Tag

Northern

19/10/2016
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All Together for a Sing-A-Long…

You’ll Never Walk Alone. I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles. Blue Moon… I could go on and on and on. Point is, it’s not a football match without the crowd making noise, and chants are an essential part of the atmosphere. Sometimes they can be for the love of a team (see Port Vale), the joy of a particular player (Wigan & Ireland, West Ham, Arsenal, AFC Wimbledon… the list could go on!), or even as abuse to the opposition or the greatest rival (see Burnley) – can you really say you’ve... Read More

11/07/2016
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UEFA EURO 2016: Portugal’s First Major International Trophy

Draw, Draw, Draw, Extra Time, Penalties, Win, Extra Time. It doesn’t make good reading, but that’s how Portugal won their first ever major international trophy. After years of trying, finally, Cristiano Ronaldo had his biggest moment. And yet, he played such a small role as it turned out come the final. Very early on in the match, Ronaldo was involved with a hard tackle courtesy of Dimitri Payet – injuring the Portuguese mega star. Given the huge occasion, Ronaldo refused to come off and played on, despite his obvious pain.... Read More

28/06/2016
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UEFA EURO 2016: Then There Was One…

Well, the first round of knockouts couldn’t really have gone much worse for our four teams, really. We were guaranteed one to get to the quarter finals, but we weren’t expecting that one to be the lone survivor…   WALES (1-0 win vs. Northern Ireland) It’s the debutantes who’ve impressed so far that stand as the lone survivors – but impress was not exactly what they did here. If anything, Northern Ireland really brought the fight to them and, arguably, possibly deserved to go through instead. It was a very... Read More

23/06/2016
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UEFA EURO 2016: Welsh Dragons burn Russia, England Falter, Irish Party Continues

The group stages are done. Time to bring on the knockout rounds!   WALES (3-0 win vs. Russia) Six goals, taking their opportunities: It’s a tale of what England should’ve done. Instead, it’s Wales, who have rightfully earned their place at the top of Group B. It was a celebration in itself for the nation to even get to Euro 2016, so to top the group (and in such commanding fashion as well) is a dream come true for them. A last-minute loss to England aside, Wales took it to... Read More

20/06/2016
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UEFA EURO 2016: England’s Joy, Crying Welsh Fan, All Hail Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland get Belgium drubbing

Second round of group matches done, how are our four most favourite teams doing? (Sorry, we do have favouritism but… y’know, not sorry).   ENGLAND (2-1 win vs. Wales) So two of our teams came together. With four of our lot in the selection, there was a high chance it’d happen – and sure enough, England drew Wales. It was a highly anticipated contest, and much like when England played Russia, the Three Lions dominated for most of the match – but it was Wales who struck first. A Gareth... Read More

14/06/2016
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UEFA EURO 2016: Wales Shine, Irish & Polish Dance, England’s Usual Start

UEFA EURO 2016 is underway! Woo! It’s been a hectic few days already, and after the first round of games it’s already a mixed bag for the home teams…   WALES (2-1 win vs. Slovakia) That Gareth Bale free kick though. The quality of the tournament so far has been incredibly high, not only with Bale’s stupendous opener in their match on Saturday with Slovakia, but with Dimitri Payet doing his thing once again – this time in the French colours – but a win is exactly what Wales would’ve... Read More

07/06/2016
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UEFA EURO 2016: The Home Nations

So, the Euros are going to be particularly interesting for our home nations, as four out of five qualified (sorry Scotland) for the contest in France. While you can pretty much bank on England making an appearance (let’s just forget about 2008), for the other nations it’s not quite been so successful – Republic of Ireland are in their second consecutive Euro Tournament, but it’s also been 14 years since their last World Cup appearance. Both Wales and Northern Ireland are making their debuts in the tournament this time round... Read More

02/06/2016
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UEFA EURO 2016: One Week (and a day) To Go

As incredible as it was to see Leicester City of all teams win the Premier League, that’s now the past (and one we’ll look fondly on in decades to come). Right now… it’s time to upscale. Yep, we’re going International. It’s now June, which means the UEFA EURO 2016 Tournament is a little over a week away – with some slight differences to previous tournaments. Whereas previously the tournament consisted of just 16 teams, this year it will feature 24: eight more spots means more unusual names appearing – including debuts from Albania,... Read More

19/11/2015
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Euro 2016: The 24 Finalists Confirmed

This week, we learned the 24 teams that will compete in next year’s Euro 2016 tournament: France (Hosts) Spain (Defending Champions) Albania Austria Belgium Croatia Czech Republic England Germany Hungary Iceland Italy Northern Ireland Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia Slovakia Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales Partly due to the increase in number of teams that can compete in this tournament (up from 16 in 2012), the finals see five new sides who haven’t been here before: Albania, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Wales – although you could claim the... Read More