It was on Sunday, the 10th of July (The day before the final of the Euros) as I went to McDonald's with Poppa for breakfast but before that, we went into Countdown to get the shampoo because I have run out of shampoo then we finally heading over to McDonald's by having a breakfast hunger buster there (Well I had the bacon and egg McMuffin as well as the massive McMuffin & of course the hash brown) as well as having hot cakes and both drinks like the orange juice and hot chocolate but I really enjoyed that experience so Pops told me to have the massive McMuffin & hash brown for lunch because he did not eat all of it so I went back home because the Super Rugby game between the Jaguares and the Highlanders (The Highlanders won that match) was on so I ate all of the massive McMuffin as well as another hash brown that Pops didn't have.
And well, it's all over till another 4 years, the #Euro2016 final ended in fashion as the Cristiano Ronaldo (Well, he got injured in the process during the opening minutes because he was sad about it & he looks a bit like world famous All Black rugby star player, Dan Carter as Dad told me about it) led Portugal (Coached by former Greece manager Fernando Santos (Who took over from former player Paulo Bento after the 2014 FIFA World Cup) who is still undefeated in competitive level & featuring the likes of Ronaldo himself of course, goalkeeper Rui Patricio, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho (The veteran & ex-Chelsea player), Joao Moutinho, Eder, Joao Mario, William Carvalho, Andre Gomes, the young Renato Sanches (Who is heading off to play for German club Bayern Munich after the tournament), former Manchester United player Nani & Ricardo Quaresma) win the UEFA European Championship for the 1st time (And the 10th different nation after the Soviet Union/Russia (1960 only), Spain (3 times in 1964, 2008 & 2012), Italy (1968 only), West Germany/Germany (3 Times in 1972, 80 & 96), Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic (Once in 1976), France (Twice in 1984 & 2000), the Netherlands (Once in 1988), Denmark (Once in 1992) & Greece (Once in 2004) and of course, finally achieved immortality after their failure in 2004 against Greece in which they hosted that tournament) beating the hosts France (Who won't be celebrating Bastille Day today because they lost just like the Battle of Waterloo 201 years ago) featuring Paul Pogba (Who still plays for Juventus) 1-0 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis with that match winner scored by Portuguese substitute Eder at extra time (And that was the 1st time that he had scored a goal in a competitive match) but Pepe (Cristiano Ronaldo's teammate at Real Madrid) has been awarded man of the match after missing the semi-final victory against Gareth Bale's Wales (One of both Ronaldo & Pepe's teammates at Real Madrid) due to injury.
And so here is the full report of the Euro 2016 final held in Saint-Denis, France:
Portugal are UEFA EURO 2016 champions. The team that drew all three of their group games, that won only once inside 90 minutes all tournament, beat hosts France after extra time at Saint-Denis to get their hands on their first major trophy.
They did it without the talismanic Cristiano Ronaldo too, their captain forced off early in the 1st half through injury. Fernando Santos's side clung on at times but, with Ronaldo orchestrating things from the technical area as much as their coach by the end, they eventually provided the one moment of magic required. Éder's fizzing 20-metre strike in the second half of extra time was just too good.
uch a scenario looked impossible after eight minutes, Ronaldo initially continuing after a heavy collision with Dimitri Payet before eventually being replaced. There were tears and a standing ovation from all corners as he was taken off. All the talk, all the analysis, all the predictions – out the window. Off went 61 international goals.
One man chasing only his second was Moussa Sissoko. The France midfielder was rampant and threatened to break the deadlock soon after Ronaldo's departure yet his shot was saved.
Rui Patrício had earlier thwarted Antoine Griezmann, athletically tipping away the in-form forward's looping header. Portugal offered little in those opening exchanges, three passes straight out of play encouraging the hosts.
Kingsley Coman came on for Payet inside the hour and soon teed up Griezmann for surely the chance of the game – Les Bleus' No7 was unmarked but headed over. Though Olivier Giroud briefly got in on the act with a low effort, Rui Patrício was again up to the task. He had to be sharper still to keep out Sissoko's thumping strike later in the half.
Only once, well into added time, was the Portugal keeper beaten. Substitute André-Pierre Gignac turned in the box and scuffed a shot into the ground which bobbled towards the net only to bounce agonisingly back off a post.
