Right then, that’s about us. But do pop next door for the two night games because what else is to do? Exactly. Ta-ra.
Austria will also be fortified with the confidence you get from doing it when you absolutely have to. Ukraine had played pretty well until this point, only to shrink at the crucial moment, but make no mistake: Austria were a big part of making that happen.
Back to Austria, they’ve got enough about them to cause Italy some problems. I’m not sure how they’ll cope with the midfield running that’ll be necessary, nor the inveterate pressing of their back four, but if they can get themselves into the game, they can make something of it.
And here’s Nick Ames’ match report.
Bit of news – bad news for Arsenal, great news for Lyon.
The Netherlands have run into some form then. Like various of the sides in the draw, it’s hard to see them winning three hard games in a row, but they’ve got enough to beat anyone on a good day.
It’s absolutely hilarious how much football there is – and there’s more.
Updated
The Netherlands have beaten North Macedonia 3-0; they meet a third-placed team next.
So Ukraine finish on three points, fewer than Switzerland who came third in Group A, with a goal difference of -1. There are various combinations of results that would make that enough – Belgium beating Finland and Denmark beating Russia 1-0 would help, so too Slovenia beating Spain and Scotland drawing 0-0 or 1-1 with Croatia. But realistically, they’re struggling.
Updated
Full-time: Ukraine 0-1 Austria! Austria through to the last 16, Ukraine must wait
I can’t believe how poor Ukraine were today, but Austria were excellent and now meet Italy at Wembley!
Updated
90+3 min Matviyenko advances down the right and looks to get the ball into the box, but again the excellent Grillitsch is there.
90+2 min With everyone expecting a cross, Yarmolenko slips Zinchenko a reverse-pass; he stands a ball up towards the back stick; but Marlos was offside, and that’s another non-opportunity gone.
90 min There’ll be three added minutes.
90 min Change for Austria, Kalajdzic replacing Arnautovic, who had a god game.
89 min Ukraine knock it about the back four with no sense of urgency – I don’t get it. Eventually, they stick one towards the box, and Grillitsch, who’s played well, sees it away.
87 min Yup, it’s mixa time, but with everyone expecting the same, a quick pass to Yeremchuk sees him turn adroitly and dash outside Hinteregger, swivelling into a cross-shot that scoots narrowly wide of the far post.
87 min “The line in the Austrian national anthem that goes ‘Land der Hämmer’ (land of hammers) turns out to be relevant to this match,” notes Peter Oh. “Two silky-skilled craftsmen associated with West Ham United are out there doing their business – Arnautovic for Austria and Yarmolenko for Ukraine. I’m heavily invested in the former outdoing the latter today, but in any case, it’s Hammers time!”
85 min Shevchenko goes again, introducing Besedin in place of Mykolenko. I’m really surprised by how his team have played today, given how they played against Holland, but pressure is an absolute brute.
84 min @psychlop5 reckons using lifting teammates is against the laws, likewise using the frame of the goal for leverage.
Updated
84 min In fact it was probably mixa time 15 minutes ago.
83 min Ukraine are getting nowhere trying to play their way in. It’s probably mixa time.
82 min I feel like this should be frantic, but it just isn’t. Karavaev crosses, Hinteregger thighs it clear.
80 min Austria have been excellent today – Ukraine have struggled to get anything going. As it stands, Austria will go through, Ukraine probably won’t, and if Belgium beat Finland later, this group and that group will probably be the two with only two qualifiers. That’s great news for Portugal who, in that circumstance, could wear a two-goal defeat to France.
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79 min “On the subject of the Netherlands being a plural,” teaches Mark Eijkman, “I can complicate things further for you by informing you that the official, ‘full’ name of the Netherlands in Dutch is Koninkrijk der Nederlanden (Kingdom of the Netherlands), as it consists of four constituent countries (landen in Dutch), namely, European Netherlands, plus three Caribbean countries, the islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten (the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin). But this state of affairs is quite recent, having been introduced in 2010. Before that, the KotN consisted of European Netherlands, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles (since 1954). And before that, the KotN was established around 1815, after Napoleons defeat, consisting of present-day Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
See here for further details.”
