itsbeautifuloutside

12th June - (Nice) 5pm

Poland 1

• Milik, 51'

Northern Ireland 0

Referee : Ovidiu Hategan

Attendance : 33,742

Match Report

IBO Reporter : OneBeat

I wonder how many times co-commentator Gerry Armstrong's goal against Spain in the '82 World Cup is going to get a mention. The count is one so far, and the game hasn't even started.

Despite reports of trouble yesterday between the two sets of fans, the atmosphere inside the ground seemed to be respectful, but no less noisy, and it appeared that there were plenty of fans from both countries sat together.

Steven Davis lead out his team and, after the formalities he was stood on his own in the centre circle ready to start the game by making use of the new law where the ball doesn't need to go forward from the kick off.

Gerry Armstrong's goal was mentioned again, twice in a minute.

Poland started the brightest, and were camped out in the Northern Ireland half, bringing some desperate blocks and clearances by the defenders. It took about 15 minutes for N.Ireland to start to get a bit of possession, although Poland were still looking the more dangerous team.

22 minutes; Lewandowski went down after a clash off the ball with Johnny Evans. It was the second time the two of them had clashed, with Evans complaining of an elbow earlier. The ref didn't stop play and neither him or his assistants seemed to see anything wrong.

Best chance of the game fell to Milik on 30 minutes, nice play from Poland but after skipping past a couple of defenders the Ajax man blasted it over the bar from the edge of the 6 yard box.

The game was settling into a pattern of Polish possession and N.Ireland hassling and harrying them. On 38 minutes Poland had a shout for a penalty when the ball bounced up on Lafferty and appeared to hit his arm; then McGovern made a great save flying to his right to push a Kaputska shot over the bar. The resulting corner was scrambled clear.

The battle between Lewandowski and Evans continued.

The second half came to an end without N.Ireland having a shot, and without them having much of the ball, but being able to keep Poland out. B tells me that N.Ireland only made 67 passes in the first 45 minutes.

The second half started with Stuart Dallas replacing Paddy McNair, who I hadn't really noticed much in the first half.

Five minutes in and the Irish resistance was finally broken when Milik fired home with a fine strike to make it 1-0.

I nipped out to pour the tea asking B to keep an eye on the game for me. Her shouted commentary went, "Poland are attacking, Davis wins the ball, he's done well. Poland have it again, Davis gets it back." I got back in the room to see NI win a free kick to the left of the polish penalty area. After the commentators had banged on about how good they were at free kicks, the delivery from McAuley was poor and easily headed clear.

After 66 minutes NI got their first corner, which was cleared by a mighty punch from Szczesny.

Connor Washington came on and a couple of minutes later flicked the ball over a Polish head and burst clear, however a heavy touch as he ran into the area allowed Szczesny to bravely dive at his feet to deny him a shot on goal.

Poland had another good chance that was fired wide then NI broke, Davis collected the ball in the middle sprayed it out wide and the cross was controlled by Lafferty, who flicked it up and attempted an overhead kick that flew over the bar. It seem to increase the volume of the NI support.

Poland had more chances, there were more scrambled clearances from the Irish defenders, but the support grew louder and NI kept going and going. A free kick in the centre circle after a foul by Lewandowski was cleverly taken and it looked as though Davis would get a shot in, but the ball just ran away from him and out for a goal kick.

Again Poland had a good chance to double their lead, but a fierce shot from Krychowiak just went wide. NI came again and won a free kick to the left of the area, but again the delivery was poor and the chance went by.

In added-on time Szczesny collided with a Polish defender and both went down, it looked nasty, but after treatment both continued.

And that was it. Northern Ireland fought hard in the second half, but it wasn't enough and the best team won.

Teams :

12th June - (Lille) 8pm

Germany 2

• Mustafi, 19'
• Schweinsteiger, 90'+2

Ukraine 0

Referee : Martin Atkinson

Attendance :

Match Report

IBO Reporter : THE BEAST

First half

I thought this was going to be a good game, I was looking forward to it and it certainly didn't disappoint. The Ukraine are not a bad team and they have a couple of really good wide forwards in Iarmalenko and Konoplyanka, and a lot of them have played together in various teams together before going their international separate ways (and some still do play together).

