:47+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-5https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-5Day 5 in the Footcall House...
Today would see the first lap complete of Euro 2016 in that we will get to see the final four teams yet to play in this year's tournament. Only a two match day so I get an extra 90 minutes sleep (NOT!). With Mrs Footcall off gallivanting round Europe I'm fending for myself whilst sailing the good ship Footcall across the stormy seas.

So game one saw near neighbours, Austria take on Hungary for the 138th time in their history! I guess this would be deemed to be a local derby for these two nations and on paper the Austrians were the team to watch, they are ranked 10th in the world, one place higher than England, don't you know? We nearly had blistering start as David Alaba clattered the post from outside the area after just 28 seconds on the clock. After that the game mellowed slightly as each side squandered chances here and there. The Austrians tested the agility of the Hungarian keeper, Kiraly, who set a record today as the oldest player to play in the Euros. He's so old he remembers when Buffon used to play in the little league. Of course in those days real goalies didn't wear gloves! The ol' boy did very well all through the match and if he didn't save the ball his Zimmer frame, or his 'walker' for all you American Footcallers, did!

After the nil nil break it was clear to see that it was Hungary who were hungry for the result and they managed a crafty one two to beat the offsite trap and put the team in white ahead by the boot of Szalai, leaving the Austrians screaming for Fuchs sake! Four minutes later more expletives ejaculated for the men in red as they were down to 10 men when Dragovic got himself sent off for insubordination (who something just as ridiculous). As the clock ran down it was the Hungarian, Stieber who hit them on the break as he sprinted into the Austrian box and delightfully chip keeper, Almer with a right little doozy. Two nil, all over! What a shock that was, the first of the tournament so far.

The evening match played host to the teeny tiny nation of Iceland as they took on Cristiano Ronaldo Inc. & Friends, former finalists against Greece in Euro 2008. Once again, that famous piece of paper that seems to contain all the statistics, indicated this would be a one horse race and when Nani popped up in the box like the shopkeeper from Mr Benn to side foot the ball into Iceland's net, things were looking ominous. As we have seen before however, you must not sit back on your laurels, you are just asking for trouble. And that's exactly what the Portuguese were guilty of doing and they didn't capitalise on their early advantage despite all the talents of Monsieur Ronaldo.

Iceland who are a nation of 330,000 (the equivalent of Leicester City) had an estimated 10% of their nation in the stadium, the rest of them were down the Dog & Duck watching it on the big screen. After half time they looked quite tasty as Bjarnason (there are a lot of sons in the Iceland squad) managed to half volley a beautiful cross and equalise in the 50th minute. This left the Portuguese defence to stand around and do their best teapot impressions whilst Ronaldo looked on and wished he was German or Italian or Spanish or even Andorran, anything else, so that he didn't have to play with this bunch of idiots. Soon after this, Iceland nearly compounded poor Portugal's misery by testing the keeper again! It was a fast free flowing game packed with shots that did eventually finish one a piece and give a creditable result for the Icelanders.


And so to the Footcall League...


Very few players predicted Hungary to win 2-0 so this makes my job slightly easier in listing everyone... so we shall work our way up from the bottom. Louis (I'm catching you up Chloe) Norris, Kate (err Jonny, I don't remember entering this) Blake and Dave (where's Adam now then?) Billington were in fact the only three to pick up a red square for this match.

The later result didn't bring about too much Footcall joy either as just about everyone had Portugal to win but a handful of Footcallers did collect a very valuable red square and they were...
David (who stole my team name, I want answers!) Hitch, Kevin (I'm in up in your grill Micky) Appleton, Jim (please; I've heard every joke in the book) Hendrix, Jack (has anyone seen Frosty?) Hennerby, Carl (Richard you may as well concede now) Andrews, Ian (the best golfer in Greenacres, Fact!) Sayer, Pete (check me out Keithy boy!) Sweeney, Alan (I'm not sure what I would do if Footcall didn't exist) Church, Lee (can someone point Mr Jessop in the direction of the top of the table) Baker and Thomas (Footcall is a steady form of income for me) Baus all of whom are very grateful for that Icelandic equaliser.

