“They’re coming home, they’re coming home ….”
I missed England being knocked out of the World Cup. The tootache returned with a shocking vengeance on Friday night and although it had calmed down by Saturday afternoon, I obviously needed more recovery time. I did watch the match, but fell asleep as it became clear injury time was approaching. I woke up a bit later and asked my (English) other half what had happened. She said ‘Guess’. My guess was right.
A few random thoughts keep recurring
1) If you get knocked out at the quarter final stage of three successive tournaments, that’s probably as good an indication as any that you’re somewhere between the 5th and 8th best team in the world.
2) A penalty shoot-out is a tough way to lose and probably unfair. However, the most common route to one is an inability to score more than a single goal in 120 minutes. Perhaps the search for the problem should begin there.
3) I have a lot of sympathy for Wayne Rooney, despite him clearly stamping on another player’s Crown Jewels. He is a hot-headed young man and it was a stupid challenge but there’s no better guarantee of bringing out any latent aggression than asking a gifted talent to spend all of his time chasing around lost causes. He was also being battered around by two opposition players as he was trying to win the ball and the referee could have blown the whistle sooner. I hope England’s supporters don’t turn on him, because you need him … badly.
4) If someone stamps on my mate’s genitals, I would rush in and either a) punch his lights out or b) try to get the referee to do something about it. I don’t recall Ronaldo waving an imaginary red card and if he was trying to pressurise the ref to take action, perhaps he learnt that from Alex Ferguson rather than it being some Portugese genetic weakness? To suggest otherwise is the usual xenophobic clap-trap. Have you seen Joe Cole diving his way through the past few games? Do you remember Michael Owen against Argentina?
5) I can’t remember whether I mentioned this, but I had England in the World Cup Sweepstake at work, so I’ll be writing to Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Jamie Carragher asking for �3.33 each to make up for the certain �10 I would have won if England had reached the semis. I was on �80 for a win, but that was always wishful thinking.
6) I also had England to win in the World Cup Apex. Apparently so did a number of others because it hasn’t proved fatal and I’m still clinging desperately to a top 100 position.
7) Someone at the BBC please do the decent thing and stop inviting Ian Wright’s “expert” analysis. If you want to understand why most Scots can’t stand the English football media, look no further. What a twit.
it was a good strong game. ugly but strong. france/brazil was better.
Nice, reasoned, impartial analysis, Doug.
Gerrard and Lampard were ineffective because they were knackered after a long season. Until country comes before club, England will never win a major tournament and that simply isn’t going to happen (ever).
However, Joe Cole wasn’t so tired. He was doing so many flick-overs and tricks I thought I was watching a testimonial.
“became clear injury time was approaching”
I meant extra time!
“Gerrard and Lampard were ineffective because they were knackered after a long season. “
Yeah, it was genuinely disappointing, even for a Scotsman, to see Gerrard (who I’m a big fan of) deliver such a small fraction of what he’s capable of and the use of Rooney was a joke. Crouch might not be a silky genius, but he is probably nearly as good as Rooney at such a limited role and Rooney could have delivered something special.