Likewise, the Germans play together from very early days, with the BBC telling us that the Germans like to keep their international youth teams together and advance the players through the age-appropriate squads within similar timeframes and with each other so they'll already know how to play together (sound familiar? A bit like Saints, before the Lying Dutchman anyway)

The first 5-10 minutes it looked like it might be a closish game although Ukraine did look a little ineffective at the front, good with their wide forwards but not much cop in the middle.

After that Germany just stepped up a gear and Ukraine let them, Tony Kroos ran the show with staggering amounts of space and an equally staggering amount of passes, some of them superb. Then the almost inevitable happened, although it was from a free kick, taken by Kroos of course, and Mustafi scored a cracking header, 1-0 Germany.

After that Germany had several chances, a brilliant one for Sami K in the middle of the park which he hit straight at the Ukrainian goalkeeper, apart from that everything looked just like Germany was going to walk away with this game.

Then, a combination of silly mistakes followed up by a brilliant goal-line clearance from Boateng suddenly gave the Ukraine the belief they could get at the Germans. They started pressing them further up the pitch and if it hadn't been for a good save from Neuer, they may well have got the equaliser they suddenly (but not on the balance of the game so far) deserved. They didn't however.

The first half ended with a minutes extra time and that feeling of some great things to come, a brilliant half of entertaining football reminding me somewhat of Southampton under Pochettino, huge amounts of possession but sometimes lacking that killer last touch, despite clear German superiority there was everything to play for.

The 2nd half started a little like the first, Ukraine believed they might get something from it and tried a bit, then they kind of didn't and Germany took over the game again. Someone on the telly was quoting something like Germany had 60% possession, it really seemed like much MUCH more than that.

To be honest, Germany never really looked pushed except when they made silly mistakes, these were potentially really serious silly mistakes, but they always seem to recover from them somehow.

The 2nd over Germany goal came from a break near the end of the match when Ukraine was trying to push forward, and a brilliant pass from Özil to the only recently subbed on Sweinsteiger, he'd tucked it away after being on the pitch for about 2 minutes. It was nothing that Germany didn't deserve, they dominated this match almost completely except for a couple of cock ups of their own making.

The German problems seemed to from communication issues within the defence (who I guess are not that used to playing together all the time) and from players not quite in form at the moment such as Draxler etc. Indeed, Müiller, Götze & Draxler all showed flashes of what they can do, there is no doubt though that they can however play a hell of a lot better than they played today.

Khedira, Kroos and Özil ran the show and were outstanding. The amount of space they found, even when there wasn't any, it was breathtaking and an absolute masterclass for any aspiring midfielder.

Boateng was, in turns, spectacularly good (with Ukraine standing off the Germans so much he was quite often distributing the ball in their half of the field, very well I might add) and comical (making silly mistakes and then spectacularly athletic cover-ups for them). Mustafi was interesting, I'd not heard of him myself so this was a good chance to see him, a reasonable threat going forward as well as an adequate defender. The fullbacks both played reasonably well and covered a lot of territory, they also managed to keep the Ukrainian wide men, their best players, quiet and still attack a lot.

And then of course you've got Neuer, for most of the game he provides an extra player for the German defence to pass the ball to and to distribute across the park. He is also useful as a goalkeeper!

All in all I think when Germany gel, that defence is going to improve, midfield already is really good and the attack is potentially excellent as well, so they need to be got at now before they really start to believe their own egos.

As for Ukraine, they are a reasonable team with a couple of very good players, but only a couple really, and they don't look like they're going to be much of a threat to the better teams in this competition.

Full-time score Germany 2 Ukraine 0

This tournament is gonna be good.

Teams :

16th June - (Lyon) 5pm

Ukraine 0

Northern Ireland 2

• McAuley, 49'
• McGinn, 90'+6

Referee : Pavel Kralovec

Attendance : 51,043

Match Report

IBO Reporter : channonite

In the sixth minute off extra time Niall McGinn scored Northern Ireland’s second goal, to put the tie beyond the reach of Ukraine and allowed the party to start.

