Day 36 - France v Germany - Match 1000

Countdown to the Euros and my Adventure

I'm feeling a bit sad this morning. The Brexit vote, of course, still leaves a sick feeling in my stomach. England's shambolic exit to Iceland, of course, still leaves a lump in my throat. Wales' exit last night added to the sense of loss and the prospect of yet another German footballing success on Sunday doesn't help. I always feel sad towards the end of a big tournament like this. It always feels like being at a party which starts off great, peaks early and then, for the second half of the evening people start leaving - too early. With a week to go, so about a quarter of the duration of the tournament, there are just four, out of 24 teams left. Then there were three. This time tomorrow, just two. I will keep arguing, but no-one else seems to agree with me, that all the teams should stay 'till the end and fight for places. Am I the only football fan in the world who would be interested in watching the 23rd v 24th place match - perhaps between Ukraine and Russia? Or to see where England might have ended up in the top 16? Maybe 10th after losing to Croatia? It would generate a lot more money and keep the party atmosphere going for much longer. No, no-one cares, apparently. It seems all fans are interested in is who wins. Even 3rd place is not contested at the Euros as it is in the World Cup.

On top of all this, I know that my fantastic self-indulgent adventure in France is soon to end. This is my last night in Marseille, then it's two nights in Paris before heading off, immediately after the final, to the airport and back to Australia.

Replacing sadness though, after a moment's thought, comes gratitude. I have to record here my thanks to my dearest Lesley for allowing me to come on these selfish pilgrimages. I've lost count of the number of times I've had conversations like this ...

"So how long have you been here?"

"Since the start"

"When are you going back?"

"After the final"

"What? So here for the whole thing?"

"Yes"

"Your wife must be amazing!"

"She is. Most definitely!"

Thanks, darlin' !

Coastal Cycle and then Shopping

After brekkie I cycled into town again. It was much quicker this time as I'd taken lots of photos of the scene yesterday. I headed straight to the old port and managed to exchange my stripey French shirt for a bigger one, as it had shrunk in the wash. The owner kindly agreed to exchange it even though I had no receipt. He said he would wear it from now on.

Keith and Chris were sat at a brasserie waiting for me when I got there and soon we were joined by four more of their friends - Dave, Graham, Steve and his wife Catherine. What a bunch of characters they were. Football fanatics that make me look impartial. The semi final, later, would be my 10th game at this tournament. It would be their 17th! Apparently travel and football is pretty much their lives. Each of them was a bit of hero to me. Dave, who spoke fluent French, has retired from a successful career in health care management. Graham is a retired scientist, and an expert in climate change. Steve is a lawyer, and he cheered me up no end by spelling out a definite way how the Brexit vote could fail to have an effect. If, after having exit negotiations with the EU, the UK government feel they cannot leave on the agreeable terms they had hoped for, they might have to be a second referendum with the options "Stay" or, as he put it "Leave, with all these shitty conditions they didn't tell you about last time". The vote would be most likely "stay".

So, all is not gloom and doom there after all.

Steve trying (and not succeeding) to sell a Category 1 seat for the Semi Final at a cut price.

Dave - before his 17th match of the tour

Leicester fans everywhere these days

Keith and Chris - two lovely Scotsmen

Keith and Graham (he has 900 football shirts, apparently)

After several beers and a great chat I cycled back to my AirBnB place and got changed and then set off to walk to the ground. As always, Google maps is a little optimistic about how long it says it'll take and I had a bit of a panic a couple of times getting to the ground on time. But once in it was fantastic.

This was my 3rd time in the velodrome and my 10th match of the tournament. To most people's eyes this was the real 'final' as Portugal are definitely the weakest of the three teams left.

France 2 Germany 0

It was a tense struggle, as expected. After a bright start by France, Germany began to dominate and have most of the possession and pressure. There weren't many clear cut chances - even from Germany despite their dominance.

Then, just as the first half was coming to an end, the referee awarded France a penalty (for handball apparently, but I honestly couldn't tell from where I was sitting) and Griezmann made it 1-0.

The second half followed a similar pattern and Germany pressed hard for an equaliser. Instead, chaos in the box resulted in Griezmann adding a second to the joy of the majority of the fans. Germany intensified their efforts and hit the post with a shot and Loris made a brilliant save to keep the French clean sheet and, in the end, France won the match taking them into Sunday's final v Portugal.

Les bleues did Allez

I must admit I was very pleased. Few things come close to watching England win in international sport but I have to admit, Germany loosing is one of them. This is nothing against German people, who are almost always very nice indeed. It's just that I do not like one team to enjoy too much success and Germany always seem to get the run of the ball. Not this time. If anything they were unlucky, which is basically my point. England rarely get the luck, Germany usually do.

This was also my 1,000th match - plus or minus 5 or so. When I first started watching football in November 1970 (Mansfield 3 Halifax 2) for years I used to record every single match. And for the past few years I have been similarly pedantic in recording everything. The period in the middle, dominated by raising a family, I let the record taking slip but through careful research I think I have been able to get pretty close to accurately counting how many games I went to during that period. I have to admit, having got my tickets for this tournament I "retro fitted" my match count so that the landmark figure of 1,000 would come up after this match. I was hoping it would be England, but you can't have everything. It might not actually have been my 1,000 game, but it's close.

1,000th game attended

Anyway, there ends my live attendance of the Euros. My next stop is Paris for two nights and the final on Sunday which I hope to watch in the fanzone by the Eiffel Tower.

Aljice

Marseille