England Ladies 2-1 Portugal Ladies, Thursday 27th July 2017

England 2-1 Portugal (Koning Willem II Stadion, Tilburg, att. 3,335)

Welcome to ....

It's Thursday morning and since I'm based in Rotterdam, I thought I'd visit the Museum Rotterdam before catching a train to Tilburg.  The attraction had a lowish TripAdvisor score, but what do these people know about history?  Well, it was crap, not helped by having the interesting bit on Rotterdam during World War II in a different site altogether.  What a waste of €7.50 and my morning.  Worse, there was so little to do in Tilburg.  I COULD have visited the other Museum Rotterdam site…

The team buses have arrived.

Ahhhh, Tilburg.  The Netherlands’ 6th biggest city I'm told.  Who knew?  Well, it was probably a good time to visit, in the middle of their annual fair, the ‘tilburg kermis’.  Rides and candyfloss aplenty, as well as a marquee which doubled for bingo in the afternoon and beer tent by night.  Something for everyone then, with the entire city centre closed off for the amusements.

'Two fat ladies....'

Sadly, I didn't fancy having my insides turned outside, nor of my wallet falling from a great height while upside down, so I took an early stroll to the stadium a couple of miles away.  It's not one to walk around either, being bounded on two sides by numerous tennis courts and an ice hockey stadium, athletics track and even a small lake a couple of men were optimistically fishing in.

Like jelly babies, the roof is in a wibbly wobbly world of its own.

The main drag to the stadium had one or two pubs on it, handily placed for the walk.  The stadium operates a kind of outer boundary, whereby everyone came in at one end before walking around the concourse to the correct section.  I presume there is a more slick approach to proper Willem II games when the likes of Feyenoord visit.

The Main Stand.

For a second game in a row, my seat appeared not to exist or the organisers hadn't sold as many tickets as they hoped and so those few of us who’d bought cheaper tickets for behind the goal were huddled in with the others.  For me this meant wandering into the first bit of stand I came to.  No wonder the stewardess ‘ummed’ and ‘arred’ before letting me in - it was the Portuguese end.  Maybe 300 were there in support, including one cheerleader, self annointed or not, I couldn't tell.

Portugese supporters.

The Willem II Stadion is essentially one tier all around with an undulating roof on three sides.  Strangely, the main stand or exec side is the one without, otherwise the other oddity is the moat, 60 degree banking rather than the usual sheer drop.  Gotta give those pitch invaders half a chance.

With England virtually guaranteed to win the group, the onus was on Portugal.  A win might be enough.  In the end a draw would have been.  And it would have been there's had an injury time volley not gone straight down the throat of the English keeper.  Unlucky.

The Tilburg moat.

So, 2-1 to England and a 100% record.  I still maintain the best two sides I've seen are Germany and The Netherlands.  Barcelona's Toni Duggan put the lionesses 1-0 up, capitalising on a scuffed clearance from the keeper before firing high into the net from 20 yards.  That's why Barca have paid the big bucks.

Match action.

Portugal equalised when a right-wing cross was cleared straight back to the winger who put it back in first time for a tap-in.  Superb reactions, though unlucky on England.  Half-time, one-all, and I went on a wander.  Could I spend the €10.50 left on my euro champs prepayment card?  No, I could not.  A third venue in 3 days had a third separate payment method.  In this place you swapped money for coins.  Make sense of that if you can.

Full-time.  The England players take their applause.

England went on to win it early in the second half when the centre forward broke past two weak challenges to finish confidently.  The England contingent was suitably jubilant.  However, the numbers and noise were down on Breda a few days ago.  Surely they are not being less supported the further they go?

The Damage:
€10 ent

= €10

Koning Willem II panorama.

A floodlight towers over the stadium.

Behind the goal, before the match.

A Portugal flag waves as the teams are led out.

Portugal and England line up.

King Si....de.

The traditional home end.  When fans turn up.

The main stand.

Looking toward the far end.

Match action.

Come on England!

Iceland Ladies 0-3 Austria Ladies, Wednesday 26th July 2017

Iceland Ladies 0-3 Austria Ladies (Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel, Rotterdam, att. 4,893)

Welcome to ....