Hugo Lloris had been far less employed in regulation time, only really called into action to claw away Nani's miscued cross and then hold Ricardo Quaresma's acrobatic attempt from the rebound. Though he subsequently dealt with Éder's header, the French captain was rescued by the crossbar when Raphael Guerreiro fired in a free-kick and, with 109 minutes on the clock, could do nothing to keep out the sensational winner.
Pepe missed the semi-final with a thigh injury but returned in style, keeping adidas Golden Boot winner Griezmann as quiet as could have been hoped. "We've written a brilliant page in the story of Portuguese football," said the centre-back.
The man Portugal's hopes apparently rested on was out of action after less than ten minutes. To watch him battle on for a quarter of an hour was both desperately sad and hugely admirable. It was indicative of his relentless drive to have an impact – a desire that is heightened on the big occasion. For him then to cajole his players before extra time and gesticulate desperately throughout the additional 30 minutes was testimony to his team spirit. He was, if only briefly, a coach as well as a star player.
This was not exactly thrill-a-minute stuff. Clear-cut opportunities were at a premium and some of the biggest names on the field were either not at their best or not on the pitch at all. However, it quickly became evident that one moment would decide this. That knowledge that someone was only a split-second from becoming a hero made for a gloriously nervy night. The tension was palpable throughout the stadium.
And what do I think of the final, well I did enjoy that game except Portugal won of course with Cristiano Ronaldo got injured (He played on but he came off the field on a stretcher in the process following a heavy collision with France's Dimitri Payet so Ricardo Quaresma came on as his replacement in the 25th minute but the Portuguese put the hosts France beyond doubt so that they can score a goal during extra time and they did, thanks to that match winning goal scored by Eder during the 109th minute of the 2nd period of extra-time (Both Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann & Andre-Pierre Gignac (Who plays for a Mexican club) almost scored to put France into the lead).
And so, FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi was a failure for his country (Although he was successful only in club level because he is now retired from the international fold), Argentina in the Copa America Centenario final against Chile (Who had won on penalties) but no wonder that Cristiano Ronaldo had succeeded by winning both his club (For Real Madrid in the Champions League) & country (And finally he did get some redemption following his failure in 2004 (Although former Chelsea, Real Madrid & newly appointed Manchester United coach/manager Jose Mourinho would be very proud following his efforts of his country of birth) in the same year, so that's what you call a double, imagine that but a little fancy, as Portugal say Obrigado (Thanks in Portuguese) & Adeus (Goodbye) to France as they return home from their triumph because the Henri Delaunay Cup is heading west across the border (In the Iberian peninsula) from Spain to of course, Portugal now.
And finally, here we are today on Bastille Day (Which is France's national day) of 2016 (3 Days post Euro 2016) that me and Poppa went to the splash centre (We did go in the hydro therapy pool as well as the spa pool before doing laps in the walk and run lane) then we went to the pool clinic then New World to get the meal deal as well as the fruit, cold meat & Clausthaler's before we headed to 15A Kells Avenue to make lunch which is an Asian stir-fry that we had then I had to go to Nan's memorial garden as well as doing some jobs for the driveway then we went back inside and played Last Card because Pops (Well I told Poppa that I saw a photo of Aunty Tania dressed up as a Makutu) won 1 game while I won all 5 games then we had to build the shoe rack then I asked my grand uncle Bryan to come over and have a cup of tea but he agreed so I had a dessert and mochacchino before we had a chat there (Well I did chat to him but I made a speech for the 1st time about the curse of the All Blacks World Cup campaigns in 1999 & 2003 are ruined by a 1997 movie Anaconda being shown on Sky which is kinda funny as well as talking about the next major sporting event which is the Summer Olympics in Rio (My