The Footcall Player of the Day (POTD) award goes to none other than Darren (once upon a time I knew exactly where to point a cue) Brame and his team the Glorious Tractor Boys, yes folks, he is, wait for it, an Ipswich supporter! Oi, no sniggering at the back there Mr Jefferis. Darren has crafted a magnificent four points out of today's games the only person, other than Mary Ann Schroeck, to score points for both matches. But Mr B got one of the scores dead right and that has pushed him right up in to the money bracket. The big question is, can he stay there?

Until tomorrow.

David


]]>BELvITA - Don't they make biscuits?David Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-14T01:19:54+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-4https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-4Day 4 in the Footcall House...
Here we are again and today we saw the reigning Euro Champions, Spain, take on the Czech Republic. The Spaniards proved to be the master of the one nil in 14 and with we just had to wait and see how solid they were this time round. The first half featured a handful of chances most of which tested Petr Czech in the Cech goal sorry that should be Petr Cech in the Czech goal and he proved to be the one man keeping his nation in this match. Fabregas came close as did Silva and Iniesta but it was the industriousness of Jordi Alba that nearly put them in the lead. After the nil nil first 45 it looked as if the Czechs were hanging on for a point that was until Mr Shakira or Gerard Pique to you and me popped up in the 87th minute to prove that his hips don't lie and slot home a late winner. Bosh! Czech Mate!

Match two saw the second Manager in this tournament called O'Neill, see his Irish boys tackle the one man team of Ibrahimovic and his Swedish cohorts. If Ireland could keep Zlatan at bay who knows what could be possible. John O'Shea had a great chance early on and Hendrick did the crossbar challenge from 35 yards out. Sweden barely had a chance in the first half. Just after the return the Republic worked a wonderful break by Coleman to cross to Hooooooooooolihaaaaaaaaaaan who magnificently half volleyed it straight into Sweden's net, a shot that even Ray Hougton might have tipped his hat to. One nil to Eire! Twenty minutes passed and the Irish soaked up the pressure like a Vileda SuperMop (other mops are available) but eventually that man Ibrahimovic got to the by-line to cross in to the six yard area and the hapless Ciaran Clark nutted it straight in to his own chuffing net. Jesus, Joseph and Mary... what did he do that for? Now it was one all and they just had to hang for a point. Ireland deserved so much more for being the better team.

Finally the dark horses Belgium (we always say that about them) took on the mighty Italians who were apparently fielding the worst team for 50 years according to the pundits. Well I can tell you now, this pundit right 'ere wasn't going to be so bold with such statements. We've been caught before pigeon holing crap teams only to see them take home the silverware. Lots of talent on the field here including Fellaini's hair which surely must have it's own Facebook page by now? Old man Buffon, who's so old his doctor won't sign him off for his driving licence any longer, was still in goal for Italy and he was tested early on with a rasping shot. However it Sunderland's Emanuele Giaccherini who was to score first in the 32nd minute, his first touch was softer than a cashmere insert as he controlled it beautifully and tuck it in the net. After the break, Italy did what they do best, defend. They was like "come on then Belgies, have a go if you like" Lukaku flattered to deceive once again, who know how he got in the starting eleven and all the Belgian pushing meant for huge gaps at the back for the speedy Italians to exploit. Finally in the 92nd minute (yeah I know, how many of those have we had?) Graziano Pelle volleyed a right pearler to double their lead. Now which of you Footcallers did not like that?


And so to the Footcall League...


Well I shall tell you who didn't like it, Peter Mulvey that's who! He was cruising for a nice six points before being denied. He is however still in 5th and doing rather nicely thank you. Ray Amos stayed top but Chris Sampson is right on his heels now as too is Darryl & Jon. Kelly and Jamie Sains both did well as did Richard Goodwin and John McCann. Elizabeth Mailey had clearly had enough of Jonathan's move up and has now shown us what it's all about. Another three pointer from Darren Brame, James Ridley, Mark Paver, John Dawson and Sean Woodvine along with the elusive Excalibur Swick. A good day for Sam Ford, Simon Dudson, Sam Nicolson, Sara Borges and John Jefferis (or Neil's Dad as he's more commonly known). June Chapman bagged her first red square as did Dave Billington, Chloe Norris, Thomas Frost and a certain Mr David Jenner, yeah little ol me got a red square thanks to the head of Ciaran Clark! Sadly though the head of Mr Clark denied Emma Wakefield from a perfect 9 pointer today and so she had to settle for six. But player of the day must go to me ol mate David Wootton who performed like a Footcall hero with an old head on young(ish) shoulders as scooped a very palatable 7 points. Well done Mr Dub Ya, is this the Wootton charge you had told us about?

