Flares

More crowd trouble last night as Croatia fans fought amongst themselves and threw flares onto the pitch. According to Slaven Bilic, it’s a dispute between fans who come from Split and fans who come from Zagreb and I’ve no reason to doubt what he’s saying. It was a little odd because it kicked off when Croatia were 2-1 up against Czech Republic (or Czechia as they now wish to be called). The Croatian players were so upset by the scene that one of them tried to punch the ball clear in his own penalty area and the Czechs got a draw they definitely didn’t deserve.
As for the flares, one wonders how people keep managing to smuggle them into the grounds. These championships were meant to be the most heavily policed and security conscious in history and yet idiotic young men are managing to smuggle marine distress signals into the stadium. Where the hell are they getting them? Are they sailors on shore leave? Are there countless marine supplies shops dotted across France?
The upshot of all this is that Croatia could be thrown out of the tournament although it would seem a bit unfair seeing as Russia got a final warning. Perhaps it’s like false starts at the athletics. The first one is a warning to everyone and the second one is an immediate disqualification. In which case we should start a fight amongst the Spanish fans because their team looked really good yesterday. This is a joke by the way.
Spain really are a class act and I felt for the Turkey players getting booed by their own fans. I’m sure they were trying really hard, they just couldn’t get the ball off the Spanish. Playing against Iniesta can’t help. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player who has a more complete picture of where everyone is on a football pitch at any time. He has more touches than anyone else and he NEVER gives the ball away. Has England ever produced a player like that? Has anywhere?
There was a nice shot of Wayne Rooney walking through Chantilly with his son on his shoulders. Just a dad taking his son for a little stroll. But for the fact that it was one of the most famous men in the country, you wouldn’t have given it a second glance. There didn’t seem to be any bodyguards although it’s possible they were discreetly there but just out of shot. Whatever, this way of mingling with the locals seems a much more sensible way of carrying on than the team being cloistered in some heavily guarded compound. During something as enormous as a major tournament, a bit of normality every so often can’t hurt. Although I wouldn’t suggest he takes a stroll down at the port area in Marseilles.