Let me just call it out now; the final of the EC will be Iceland - Ireland
It is always great to see such surprises but this is getting crazy, if this goes on for a while we might actually have some big countries unable to qualify
It wasn't just an Albanian flag, it was the flag of Great-Albania, which includes Kosovo, which Serbia considers part of their country but where the Albanese population declared independence that Serbia refuses to acknowledge
Considering what happends at the start of this vid and at the 1:40 mark I say they made the right decision
http://www.zie.nl/vi...ne/kpazil7f4d2f
O, and meanwhile in Dutch football, our manager got fired..
After a good start the last matches were horrible (losing 5-2, 6-1 and barely winning in the cup to amateurs) but this is, again, the wrong decision.. If they were to fire him they should have done so in the summer break since everybody knew this was coming.. Now another unexperienced youthcoach has to take over since we don't have any time and money to find a good, experienced one.. Plus, in the summer, the coach and his assistant (who is also fired) bought/loaned a lot of new player via their own network so all those players might start to feel mighty unwelcome all of a sudden..
I think the likes of Spain, Germany and Netherlands are all thinking; "Thank Goodness for the 24-team tournament!" Meanwhile, England fans might still be complaining, but the England team themselves are probably thinking; "Thank Goodness we're not part of all that madness!"
The initial reports didn't specify which Albanian flag, and the photos I saw on the day didn't really show beyond the fact that it definitely wasn't the Albanian flag. But yeah, the more details emerged, the nastier it got. Greater Albania is irredentist nonsense that is deeply offensive to Serbians, and is at best reckless provocation, and at worst political extremism, neither of which have any place in football.
Meanwhile, apparently Serbian fans were chanting "ubi, ubi, ubi siptara," with "ubi" meaning "kill" and "siptara" being a derogatory word for Albanians, similar to the "N" word to refer to black people. And now wild rumours are flying around about how it was the brother of the Albanian PM who flew the drone. Basically, it's a colossal mess. The referee did the right thing in stopping the match, and UEFA need to come down and come down hard on this. So far, they've charged both FAs for the incident; Albanian FA for the initial provocation, and Serbian FA for the subsequent brawl and pitch invasion.
You forget; there is a certain Scottish dude with something to prove sitting on the "Unemployed" bench at the moment. Unlikely, of course, but who knows? Didn't Steve McLaren used to coach FC Twente?