The Euro 2016 kickoff

Simmering excitement is about to hit the ceiling as a historic twenty-four European national football teams descended on France for the Euro 2016 later yesterday. A testament to the transcendent and irrepressible force and the world that is football, Kenyan football fans will join the expected 150m other global viewers of the beautiful game. Never mind the fact that Copa América Centenario is currently underway in the USA. Noteworthy, this is a centenary celebration of the first Copa America held in 1916, hence the "merger" with CONCACAF, a big deal in its own rights.

The kickoff saw one of the tournament favorites, France faceoff with Romania at the Stade de France stadium, 10:00 pm local time. The last time France hosted such a huge tournament was the World Cup 2008 that their legendary team went on to win outclassing off perennial fan favorites, Brazil 3-0 in spite of a Marcel Desailly red card in the 68th minute. I digress; the Les Bleus kicked off the tournament at the same stadium that was bombed by suspected ISIS terrorists November last year during a buildup friendly match against Germany. 129 lives were lost that night. Football’s resilience and valor will be on display along with the magical tekkers from some of Europe’s top talent, nightmares of the unfortunate tragedy are put to rest.