Imagine, Northern Ireland’s first victory in the European Championships EVER! In fact their last win in a major tournament was as long ago as 1982, in that years World Cup. And to top it off for Saints fans their captain in this game was also Saints captain, Steven Davis. Amazing.

I really, really enjoyed that game. I started off with not too much hope, given how lacklustre the team looked in their last game against Poland. Manager, Michael O’Neill obviously went for broke in making five changes, including leaving top scorer Kyle Lafferty on the bench.

The front two of Washington and Ward were a real handful for the Ukraine defence, who had kept 21 clean sheets out of their last 39 games.

All through qualifying, set pieces were the Northern Ireland team’s strength and so it proved again, as 36 year old Gareth McAuley headed in Norwood’s free kick just after half time. The Northern Ireland fans went mental.

Then came the incident which, together with the substitutions, led to six minutes of extra time being added, when a sudden hailstorm caused the referee to take the players off the pitch for a couple of minutes. None of this threw the Northern Ireland teams confidence, or resolve and they gave every ounce of energy that they had, backed by very raucous green-shirted fans, roaring their team on.

Talking about the fans, mention must be made of their applause in the 24th minute of the first half in memory of 24 year old Darren Rodgers who died in Nice after the Poland match. A nice respectful touch for one of their own.

As the game moved towards it’s climax, there was the thought that defeat would have meant the end of the adventure, but deep, deep into injury time, with only seconds of the six minutes extra time left, Aberdeen winger, Niall McGinn tapped in a rebound from the Ukraine keeper to make it 2-0. Game, set and match.

I felt really emotional for Northern Ireland and I have no connection whatsoever with that country, other than being an interested observer of Saints own Steven Davis. I could only begin to imagine what it must have felt like to be in that stadium and be from Northern Ireland.

They might already have done enough to be the best of the third place finishers, but if they can get some sort of result against Germany in their last match, they will certainly be featuring in the Last 16.

Beyond their wildest dreams?

16th June - (Saint-Denis) 8pm

Germany 0

Poland 0

Referee : Björn Kuipers

Attendance : 73,648

Match Report

IBO Reporter : Simmo70

Germany return to action against Poland following an impressive 2-0 victory over the Ukraine in their opener, the Poles on the back of a 1-0 victory over Northern Ireland. Joachim 'scratch n sniff' Low's side will start favourites but the last two meetings finished with a win a piece, history tells it slightly differently though with Poland winless in the previous 18.

Looking at the line ups it’s consonant Ahoy! Poland have Jedrzejczuk, Maczynski, and Blaszczykowski for the hapless commentator to stumble over, but will be without first choice keeper as Szczesny's leg twang, sustained against Steven Davis and his boys, means a start for Lukasz Fabianksi, bringing Premiership experience and 4 much needed vowels into the side. Robert Lewandowski will be up against several Bayern team mates providing some do I or don’t I say hello in the tunnel type shenanigans.

Anyway, we’re off, there’s an elbow after less than a minute, Germany play keep ball then get caught on the break and Khedira gets booked, only two minutes gone, this could be fun. It proves not to be.

It's a pretty scrappy affair with Germany looking the more likely but not managing to get a hold of the game, a pattern that is set for the duration of the evening. Poland start with plenty behind the ball, but they start to get into the game a bit, Lewandowski not surprisingly looking most likely, and end the half pressing in numbers, preventing Germany from running things as they’d like. Its all a bit FA Cup third round and the ref is letting few tackles go which is nice. The keepers are broadly un-troubled, Gotze heads over after 5 minutes, and Muller steals the ball and gets a cross in which Gotze slides well wide. Thats pretty much it, Muller hits the post but the flag is up, Poland have a few corners, Khedira tries to be MLT and fails. Townsend says ‘he has to do better than what he just did…about someone, oh the irony. In other news...Gotze reminds me of someone which is troubling me a bit, and there are very few tattoos on show, Ozil has a few, Boateng has a load, Polish arms almost bereft, I guess its a bit expensive getting your loved ones name inked onto your appendages judging by some of the Polish names on show.

