I predict that Germany will win. England will be eliminated at the quarter finals as usual.

Are you saying England is not deploying the Leicester squad?

I predict England will leave, and Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will keep playing.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/england-fans-in-marseille-violence-on-eve-of-euro-2016-1.2679633

Just to note, ritual violence on the pitch is acceptable; but off the pitch the violence is not controlled. Tribal tensions between different fans continues, as they are not satisfied with waiting for their teams to play-fight.

Maybe we need to bring back blood sports, so the fans something to really look forward to...

Thoughts?

The big Swedish guy Zlatan wins it singlehandedly. :)

French Police & Security Services 1, Islamic State Nil.

(Far Right and Affiliates have a goaless draw with the Al-Qaida Old Boys in a disappointing play off for third place, with both eventually losing on penalties)

I would love if Sweden got to meet England again so Zlatan can repeat his classic bicycleta and own you 100% :)

@ orathaic: Scotland sadly failed to qualify

Careful! This may be disturbing to English viewers. :)
Zlatan's bicycleta against the English national team: https://youtu.be/RM_5tJncHww

The British commentator makes this one a lot better https://youtu.be/yzvQCbdAIZQ

After watching opening game France could do well.

Watched it too. I am not overly impressed by France that is said to be finalist material.

France vs Roumania: France very nice second goal. But they won't go far without a defence.

I was looking forward to this tournament until realising that not one of the English players is older than me...

@octavious Feeling old? :/

Very. I wasn't expecting this milestone for a couple more major tournaments at least. You can usually count on at least a goalie or a couple of midfielders being in their mid 30s, but this team is ridiculously young.

does anyone know who is playing against austria - hungary?

But I am quite sure that there are a lot of other stuff that encourage your self-esteem. It was some time since this thing happened to me and be sure I did survive without much problem ! :)

It was a great opening game. Good chances on both sides, France takes the lead, Romania equals with a penalty and then a beautiful goal in the 90th minute to win it. Very good start. France was lucky to get the win. They should be kissing Payets feet who got an assist and the winning goal. Maybe it was just the fact that they havent played a serious game in two years so they were a bit shaky. A win should give them some confidence for the next games.

"I predict England will leave, and Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will keep playing." Football predictions or referendum predictions? :P

I dont know about the football but latter can be true xD

I think I'm going to start supporting Ireland. They have lots of players older than me :). Shay Given is in his 40s :D.

I had Wales and Slovakia drawing 1-1 and England beating Russia 1-0. Bastards

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36510550

Does it strike anyone else as odd that Russians are being investigated for their violence, but English fans are not?

Not really. It just implies that the evidence on the ground is that the violence was largely instigated by Russian elements.

The big story, which is getting far less attention than it deserves, is that in a competition with some of the highest security ever Russian fans were able to smuggle explosive fireworks into the middle of one of the biggest stadia in France!

I am a bit disappointed with Germany. Only 1-0 towards Ukraine 84 min into the game...

Germany doing 2-0 against Ukraine is sort of okay...

English fans staged mayhem for three days in Marseilles and aren't punished. This is why UEFA is a farce and nobody should watch it.

I thought that was the Russians. Have you been looking too much on RT lately?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36496745

Yeah by "RT" you obviously mean the BBC.

Also on the incident in the stands, from those Russian propagandists in ....Singapore?

http://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/euro-2016-more-marseille-mayhem-as-russian-fans-charge-england-supporters

"A Straits Times reader at the Stade Velodrome also suggested that the Three Lions faithful had started the trouble.

Vishaal Bhardwaj, a 38-year-old teacher, said: "The Russian fans were taunted by the English for large parts of the game and when they equalised the English fans above them hurled abuse and threw things at them. The Russians reacted...

"The English fans were totally disrespectful to the Russians and jeered during the Russian national anthem."

And that's just the incident in the stands. I'm referring to the violence which preceded the match which was