There can't be many folk have walked to both ‘De Kuip’ (home of Feyenoord) and Het Kasteel (Sparta Rotterdam) in the same day, but void of any other ideas I thought why not? I've always wanted to see a game at De Kuip and though it couldn't happen this time it was nice to at least see it, though don't walk there, it's too far and once you've crossed the Erasmus Bridge there's not a lot to see.  After a circumference of the stadium, I caught a tram back to town.

Feyenoord's cathedral.

 The centre of Rotterdam seemed awash with Icelandics, keen to follow up last summer's adventures with the men.  The fanzone was busy with a multitude of games laid out for the kids.  Least that's who was playing.  I’d have fancied a game on their ‘football pool’.  I even saw a couple of Austrians.  The Icelandics though had come in numbers and who knows how many families had made the Netherlands their holiday of choice this summer?

Football pool.  Kids have all the fun.

 With time on my hands and a yearning to see the old port of Delfshaven, I decided to walk to Sparta Stadium (‘Het Kasteel’) through a park, over canals and passing the Euromast, Holland tallest building.  I even managed not to go wrong this time, following the canal till I could see the floodlights.  All I needed now was a deluge of rain and a bridge to stand under to start drinking the can of beer I brought (Franziskaner).

An inauspicious 1st view.

Deluge over, I headed to the stadium where I still had an hour to kill.  I walked around, passing four or five policemen before a couple more pulled me over for drinking in the street.  ‘It's ok it's just not allowed’(!)  I was allowed to finish it as long as I didn't go wandering off with it in hand.  

I was also able to finally see Sparta’s legendary castle entrance, though the effect was somewhat ruined (enhanced?) by the addition of the local municipality’s refuse trucks being parked outside.  The police asked me why I was taking pics of the trucks.  ‘I wasn't.  I was taking a photo of the entrance and if you could possibly arrange for the removal of the trucks I'd be much obliged.’  I think they realised I wasn't a threat to government security, though they did ask to see my match ticket.

Sparta's grand entrance.  Plus dustbin wagons.

As well as ‘Het Kasteel’, Sparta used to have a massive 10,000-seater stand down one side, but since redevelopment, this has gone, to be replaced by a smaller stand in keeping with the rest of the stadium, now a tidy all-seater, all covered, stadium of 11,000.  The charm of ‘Het Kasteel’ is exaggerated by the ‘Het Kasteel’ itself splitting a stand in two.  Once upon a time, this was behind the goal, but since redevelopment, the pitch has been turned 90° and the Het Kasteel sits proudly on the halfway line.

Het Kasteel splits the stands.

Tonite, Iceland had gathered behind one goal and one side of Het Kasteel, while Austria had the other.  I'd say the Austrians were outnumbered three or four to one in a crowd of 5000 and I can now say I've taken part in an ‘Icelandic thunderclap’.  Be careful to hear the drum beat.  Not ones to over egg the pudding, it was only once each half.  Perfect.

The Iceland thunderclap!

Iceland fans.

Otherwise, I was sure I was sat two rows behind Jonny Lee Miller 20 years ago.  I presume he was in Holland looking for his mate Rents, who’d nicked all his cash in Trainspotting.  Anyway, he was obviously a big Iceland fan cos he spoke the lingo, knew all the chants and wore the stars and stripes as a wrist bandana.  (Is ‘wrist bandana’ a thing?)

Unfortunately, went the day badly for Iceland.  Austria had a number of shots saved then when the keeper had weathered the storm she dropped an innocuous cross for an Austrian to head in on the rebound.  Two days in a row I've seen a keeper f*** up.  Despite another outstanding save, a scramble lead to a close range second.  Game over.

The Exec box side.

Iceland tried to threaten second half, but they were clearly inferior to the bright Austrians who were to claim top berth in the four team group.  Indeed, Austria had the last say, a rebound tapped home following another save.

