Voodoo Chiles: The Euros Begin!

The Euros have begun!

The first surprise of the tournament was that the BBC had decided to host the thing from their base in Salford, rather than from their usual spot overlooking a nation's tourist treasure.  This cheapskate move reflects the austerity of the age, but Lineker was quick to point out the travel distances involved this year (over one thousand miles separate some of the stadiums). It means that being anchored to a studio in England makes barely less sense than sitting atop some rooftop in Warsaw.

ITV, of course, hosted their live coverage of Russia vs Czech Republic from a rooftop in Warsaw. Immediately this looked like a mistake when that rooftop seemed to be above Warsaw's equivalent of Newcastle's Bigg Market. As the night drew on, pundits strained to make themselves heard above the growing din of vuvuzelas, cow bells, and drunken bloke chanting from below. A red faced Roy Keane looked ready to walk.  

Viewer anger was taken out on presenter Adrian Chiles. One of the few repeatable Twitter reviews simply said: "I hate Adrian Chiles more than anything on this earth". Others described ways in which to punch or even kill Chiles. "I would happily shoot Adrian Chiles, I hate him", revealed @WeAreAFC.   

Kudos to ITV, though, for seating Roy Keane next to Southgate (stamp to the stomach, Villa Park 1996) and Patrick  Viera (flying fists, Highbury 2002) for the duration. It's a shame Mick McCarthy was snapped up by the BBC, because his addition would add some serious spice to the line up. 

The games themselves were very watchable and I'll be discussing them if I have a moment. But firstly the important stuff: Look-alikes. 

The moment Greece's Dimitris Salpingidis arrived as a substitute to turn the game against hosts Poland,  I got a distinct look of Louis Spence, high kicking camp reality TV  figure. 

And as Louis Spence was getting brought down for Greece's (missed) penalty, Arsenal's Wojciech Szczesny suddenly looked familiar.