The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur News and Links for Thursday, June 24

Hi, everyone!

It’s never a bad idea to start the day with a stellar goal.

Ramble of the Day

Here’s a quick tale that won’t make it into the links, but is worth a read regardless: a group of France supporters flew to Bucharest instead of Budapest for the team’s match against Hungary. It’s both horrifying and also funny.

One thing that makes the article worth reading is because the writer put in the work of knowing and then sharing other incidents when people confused the two. The group includes, but is not limited to, 400 Athletic Bilbao supporters and Lenny Kravitz. At least they’re keeping decent company?

Credit to these people, though, because they’re making the best out of an embarrassing situation:

Rather than making the 10-hour drive to Budapest, the six French fans decided to stay in Romania to educate themselves on Romanian culture. In the end, fate may just be on their side. If France wins Group F, Les Bleus will travel to Bucharest for its first knockout stage, for which the fans said they would extend their stay.

“It’s like we’re in the movie Home Alone,” one of the fans said. “... This is the first time we have traveled to this part of Europe. And, to be honest, for me, until today, there was no difference between Bucharest and Budapest.

“We need to learn more about Europe.”

They eventually got lucky — France will play Switzerland in Bucharest in the Round of 16, so they can always joke they just got there early.

tl;dr: A group of France supporters accidentally travelled to Bucharest instead of Budapest for the team’s group stage match against Hungary.

Stay informed, read this: former journalist Kat O’Brien on being raped by a baseball player as a young reporter, and the societal pressure she felt to keep the story a secret for The New York Times

Links of the Day

A police officer was found guilty of manslaughter of ex-Aston Villa forward Dalian Atkinson.

Transfers: Norwich signed Angus Gunn from Southampton; Fiorentina signed Nicolás González from Stuttgart

A longer read: Lukas Vrablik on the journey of the Czech Republic’s Patrik Schick, his country’s star at the Euros for the Guardian