After becoming a fully-fledged nation in 1991 Croatia quickly grew into a powerhouse of world football. Despite nurturing and producing some of the best talent available in world football, the dark side of Croatian football has too often overshadowed their ability on the pitch in recent times.
After the formation of The English Football Association in 1863, it is insane that the nation that gave the greatest sport to the world could not find a native, adequate enough at the art of coaching, to take charge of the national team in 2001.
The Panenka looks at the outcome that having a foreign manager had on the already damaged psyche of the England team in the period between 2001 and 2006.
The Germans seem ever-present at major tournaments and this year, like three times previously they will enter the European Championships as World Champions and red-hot favorites. European Championship winners in each 1972,1980 and 1996, no team has a better pedigree than Germany.
For the second installment of The Panenka’s dirt digging experiment on the coaches of Euro 2016, we bring you Group B which contains a former-PE teacher, someone who fell out a tree trying to rescue a cat and someone who took a 7-month ban on the chin after a touchline punch up.
Wales last participated in a major tournament at the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden when a John Charles inspired team reached the quarter-finals. Despite delivering a plethora of top class talent like Ian Rush and Ryan Giggs Wales finally ended over half a century of waiting to participate on the big stage by qualifying for Euro 2016 in France.
Despite being one of the founding members of UEFA, Euro 2016 will be Albania’s first ever major tournament. The relative minnows have put together a savvy squad recruited from the diaspora of Albanian immigrants across Europe amassing a squad with players from leagues in Greece, Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and France.
In a new series of posts The Panenka brings you a treasure trove of pub knowledge to use as ammo down the local boozer during the dullest of group games this Euro 2016.
In no particular order, first up is Group A, containing France, Romania, Albania and Switzerland.
After failing to defeat Croatia in a 2014 World Cup play-off Iceland were more determined that ever to make their mark on the international scene. So after navigating a tricky qualifying group they exorcised their play-off hoodoo to qualify for their first ever international tournament. As the smallest population to ever qualify for a major tournament (326,000) Group F might prove to be a little too much for them but they are certainly an international force on the up.
The Panenka’s series ‘England’s Excuses’ kicks off with a look at how hot weather prevented The Three Lions from recouping the World Cup in 1970.
When it comes to the English it is true that we love to talk about the weather and when it comes to football it appears that climate conditions have a big impact on the fortunes of the national team. In terms of using the weather as an excuse for failure, World Cup 1970 in Mexico springs to mind.
We really missed Sweden at the last World Cup in 2014 and no, it wasn’t because it meant that the cameraman was unable to pan to a row of Swedish twenty-somethings in the crowd. The Panenka is glad to welcome back the only host nation to be defeated in a World Cup final as there is always something about the Sweden team that threatens to do something special. OK they’ve never won a major tournament but always seem to find themselves in the group of death or on that betting slip as you proclaim them to be this years dark horses, but hey, they may not have a realistic chance of winning it, but it is the year of the underdog after all.
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