Yet again, I am Donny from the Big Lebowski, hopelessly out of my element. Great stuff.
78 min “Would it be possible to ask Sandip what he feels about the former Portuguese colonies?” asks Kevin, grumpily in coldish central Portugal. “The big ones are easy enough. Nobody is arguing over Angola but what about Sao Tome and Principe? With or without the accents? And your lot have been swinging behind Timor-Leste whereas I’d kind of like to stick to the East Timor that did prevail for quite some time. That should get him out of his bloody hammock at the least.”
76 min Austria have done a really good job of disappearing the second half, not with timewasting but with sensible football, and Alaba charges down the left yet again, looking for Ilsanker on the boust outside him. The pass is intercepted by someone – Dragovic I think – and Alaba then produces another decent corner – but Ukraine manage to get the ball clear.
75 min Yeremchuk and Zabarnyi contest a fifty-fifty; somehow, the ref appraises a foul and Ukraine can stick this into the box, but Marlos can only pick out Karavaev, who heads clear.
73 min Just me singing Ilsanker to Iskaba? I guess it is.
73 min Lainer’s not going to continue, though he doesn’t look too crook. Ilsanker replaces him.
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71 min Laimer goes down with something or other. He lies flat and has some cold stuff put on his face.
70 min Again, Austria stretch Ukraine, Lainer pulling wide and sending a fine low ball into Arnautovic. He knows he’s got Sabitzer behind him so allows the ball to pass between his legs, but it’s not got the pace to reach and Zabarnyi clears.
69 min Zinchenko seems to have moved forward to play behind Yaremchuk.
69 min This has been a really classy performance from Alaba, who picks up the ball at inside left and clips a searching cross towards the far post, where no one is.
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68 min Another change for Ukraine, Marlos replacing Sharapenko.
68 min Karavaev advances but unable to get to the line, he turns, cuts into the box ... and runs into Dragovic.
65 min “The doorstop is an interesting development in football of late,” says Justin Kavanagh of the lying behund the defence wall situation. “Is there any rule to stop a wall being heightened by players lifting teammates onto their shoulders, I wonder?”
Like a lineout in rugby? Not that I know of. I also remember, sometime in the mid-80s, Princes Park, the team of Kevin Mouse and Hot-Shot Hamish, played a Soviet army side, who marched in formation around the ball, so they had to give Wee Wally Campbell a leg-up and flip him into the middle of them. I’d surprised we’ve not seen that attempted.
63 min “Greetings of a toasty morning here in the Pacific NW (it is already 28C and rising)!” says Sandip. “In re: The Motschenbacher Report (first half request), capitalise when referring to a region, and when it is the official name. Thus, it is The Bahamas, The Gambia. Use ‘the’ as article with countries or regions that have plural names, such as the Philipines, the Netherlands, the Arctic.
If your MBM contributors, meta- or otherwise require further information, I’s be willing to pull out all stops and enlighten them with significant revisions that have taken place to handle inconsistencies in spellings, orthography and phonology of the language, toponyms, and phonotactic rules, the proceedings of the UN Conferences on the Standardization of Geographical Names. And now back to regularly scheduled programming - following your MBM from a hammock in the shade and filtered breeze from the wild roses.”
I quite like that it’s miserable in the UK – football tournaments need football weather.
Updated
61 min But Ukraine have a free-kick and Tsygankov will swing his cross out ... and what is Lainer doing! He crashes a header at his own goal, which Bachmann does really well to push away.
Updated
61 min Bottom line here is that Austria are playing better than Ukraine, but they’re also winning the tactical battle, pulling them wide then flooding through the middle.
59 min Here come Austria again and they’ve got a three v two! But Lainer’s, the right-most of the trio, somehow plays his square ball behind both Arnautovic and Schopf.
