Another View

The recent England football internationals gave me another excuse, as if one were needed, to head down to the local pub for an afternoon of beer and shouting at the television.� There was a noticable lack of interest in the match against Israel as proved by the usual masses of fans, draped in St George’s Crosses and replica kits, being largely absent (”part-time supporters”, what would you do with ‘em, eh?).� Despite that, the on pitch performance was pretty good.� Steve McLaren

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Tags: David-Beckham, England, Euro2008, Football, Israel, qualifier, Sarah-Jane, Sarah-Jane-Adventures, Sport, Wayne-Rooney

Quarter Finals day 2

We all worried about his foot and, when all was said and done, it was his head that should have been the subject of our concerns. Rooney saw red as another World Cup drifted away from England’s grasp in the cruelest of penalty shoot-outs (yet again). The accusations will be undoubtedly, and to a large part correctly, levelled at Sven and his choices of selection, substitutions and tactics but he has long since announced his departure. It came of more of a surprise to hear that his captain had handed back the armband for good. And so, as the Eriksson/Beckham era comes to an end we will begin to look at their legacy of 3 consecutive quarter-finals, we will look back at the 5-1 game in Munich and the Beckham free-kick against Greece and wonder how a team of this undoubted talent have failed to secure any silverware. Ah well, there’s always next time… it’s always next time. Elsewhere, France beat Brazil by a solitary Henry goal. It was apparently a great game but I was too despondant to watch.

Tags: BBC1, England, Football, Gary-Lineker, Match-Of-The-Day, Portugal, Sport, Wayne-Rooney, World-Cup

Ow - no!
Well, last Tuesday night I thought that this moment, when Owen’s knee popped out in glorious high-def, was going to signify the end of England’s (albeit slim) World Cup hopes. However, as they used to say in old US sports commentary, it’s not bad to “win ugly”…. and you couldn’t win more ugly than England do at the moment. Another slim victory this afternoon, 1-0 over Ecuador, saw our once mighty nation scramble their way to the quarter finals. The good news is that we’re going to play Portugal who battled through a vaguely ridiculous match of 16 yellow and 4 red cards, and therefore will have suspensions and cautious players aplenty. All in all it has been a great World Cup so far, intriguing games, super goals, and all set up for some pretty fantastic knock-out football…. try and predict the outcome of the Germany vs Argentina 1/4-final! Go on, have a go.

Tags: BBC1, England, Match-Of-The-Day, Michael-Owen, Portugal, Sport, Wayne-Rooney, World-Cup

“In Euro 96, I wasn’t allowed to stay up late and watch the football.”

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you won’t have failed to notice that World Cup fever has begun in earnest. Cars and houses are adorned with St George Crosses, as the nation collectively braces itself for our two-yearly dose of heart-breaking discussions of what-might-have-been. This afternoon we saw the final warm-up game in anticipation of the main event of the summer… England 6-0 Jamaica may have flattered the hosts but it will be in good heart that “our boys” head over to Frankfurt. One month, 32 teams, 64 matches, and no hiding place for those who don’t appreciate the beautiful game. The talk so far has been of Rooney’s foot, Owen’s match fitness, Theo Walcott’s age and dancing like a robot, so who knows what we’ll be talking about by July 9th. Even my natural pessimism started to be swept along by yet more tales of ‘66 that seem to pop up on almost every channel from day-to-day, and there’s a prize for anyone who spots an advert that doesn’t have a football theme to it. The BBC are almost certain to win the ratings war, and the confident presentation skills of Linekar et al will win the hearts and minds of housewives and fans alike. Just when the weather seems to be getting better, we can all stay indoors and watch the telly. Let the drama commence.

Tags: England, Gary-Lineker, Match-Of-The-Day, Michael-Owen, Sport, Sven, Theo-Walcott, Wayne-Rooney, World-Cup