Over and out!

David


]]>Poles Dancing as Germany on Kroos ControlDavid Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-13T01:49:07+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-3https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-3Day 3 in the Footcall House...


The first game of the day kicked off with Turkey taking on Croatia. The Croats are perpetually considered to be equine with a deeper shade and once again they wanted to set their stall out in Group D. The Turks have never beaten Croatia but they both play an open type of game so who knows. It was a well fought game with a few shots aimed rather too directly at the keepers at either end to make any difference. The man who did make a difference was little boy Luka Modric who spied a poorly cleared high ball and WHAMMO! blasted a beauty of a volley straight into the Turkish net much to the Croats delight. From then on it appeared to be pretty much one way traffic with most of the chances in the Croatia's favour. Srna (my predictive text goes nuts over all these back to back consonants) hit the bar and that other fella whose names ends in IC (that doesn't narrow it down) so it ended one nil. Perhaps the most notable event was Vedran Corluka's head injury that spouted blood like Terry Butcher a la 1989 or Paul Ince 1997.

Game two saw home nation Northern Ireland play their first 'gaeme' against Poland. The Poles have a superstar in their team in Lewandowski who's been doing the business all season for Bayern Munich. One thing you might not have realised about NI is that they came in to the tournament with the best record having being unbeaten in 12 matches. Right from the kickoff the Poles were dancing all over the boys in green but they were used to this sort of pressure and knew just how to deal with it and they managed to snuff out all the attacks in the first half. Sadly though their firepower at the other end wasn't quite strong enough and Arkadiusz Milik bobbed up in the 51st to tuck away a very neat goal. From then on Poland defended well and Lafferty had a lady go at an overhead from 35 yards out and Washington was one on one with the keeper but the chances came and went and the time drifted away from the industrious Northern Irish leaving them (and Rory McIlroy) broken hearted.

The final game saw World Champions Germany take on Ukraine. The Germans were without some of the WC heroes in Lahm, Klose and Frings having all retired since Rio but you can always rely on them to bring in a new guard to replace the old boy network. It started as a superb open game to start with but it didn't take long before Mustafa rose the highest in the 19th minute and head the favourites into the lead. Ukraine huffed and they puffed but they lacked the killer instinct of a Schevchenko up front so it was just down to the mighty Deutchsland to run out the clock. If this was England, and heck it was England only 24 hours ago, we'd be looking nervous and defending deep just praying for the full time whistle but this wasn't England, it was Germany, the masters of time management! Not only did they run the clock down they even brought on old man Schweinsteiger latched on to the perfect break in to the Ukrainian half and double the German lead! The game finished two nil but the most memorable moment was a tremendous goal line clearance by Boateng as he was falling back in to his own net, well worth a look!


And so to the Footcall League...


We have a new leader! Ray (don't tell Chris) Amos has rocketed into the lead with 15 points. Hot on his heels is Footcall legend Keith Firmston and Graham Weaver up into third. That famous duo, Darryl & John made great strides and I had some top larks with Peter Mulvey via text as he was looking at going top of the league, that was until Germany tucked away that second goal in the 92nd minute!

Plenty of red squares today, notably from Maxine Read, Yasmin Coupland, Tat Wah Liu, Stuart Acott, Chris Sampson and finally from Hannah (I'm not nervous( Wakefield! Darren Brame collected another red as too did Jonathan Rowland (showing his heels to all the other Rowlands), Jill and Eleanor side by side, Dan Mackenzie and Ian Sayer all slightly more relieved than they were yesterday. Mr Matt (I love Footcall) Clark delighted with the German second goal so too was Lee Albrecht, Nick D'Avanzo and James Ridley.

Will Relf thanking his lucky stars, so too Eddie Bojtler Snr and Jnr, Melvyn Stringer and James Rowe. Kevin (Hall of Fame Top Boy) Appleton delighted to pick up his first three as too did Jon (where's Kate) Hill and Christine (Mrs Footcall) Jenner!