58 min Who’s got Gini Wijnaldum for top scorer? He’s just tapped in his third of the tournament after Memphis missed a sitter.
Updated
57 min Schlager’s having a really good game and he spreads wide to Laimer, then raps a shot wide when the ball comes back to him.
57 min Who doesn’t want yet another “from the England camp” thing? I’ll be Gabriel Clark.
56 min Good from Yarmolenko, finding space down the right and slinging over a cross that Karavaev does well to get a head on.
54 min Austria win a free-kick on the right, not that far away from the Ukraine box, and Arnautovic cleverly pulls away so that when the ball isn’t cleared, he’s on-hand to shank it back across for Sabitzer and Hinteregger to miss it.
53 min The Netherlands now lead North Macedonia 2-0, Wijnaldum with the goal.
Updated
52 min But here come Ukraine, Laine marauding down the right and crossing for Yarmolenko, who can’t quite get to the ball.
51 min Nice from Schlager, allowing the ball across his body before lashing a shot that Bachmann saves easily enough.
49 min Gradually, Austria are asserting themselves again.
47 min Tsygankov nashes down the left and crosses ... but Sydorchuk has hold of Hintergger, holding him down and wearing some kind of extremely accidental forearm. There’s a brief pause for treatment, but a VAR check finds nothing significant amiss.
47 min “Your correspondent Peter Van does a very good job of tying today’s match to that fabulous Madjer goal in the 1987 Champion’s League final. But there’s more to this story: in an interview I happened to read recently, Madjer doesn’t have any grudge feelings about Bayern or Germany at all: in fact, he was close to moving to Bayern in 1987, and he thinks West Germany were the best team in 1982. And here’s another link to today’s match: in order to reach that final, Madjer and Porto had to beat arguably the greatest ever Ukrainian team, the Valery Lobanovski-helmed Dinamo Kiev of Belanov, Rats, Kuznetsov and Blokhin. That team was perhaps the zenith of Soviet football; I daresay any of those players would walk into this Ukraine’s starting 11.”
I loved that team in its CCCP form, especially Rats beating Bats in 1986.
46 min Better already from Ukraine, Yarmolenko winning a free-kick down the right which Zinchenko with swing over. But his delivery is poor and Grillitsch heads clear easily enough.
46 min Off we go again. Can Ukraine save themselves?
Half-time change: Ukraine replace Malinovskiy, presumably returning to the Argonauts of the Western Pacific, for Tsygankov.
Half-time email: “Just a few minutes before Baumgartner scored the goal he got smashed in the head and was down on the turf,” says JR in Illinois. “I don’t know if he lost consciousness or not but it looked like a possibility. Either way he was clearly in bad shape. They barely checked on him and let him keep playing. Then within 15 minutes he had to take himself out of the game.
It’s a disgrace and it’s shocking that brain injuries are still not being taken seriously. They say they have protocols but they don’t even bother following them. I’ve been waiting for them to do something for several years now. I wonder how much longer I need to keep waiting.”
I agree that we need the game to get a lot better in that aspect, but I’d need to watch the incident again to form an opinion. I’d not be surprised if things were badly handled, but.
Seventeen years ago today...
Check this out:
Join Barney Ronay and Jonathan Liew for a special, free pre-game preview of the Euro 2020 final at 1pm on Friday 9 July, exclusively available to Guardian subscribers. In this interactive livestream chat, we’ll be discussing the highlights of the tournament and - crucially - who will walk away with the trophy in the final.
Half-time: Ukraine 0-1 Austria
Austria have been well worth this – the concern for them is that they’re only one in front, and if Ukraine improve, that might seem like a significant oversight. Either way, that was a really enjoyable half, and the second should be even better. As things stand, Austria are going through and Ukraine are probably going home.
Updated
45+2 min Zabarnyi allows a high ball to bounce like he’s never previously played association football, and Sabitzer grabs possession, turns inside ... and slips! He recovers brilliantly, still sliding while spinning on his arse to tee up Arnautovic, but with defenders between him and goal he has to try and force an angle, shanking wide.
