I must say that thus far the Euro2016 foopball tournament has proved somewhat disappointing. No commentator has yet matched the majestic observation, at the 2010 World Cup, “for a moment there, he looked like a baby gazelle who’d just plopped out of the womb”. But perhaps things are looking up. Today I have learned that the Italian defenders “are like tawny owls”.
This prompts the question, “In what way exactly do the Italian defenders resemble them?” Consulting that impeccably-accurate source, Wikipedia, it seems that tawny owls apparently have “nocturnal habits” and an “eerie, easily imitated call”, which has led them to be associated “with bad luck and death.” Vital attributes, of course, for the modern international player.