Oceania qualifying

Day -743. ‪WorldCup2018‬

Busy week in World Cup qualifying in the smallest confederation. Two more matches in Oceania tomorrow. PNG play Tahiti and New Caledonia against Samoa. Then four more matches on the weekend. All this to determine whether Frank Farina can keep his cool and lead Fiji to the improbable qualification ahead of New Zealand.

Farina and the Muppets....take 2

Day -744. ‪WorldCup2018‬

I've got to get through this Frank Farina story. Yesterday's link went missing in action. Today I got it back again. Let's see if it works. Otherwise I'm writing my version. And then I'll be done with Frank Farina.

http://www.smh.com.au/…/The-M…/2005/04/02/1112302291294.html

Farina and the Muppets

Day -745 ‪WorldCup2018‬

It is Sunday and there is some humour and World Cup relevance in this, in an Australian way: as in the kind of humour and another case of Australia almost qualifying for the World Cup.

Yesterday I mentioned Frank Farina and reading about him reminded me of a post-match interview incident he was involved in a number of years ago when he was managing the Australian team. I wish I could find video of it, but there doesn't seem to be any. Rather than me relating it, here's a an excellent explanation of it and all the background to it.

In my time in Australia, SBS television was my saviour, my way of keeping up with football news mostly from England. And it was where I watched Manchester United's epic Champions League win against Bayern Muich in 1999. 5am, I believe, in Cairns. It definitely was the "Soccer Broadcasting Service".

This is a very quick easy read. And it can only be in an Australian newspaper report that a journalist can talk about "Cranky Franky" and mention someone who wrote a book called, "Sheilas, Wogs and Poofters". And we are supposed to read this and keep a straight face because of the seriousness of it all.

 http://www.smh.com.au/news/Football/The-Muppets-jibe-that-fuelled-a-war/2005/04/02/1112302291294.html

Champions League, Oceania and Frank Farina

Day -746. ‎WorldCup2018‬

I had about 4 or 5 sentences in my head for how to start this.

1. I wonder what the players of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu thought of it all: the Champions League Final that they watched after their World Cup qualifier with the Pepe "I've been punched by Mike Tyson" act (twice), the goalkeeper who didn't even bother fake diving when the Real Madrid players took their penalties and the tears, oh my word the tears; there were lots of them

2. Even the BBC don't care much about what goes on in Oceania World Cup qualifying.

3. I missed the Champions League final because I had to go by a car. Yes, I admit, it's true.

4. There was a huge money-driven match played today, and it wasn't the Champions League, or Solomon Islands-Vanuatu. It was Hull-Sheffield Wednesday.

5. Frank Farina is still around, in Fiji.

Which one shall I carry on with first? Number 3 to get it out of the way. Through a combination of a busy work schedule and the time difference between Milan and this side of the Atlantic, a choice had to be made between watching the final and missing on a too good to be true deal on a car, or driving for an hour to buy the car, miss the final, record it and hope that I did not hear the result anywhere. The car was bought, the taping was successful and the match was watched in the evening, which seemed more fitting anyway. The most difficult part about it was not being able to send out a series of "what I think about what's going on" tweets while I was watching it. I had the "this is perfectly set up for a Torres last minute tweet" all ready to go but realised it would have seemed a tad silly coming 5 hours after Torres had not actually scored any winner, or even come close to coming close. And he cried at the end, and so did that girl who cried when Real scored and then cried some more when Atletico lost. What was it with the producer and that cameraman and their obsession with the crying, red haired Atletico fan?

The Solomon Islands kicked off round 2 of qualifying with a 1-0 win over Vanuatu. And New Zealand beat Farina's Fiji 3-1. I woke up this morning, eager to check the results. It may be some Pacific islands with no hope of reaching the World Cup playing each other, but seeing as the World Cup is my theme it's kind of exciting to be following actual Word Cup matches. Even though I knew I could get the results on fifa.com, just to prove my point I checked the BBC website. Now they have an extremely comprehensive list of leagues and countries from where they report results: from the Argentinian Primera Division to the Turkiye Super Lig, and from U-21 friendlies to Women's international friendlies. But when one clicks on "All European and World" there is no mention of poor Oceania. No results. Nothing. It really makes one feel like that qualifying is not just happening on the other side of the world, but on a different planet. World Cup football in Oceania, forgotten even by the BBC.

