Hrvatska : Dois | France : Dois.

i sneaked out of work today to watch the Croatia-France Euro 2004 game. oh man, this should be the match of the tournament so far. Underdogs Croatia started slow and gave up a self-goal to France. That was the score at half-time. Then, they came back inspired and played their hearts out to go 2 up. But a defensive blunder (by the same guy who scored the selfgoal) set up a very suspect goal where the French striker's apparent handball was missed by the ref. France, who beat England with 2 goals in extra time, had another super chance in extra time today when a shot was brilliantly blocked by the goalie. This set up the heart-stopping last-minute action when Croatia sped into the french goal and barely missed. Final score 2-2.

I was watching the game with a Croatian friend of mine so you can imagine the intensity and the constant outpouring of slurs against the French. It didn't help that the Croats haven't forgiven the French for 'taking' the 1998 World Cup semi-final game from them ;-)

Ah, the joys of the Beautiful Game.