Player of the day goes to James (this is how you do it Laura) Vallender, who collected a bag full of points today to move him up into joint third.

Meanwhile at the wrong end of the table Vuvuzela specialist (and my brother) Simon Jenner has moved into the comfortable position of dead last, I'm sure he will be cementing his position over the next few weeks!

Until tomorrow,

David


]]>The Mighty Welsh Dragons watch England Bale Out!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-12T02:56:07+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-2https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-2Day 2 in the Footcall House...
Here we are on Footcall Super Saturday with two British nations playing on the same day. Before the home nation games, the day kicked off with Switzerland taking on Albania in Group A. It was only in the 5th minute when number 22, Schar timed his jump to Swiss watch perfection from a looping corner and head his team in to the lead. I'd barely had time to sip me cup of tea before I was having to update the league table. The Albanian's could barely believe it especially seeing as 10 of the squad were either born or grew up in Switzerland and 7 of them represented the Swiss at Under 21 level. Check me out with all the facts (my thanks to our resident Statto for those stats). With a few more chances throughout the game at either end it was a game of mixed quality but a few outstanding saves. The Swiss hung on to their slender lead until full time and take three vital points.

As soon as that was done, we had a quick half an hour whilst the Beeb trawled through all the archives to find footage of Wales' international football. The last time they played in the final stages of a major tournament man had not yet walked on the moon, colour TV didn't exist and Roy Hodgson was thinking about retirement and the Queen was only 32. 1958 was a long time ago folks and it was a very young Pele who was to Wales' undoing then as he scored the first goal in his glittering career, I suspect he has probably scored more goals alone than Wales have done internationally, we shall get Statto on that later. Since then the likes of Yorath, Toshack, Giggs, Hughes, Rush and errr, Savage have all tried and failed to see them get back in the big time. But now; now they have a new superstar, Gareth Bale! As they took to the field against Slovakia the weight of nation was on his shoulders. It was the Slovaks who had the first chance with Hamsik as he sliced through the reds only to see Ben Davis save the ball from going in with a super slide. A few minutes later the talisman Bale powered in an amazing free kick and put Wales in the lead. Skrtel should have been sent off later in the half for a terrible tackle but he got away with it and it finished 1-0 at half time. After the break Slovakia managed an equaliser from Duda the sub. In the 81st minute with their backs against the wall, Wales somehow managed to muster enough determination to bumble the ball through the Slovakian defence and Robson-Kanu mishit it past the outstretched keeper. It doesn't matter how they go in, this was the lead that Wales were to hang to until the end. What an amazing result, truly remarkable and well deserved!

After the ecstasy of the Welsh victory it was England's time to shine. In qualifying we looked pretty formidable and we all hoped Roy could choose a formation that suited everyone and made us play well together. The mood in the camp was positive so we were looking the business for the right result and even Joe Hart wore an outfit to compliment the Queen's trooping the colour coat from earlier in the day. Russia were not to be taken for granted and right from the outset the English looked the business as Mr Rooney marshalled the youngsters such as Lallana who did everything but score. Astonishingly though the first half remained goalless but in the 73rd minute Eric Dier (no relation to Kieron) scored a beauty of a free kick to put three lions on top. As we masterfully played out time (yeah right) we rested on our laurels just enough to see the Russian number 8 Glushakov latch on to a looping header and tuck the ball in the net in the ninety bloody second minute! Drat, drat, drat! Not now please! Well at least we didn't lose I suppose but it's a much more significant game against the Welsh on Thursday.


And so to the Footcall League...


There were red squares a plenty in all three games today and Dan Wilks moved topside having got the first three dead right but he is joined alongside by John McCann and Graham Weaver, all with 9 points each. Ray Amos is just behind on 8 then a whole raft of players are in joint 5th with 7 points including James Parker, Nigel Mirza, Nick Stacey, Jasper (where's Simon?) Dudson, John Marshall, Chris Sampson and Sean Woodvine. Great effort there guys!

It's fascinating to watch the league turn upside down as the goals go in and that last minute equaliser from Russia made all the difference to our table, even Laura (I'm just here to embarrass James) Vallender is right up there!

