Despite being treated four cracking games in the Euros so far, it has not been the football that has grabbed the headlines, but rather the hooliganism in Marseille that has brought the city to its knees.
Dimitri Payet was the man of the moment as he clinched a 2-1 win for France in the opening game while a goalkeeping howler allowed Fabien Schar to head home within 5 minutes of Switzerland's game against Albania. Wales were the first British team in action with Hal Robson-Kanu scoring a late winner while English hearts were dashed with an injury time equaliser for Russia.
France started their campaign with a win, while it may not have been as comfortable as initially anticipated they were up against a very useful Romanian side. Olivier Giroud opened the scoring just before the 60 minute mark, leaping highest to connect with a Dimitri Payet cross. The West Ham creator is showing that he can compete in the Premier League and in the Euros. Bogdan Stancu pinned the hosts back 7 minutes later when Evra clumsily challenged the Romanian forward.
Let's just take a moment to admire that strike from Payet... A sumptuous curling shot found the top left of the goal and sent the Stade de France into raptures. The goal gave France a 2-1 victory, much to the testament of the Romanians who put up a valiant defensive effort.
In the second game of Group A, a defensive howler from the Albanian goal keeper gifted Fabian Schar an easy header. Haris Seferovic had opportunities to double the lead, while Armando Sadiku failed to find the back of the net with several golden opportunites. Lorik Cana's dismissal for a second bookable offence made Albania's life harder and their Swiss counterparts were able to hold on for the victory.
Hal Robson-Kanu scored a late goal for Wales in their first match at a major tournament since the World Cup in Sweden, 1958. Gareth Bale got Chris Coleman's men off to a flyer with a free kick inside 10 minutes before Ondrej Duda worked some space and fired into the back of the net. Robson-Kanu struck after great work in the middle from Aaron Ramsey and the man without a club rolled the ball past the Slovak keeper. The least said about Ramsey's hair the better. Wales looked very good on the counter, and could have increased their scoreline through Bale and Ramsey, this could prove very beneficial later in the tournament. Wales top Group B and will be very confident going into the crunch match against England later in the week.
England were totally dominant in the first half against the Russians but were unable to break the deadlock in the last match on Saturday. Both Danny Rose and Kyle Walker were very influential down the flanks and played well the whole match. It was a powerfully struck free kick from Eric Dier that broke the deadlock after the break, but England were unable to push on and score the vital second goal.
Russia began to grow more into the game with long balls fired into Artem Dzyuba. Roy Hodgson looked to his bench for impact through the introduction of Jack Wilshere and controversially taking off Wayne Rooney who had a solid game. In stoppage time, a hopeful ball was launched into the area and Vasili Berezutski headed past Joe Hart in nets to earn a crucial point for the Russians. Hodgson has to take some criticism in that match, particularly as a Jamie Vardy could have posed serious questions to the ageing centre backs.
After the match in Marseille, chaos descended upon the Stade Velodrome. Video footage shows Russian fans appearing to charge at the English support striking fear into those fans. Violence continued out onto the street after the game and have forced UEFA to warn both sides that they will be thrown out of the competition if the violence continues, threats that are unlikely to happen regardless of the change in attitudes. Nice wasn't very nice for Poland and Northern Ireland fans who were attacked also, but these disturbances were quickly neutralised by the French police.
Let's hope the football does the talking for the rest of the tournament and the quality lives up to what we saw in the first two days, but people must be considering whether they should attend the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
England were totally dominant in the first half against the Russians but were unable to break the deadlock in the last match on Saturday. Both Danny Rose and Kyle Walker were very influential down the flanks and played well the whole match. It was a powerfully struck free kick from Eric Dier that broke the deadlock after the break, but England were unable to push on and score the vital second goal.
Russia began to grow more into the game with long balls fired into Artem Dzyuba. Roy Hodgson looked to his bench for impact through the introduction of Jack Wilshere and controversially taking off Wayne Rooney who had a solid game. In stoppage time, a hopeful ball was launched into the area and Vasili Berezutski headed past Joe Hart in nets to earn a crucial point for the Russians. Hodgson has to take some criticism in that match, particularly as a Jamie Vardy could have posed serious questions to the ageing centre backs.
After the match in Marseille, chaos descended upon the Stade Velodrome. Video footage shows Russian fans appearing to charge at the English support striking fear into those fans. Violence continued out onto the street after the game and have forced UEFA to warn both sides that they will be thrown out of the competition if the violence continues, threats that are unlikely to happen regardless of the change in attitudes. Nice wasn't very nice for Poland and Northern Ireland fans who were attacked also, but these disturbances were quickly neutralised by the French police.
Let's hope the football does the talking for the rest of the tournament and the quality lives up to what we saw in the first two days, but people must be considering whether they should attend the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
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