There could have been a story about Frank Farina and his attempt to bring Fiji into the World Cup limelight. Farina was the first Australian footballer I had probably heard of. He made a name for himself in Belgium with Club Brugge and also played for Bari and Notts County. I guess him being Australian and being good at football made him kind of fascinating to me. He managed Australia when they lost to Uruguay in an inter-continental play-off for the 2002 World Cup. Farina was the manager when I was in Melbourne for a friendly that Australia played against Brazil. More than a friendly it was really part of the Nike Brazil Word Tour, with Ronaldo (the original) as the main attraction. A few days before the match, it was announced that Ronaldo was injured and would not play. The Australians were not happy to be paying money for a show without the main star. So my decision to not buy a ticket was vindicated when Nike decided no Ronaldo, no pay for tickets. Free! I joined 80-90,000 people at the MCG for a match which, like my England-Italy experience I have absolutely no memory of. All I know was that I was there and the Australian fans had this very annoying habit of making paper aeroplanes out of any paper they could find and throwing them from the upper stands down to the spectators below them. I have more vivid memories of watching Aussie Rules.

And the match at Wembley today? Hull beat Sheffield Wednesday to win what has become the richest match in football. Promotion to the Premier League is estimated to be worth £170m, plus more if the winning team doesn't get relegated the following season. An obscene, disgusting amount of money and an argument for another day. It'll be better now to remember those paper aeroplanes at the MCG, annoying, yet free and fun (for some).

The big match in PNG

Day -747. ‪WorldCup2018‬

Before one of the Madrid teams wins the money driven Champions League tomorrow evening in Milan, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands will have played their World Cup qualifier in the Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It's not worth even considering how completely opposite the financial spectrums are of the players, the fans, the TV deal, the sponsors.

More importantly, when it comes to a footballer achieving their dream, there will be a number of players in Milan who will be in Russia in 2018. On the other hand it is highly unlikely that any players in Port Moresby will be there. In an earlier match New Zealand will beat Fiji, unless there is a football miracle. And it would take an even more unimaginable miracle for New Zealand to not be the team that tops the Oceania qualifying and gets a shot at an intercontinental playoff to qualify for Russia.
 
But the players of Vanuatu and Solomon Islands will play for the dream, as will those of Fiji and New Caledonia and PNG. And at the end of the day, or beginning of the next one for them, they will probably, like the rest of us, think about where they are going to watch the glitzy final in Milan.

The something one

Day -748. ‪WorldCup2018‬

As Manchester United fans celebrate the appointment of Jose Mourinho, "The Special One", as the team's new manager and I question what makes him so unique, I think back to what he said a couple of years ago about his future career options.

"The job is for me when I want to finish my career; the job is for me when I realise that I need a little rest but at this moment I want to train, I want to play. I want to play many competitions at the same time; I want to play at least three days; I want Champions League; I want the championship; I want everything. It is not a job for me to be two years waiting for a World Cup or for a European Cup, I can’t do that now.”

He's talking about managing the Portuguese national team. He obviously still feels the urge to train and play everyday, as he takes on this new "project" (with thanks to Andre Villas Boas for the ridiculous use of that word). But for how much longer? Think about this possible scenario.
Man. Utd improve a lot under Mourinho, but the entertainment value doesn't get much better than what Van Gaal's team produced. They qualify, just about, for the Champions League in Mourinho's first season, but the fans are already restless. In his second season things don't get much better. United sneak out of the Champions League group stage and lose in the last 16. They struggle in the league again. Mourinho is extremely frustrated with all the criticism aimed at him for his boring, negative football and goes on a number of "why does everyone in England hate me" rants. At the same time, Portugal are struggling through World Cup qualifying and finally make it through the playoffs. The Portuguese FA start making noises about replacing the manager before the World Cup. Mourinho is mentioned. Is this his time, we wonder. After another "you don't understand me" monologue at a press conference, Mourinho announces he is going to take his ultimate dream job (and a huge severance payment) and coach his native Portugal at the World Cup. And all he wants is to beat England in Russia. So off he goes into the twilight of his career. And the world gets to see some of the most entertaining press conferences ever (rivalling Maradona's) at a World Cup.