favourite Olympic moment was Danyon Loader winning gold medals in the 200 & 400 metre freestyle swimming over in Atlanta 20 years ago while Dad's favourite Olympic moment was Ian Ferguson & Paul McDonald winning the K2 canoeing gold in Los Angeles, California 1984 (Although the Soviet Union & the Eastern Bloc countries didn't compete because they were boycotting in response to Moscow hosting the 1980 summer Olympics because the US & the Western Bloc countries boycotted due to the war between the Soviets and Afghanistan in 1979) while Pops favourite Olympic moment was Peter Snell winning gold in both the 800 and 1500 metres athletics/track and field respectively in Tokyo just 52 years ago) which is only 23 days away as well as Super Rugby material (The Chiefs are seeking utu (Which is Maori for revenge) against the Highlanders in Dunedin while the Crusaders are hosting the Hurricanes over in Christchurch in the last round of Super Rugby before the playoffs begin) & Silver Fern netballer Maria Tutaia meeting up by having a relationship with Wallaby Israel Folau (Although they are not having an affair just like Avril Lavigne (Who is a famous Canadian along with Nickelback (Avril's husband & lead singer Chad Kroeger, Chad's brother & bassist Mike Kroeger, guitarist Ryan Peake & drummer Daniel Adair), Justin Bieber, Alanis Morrisette (Although she's American now), Celine Dion, Nelly Furtado, Bryan Adams, Michael Buble, Nikki Yanofsky, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Mark Messier, Steve Nash, current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his father Pierre Trudeau, former Prime Ministers Stephen Harper, Paul Martin & Jean Chretien, 3 Days Grace, Finger Eleven, Billy Talent, Steppenwolf, Arcade Fire, Sum 41, Our Lady Peace, Simple Plan, Default, Donovan Bailey, Penny Oleksiak, the late Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques Villeneuve (Son of Gilles & Formula 1 world champion in 1997), Paul Tracy, the late Greg Moore, Patrick Carpentier, Alex Tagliani, James Hinchcliffe, Bruno Spengler, Robert Wickens, the young Lance Stroll, Lance's billionaire father Lawrence Stroll, Edge, Christian, Maryse, Natalya, Bret 'The Hitman' Hart, Trish Stratus, Tyler Ardron, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Bianca Andreescu, Denis Shapovalov, Nicholas Latifi, Nathan Fillion (Who appears in the TV series Castle along with another famous Canadian actress Stana Katic, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Firefly & the movie Serenity), Michael Cera (The guy who appeared in the movie Scott Pilgrim Vs The World along with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jason Schwartzman, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans (AKA Captain America), Brie Larson & Brandon Routh (Who played The Man Of Steel, Superman in the movie released 10 years ago, Superman Returns), William Shatner (The guy who appeared in Star Trek as Captain Kirk along with his late friend Leonard Nimroy & George Takei & Boston Legal with James Spader, Candice Bergen & Julie Bowen from the 1996 film Happy Gilmore with Adam Sandler & TV comedy series Modern Family), Drake, Donald Sutherland, Donald's son Keifer Sutherland (Who appeared in the TV series 24 as Jack Bauer along with Elisha Cuthbert as Jack's daughter & in the 2006 movie The Sentinel along with Michael Douglas (Star of the movie Traffic along with his wife from Wales, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mexican Benicio del Toro, Don Cheadle & Dennis Quaid as well as Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps with Shia Lebeouf, Oliver Stone, Carey Mulligan, Josh Brolin (Who appeared in the 2012 movie Men In Black along with Will Smith (Who appeared in the 1995 movie & it's sequel in 2003 along with Martin Lawrence, Bad Boys (Also appearing in the 1995 movie is Tea Leoni & it's 2003 sequel is Gabrielle Union, director Michael Bay & Joe Pantoliano) as well as the 1999 flick The Wild Wild West with Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Salma Hayek & Bai Ling & last years movie, Concussion with Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks & Luke Wilson (Owen Wilson's brother) from the TV show Groupies) as Agent J, New Zealander formerly from Flight Of The Concords Jermaine Clement as the evil Boris The Animal, Emma Thompson (Who appeared with Arnold Schwarzenegger & Danny DeVito in the 1994 movie Junior), Nicole Scherzinger formerly from the