Did You See That One Sepp?
I would suspect that Sepp Blatter may have seen the Ukrainian ghost goal last night for two reasons.
Firstly, even it had been scored, it wouldn’t have changed who went through to the next round.
But of course, he did see it, as it was against England, his bete-noir, who are always complaining about the suspender-loving Swiss idiot.
To be charitable to the England players and officials, they have not denied it was a goal. After all, we have a lot to gain from the Hawk Eye technology to check these problems. as it is developed by a company, based in Winchester. But after seeing Sepp’s judgements on this matter over the last few years, I suspect he’ll give his seal of approval to anybody but this company. Although it is rumoured that the company are working on a system especially for Sepp, that detects if women are wearing Stockings.
But what was the extra linesman doing on the goal-line? Answers on the back of a postage stamp please. He certainly wasn’t looking.
I’ve Found A Nice Cure For Adverts
I’ve got the ITV pictures on my television, but I’ve got the sound off and I’m listening to the commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live.
It doesn’t improve the football, but it does improve the broadcasting experience.
A lot of the adverts I’ve just watched now look totally ridiculous.
There’s one for Official Player Escorts, that could be insinuating things, we’d rather not know.
Professional Theft – Dutch Footballers at Euro 2012
They have definitely underperformed in this tournament, as they are ranked fourth in the World at the moment.
I wonder what the man on the Amsterdam Omnibus is saying?
It’s All Double Dutch to Me
Some things in International football are always the same. For a start England always lose penalty shoot-outs and various Latin teams are good at faking injuries and being badly tackled.
Another was that The Netherlands always played in orange.
But not tonight!
As Portugal are playing in red and Holland in black with orange trim, from the other side of my room, I thought Portugal had scored first. But it was The Netherlands!
Rinaldo also seems to be trying to get the award for the most over-rated player at the Championship.
Unfortunately for the Dutch, he got very much better!
Swedish Cheats Didn’t Prosper
It is being revealed in various newspapers this morning, that before they played England, the Swedes knew some of the England plans. It’s here in the Mail.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought England won in the end.
It all goes to prove that Swedish cheats didn’t prosper. Perhaps the adage doesn’t exist in Swedish.
Swedes 2 – Turnips – 3
I bet that headline turns up on one tabloid in the morning.
They could have played a bit better, but this was only Roy Hodgson’s fourth match in charge.
Are The Frogs Floundering?
Let’s face it the French haven’t the best record as fighters when it gets wet; Trafalgar, Copenhagen, Quiberon Bay. And they don’t seem to be doing too well on a rain-effected pitch in Donetsk.
Could Hodsgon’s luck be thinking about turning as France need to beat the Ukraine.
England Think About Euro 2020
According to this report on the BBC, England are thinking about putting together a bid for Euro 2020.
The comments show most are sceptical, that we would win, due to FIFA/UEFA politics.
I also think England not bidding is what FIFA/UEFA wants.
After all if we don’t bid and the organisation in some neck-end ex-Soviet republic goes belly up a few months before the tournament starts, we have the stadia, hotels and infrastructure to stage it the next week. Probably only Germany, the USA and ourselves could do this!
After all, in a bankrupt London we did it with the Olympics in 1948, so we have form in this.
Incidentally, as the transport links between England and Germany will be more than excellent in a few years time, we could even stage it jointly with the Germans. Now that would be fun!
I’ve always felt that one of next two World Cups after Brazil will not be held in the designated host. Especially today, as Russia has been fined points for the behaviour of their fans as reported here.
How Many Points Do England Need To Qualify For The Next Stage?
In England’s Group in Euro-2012, the points totals are these.
England 1, France 1, Sweden 0, Ukraine 3
England and France still have to play both Sweden and Ukraine.
There are nine possible combinations of the French results.
1. France beats both Ukraine and Sweden which gives England 1, France 7, Sweden 0, Ukraine 3
2. France beats Ukraine and draws with Sweden which gives England 1, France 5, Sweden 1, Ukraine 3
3. France beats Ukraine and loses to Sweden which gives England 1, France 4, Sweden 3, Ukraine 3
4. France beats Sweden and draws with Ukraine which gives England 1, France 5, Sweden 3, Ukraine 4
5. France beats Sweden and loses to with Ukraine which gives England 1, France 4, Sweden 0, Ukraine 6
6. France loses to both Ukraine and Sweden which gives England 1, France 1, Sweden 3, Ukraine 6
7. France loses to Ukraine and draws with Sweden which gives England 1, France 2, Sweden 1, Ukraine 6
8. France loses to Sweden and draws with Ukraine which gives England 1, France 2, Sweden 4, Ukraine 4
9. France draws with both Ukraine and Sweden which gives England 1, France 3, Sweden 1, Ukraine 4
I think it is safe to say that England need four points from the last two games. They might do it with three, but I’d say they need a win and a draw to be safe.
It Looks Grim for Rangers
It looks like HMRC will reject any deal to save Rangers and go for liquidation of the Glasgow club. Let’s face it, they have been stung by so many clubs over the last few years, that the time has come to make a stand for the honest taxpayers of the UK.
I shall not be sad if they are liquidated, as on the only time I saw Rangers play in a friendly at Ipswich, the behaviour of their fans was not acceptable to your average fan of English football. It was only a friendly, but I believe Suffolk police don’t want Rangers back.
It will be sad for their loyal fans, especially as they have been bled dry by successive owners, who wanted glory at any price.
In some ways it’s a strong condemnation of football, where to succeed, you need to have an owner who is as rich as Creosus. Or in the case of Spain a compliant bank manager.
Football is going through a difficult change and hopefully it will emerge stronger at the other side, with more community and fan owned clubs.
The Anonymous Widower 