Is this my prediction? I don't make predictions. Call it fantasy, that may come true.

The Big Copa

Day -749. ‪WorldCup2018‬

This summer is going to be a busy one for football. The biggest European Championships ever start on June 10th and the Olympics are in August where football, even though it is an Under 23 event, has become quite the significant tournament. But before both of these events the Copa America starts on June 3rd.

The Copa America is this year the Copa America Centenario, a special edition to mark 100 years since the first one was played. For the unknowing (sorry, but I can't make assumptions about my audience's knowledge) the Copa is the South American championship, where a couple of guest countries (USA, Mexico, Jamaica) usually join the 10 South American teams. The winners go on to represent the continent in the Confederations Cup, held a year before the World Cup. But this year, this will not happen. Chile, who won last year's "real" Copa, will play in Russia next year.

But that's not all. To mark the 100 years since South America crowned their first continental champions the Copa is going to be held....in the USA. Of course. The official excuse, sorry, reason is that it is a joint celebration of football in the COMNEBOL (South America) and CONCACAF (North, Central America, Caribbean) regions. Six CONCACAF countries will join the South Americans. There were initial discussions to host some matches in Mexico and the U.S. However, the then acting CONCACAF president Alfredo Hawit (who became president after the president was arrested as part of the Fifa corruption scandal but was then arrested himself on similar charges) said that the market, the stadiums and the people are in the U.S. So off they went to the land of (more) bigger stadiums bigger TV deals and more corporate sponsors.

There was a potential obstacle to the success of the tournament. The Central and North American teams are usually guests and in Fifa's eyes are not officially playing in the championship. Therefore, by their rules clubs who's players are from these guest countries did not have to release their players for the tournament. Also, there was doubt as to whether Fifa would add the Centenario to its International Match Calendar. Both these issues were overcome as Fifa have officially recognised it.

Therefore all the teams are expected to be at full strength. This is not great for players from Mexico, for example. As I wrote a few months ago Mexicans, or Chileans, will be finish their club season, then play in the Copa, some will play in the Olympics, go back to their clubs for a full season, go to Russia for the Confederations Cup next summer play another club season and be back in Russia for the World Cup in 2018. Who needs a rest?

Back to the reasons for why the Copa is not being held in a South American country, I don't like making assumptions. So I am writing to COMNEBOL to see if I can get an official explanation. I'll get back to you.

Slow day

Day -750. ‪‎WorldCup2018‬

It's the end of day -750 which has a good ring to it. And your unofficial contdown-er has reached the end of the day without anything significant to share. Roll on day -749.

Another one gone at Fifa

Day -751. ‪WorldCup2018‬

It's almost as though Fifa realised they hadn't been in the news enough recently. So they gave us another good story today. It's a good one when the guy who was promoted to replace the guy who was fired for questionable financial practices is fired himself for more financial wrongdoings. A few months ago I had asked how long it would be before there was nobody left to do any more firing at Fifa. Here's one more gone today.

https://www.theguardian.com/…/markus-kattner-fifa-deputy-se…

Sunday off

Day -752. ‪WorldCup2018‬

Normal Sunday service will resume on another day. I'm not slowing down. More good stuff to come.

Vacation still

Day -753. ‪WorldCup2018‬

Just another day on the count, or off the count. Nothing more. I'd better make it a good one tomorrow.

Vacation

Day -754. ‪WorldCup2018‬

Mini-vacation. This may be short for a couple of days. More football coming soon. Euros start June 10th.

New Fifa?

