Match One: Ipswich 2 – Fulham 1
It was a result, I hadn’t expected as I walked to Portman Road from Ipswich Station.
Ipswich Town is one of the better placed grounds with respect to transport and also access to the town centre. There are also maps, but as you can see the stadium from the train station, you don’t need to consult them.
The only problem I had, was that the club had run out of programmes.
The club must have been pleased with the result and also with the size of the crowd considering, the match was on Sky. It’ll be interesting to see, if the performance has any effect on the gates at home matches after the next, which is Norwich, so it will be a full crowd.
Blitzkreig
Whether you think this German side is good is irrelevant, but the Brazilian side has about as much commitment as a bad Division One side!
Will anybody beat the Germans?
Yes! But I don’t know who will!
How To Motivate Your Team
I like this story about paying the footballers from Ghana in cash, which a mate forwarded from Bloomberg.
Perhaps, if we paid ours in cash, they’d have performed better.
Crass Commentary From ITV
When France scored their third goal against Switzerland, the ITV commentator said this.
Not for the first time, there really is a mountain between France and Switzerland.
That really is one of the most crass statements heard in a football commentary.
One Of The Most Depressing Days Of The Year
I hate June the twentieth, as it was my late son’s birthday. He would have been forty-four today, if he hadn’t died of pancreatic cancer four years ago. I never hate my late wife’s birthday in the same way, but that could be eased as another son virtually shares it.
So why did England’s kamikaze defending have to ensure their exit from the World Cup last night?
The media will be full of this depression today.
To make matters worse, BBC Breakfast is talking to a lady, who lost her husband and daughter in a speed-boat accident.
I’ll have to find something stimulating to do.
If my son were still here, we’d at least be arguing the whys and wherefores!
My only comfort is life could be worse. I did try to organise a luxury trip to the World Cup some months ago, but failed.
I would feel a lot worse, if I was waking up in Brazil.
ITV And The BBC Disagree Over Fred’s Penalty
ITV’s commentators and experts thought that the penalty awarded to Brazil last night was correct. The BBC’s pundits were adamant Fred dived.
The Times this morning is saying that Fred was guilty. Type “Fred penalty” into Google News and most newspapers the world-over think it was a dive!
Brazil were lucky, as other decisions of the referee didn’t stand up to video scrutiny.
Let’s hope that the rest of the referees have been to Specsavers!
A Little Alone Time For Roy
This headline accompanied a picture of Roy Hodgson walking by the waterfront by the team’s hotel in Rio.
Managing footballers and especially those as well-paid as today’s England team, is probably not an easy job. I got to wondering, how the players were reacting to Roy’s apparent calmness.
So I looked up Sir Alf Ramsey’s obituary in the Guardian. Talking about his playing career, they said this of Sir Alf.
He was a calming and reassuring influence on the whole team.
So one could probably assume that he managed his teams in a similar way. We do know from the likes of Ian Callaghan, that Sir Alf fought to get the best for his players, and it was probably partly from Sir Alf’s pushing that the whole England squad from 1966 got winner’s medals. Even if he got his posthumously.
I don’t think that for the England team to get worked up will do them any good.
So is Roy doing his best to keep total calm in the camp? After all he has been to World Cup Finals before with Switzerland in 1994. So he probably knows more about motivating a side in the World Cup than any of the public! Or the pundits!
My Earliest World Cup Memories
The earliest World Cup I can remember is in a book I was given about football, which included a report of the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland. Looking at the pictures I remember I was puzzled as to why some players had numbers greater than eleven on their shirts.
But the first World Cup Finals I remember is Sweden in 1958. All four home nations qualified for the finals and it was the first World Cup to be properly televised. I think there was high sales figures for large nineteen inch black and white televisions. This fragment on Wikipedia says this about the coverage.
The 1958 tournament in Sweden saw a greater range of matches thanks to the new Eurovision Network; the BBC and ITV both screened matches, although the networks had to overcome opposition to the coverage from the Scottish FA, who were worried that attendances at Junior football matches might be hit.
Just imagine the uproar now, if the Scottish FA tried the same thing.
1962 in Chile wasn’t shown live, but I can remember the iconic pictures of Ken Aston, who refereed the infamous Battle of Santiago.
Reading his Wikipedia entry, there is this section, which describes how he invented the red and yellow cards, which referees in football and some other sports use today.
Did Arsenal Shilt Themselves?
On of my long-standing friends, who just happens to be both Jewish and a Hull City supporter uses the word shilt to mean bringing bad luck on yourself.
So did announcing the Victory Parade cause Arsenal to go behind so early.
If a
Did Arsenal Shilt Themselves?
nybody knows the real spelling of shilt please tell me.
Has Wayne Rooney Grown Up?
I heard this from Roy Hodgson in the England Press Conference today.
If it’s anything to do with desire and ambition then we’ve got nothing to fear. I’ve told the players to go away for a week and get mentally prepared. Wayne has decided to take a physio with him because he is so determined to come back firing on all cylinders. His attitude – spot on, desire – couldn’t be better, ability – yes he has. Now it is all about bringing that to the match on the day.
The Rooney of old wouldn’t have been so professional!
The Anonymous Widower 