All that was left was the acclaim, Iceland coming to the corner to give thanks, while the Austrians jumped around together.  I caught a bus back.  Sadly no shuttle buses a la Breda.   I asked the policeman and he pointed me to a bus stop on a nearby bridge.  €3.  Travel is not cheap in Rotterdam but at least I was able to procure a €3 hot dog in the stadium.  However, I was unable to pay with my women's EURO 2017 payment card (current balance €10.50).  This is why I hate these damn cards.  You are left with money on them you'll never use

The teams are paraded.

The Damage:

€10 ent

€3 hotdog

€3 travel

= €16

The Tunes:

The Libertines (The Libertines)

Different Class (Pulp)

DJ Kicks (Daniel Avery)

Milk and Kisses (Cocteau Twins)

Careless Love (Madeleine Peyroux)

Het Kasteel panorama.

Human table football.

Only in Holland...

Welcome to ....(II)

Het Kasteel

Only one thing ruins it...

The main stand.

Match action.

It sheets it down again.

Goalmouth scramble.

The view from behind the goal.

Full-time.  Spot the winners.

Iceland come over to acknowledge their support.

1888: Sparta are formed (oldest professional team in the Netherlands).

Germany 2-0 Russia, Tuesday 25th July 2017

Germany Ladies 2-0 Russia Ladies (Stadion Galgenwaard, Utrecht, att. 6,458)

Indeed!

‘The most beautiful canal city in the Netherlands’ proclaims Utrecht and they have a point.  The centre is gorgeous, all…..canals…..and nooks and crannies, open-air cafes and charming bars.  I loved it.  Got there early, spent hours perusing, quaffed a couple of beers during the deluge pre match, then followed a canal to the stadium (the second canal; I mistakenly went down the wrong one initially.)

The city centre.

At the Stadium, half an hour away, I had to find section X.  V-W were one end and you couldn't continue for fences and a canal, so I doubled back and walked all the way to A-B, right the way around.  Another dead end, like the Circle Line on the London Underground.  So  I returned back to VW and there on a post was a laminated ‘Sektor X’ which looked recently added.  I was due to be behind the goal but with the sparsity of the crowd, I think they pushed us all into the side stand.  Fine by me.  I climbed the stairs for a great view.

A great view...of sorts.

The bottom half of this stand was very busy,  as were the wings opposite (if not the exec bit in the centre).  Below me were the Germans, who probably made up more than half the crowd.  The stadium itself was very impressive, four large, steep modern, identical one-tiered stands. What the stadium lacked in corners filled in, it gained in height, holding around 24,000, though not today.  The sides of the stands seemed a bit open to the elements.   I'm sure Utrecht isn't especially warm.  Each corner contained an office block of zero architectural significance.

Tho' perhaps the office block looked better from without.

I enjoyed the game.  Perennial champs Germany outclassed Russia 2-0, albeit through two pens.  The first one looked 50/50 but since the ref had given the Russians the benefit of earlier doubt, this one went to Germany.  As per the course, it was drilled low to the keeper's right.  The second was a lot more clear cut, the resultant kick sent low in the opposite corner.  Two perfectly executed spot kicks.  Ruthless.

A penalty is despatched.

Otherwise, Germany missed a number of chances while Russia occasionally looked dangerous on the break, but the passing, movement and power of these German look championship material to me.  I didn't walk back to town.  It was the free shuttle bus for me.  Oh, and I succumbed to the payment card system in the stadium.  I was hungry and there was a pile of bacon (‘baked ham’ -  is that really where we get the word ‘bacon’ from?)  Anyway, it was just asking to be eaten. Not cheap but thoroughly delicious.

The Damage:
€10 ent
€4.50 ‘baked ham’ roll
= €14.50

The Tunes:
Sunshine Hit Me (The Bees)
Fabric 84 (Mathew Johnson)
Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom (Cypress Hill)

Stadion Galgenwaard panorama

Banners advertising the tournament.

An unassuming 1st glance

Match action.

Looking toward the posh seats.

Despite (because of?) the open sides, I really like the design.

Someone getting a bird's eye view.

Exec box overload.

Match action, 2nd half.

Panorama from the back row.

Let's celebrate!

Full-time in Utrecht.

Back of the stand.

More shopping centre than footie ground.

This way in.

Welcome to....(II)

Branded team buses.