But once you'd scored, the result was never seriously in doubt. France had just a bit more of everything everywhere

keep to the Fen Causeway

Damn. I was on a conference call with a Japanese lender in NYC, and missed the whole second half. (After I'd planned the call for right after the end of the match, but you know those weather gods.)

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

And two beautiful goals between defender legs, but the match was still awful to watch. What was really bad in the first half and towards the end was the Ukrainian fans in Donetsk. So different from those in Kiev four days earlier. They started after the rain break by booing/whistling the French team already when they entered the arena, and then went on to do that every time France had the ball, until after the goal. Then towards the end, they were whistling the own team, and half of them left the stadium before it was over.

Speaking of whistling the opponent just to disturb their game, although the Donetsk crowd was the extreme example, I noticed that this is now quite widespread. Ireland fans were "great" in it, too, though they at least showed how to lose with heads upright (singning a sad song I sadly don't know full-throttle for long minutes).

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

As a neutral observer, I saw the most exciting and entertaining match of the tournament, topped up with a crazy heel goal from Welbeck.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

What? Don't they teach young people anything these days?