Updated
45 min There’ll be three added minutes.
45 min Better from Ukraine, a few sharp passes outside the box allowing Malinovskiy to slide in Yaremchuk, behind the Austria defence. But he can’t sort his feet out and can only prod the ball behind.
44 min Arnautovic needs treatment after absorbing a flailing arm to the phizog. He’s had better two minutes.
42 min YE’VE GOTTAE SCORE! Sabitzer clips a really good pass down the right and in behind, Schopf tanking after it. In the middle, Arnautovic is up with him, and the low cross to pick him out – are you watching Daniel James? – is perfect! But despite being an unbelievable, epochal talent, Arnautovic can only open his body like a boss, then jab it wide! That is lamentable behaviour, it really is.
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41 min Ukraine haven’t created much really, and will need to play much better in the second half.
39 min “I am OK with the third-place thing,” emails Iain Pearson. “Well I am a Scotland fan and it seems like our best hope of reaching the knockouts (and I am a maths teacher, so tomorrow some of my classes tomorrow are going to be looking at the combinations of 4 from 6).
Tournament football is inherently unfair, irrespective of qualifying methods. The Italy-Wales game was a classic example of a typical unfairness associated more often with top-two-only systems. Swiss fans, for example, could quite rightly suggest that the eight changes Italy made for the Wales game (and the confidence to sub even the goalie) left Wales with a far easier task than Switzerland faced in their match against Italy. The more dead-rubbers, the more likely the teams at the top are to rest players, and the already-eliminated to give their squad players a game. A top-two-only leaves far more dead rubbers in matchday three and far more scope for the unfairness of playing against a weakened team. Swings and roundabouts in my opinion, but I am enjoying the fact that most matches are still significant.”
I’m enjoying it too, but I’d also enjoy it if the ref was given a taser, so I’m not sure that can be the decisive factor. I think that resting players is earned and the order of matches is random, so I don’t think I have a problem with that, but I do have a problem with teams playing later knowing what they need to qualify – we play the final round of group games simultaneously for a reason. I think we’ll end up at 32 teams pretty soon though, so this might be the 24-team format’s swansong.
37 min Yup, there’s Laimer inside Alaba, the latter streaking by on the underlap, so the former feints to use him then darts inside Karavaev and cracks a right-footed curler that Bushchan shovels behind. The resultant corner comes to nowt.
36 min “When New York was still New Amsterdam it was part of the Dutch colony of ‘New Netherland’,” says Sam Pateience, “singular, not plural – which I always thought was funny-lookin’. Also illustrates the point that it was but one of the lands referred to as the Netherlands I guess.”
35 min A cross bobbles about in the box and Arnautovic has a swing before suddenly the ball goes clear and Yaremchuk is in a race with Hinteregger! But the defender does really well to stand strong and see him away.
33 min Baumgartner has been crucial in this game, ganging up on Mykolenko with Alaba. Schopf has gone onto the right, so I guess it’ll be Laimer looking to help his captain.
33 min Ach, poor old Baumgartner has to go off; Schopf replaces him.
31 min “As an Icelander,” emails Kári Tulinius, ‘it behooves me to mention that the hand clap came to Iceland from Motherwell. I will say that most supporters don’t do it quite right. The proper way to do it is to leave looooong gaps between the first few claps. It should feel like forever, but most supporters rush it, reducing the tension.”
This is the case for most football songs these days, rushed through to get to the next one. Though I must say that Spurs’ Oh When the Spurs is superbly done.
29 min Here come Ukraine again, Sharapenko squaring up Lainer inside the box then nipping inside him to lash a shot seeking the far corner; Bachmann dives to shove away, getting just enough on it to avoid Yarmolenko’s desperate slide. There’s a brief break afterwards, because Baumgartner seems to have banged his head and needs attention.
Updated
27 min “Your reference to the 1986 France-Brazil game brought back memories,’ says Richard Hirst. “It was indeed one of the great games, albeit interrupted, in my case, by our then two-year-old having a very upset stomach. Greater love hath no man than to forsake that match to clean up cot, walls etc.
