The Euros have been pretty straight forward so far; a statement that was never really threatened in Sunday’s game between France and Switzerland.
The final Group A game between the hosts and their neighbors at the Grand Stade Lille Métropole was notable for three main reasons, with none of these relating to the rather disappointing game of football.
- The quality of the pitch led to slips all over the field throughout the game. Giant fans used to dry out the pitch before the match proved to be ineffective.
- In a bizarre set of circumstances, the game also saw an accidental ‘burst’ of the ball, following a strong challenge between Antoine Griezmann and Valon Behrami.
- On five separate occasions, the Swiss shirts were ripped apart by the French opposition.
While the ripped football shirts may. provided a level of ‘extra’ ventilation for the Swiss players on a muggy night in Lille, a replica of the Swiss shirt will set you back over £50 at the UK’s biggest sports retailer, Sports Direct.
BBC Coverage
Gary Lineker, overseeing the BBC’s coverage of the game, joked that the “the Swiss shirts were made of paper!”
Rio Ferdinand quickly joined in, suggesting that Thierry Henry, who became an ambassador for Puma back in 2011, should “have a word with the manufacturer”.
Thierry responded with a poignant response of “I’ll call them now if you want”.
Football shirts are designed to be lightweight, body formed and provide high wicking of moisture. The combination of a 154gsm interlock with a 135gsm medium flat back mesh polyester body proved too much on the night with the ‘touchy feely’ nature of the French players while challenging for the ball. Once it had happened once, it was a matter of time before the weakness was spotted and others started to rip.
There’s no doubt that the Italian, Austrian, Czech & Slovakian kit staff will be stocking a couple of extra jerseys for their final group games, just in case.
We’ve compiled a collection of the best football shirts and burst ball tweets posted over the course of the game yesterday.
Enjoy!
Swiss team’s Puma shirts tearing like paper. Adidas ball bursting. You can never rely on German efficiency!
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) 19 June 2016
Switzerland have had more ripped shirts (3) than shots on target (0). #EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/N4XExTCn5i
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) 19 June 2016
— Ladbrokes (@Ladbrokes) June 19, 2016
Watching @UEFAEURO #SUIFRA on @espn and these Swiss @PUMA shirts are like pic.twitter.com/NuD7A9jhea
— Russell Carey, MPS (@RussellCarey) June 19, 2016
Ripped shirts and burst balls.
Built to last?https://t.co/0DEF68fsX8 #SUIFRA pic.twitter.com/gYCVm5tT3e
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) June 19, 2016
Good game, now up to the 8th finals. The talent is not invented? #SUIFRA #EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/v0EiPTYRWU
— Granit Xhaka (@xhakagranit34) June 19, 2016