Meanwhile at the other end of the table, Tom Hutchison, Richard Ellis, Pete Sweeney, Craig Amos, Alister Barton and Andy Green must be wondering what to do to turn their fortunes around. But propping us all up is the mighty Ray Amos with his team Any Colour You Like as he is the only player yet to score a point and is in the infamous Vuvuzela position!

Another three games tomorrow!

Until then.

David

]]>We did it! We broke the record!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-06-11T04:38:20+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-1https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-1Day 1 in the Footcall House...
So here we are once again, fancy meeting you here! With a tremendous push from the Footcall marketing machine and the fantastic support from the Footcall fraternity we did it, we beat the record entry field set two years ago of 182 this time pulling in a magnificent field of 194. The thought that so many people want to be a part of this little ol show brings a lump to my throat.

As I wipe the tears from my eyes I'd just like to give a big thank you to each and every one of you as we set sail aboard HMS Footcall once again. To all the returning players, big respect, and to all the newbies joining us for the first time, welcome to the Footcall house. Take your coat off (you can pile em up on the bed in the spare room), pour yourself a drink (don't go mad, we've got four weeks of this caper), make yourself at home and mingle with the other Footcallers. If you're new to all this, you're gonna have to get used to this level pun-ditry as I knock out these reports on a regular basis, enough to make you glaze over but stick with it (please read em) - no seriously, please read em, and I shall try to keep you entertained. Whilst your particular chosen team on the field might be falling at every hurdle, Footcall will make it all worth it in the long run, especially if you score a few points here and there.

Feel free to drop me a line via the website and if you haven't done so already head on over to a little known site called Facebook (I don't think it will catch on) and you can join the Footcall group for some community bantz! If you have any witty one liners relating to the play on the field please get in touch as I'm always looking for good fodder for the match reports, there are only so many times I can say it's a game of two halves.

OK here we go, deep breath, good luck to one and all may your world be full of three pointers!


France 2 v 1 Romania


The host nation, France, were to kickoff the tournament with their first match against Romania. Before that however we have the obligatory opening ceremony with an array of bizarrely dressed performers headed up by none other than superstar David Guetta with a beard that made him look like a Shoreditch Hipster and the responsible guardian for his fellow headliner, Zara Larsson (no, I've never heard of her either) a Swedish singer songwriter (apparently). Once the 600 odd dancers cleared the stage the games could begin.

Well it would be fair to say this really was a game of two halves, as the first half was packed full of incident with Romania having a magnificent chance from point blank range only for French keeper Lloris to bundle it off the line. Later in the half, Antoine Griezmann could have put the hosts in the lead when his header struck the upright thus preserving his near perfect goalless statistic (not quite sure why he's in the team), 603 minutes, nine games, no goals... surely he must some compromising pictures of Deschamps!

In the second half France seemed to have the cockerel's share of the ball, all they had to do was make it count. And in the 57th minute they got the break through as Girooooooooooud latched on to a Payet cross and head Les Bleus in to the lead. This was somewhat short-lived as the team in Pantone 116 (yellow) were no push over, that was until Stancu got pushed over! They won a critical penalty in the 65th and the offending protagonist Stancu slotted in the bottom right corner past the outstretched hand of the keeper. With time running out it looked like it could have ended one a piece but that was until West Ham supremo, Dimitri Payet scored a stupendous goal from 30 yards out as he curled a beautiful ball in to the top corner with his left peg in true Stevie Staunton stylee! What a goal and what a way to put your team in front! He was then immediately subbed so he could leave the pitch to a heroic ovation leaving the young man sobbing with joy, or maybe it was because he knew he'd never be playing at The Boleyn again? Either way, his efforts won the opening match for his country and has put them top of Group A.


And so to the Footcall League...


For those of you savvy enough to follow along, the league table gets updated as the goals go in (this only happens when I'm watching and/or keeping up with the scores), but if you do visit the League Table online during the game you can see how players go from hero to zero in the blink of an eye as the scoreline changes throughout the game. If it had stayed 0-0 Jamie Sains would have been top of the table on his own! Well that didn't happen and the 2-1 result was a very popular prediction (as it is with every game with you Footcallers) and so we have a 29 way tie at top of the table!

