UEFA EURO 2016 (Nice)

Wednesday 22nd June 2016
UEFA Euro 2016 Group B
Stade de Nice
Sweden 0-1 Belgium
Attendance: 34,011

My French adventure came to it's conclusion on the Cote d'azur with a visit to the brand new home of Olympique Gymnaste Club de Nice. After waking up, and opening my window, to stunning views of palm trees and the clean blue water of the Mediterranean Sea, it was a lazy afternoon, mostly drinking Belgian beer in a place called Belgian Attitude, before heading to the ground.

The ground, opened in 2013 and replacing the old Stade Municipal du Rayand, is eco-friendly, drawing more than three times its own energy requirements from more than 4,000 solar panels. The ground has its own geothermal installation for heating and rain water channelled from the roof is used to water the pitch.

To contradict this though, the best way of reaching the ground, which is 13 km outside the city centre, is by car as the train stop for the stadium is yet to be completed. Tonight's match is the penultimate game at this ground, with England v Iceland scheduled here for next Monday before it hosts Rhianna on her world tour on 15th July.

Belgium struggled to overcome Sweden, who at least managed some efforts on target in this game. The game was decided six minutes from time when Radja Nainggolan's stunning 25-yard strike secured Belgium's place in the last 16 of Euro 2016 and eliminated out Sweden. Fabrique Belgique as they say.

As well as being my last game at Euro 2016, it was also the last international game of Zlatan Ibrahimovic as he had announced that this tournament would be his Swedish swansong, no doubt I will be seeing him at Goodison Park next season after Manchester United sign (for) him!

That is my lot for 2015/16, the journey around France was a brilliant way to round off another season of groundhopping, even if the actual football was largely forgettable. Thanks to everyone involved, and indeed over the course of the past 11 months. Hopefully I will see you all soon. Enjoy your summer!

Goodbye, au revoir!

UEFA EURO 2016 (Lyon)

Sunday 19th June 2016
UEFA Euro 2016 Group A
Stade de Lyon
Romania 0-1 Albania
Attendance: 49,752

Saturday was a football free day so I spent time looking at the sights of Bordeaux, such as the Pont de pierre and, naturally, some excellent bars such as the Frog and Rostbif, Houses of Parliament and Le Mashup before heading onto Lyon in the evening. 

Lyon is a beautiful city, the narrow streets of the old town are particulary spectacular. You can walk through doors (traboules) to hidden streets and courtyards. It really is something to behold. I really must make another trip to the city to try and take in some more of the sights.

The ground is around 10km out of the city and, due to delays in construction, was only opened as recently January 2016. It is home to Olympic Lyonnais and replaced the Stade de Gerland which had been their home since 1950. The ground has a capacity of 58,000 and I would estimate over half that capacity this evening were Albania fans.

I was lucky enough to be in amongst the Albanian fans, and they were fanatical in support of their team. They created a superb atmosphere and I defy any critics of the expansion to 24 teams to say it has not added value to the proceedings. By the end of the match it was very hard to resist shouting "Shqipëria" with the Albanian supporters.

Albania recorded their first major tournament win with a 1-0 victory over Romania. Armando Sadiku scored the only goal of the game when he headed past keeper Ciprian Tatarusanu after 43 minutes. There were absolute scenes when the ball hit the back of net.

The closest Romania came to equalising was when a Florin Andone shot came back off the bar. On the balance of play though there can be no complaints with the result as Albania defended heroically to preserve their lead.

However the result, though it took three days for confirmation, was not enough to see Albania through to the knockout stages. Their fans will be a huge miss to the tournament.

UEFA EURO 2016 (Toulouse)

Friday 17th June 2016
Stadium Toulouse
UEFA Euro 2016 Group E
Italy 1-0 Sweden
Attendance: 29,600

After a few late beers in Paris, and a bit of a hairy journey to my hotel due to a lack of shuttle buses and taxis, it was an early start for a flight south to Toulouse. This was effectively the beginning of my trip that had been planned since last summer, when the first batch of tickets went on sale, when the idea was to take in 6 grounds in 6 days.

I was undertaking this journey with three others so I met up with them pre-match before walking the 40 or so minutes to the ground.

The Stadium de Toulouse was originally built for use in the 1938 World Cup. It has a capacity of 33,000 and the locals used to call the ground "little Wembley" as it bears a resemblence to the Old Wembley stadium (minus the twin towers though). I can see their thinking. The ground is actually built on an island in the river Garonne, which is the main river that flows through the city.

Walking to the ground the Swedish fans were in fine voice and their yellow shirts made a colourful sight. I did wonder where the Italian fans were as all I could see was a sea of yellow. 

The game was utter dross and seemed to be heading to a goalless draw until a fine strike from Eder, in the 88th minute, won the match for the Italians. Despite the presence of Zlatan Ibrahimvoic, Sweden never managed a shot on target during the game.

Eder is mobbed by his teamates after netting the winner.

UEFA EURO 2016 (Lens)

Thursday 16th June 2016
UEFA Euro 2016 Group B
Stade Bollaert-Delelis
England 2-1 Wales
Attendance: 34,033

After flying into Brussels the previous day, and having a few beers in the city (well it would have been rude not too) the day began on an early train from Brussels Midi, via Lille, to the town of Lens. The train was packed with Welsh and English supporters making their way to the game. I was sat by some England fans from Yorkshire and it was very funny listening to some of the antics they got up to the previous night in Brussels (as this is a family friendly blog I will not repeat the stuff that was said).

There were huge queues the get on the train at Lille and there were bag searches on the station platform before being let out of the station at Lens. The weather had taken a turn for the worse upon arrival in the town and there was torrential rain lashing the town for a couple of hours. Luckily (ahem) I was able to take sanctuary in a bar adjacent to the fanzone, sink a few beers before walking to up ground.

