It's apparently the first time that North Macedonia has been able to play in a UEFA Euro Cup, and Austria's team also looks a little less than practiced. But with some wincing and unflattering mental comparisons to the Belgian team's performance in its match against Russia yesterday evening, I'm watching the game on the website of one of the two German broadcasters (ARD and ZDF) who have snagged rights to show the championship; and I am hoping for a little harmless entertainment.
Note: It's still the 2020 championship; it's just been postponed 1 year due to coronavirus restrictions.
6:34 p.m. Berlin time: The score is 1 - 1.
6:35 p.m.: An Austrian player in his own half heroically dives through the legs of a Macedonian player to roll the soccer ball to... another Macedonian player. ..facepalm..
6:37 p.m.: The ball sails far over the Austrian goal; the Macedonian fans are audibly pleased that it at least went in the correct direction.
6:39 p.m.: The coordination within teams has admittedly grown better throughout the first half of the game. Now the players can identify the location of the other players in their own team, and if they try to reach each other, the chances of succeeding have grown impressively high.
6:41 p.m.: A player who ran into another player injured his face by doing so, and is now lying prostrate like a stone knight effigy, refusing at first to be pulled up by two not-unsympathetic other athletes.
6:43 p.m.: An Austrian player got a Macedonian elbow in the face, result: medical attention and the first yellow card in the game. As the ARD commentator noted, there have been too many, although small, fouls in the game; and it's good to draw a line.
6:45 p.m.: The advertising for Lieferando and TikTok is making me feel old. I'm not even sure if these companies existed already during past Euro Cups I've watched.
6:47 p.m.: Half-time!
7:09 p.m.: Not too much to report, except that the game is greatly improved in quality: good coordination, fewer fouls and more reliance on speed and intelligence.
7:35 p.m.: Austria shoots a goal: 2 to 1. It was assisted by David Alaba, captain of the Austrian team and the target of many heart-eyed words of praise from the commentators on ARD.
7:42 p.m. Macedonia's goal has been in danger again. After a corner kick didn't result in a goal, an Austrian player shoved up full-frontally against a Macedonian to block him from being able to run toward the Austrian side, which led to a yellow card.
7:45 p.m.: Reminder to self not to eat while watching future soccer games. Seeing players spit onto the pitch is a little disgusting, methinks.
7:48 p.m.: Austria has won its 3rd goal; also a good goal, but I'm not quite sure if Austria's team is so much better that being two goals ahead feels cosmically fair.
7:52 p.m.: End of game: Austria and North Macedonia have visibly both made their peace with the results, and the energy of the last minutes has been quite relaxed.
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