UEFA EURO 2016 (St Etienne)

Monday 20th June 2016
UEFA Euro 2016 Group B
Stade Geoffroy Guichard
Slovakia 0-0 England
Attendance: 39,051

This was the game I had the biggest dilemma with. When this little jaunt around southern France was planned, and tickets obtained, we had no idea who we would be watching. After the draw had been made it then became clear it would be Slovakia v England. However I also had tickets for Russia v Wales back in Toulouse. I factored in that it was 550km back to Toulouse, coupled with the fact that tomorrow we will be heading to Marseille, a further 330km from Lyon, even further from Toulouse, and came to the logical conclusion and stuck with plan A.

After an afternoon chilling with a few beers, it was a 45 minute train journey from our base in Lyon to St Etienne. Upon arrival at Châteaucreux Station there were loads of England fans in the surrounding bars and cafes, so we decided to head off the beaten track to try and avoid the mobs. We stumbled on this backstreet bar, which turned out to be a St Etienne Ultras bar. Once established that two of us were not England supporters they were absolutely fine.

We had a very good chat about St Etienne, who were a major force in European football in the 1970's. They came within a Hampden Park (square) post of winning the European Cup in 1976, eventually losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich. As I one of the chaps I was with is a red, the subject of a famous night in 1977 came up. He was there etc etc. Michel Platini is one of St Etienne's many famous former players, as is current darling of the French team Dimitri Payet. They also gave an insight into their rivalry with Olimpique Lyonnais and told us there is currently an away fan ban in place due to trouble at past encounters.

The Stade Geoffroy Guichard was opened in 1931 and is named after the founder of the Casino retail group, who purchased the site on which the ground was built. It is another ground that has a British feel to it, with four separate stands, though for this tournament the corners have been filled in to increase the capacity to over 40,000.

It was a good 35 minute walk to the ground where en-route we were treated to the finest songs the England fans had to offer. I'll leave it at that. Upon arrival at the ground, despite arriving over an hour before kick off, it took the longest of all the grounds I had visited to gain entry. There were hundreds of fans trying to enter through one gate and the crowd was swelling as the minutes passed. At one stage it was becoming very uncomfortable as crushing started to happen. I got separated from the others but, after a cursory pat down, I manged to gain entry well before kick off.

England had the better chances and dominated the possession, and maybe they were thinking 'Nothing can stop us' but Slovakia keeper Matus Kozacik was in fine form and their solid defence was marshaled superbly by Martin Skrtel. 

Slovakia knew a draw (and four points) would be enough to see them through and they never had any attacking intent whatsoever, apart from the odd counter. It was 'So tough' for England who didn't appear to have any idea how to break down the Slovak defence.

Indeed a mix up between Chris Smalling and Joe Hart could have gifted the Slovaks a goal. However the draw means that both teams go through, however Wales' 3-0 victory against Russia meant that it was Wales who topped group B. No doubt the Welsh were dancing in the streets of 'Tiger Bay' after that result!