Day -755. ‪WorldCup2018‬

Are you Blatter in disguise? New Fifa, not much different from the old Fifa. After Domenico Scala, the head of Fifa’s audit and compliance committee, resigned last week because the new Fifa council voted to limit the independence of the Fifa committees, including the Ethics Committee, yesterday Fifa president Infantino announced the appointment of Norwegian FA official Kjetil Siem as his director of strategy.

Siem was a huge fan of Sepp Blatter and called him a role model, carrying on with his support of the ex-president even as he was embroiled in the corruption scandal that hit him and Fifa. Siem was also recently involved in controversy in Norway after refusing to be clear and transparent about Norwegian football officials' expense claims.

It feels more and more as though there is not much new about this new Fifa

Chinese football in Birmingham

Day -756. WorldCup2018.

There is only a very weak link to the World Cup in this story. China have set out a long term goal to dominate world football by the year 2050, when they are going to win the World Cup. Chinese clubs have been spending a ridiculous amount of money on foreign players and are looking to dominate Asian club football as a first step.

This may have nothing to do with the following, but if I had the time it wouldn't be too hard to present a connection. Chinese money in football manifested itself in another way when Dr. Tony Xia  announced his purchase of Aston Villa. His vision is to bring Villa back into the Premier League next year and then establish them as top six team in England. Good luck with that Doc.

But this is still not the point of this post and with this next bit I will take it further away from any link to the World Cup. Randy Lerner, up until today Aston Villa's American owner (he's still American, just not the owner anymore) issued a goodbye statement. I do this everyday and sometimes I may be thinking out loud as I write and what is going on in my head may not come across the same way to whoever is reading this (just like that last sentence). But Mr Lerner doesn't say much and you would think that when he does he would take his time with it and maybe get somebody else to read it before he releases it. His last statement in April was described as bizarre. This one reads like he's had a few drinks, smoked a few somethings sitting in his Villa Park office one last time, so happy to be getting out of Birmingham. Not that he was there very often. In his April "note to supporters" he included the wonderful line: "Memories of Acorns on the shirt, and Ashley Young scoring a late winner against Everton still romantically nourish me." 

 

Today's message has classic lines all through it. Nothing different could have been expected when the opening line is: "Goodbye to all that…"

Qatar...again

Day -757. ‎WorldCup2018‬

This is not about Russia but it is about Fifa and the World Cup. What more can I say than is said here and on top of what I have written about this terrible situation in the past.

"That thousands must die to build stadiums has nothing to do with football". In a cruel way it does, because football allows this to happen.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/36314693?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_sport&ns_source=facebook&ns_linkname=sport

Not the Madrid derby: Oceania qualifying

Day -758. ‪WorldCup2018‬

I concede defeat. I was writing about the exciting next round of the longest qualifying campaign- 11 teams in Oceania spread out over 4 years- starting May 28th and I accidentally deleted everything I wrote. Short version: sure there's a big Madrid derby happening not in Madrid that day, but true World Cup fanatics will be waiting for the results of Vanuatu-Solomon Islands and New Zealand-Fiji. Eventually one of those teams (New Zealand) will get a shot at qualifying for Russia 2018.

A special memory

Day -759. ‪‎WorldCup2018‬

It's Sunday. Even though many of my posts are memories of past World Cups, Sunday is always my day dedicated to a good, entertaining story. This one covers a few criteria:

• It is inspired by a never ending argument with a very good friend about some football related incident or other over the course of the last 34 years. And tomorrow is his birthday so to make him happy I'll show him how those were 2 very clear penalties on Lineker in 1990.
• It happened at Italia '90, the World Cup on which there is universal agreement that it was one of the most boring in recent history; but for reasons explained many a time by me over the last two years has a special place in my bank of "things that make me feel good".
• It involved probably the most entertaining match from 1990
• Watching the video reminds of the amusing part of this memory: the referee. Watch him as he awards the penalties. I wrote about this before but I did laugh again. Never has a referee seemed so pleased with himself for deciding a penalty was a penalty. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul0kcU14iyU 