The second half has to be better…it isn't. Poland should go one up in the first minute as the lad Milik misses an absolute sitter from less than six yards as he decides to head it instead of knocking it in with just about anything else. A great cross in and he well…just mucks it up really. Something about taking your chances at this level… Poland start the half brightly, it’s high tempo again and feels like it’s going to be more open, but Germany have most of the ball and playing the nicer stuff. Poland then break with pace and really open up the German defence for the second and final time. Milik, ever consistent, spurns another great chance, as he fails to connect with the footballing equivalent of a haymaker. Something about taking chances at this level…as Germany race up the other end and force Fabianksi into a smart save. Bit end to enders, Draxler off, Gomez enters the fray. Could go either way this but nobody seems able to get the final pass sorted. Kaputska’s on…sings Kaputska Kaputska Kaputska a Ya, in a Kate Bush style. Peszko comes on but doesn’t bring any Kate Bush songs to the party which is another disappointment. Everyone being very industrious, Poland trying to hit Germany on the break, Germany huffing and puffing. Peszko clatters Ozil and Germany have a chance at the death…free kick, its wasted. Ref blows for the end of the game. 0-0 sorry folks.

So Germany dominate possession, MOTM Boateng utter class, I’d take him Les. Poland make a good showing and had the better chances to win the game if only they could have taken them. Germany keeping powder dry for sharp end of the competition perhaps. Steven Davis can still win the group.

21st June - v Germany (Paris) 5pm

Northern Ireland 0

Germany 1

• Gomez, 29'

Referee : Clément Turpin

Attendance : 44,125

Match Report

IBO Reporter : Spot51

I’d like to think Steven Davis felt proud leading his national side out to face the World Champions in one of the great football stadiums but, if he did, his face didn’t show it. He wore a steely stare which suggested his side were ready to do battle.

Indeed Northern Ireland’s win over Ukraine had given then 3 points and 3rd place in the group. UEFA’s crackpot qualification rules meant that, whilst a win or a draw would see them through, just avoiding a thrashing would likely yield the same result.

No colour clash meant both sides wore their first choice kits. Norn Iron were unchanged: Germany brought in a specialist right back, Kimmich, and a real centre forward, Gomez. Goetze moved wide left replacing Draxler.

There was a bit of end-to-end stuff early doors. First Muller was played in drawing a decent save from McGovern – then Washington carried the ball too far, ignoring the unmarked Davis inside him.

On 9m Kroos was fouled. McGovern punched away his free kick but Germany recovered the ball, played in Ozil and the keeper made another save. Shortly afterwards it was Goetze, on the left, drawing another save from McGovern.

At this point I fell asleep. I’ve watched highlights and seem to have missed a lob from Kimmich that went wide and a cross-shot from Muller that cleared the far post.

I awoke on 26m to see Ward recover the ball on halfway, drive at the German goal and force a save from Neuer. This was not typical of the game though. It was mostly waves of German attacks battering the Ulstermen’s defences. Kimmich was a constant source of crosses from the right wing and one was met by a brave diving header by Muller. It beat McGovern but bounced away from the foot of the post.

Then the deadlock was broken. Ozil’s neat pass sent Muller rampaging through the green lines. I like Thomas Muller; he is a smart player who knows what is going on around him. He saw Gomez lurking behind him and laid the ball off. Gomez’s shot took a nick off McAuley and floated into the net. 1-0 Germany.

And that was that. Germany continued to attack but Northern Ireland, in the belief that a narrow defeat was survivable, kept defending like men possessed. The Germans kept making chances – Goetze set up Muller who hit the bar; then Ozil put one on a plate for Gomez who scuffed his shot.

On 40m NI broke out. They won a corner which was greeted by ecstatic cheers from the green-clad hordes in the stands. Ward delivered his cross perfectly into Neuer’s gloves. Before half time Goetze fired wide but the lino’s flag was up any way. The other linesman was doubled-up on 45m when Ward blocked a clearance about a yard from him and the ball hit him squarely in the guts. HT = 1-0.