I won't list all of you as the sun is just coming up and I want to finish this damn report so I can get some sleep! So let's give some credit to Keith Reynolds and Alex Church, long time Footcallers, new guy Martin Stobitzer (we welcome Martin and Birgit from Germany to Footcall for the first time), Jamie Marshall and Ian Pope enjoying the dizzy heights of the top of the table. Clueless Liz (Mailey) clearly has been doing her homework just as her sister-in-law, Rachel Rowland both collected a red square. Mary Ann Schroeck, Sadie Colyer, Toyah Wood and Wendy Landymore all Footcall virgins collecting a nice three pointer. Anne Herring, Esther Eatwell, Sara Borges, Sam Ford all returning female contestants doing very well this evening.

The brothers Broad (Sean and Grant) clearly had the same idea of how this game was going to go so did James Ellis, Carl Andres, Daniel Griffiths and John McCann. I had the pleasure to meet Andy Sedge this week and I'm delighted to award him his first red square. The prodigal son returning in David Kilbey starting as he means to go on as too is Tony Nicholson and Footcall stalwart, Bryan Relf. Dan Wilks and Lee Baker and Footcall flag waver, Aaron Sutcliffe all kicking ass topside of the table. Even Graham Weaver and Gary Bowman struck lucky on their first trip out on the Footcall bus.

Damn it, I said I wouldn't mention everyone and I blooming well did (I really hope I didn't leave anyone out)... this report writing could be the death of me!

Until tomorrow (or later today, I've got no idea what time it is now)...

David



PS. Check out your the Division your team has been placed in (scroll down) to see where you feature in your little league. I shall give you more information about that as the games unfold.

]]>Footcall 2016 is go, Go, GO!David Jenner2016 Reports2016-05-28T19:16:23+01:00https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-0https://www.footcall.co.uk/history/2016/reports-2016/index.html#unique-entry-id-0Yes indeed, Footcall is back again...We are back... did you miss us?

The Footcall engines have been oiled and greased once more for another turn around the block, on this, our 10th outing.
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We hope you enjoyed taking part in our record breaking year of 2014 and you are all prepared to fight it out in the Footcall streets just like last time. Our defending champion (and the bookies favourite) Amaia Borges Clark, is looking to retain her crown, she was only 10 months old when she won two years ago and she has been the Footcall champion for two thirds of her life! The question is, will anyone take her crown from her this year?

She won a whopping 400 quid last time, if she can do it, so can you! Euro 2016 now has 24 teams taking part with 16 teams going through to the Knockout Stages, no doubt there will be an overwhelming amount of deluded patriotism for England especially after their 2-1 friendly win against Australia, heck, we even scored their goal for them!

Once again we shall be supporting the Angus Rowland ForgetMeNot Fund in aid of Bloodwise (formerly Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research) by donating 25p for every entry. Angus tragically lost his fight to Leukaemia at just 14 years old. Angus' parents, Jonathan and Elizabeth (along with their friends and family) have magnificently raised over £105,000 towards blood cancer research and they are rapidly pushing towards their target of £120,000. You can find out more about Angus' story HERE.

Of course I can't put on the Footcall show alone, Christine's help is fantastic, even if it's just allowing me to indulge myself in this spectacle for the next five weeks! To all the regular Footcallers who have been such staunch ambassadors for the game, I salute you. And last but no means least, I can't do it without good ol Spencer Collins who takes care of the technical department backstage. Whilst I'm pressing all the buttons on the stage, he's pulling all the strings behind the scenes, if I'm Steve Jobs then he's certainly my Steve Wozniak. So what I'm trying to say is, if the website is broken, it's probably Spence's fault :-) but if you tell me about it I shall let him know and we'll get it fixed!

So that's enough off-field waffle from me, let's get to the action!
Euro 2016 starts on Friday 10 June at 8pm with the hosts, France, taking on Romania. You need to get your entry in well before the competition starts so that we can process your application so the cut off date for entries is Tuesday 7 June at 8pm, please put this date in your diary so you don't miss out. I shall remind you as often as I can before the deadline.

YOU ONLY HAVE 9 DAYS TO GET YOUR ENTRY IN!

Come on Footcallers, sharpen your prediction pencils and get your entry in, tell your friends, tell your family, just tell random people in the street, Footcall is open for business.

Let's make it a good one...

David


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