Pussycat Dolls, Alice Eve (Who appeared in the movie Star Trek Into Darkness as Carol Marcus along with Chris Pine, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg (Who appeared in the movie Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz & The World's End with Nick Frost), New Zealander Karl Urban (As Eomer from The Lord Of The Rings & John 'Reaper' Grimm from the 2005 film Doom along with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson & Rosamund Pike), John Cho (Who appears in the movie Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle with Kal Penn), the late Anton Yelchin (As Kyle Reese from Terminator Salvation along with Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard, Helena Bonham Carter, rapper Common & Terry Crews) & Peter Weller) & Bill Hader), Frank Langella & Susan Sarandon & Basic Instinct with Sharon Stone (Who appeared in the movie Total Recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger) & Jeanne Tripplehorn), Eva Longoria (Basketballer Tony Parker's ex wife who appeared in Desperate Housewives) & Kim Basinger), Cobie Smulders (As Maria Hill from The Avengers (Appearing in that movie are Robert Downey Jr (Tony 'Iron Man' Stark), Chris Evans (Captain America Steve Rogers), Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Norse god of Thunder), Mark Ruffalo (Dr Buce 'Hulk' Banner), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow Natasha Romanoff), Jeremy Renner (Agent Clint 'Hawkeye' Barton), Tom Hiddelston (The evil Loki), Paul Bettany (JARVIS), Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson) & Stellan Skarsgard (Professor Erik Selvig) & Canadian TV news anchor Robin Scherbatsky from How I Met Your Mother with Alyson Hannigan as Willow from Buffy The Vampire Slayer as well as American Pie & Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson), Hayden Christensen (As Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars Episodes II: Attack Of The Clones & III: Revenge Of The Sith), Mike Myers (From Wayne's World as well as Austin Powers & The Love Guru with Jessica Alba & Justin Timberlake), Pamela Anderson (As CJ from Baywatch featuring Knight Rider star David 'The Hoff' Hasselhoff), Sandrine Holt (Born in England who appeared in Terminator: Genisys (With Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke from Game Of Thrones, Jason Clarke (Not related to Emilia Clarke), Jai Courtney from A Good Day To Die Hard & Lee Byung-hun from Red 2) as well as the MacGyver reboot (With Lucas Till from X-Men First Class, George Eads from CSI, Tristin Mays from Supergirl & Justin Hires from Rush Hour), Jim Carrey (One of the guys who appeared in films such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask (With Cameron Diaz), Dumb and Dumber (With Gary Daniels), Batman Forever (He plays the Riddler in the movie and appearing in the movie with Val Kilmer (As the ''Dark Knight/Caped Crusader'' Batman), Nicole Kidman (Doctor Meridian Chase), Tommy-Lee Jones (Harvey Dent/Two Face) & Chris O'Donnell (Robin), The Cable Guy (With Ben Stiller (Who appeared in the movie Tropic Thunder with Jack Black, Iron Man's Robert Downey Jr, Brandon T Jackson, another famous Canadian Jay Baruchel, Steve Coogan (Who appeared in the movie Around The World In 80 Days with Rumble In The Bronx, Rush Hour, Mr Nice Guy, Who Am I, Shanghai Noon & Shanghai Knights star Jackie Chan), Matthew McConaughey (Who also appeared in the movie The Wedding Planner with Jennifer Lopez (From the 1997 movie Anaconda) & tennis player Pete Sampras's wife, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras (Who played Sonya Blade in the 1995 movie, Mortal Kombat) as Rick Pecker & Tom Cruise (Who appears in movies such as A Few Good Men (With Jack Nicholson & Demi Moore), Mission Impossible, Jerry Maguire (With Renee Zellweger & Cuba Gooding Jr), Vanilla Sky (With Penelope Cruz & Cameron Diaz), Minority Report, The Last Samurai, Knight & Day (With Diaz) & Jack Reacher) as Les Grossman), Matthew Broderick, Leslie Mann, Jack Black (Tenacious D front man who also appeared in Tropic Thunder), Owen Wilson (Luke Wilson's brother who appeared in both Shanghai Noon & Shanghai Knights with Jackie Chan) & Janeane Garofolo), Liar Liar, Me, Myself & Irene (With Zellweger & Anthony Anderson), Bruce Almighty (With Morgan Freeman (Who appeared in such movies as Invictus (As the great leader of South Africa, the late Nelson Mandela), The Shawshank Redemption (With Tim