Chatter from the sidelines
- Stephan El Shaarawy could quit Milan for Premier League Wait... what?
- Former Man United midfielder READY to quit Serie A and return to the Premier League Oh FFS! He's coming back because he's unhappy and homesick. Sack up, dude
- Liverpool icon Xabi Alonso in talks to leave Bayern Munich for sensational move Turkey? I think I've reported on this before but it keeps coming back up
- Juventus interested in Isco Isco is the sort of player that's cat nip to a man like Benitez though, good luck
- Napoli appoint Maurizio Sarri as new head coach He's never worked in Serie A before this season
- Valencia coach Ian Cathro quits La Liga fuelling speculation he could be heading to Rangers Oh ho?
- Croatia could face further UEFA punishment after swastika appears on pitch during behind closed doors match with Italy I... what?
Miscelleanous
Southampton's away kit. Give that they'll be playing in three competitions, they might need another kit apart from this one and home? Or ...?
Their home strip
Nope, it's not a photoshop. This is Memphis Depay in a United strip. His strip will say Memphis, since he doesn't recognise his biological father. Makes sense, his father sounds like an arsehole
Pictures: Euros
Um, is it me or is Bale becoming more... simian like?
Welsh huddle
Welsh national stadium(?) The theme is 'together stronger'.
The players that lead the Welsh side. From left to right: Ashley Williams (captain Swansea), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) and Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal)
Team picture
Wales scored the only goal of the goal. I'd like to say something about the match, but uhhh... I don't have time
Another view of the goal. There are mumblings that Belgium needs a new national coach (this has been the mumblings from the World Cup in 2014) that for the quality of players in the side, they're not playing as well as they should
Ramsey tried to get in. Courtois went 'thou shalt not pass'
It's a big deal for Wales. They are on the cusp of getting into a major football competition for the first time in twenty years. Wales is a BIG rugby country, so it's a big deal. It will be interesting to see how this develops their football (it helps that Swansea is doing well in the PL)
Croatia 1- 1 Italy
Buffon on his hustle!
Mandz- he's seemingly on his way out of Atlético Madrid, because he annoys Simeone very easily, but he came correct on country duty though!
Antonio Candreva converted a 35th minute penalty to get a tie. Love the blue of the kit. Puma, right?
Latvia 0 -2 Holland
It's too early in the morning for me to start spelling Dutch names. So. Anyway, I dig the white kit. It's similar to their ladies kit
van Persie was on the hunt
The colour of the Latvian kit is nice. Holland is supposedly grumpy about their national coach. Koeman (Saints coach in the PL) was in line for the job, but due to shenanigans they went with the man who's in charge now, and he doesn't seem to be working out.
Narsingh is rather dashing in this pose. I would photoshop a sword in hand and a floucy hat Three Mouseketeers style
Fans waving flags
Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-1 Israel
I have a soft spot for the Bosnian team. Their fans seem a mess though, they rioted in Tel Aviv yesterday - what?
Andorra Cyprus
Two weak teams. They might struggle to get out of the group stages, but it's football, eh? The ball is round
Bulgaria - Malta
NGL, the team expansion to 24 teams is still too much.
Women's World Cup

I tried to stay up for this match. Nodded off at 12:55 am my time for a 01:00 start. When I woke up, the match was over. Gutted!

Respect to Fox sports for really pushing the Woman's World Cup. I've seen the promos, and the narratives around the players that the Americans do so well. It helps that some of the players seem to have personalities, like Megan Rapinoe? She can also pass and make goals like a champ

There are mutterings about Jill Ellis. No tactics, been found out, the US women aren't playing up to standard, etc. What's the word from the other side of the pond, mates? If Ellis is really tapped out, she could watch basketball matches for their midfield tactics, because her teams have none (again, from my readings of the situation)

People who watched the match, what was good? Idek if I like the USWNT blue kit. It's the same as USNT but still... meh
Switzerland 10 - 1 Ecuador

There's been titters around them expanding the number of teams from 18 to 24 (if the numbers are inaccurate, holla at your girl -that's me!) because some of the teams are so weak. But FIFA maintains that's the only way some countries will fund the women's sport (b/c countries do get allocated monies for the ladies programmes), and are looking to expand it to 32 like the male's World Cup in the not so distant future. They said that Japan got trounced in 1995 and won the World Cup in 2011, so there's precedent for weaker teams to grow and blah blah blah cakes. What say you? If anyone reads these tags, you get me?
Nigeria 0 vs 2 Australia

Nigeria's singing like they're winning. I think a few of their players ply their trade in Sweden, and Liverpool Ladies have the African player of the year, so you know... Nigeria has skills, gets props, ranked 33 in the world, one of the best African sides

Australia came in like a wrecking ball

Nigeria, you need to come through. There's no party if an African nation is not out of the group stage, we know this

Aboriginals are a part of Australia's WWC15 squad

We interrupt the proceedings for a special PSA. Am glad, because Canada and Zimbabwe were the only two countries that applied to hold the WWC (England passed because they've been side eyeing FIFA from 2010 and thought that they didn't have a chance in getting the cup anyway). The fact that the numbers have been good, will (hopefully) raise interest in other countries wanting to apply - with hopefully grass pitches
bbc round up for matches with videos, etc
OP: done! Any cheers, jeers, corrections and commentary pushback... I'll get back to it when I get over the case of Rachael Dozeal and the case of transracialism. I... just can't. Anyway! See you around!