In the 2nd half rain began to fall but the nature of the game was unaltered. Germany pushed forward and NI defended in numbers. Kimmich continued to play an influential role and the chances he created allowed McGovern, recently released by Hamilton, to advertise his services to potential employers. One lovely cross found Goetze who drew a fantastic save from the stopper. Then Khedira played in Goetze but this time his shot missed the target. He was soon benched with Schurrle taking his place.

On 57m Steve Davis made a lung-bursting run upfield. Approaching the box he checked for options and had the ball nicked away by Ozil who had tracked him all the way. McGovern then made another stop, this time from Khedira. He didn’t hold on and should have been punished but Gomez somehow put his header wide.

Lafferty replaced Washington and NI enjoyed a brief spell of dominance. They won 2 corners but neither threatened to even the scores. On 63m Ward fouled Hector. Kroos’s kick set up Muller but Corry Evans made a telling block. The size of NI’s task was demonstrated on 69m when Davis sent Dallas away down the left. The Leeds man is no slouch but must have been shocked to see Hummels outpace him and clear the ball.

Schweinsteiger replaced Khedira and Magnennis came on for Ward. Not much changed. Germany continued to attack with both full-backs providing plenty of chances for their forwards. Boateng was replaced by Howedes for a rare run out in his favoured position.

On 82m McGovern made the best save of the match. Another super cross from Kimmich picked out Gomez at the far post. His header, down and across goal, saw the keeper dive to turn it round the post. McGinn came on for Corry Evans but the game carried on in the same manner. Ozil shot over, Gomez drew another save and Davis made an important tackle to stop Croos.

Northern Ireland’s players looked shattered as the game moved into 3 added minutes. Germany created one last chance, which Ozil missed, before Mr Turpin blew the final whistle. Job done – a narrow defeat was good enough for Northern Ireland to qualify as one of the better 3rd placed sides. Germany won the group – but only on goal difference as Poland had beaten Ukraine leaving the top two on 7 points.

So both sides survived to fight another day. It will be refreshing to enter the knock out phase when both sides need to win the match (or at least the penalty shoot-out) to progress.

21st June - (Marseille) 5pm

Ukraine 0

Poland 1

• Blaszczykowski, 54'

Referee : Svein Oddvar Moen

Attendance : 58,874

Match Report

IBO Reporter : OneBeat

As Steven Davis prepared to lead his N. Ireland team out against Germany in a game I was looking forward to, I had to press the red button to fulfil my IBO contractual obligations to watch Poland V Ukraine.

In the first 5 mins, Milk, who obviously doesn't like to pass, shot bringing a good save from the Ukraine keeper when a pass across goal seemed the better option. Then Lewanowski shot over from six yards when he really should have scored. It was all Poland, but Ukraine could have scored the only time they attacked.

Within ten minutes it could have been 2-2, and Ukraine had only attacked twice.

Slowly but surely Ukraine started to get the upper hand, and should have scored again, but the shot went wide when there was only Fabianski to beat. They could also have had a couple of penalties. It seemed that either team could score each time they attacked, but neither could find a composed finish.

Then I had to leave to go and watch B dance, in Portsmouth, and the game wasn't on the radio. I have done a match report while driving to London listening to the game on a radio that kept cutting out, and I have done a report while watching netball and listening on my phone. This time I'm doing the report on a game that wasn't even on the radio. I had to listen to the Northern Ireland V Germany game hoping for updates. It was half time when I got to the school where S works to pick her up, and when I got back in the car the second half had started and Poland had scored, and it was Blaszczykowski who got the goal.

The reports coming through for the rest of the second half told of a close game with no further goals. Ukraine may have been the first team eliminated from the tournament, but they grew into the game and it wouldn't have been a surprise if they'd scored. As it was Poland took all three points but only managing one goal meant they missed the chance to top the group.

This report was written during all the dancing, although not when B was on stage.