Robbins), Million Dollar Baby (With Clint Eastwood & Hillary Swank), The Bucket List (With Jack Nicholson from the 1989 movie Batman as The Joker), Lucy (With Scarlett Johansson from the Avengers as Black Widow), Olympus Has Fallen (With Gerard Butler from 300 as King Leonidas & Aaron Eckhart from The Dark Knight as Harvey Dent/Two Face) & The Dark Knight trilogy as Lucius Fox) as God, Jennifer Anniston & Steve Carell as Evan Baxter), Fun With Dick & Jane (With Tea Leoni who appears in the TV series Madam Secretary) & of course Yes Man (With Zooey Deschanel (Emily Deschanel's sister who also appears in the TV series, New Girl), Bradley Cooper (Who appears in the Hangover Trilogy with Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham (Who played Felicity Shagwell in Austin Powers, The Spy Who Shagged Me), 'Iron' Mike Tyson, Ken Jeong as Leslie Chow & Ian Anthony Dale (Who appeared in the Tekken movie as the evil Kazuya Mishima) & New Zealand comedian Rhys Darby) & last but not least, Keanu Reeves (And the one who also appeared in films such as Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Point Break (He plays American Football/Gridiron player turned FBI Agent Johnny Utah & appearing with the late Patrick Swayze (Bodhi) & Gary Busey (Angelo Pappas), Speed (With Sandra Bullock), The Matrix (He also plays the role of Neo Anderson and also appearing with Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus), Carrie-Ann Moss (Another famous Canadian actress (Along with Rachel McAdams who appeared in the move Mean Girls along with Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Seyfried & Lacey Chabert) who plays Trinity) & Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith/Elrond from Lord of the Rings), Constantine (With Rachel Weisz (James Bond actor Daniel Craig's wife), Tilda Swinton, Shia LaBeouf (Who appears in the movie Transformers & one of Sophia Ong's favourite actors because my favourite actor at the moment is Arnold Schwarzenegger (Who famously appeared in movies such as Conan The Barbarian, The Terminator, Commando, Raw Deal, Predator, The Running Man, Red Heat, Total Recall, Kindergarten Cop, Last Action Hero, True Lies, Jingle All The Way, End Of Days & Collateral Damage) but my cousin Paige Williams has got lots of favourite actors as well as my Aunty Cathey Middelplaats wrote that I really don't who her favourite actor was but she likes both James Corden & Graham Norton), Bush lead singer Gavin Rossdale & Djimon Hounsou), Street Kings (With Chris Evans (The guy who played Captain America), Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie (As doctor Gregory House from the TV show House who appeared in the 2004 movie Flight Of The Phoenix with Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi, Australian Miranda Otto (Who played Eowyn in The Lord Of The Rings movies) & Tyrese Gibson (As Brian O'Connor's childhood friend Roman Pierce in The Fast & Furious movies), Terry Crews (From The Expendables movies), Naomie Harris (Who appears in both Skyfall & Spectre with Daniel Craig as Bond, James Bond), Cedric The Entertainer, Jay Mohr (Appeared in the 1999 film Go with Sarah Polley from the 2004 horror flick Dawn Of The Dead & Tom Cruise's ex-wife Katie Holmes as well as Timothy Olyphant), John Corbett (Who appeared in the movie My Big Greek Fat Wedding & its sequel with Nia Vardalos) & rappers The Game & Common), John Wick & 47 Ronin) is married to Nickelback front man Chad Kroeger as well as No Doubt front woman Gwen Stefani getting married to Bush lead singer Gavin Rossdale) because the netball game was held several metres away from a rugby match in Sydney) but Pops took me home with all of my stuff including the fruits, meal deal, the cold meat & the Clausthaler's (Although we went to Nan's grave before that) to end an incredible day it was.
P.S. And guess what that my cousin Paige finally sent me an email because she wrote about that she apologized for the late response as well as being extremely busy over the last couple of weeks but she also wrote that she hasn't been watching Super Rugby because her boyfriend Jarrod must be filling the void in most of it and she also wrote that she loves Japanese food because it's yummy and she will have to go to that restaurant if she was ever here in Whanganui and she finally wrote that I was hoping for an totally awesome week by taking care, Paige xx (Both kisses).
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