The vibe was good natured and I spent most of the time chatting football in the bar. There was a table full of Southampton fans next to me, so I took the opportunity to pick their brains about Ronald Koeman. It would appear they rated him very highly and Everton have picked a winner. Hopefully that is true.

Lens is a former coal mining town and the ground is named after Felix Bollaert, who was a former director of the Lens Mining Company, and Andre Delelis, a former mayor of the town. The stadium is home to Ligue 2 side Racing Club Lens was originally built in 1933 by unemployed miners. The ground has previously hosted tournament football in 1984 (Euro) and 1998 (World Cup).

It has been well documented that this is one of the smallest grounds being used at the tournament, with a capacity of 35,000. It has also been mentioned many times in the run up to the tournament that the entire population of Lens would not fill the ground. Having said that Lens' average attendance for 2015/16 was 26,393 not bad for second tier team.

The ground was an easy 15 minute walk from the town centre and has the feel of an British stadium with it's four tiered stands right up against the pitch. It helps create a good atmosphere, not that that was needed given the all-British clash that was taking place today.

The atmosphere was all that was good for the majority of the first half in what was a dreadful opening 45 minutes. However three minutes before the break Joe Hart's mistake allowed Gareth Bale's (who else) free kick from 30 yards to creep in and give Wales the lead. Cue absolute scenes in the Welsh end, boos from the England end.

Roy Hodgson was left with no real choice but to throw on Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge and it was these who turned the game. Vardy levelled things on 56 minutes and the relentess attacking from England, as the Wales defence dropped deeper and deeper, paid off in stoppage time when Sturridge grabbed the winner.

There can be no complaint with the result but the fact that it was deep into stoppage, after defending heroically, desperately at times, it was a real kick in the teeth for Wales.

Post match it was a train into Paris where I made my way to the Frog and Princess for some proper post match analysis!

UEFA EURO 2016 (Bordeaux)

Saturday 11th June 2016
UEFA Euro 2016 Group B
Stade de Bordeaux
Wales 2-1 Slovakia
Attendance: 37,831

Joe Jordans's handball, 1977. Paul Bodin's penalty miss, 1993. Egor Titov's failed drug test, 2003. The history of Welsh football has been littered with injustices and bad luck. Well, finally, after 58 years of heartbreak these can finally be consigned to the dustbin of history. After 58 years, Wales have once again arrived on the scene of a major international tournament.

The last time Wales took part in a major tournament was the World Cup in 1958 when a 17 year old Pele inspired Brazil to a 1-0 victory. Wales did reach the quarter-finals of the 1976 European Championships, but in those days it was played on an home away basis up until the semi-finals, when the last four teams played the tournament.

Wales' Euro 2016 campaign kicked off at the "New" Stade de Bordeaux in, err, Bordeaux, the home of Girondins de Bordeaux. The ground was opened last year and replaced the Stade Chaban Delmas. The capacity of the stadium is around 42,000 and the roof is supported by over 1000 poles, designed to give the impression that it is floating. It is a sight to behold.

I was undertaking a day trip in order to watch this game today, so my journey began with a couple of beers at Cardiff Airport before a (slightly delayed) direct flight had me in Bordeaux just before midday. Once through passport control, a coach was waiting to ferry me to the ground.

The ground is a good 7km outside of Bordeaux, so I faced with a dilemma. Do I jump on a packed tram for the 45 minute journey into town, with little time to do anything, or stay where I am. In the end the choice was made for me as there was a sudden walk out by tram drivers meaning no trams were running to and from the city centre.  C'est la vie.

I am back in Bordeaux next week, though I will not be watching any football. I have read that the historic part of the city is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as "an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble" of the 18th century. I will hopefully get a chance to look at this architecture on my return. Or maybe just another alehouse!

Bordeaux is the world's major wine industry capital but there was only the official urine of Euro 2016 available at the ground (and virtually alcohol free at that) so I made do with a soft drink, but at least it was in a commemorative cup for you to take home!

The only evidence of heightened security I saw was armed soldiers at the airport and blockades around the ground checking cars and buses. On entry to the ground there was a pat down and a cursory check of my bag and ticket but nothing too invasive.

Unfortunately being on a day trip I missed the massive Welsh party that took place in the town over the previous 24 hours, but as kick off approached I could feel the atmosphere in the stadium building. I would estimate there was a good 20,000 Wales supporters in the stadium for this game. It looked like a sea of red all around me and the noise was tremendous.

Slovakia were also playing their first European finals tournament as an independent nation and it was they who almost made the early breakthrough when Marek Hamsik burst through and beat Danny Ward in the Welsh goal, but Ben Davies had spotted the danger and covered back in order to clear the ball off the line.

It was Gareth Bale, who else, that opened the scoring when his free kick from 25 yards found the net. Admittedly Slovakia goalkeeper Matus Kozacik did not cover himself in glory and maybe should have saved it. Wales had the better of the first half and deserved to be 1-0 up at the break.

Slovakia came back into the game in the second half and it was no surprise when they equalised, substitute Ondrej Duda applying the finish with his first touch of the game. Wales were on the ropes after this goal but an inspired double substitution by Chris Coleman (and a fantastic rendition of 'Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau' by the Welsh fans which echoed around the ground) helped turn the tide and create the winning goal.

Joe Ledley played a defence splitting ball to Aaron Ramsey, who flicked the ball into the path of Hal Robson-Kanu who scuffed the ball into the back of the net. They all count and it sent the Welsh fans into absolute raptures.

There was still time for Slovakia to hit the post, Adam Nemec's header coming back off the upright, but after all the years of heartache then maybe Wales deserved that little bit of luck. This result meant Wales were the first British side to win their opening game at a European Championship finals. It must have been the day for history!