We got our reward however because, now living in France, we have had many drinks bought in cafes while I wax lyrical about that French midfield (and the iniquities of Schumacher four years earlier). Nothing like football for bringing people together (or driving them apart).”
Exactly that – there’s no better way of communicating with a global audience, across borders, cultures, orientations and religions, which is why owning pieces of it so attractive to so many of the worst people. Football’s biggest problem is how expletive wonderful it is.
26 min In Dam, Memphis has scored again, putting the Netherlands 1-0 up on North Macedonia.
Updated
24 min Another Austria left-wing corner, another decent Alaba delivery ... but this time, Hinteregger heads wide. Austria are much the better team at the moment; Ukraine need to find a way of stopping these corners, given they don’t seem to know how to defend them.
24 min So as things stand, Austria qualify in second place and Ukraine almost definitely go home.
23 min Alaba goes down the left again – having him there is proving to be quite helpful – but this time, his cross is headed away by Yarmolenko. As Hayes notes, because of him, Yarmolenko has to chase back and is getting very little of the ball.
GOAL! Ukraine 0-1 Austria (Baumgartner 21)
Another terrific delivery from Alaba picks out Baumgartner in the middle of the box and, on the burst, he extends a leg to poke the opener past Bushchan! We got ourselves a ball-game!
Updated
20 min Austria win another corner, down the left – their fifth...
Updated
20 min The Ukraine fans are really making themselves known, chanting in the manner of the Icelandic hand-clap.
18 min After Alaba makes to go outside then comes inside, dinking a decent cross that no one can get at, Ukraine make moves down the left, Karavaev and Sharapenko combining to win a corner. It comes to nothing.
16 min Ukraine lose the ball in a dangerous area and Arnautovic collects, moving across the face of the box to make room for a shot before shooting directly against Matviyenko.
16 min “A lnk on this page that says ‘North Macedonia v Netherlands’ leads straight back to this page. A self-referential ‘strange loop’ à la Douglas Hofstadter?” wonders Michael Dear.
That’s now sorted but the M of MBM stands for “meta” not, as people often think, “minute”.
14 min Baumgartner crunches Shaparenko in centrefield, sliding in in pursuit of a ball between the two of them, studs bared. He avoids a caution – the refs have been really good and really lenient so far – and both players are fine after a little sit-down.
12 min “An interesting coda to the Disgrace of Gijón affair,” says Peter Van. “One that will make you believe in karma. Algeria’s best player in 1982 was Rabat Madjer. He might have been one of the stars of World Cup 1982 had Germany and Austria not gone for their stitch-up.
Five years later, Madjer had his revenge: he scored a decisive goal in the European Cup final for FC Porto. His opponent: Bayern Munich. The venue: Vienna’s Prater stadium. It’s one of the greatest European goals, in my opinion - the cheek of him, backheeling it in the middle of three Bayern defenders. Now tell me karma isn’t real.”
I remember this goal well, I’m afraid to say. Incredible really, that Porto have as many European Cups as all the London clubs combined.
10 min Laimer stretches down the right again, winning a corner off Malinovskiy. This time, the ball is sent into the middle of the box, but Matviyenko can only head over,
9 min It feels like the pattern of the game is set, Austria pushing the pace and Ukraine waiting to counter – although that’s not really what they’re into, Andriy Shevchenko preferring a team to dominate rather than react.
10 min Both of these are going for this.
Updated
7 min Arnautovic puts himself about, missing a flick but nodding across to Sabitzer when the ball ricochets off a defender’s shin; Sabitzer duly lamps high and wide.
6 min “This has the looks of an early 90s Arsenal-Leeds FA Cup tie,” emails Gary Byrne. “And my money is on the draw.”
1991 to be precise – four games were required to separate the teams.
5 min Alaba is playing left-back today, which makes some sense – he’ll find space out wide – but Hayes reckons he needs to be in the middle of the pitch where he can exert most influence.
4 min Now Ukraine break, Yarmolenko running down the line to collect a quick long through. But after cutting into the box, he can only direct the ball into the arms of Bachmann.
3 min Alaba clips to the back post, where Lainer jumps but introduces arm to ball.
2 min Schlager breaks down the right and clips a cut-back for Lainer, whose first touch is heavy but earns him a corner that yields another.
1 min “It’s a bit of a shame that the idea of managers’ challenges for the VAR never gained ground,” tweets Gary Naylor. “We might have seen a few reviewing penalties given in their favour today.”
1 min Away we go, the Ukrainian fans now bouncing, arms around each other. Ah man, I’m absolutely desperate for the invasion of my personal space.
Updated
The Ukranians in the crowd properly lay into the anthem, great stuff. Though it does drown out the players, and footballers singing badly is both one of my favourite things and the name of my new LP (recorded under the alias MC Tominay).
Updated
Emma Hayes is so good she was picked to manage the Guardian’s Premier League Likeable XI despite not managing in the Premier League (yet, perhaps).
“I see you’re the one who drew the short straw and have to MBM this match,” chortles Alexandre Chesneau. “I just wanted to do a quick reminder of both teams’ situation.
Ukraine:- win and they qualify as 2nd- draw and they qualify as 2nd- lose and they are 3rd with 3 points, a negative goal difference and the hope that somehow 2 teams finishing 3rds in the groups B, D, E and F have a worse record - Switzerland’s is better. The situation would be grim.
Meanwhile Austria:- win and they are 2nd, getting the honoor of a round of 16 match against a mightily impressive Italy - draw and they are 3rd with 4 points and a better record than Switzerland (and likely a better record than the 3rd in group B - the 3rd in group B will have 4 points or more only if both Russia and Finland get something out of matches against superior teams, which I’d obviously rate as highly unlikely).
That would mean very good hopes for them to get a round of 16 match against top of Group E (which could be pretty much anyone in that group, I think even Poland can if they beat Sweden and Spain-Slovakia ends up being a draw) or against top of group F (which is to say, Portugal, France, or Germany)- lose and the situation is the same for them as it is for Ukraine if they lose.
In other words, I’d question the sanity of a team who sets out to attack in such a game. Ukraine have nothing to win and everyone to lose, while Austria.... Well I’m not sure getting to play Italy is a win, right ? So they’re in the same situation really. There’s been a lot of talk about how this format is better since it avoids dead rubbers, but in dead rubbers teams at least don’t have stakes encouraging both of them to start the match negatively. I’d take dead rubbers over matches where both teams have nothing to gain and everything to lose any day.Still, here’s hoping that a freak early goal gets this game going somehow. Thank you very much in any case for taking the time to MBM such a game!”
We’re all good – Emma Hayes is on co-comms, so this is going to be a lesson if nothing else.
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Here come the teams!
For anyone wondering how the bracket is filled out by third-placed teams.
Hopefully this helps everyone understand how the best third-placed teams get their #euro2020 fixtures.
— Dale Johnson (@DaleJohnsonESPN) June 21, 2021
It's not as complicated as it looks, and will get a lot simpler as the possible combination of teams is reduced.
More detailed permutations: https://t.co/YmgOdYZxsB pic.twitter.com/nShMj2BFlC
“I can’t see that the actual game is going to be anywhere near as interesting as these pre-match discussions,” returns @Mysteron_Voice. “Can we just relight our pipes, pour another drink and carry on like this until seven o’clock...”
I’m actually looking forward to this. It might get very boring later on, but I think Austria are going to set about this, and Ukraine are pretty nifty on the counter never mind against a team playing so high a line. Feel free to laugh at this prognosis later on.
Obviously we’ve got North Macedonia v The Netherlands for you too – follow it here.
“It’s the (lower case t) Netherlands and the United Kingdom as they are essentially aggregates (see previous correspondence),” tweets @Mysteron_Voice. “However, The Bahamas (upper case T) and The Gambia are the official nomenclature of those two countries, therefore it’s capitalised.”
“As a follow up,” returns David Wall, “have you really never referred to the other examples as the West Indies, or the United States? Perhaps it’s a personal thing but I find those more natural ways of referring to them.”
I’m absolutely certain I have, but because I write about cricket I had to make a call on West Indies – the glamorous life of a liveblogger – and I went for no definite article.
“There is a fascinatingly (to some) detailed research article on this very subject,” notes Matt Coneys, “by a scholar named Heiko Motschenbacher, a wonderful name in itself.” Brilliant! Who’s up for a quick precis?
“Speaking of countries with articles,” says Chris Parker, “Ukraine was often referred to as ‘the Ukraine’ up until around 1993, when they asked for it to be officially dropped.”
Trudat, I remember is being said of the great Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko.
“I clicked through the link to that Hit Parade list,” emails Fred Decker. “I’m on the other side of the pond (Canada) so I expected lots of names that wouldn’t have made the charts here, and that’s the fun of the thing. That being said, I can’t help but have questions. Like ... why not one but two covers of “Iko Iko” at the same time? And why Free Bird, a decade after the fact?”
I wondered about Free Bird too, so wondered if perhaps it was in a film at the time but I’m coming back with nothing – anyone know any more? I didn’t realise that calling for it at gigs had become a thing – it was the Sandstorm by Darude of the pre-internet era – nor that Bob Dylan and his band played it in Berkley a few years ago.
“On the subject of 90s rock,” says Matt Burtz, “have some sympathy for those of us in the US [sic] as our exposure to Blur was limited to Song 2 and it was years before I realised they had lots of other songs. (And I listened to a lot of modern/alternative rock radio.) We had plenty of Oasis, though I’m not sure if you consider that to be a good or a bad thing.”
Song 2 was a very college rocky effort. I remember seeing Blur at the first V in 1997 and people were shouting for it, so Damon says “Alright, alright, you know we’re gonna play it.” I remember being very taken with what a buzz that must’ve been for him, and for Oasis, they captured a moment.
“If I doubt about the origins of words,” says Phil Lacy, “I always dash over to etymonline.com and am informed. They tell me the following: “From Dutch Nederland, literally “lower land” (see nether); said to have been used especially by the Austrians (who ruled much of the southern part of the Low Countries from 1713 to 1795), by way of contrast to the mountains they knew, but the name is older than this. The Netherlands formerly included Flanders and thus were equivalent geographically and etymologically to the Low Countries”.
Got it, but now it refers to one single body should it not rebrand as plain on “Netherlands”? Or even “Netherland”?
“Is the definite article of The Holland because they’re plural?” asks Bob O’Hara. “Like The British Isles. So if we want The Ingerland, we would have to have more than one. Perhaps we could have one in the EU and one outside it. Like a controlled experiment.”
Meanwhile, Richard Morris reckons thusly: “The Netherlands has a definite article because it’s a group of separate entities like the United States, or the Philippines. England as a name relates to Land of the Angels so wouldn’t be a candidate (like land of the Thais, so never the Thailand).”
I’d love to have seen the boys Gabriel and Michael tossing plastic furniture the Garden of Eden’s main square.
“Wouldn’t the Netherlands be similar to the United Kingdom,” wonders David Wall, “i.e. it’s made up of a number of regions/nations that historically might also be referred to separately?”
I guess that’d make some sense, but I’d always refer to “West Indies” not “the West Indies” and “USA USA USA” not “the USA”.
I guess that brings us back to the retro tip, and the yer da vibes that can’t help but infuse this genre and force me to note that back in good old Euro 96, we had bands like Supergrass and Super Furry Animals who weren’t the best of the era but would be the best by miles of the current era. Bah etc.
Thinking about that Austria-West Germany game, I thought I’d have a look at the hit parade for that week and discovered, as I thought I might, numerous bangers. Hungry Like the Wolf, Do I Do, Avalon, Only You (Yazoo, not Flying Pickets featuring Doug Murray from Corrie), Temptation, Rock the Casbah and this absolute classic.
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News from elsewhere:
Talking of the Netherlands, can anyone explain why they’re a definite article? It’s surely a matter of time before the FA start referring to The England.
On this day in 1986, France and Brazil engaged in one of the greatest international matches ever played and certainly the greatest I’ve ever seen. All 120 minutes plus penalties are available to you here:
For those with less time than sense, here’s a digested version:
And here’s a retro minute-by-minute for you to read here:
Ch-ch-changes (2): Austria make two changes, Ulmer and Gregoritsch losing their places to Grillitsch and Arnautovic. Arnautovic, remember, was banned for Austria’s game against the Netherland after being found guilty of insulting Ezgjan Alioski, but not guilty of discriminatory behaviour. Which is an interesting standard, really, given that the former seems worthy of no punishment and the latter seems worthy of a far more serious punishment. Uefa, eh. Anyhow, by the looks of things, Austria have also changed formation from 3-1-4-2 to 4-3-2-1 – that to me sounds like a team seeking all three points.
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Ch-ch-changes: Ukraine make one change, in the middle of midfield, where Sydorchuk replaces Stepanenko.
Teams!
Ukraine (a Milanese 4-3-3): Bushchan; Mykolenko, Matviyenko, Zabarnyi, Karavayev; Zinchenko, Sydorchuk, Shaparenko; Malinovskiy, Yaremchuk, Yarmolenko. Subs: Pyatov, Trubin, Sobol, Sudakov, Kryvtsov, Stepanenko, Marlos, Makarenjo, Tsygankov, Besedin, Tymchyk, Dovbyk.
Austria (a lesser-spotted Weihnachtsbaum): Bachmann; Lainer, Dragovic, Hinteregger, Alaba; Schlager, Laimer, Grillitsch; Baumgartner, Sabitzer; Arnautovic. Subs: Schlager, Pervan, Ulmer, Posch, Ilsanker, Gregoritsch, Lienhart, Trimmel, Schaub, Schöpf, Onisiwo, Kalajdzic.
And here’s Rob Smyth’s terrific piece on that whole affair.
Join my tears, allay my fears:
Preamble
Remakes, covers, and cruel, callous governments – as a society, we’re obsessed with recapturing the past. Those of us with a cynical bent might surmise that shallow people with no imagination see money only in things that have made money in the past, while those of us with a more altruistic sensibility might surmise that people enjoy looking back, so invoking it makes them likely to hand over their money. What a species!
By amazing coincidence, Ukraine v Austria brings with it an unmistakably retro feel. Thanks to the primacy of money over integrity – a timeless classic if ever there was one – we’re not only playing 36 games to eliminate eight nations, but allowing some to stay on account of results achieved by other teams, in other groups. As such, both Ukraine and Austria know that a draw here would almost definitely see them into the last 16, the former in second place and the latter as one of the best third places.
Of course we’ve been here before: at the 1982 World Cup, Austria played out a 1-0 defeat to West Germany which allowed both to progress at the expense of Algeria, who went home. What a sport!
But tonight, hopefully that won’t happen. Ukraine have been impressive so far, edged by the Netherlands in one of the funnest games we’ve seen before beating North Macedonia in not one of the funnest games we’ve seen, while Austria beat North Macedonia in decent style then comprehensively succumbed to the Netherlands. If they’re level after an hour, a pact of non-aggression becomes likely, but in the first instance I’d expect both to seek the win.
And across Europe, there’ll be players and supporters platzing for exactly that: a positive result here, followed by a win for Belgium over Finland later on, and three points plus a goal difference of 0 will be enough to secure a spot in the knockout stage. This will have particular appeal for a Portugal team one step away from being pelted with pastéis de nata on their return to Portela, but actually, that sounds like a plan. Maybe we’re not such a bad old species after all.
Kick-off: 7pm in Bucharest, 5pm B“S”T