The "new" Fifa

Day -760. ‪‎WorldCup2018‬
I said it before the Fifa presidential election in February: unless the new president was someone not previously involved with Fifa, or even with football at all, it would just be the same Fifa with a different Sepp Blatter at the helm. Gianni Infantino started well, or at least he attempted to give the impression that he was, when he flew on a budget airline to England on his first trip rather than using the private jet that Blatter favoured. However, this Reuters story shows how it really is business as usual at the "new" Fifa's first congress in Mexico City. The highlights are:

• Fifa paid for all business class fights and luxury hotel rooms for a 3 person delegation from each of the 209 member associations
• Each delegate received $1000 spending money
• Many of the delegates opted to avail themselves of the luxury bus on offer to take them the 500 metres from their hotel to the Congress venue
• Fifa made a big deal about the Legends match (and paid for all the legends to be there), yet the match was only open to specially invited guests who were wined and dined throughout.

When Infantino was asked about the $1000 spending money his answer was that "we might look into it".
Now, find me a football delegate who will say no to their business class flight, luxury hotel, all expenses paid (plus more) holiday in Mexico City and I will find you a Serbian who is ecstatic that Kosovo is now part of Fifa.
 
Yes, make that 211 member associations, with Gibraltar and Kosovo accepted as Fifa members. And already the necessary conditions for 2018 World Cup qualifying have been put out there: Serbia cannot be drawn with Kosovo and, as with Euro qualifying, Spain cannot play Gibraltar. It makes you think about Israel. They play in European qualifying because so many Arab countries won't play against them. Maybe, in a reverse move, Europe should trade Spain and Serbia to Asian qualifying in return for having taken Israel. And while I'm at, how about Australia? They became Asian a few years ago. What other country can be moved out of its geographical continent to a different football continent?
 
But I digress from Fifa largesse, although recognising a country which is not a country according to the United Nations might be another angle of the unopposed world power Fifa enjoys.

http://in.mobile.reuters.com/article/idINKCN0Y502T?irpc=932

Late night: #29

Day -761. ‪‎WorldCup2018‬

It's so late, again, that it's tomorrow. I can't be a full time World Cup poster when I'm a full time something else. I do wish that talk of Zico and Platini, Maradona and Messi, Pizzul and Moore filled more of my day. But so be it.

Late night: #28

Day -762. ‪Worldcup2018‬

Yes, another day, another late night. Good night day -762.

It is about the children

Day -763. ‎WorldCup2018‬

I may be somewhat cynical about Fifa and the dark side of football: the backroom deals, the corruption, the huge influence of money in the game. But when I think of the children who live in a World Cup country, I imagine how great it must be for them. They don't care about the contractor who's won a major construction deal through alleged kickbacks, or the local Fifa official who is making a bit of money on the side by creating a "hospitality" company selling match tickets and hotel rooms. The children are excited about the world of football coming, literally, to their backyards. The stars they watch on TV are all around them and they may have opportunities to see them, through events at their schools or they might get given tickets to matches as happened in South Africa in 2010.

So despite there possibly being a feeling that this is a publicity stunt, the children from the orphanage in Volgograd surely don't care about that. They have a chance to enjoy their World Cup. And they are happy.

Michel and Sepp: back in the news

Day -764. ‪WorldCup2018‬

They haven't been mentioned for while because they may be irrelevant in the football world now. But Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were in the news in the last 2 days. Blatter announced that he we won't go to France during the European Championships because he fears arrest and extradition to the United States. "France and the US are close," he said. So I guess it's feet up in front of the TV for Sepp. Maybe it's just an excuse because, seeing as he is banned from all football activities (including all official suites and seats at the stadiums) he didn't want to suffer the embarrassment of sitting in the common VIP seats. Have a good one, Sepp! Hope Switzerland can make you proud.
 
And Platini, in day old news, has had his 6 year ban reduced to 4 years. Seeing as it wasn't overturned, as he wished for and expected, he has stepped down as UEFA president. Who knew he was still President? So is Platini's football life really over. From star player, admired by many to the master administrator who oversaw the incredible wealth of European football, to the now disgraced former star player and UEFA President. Football will never be without too much money and all the pitfalls that come with all that money. It will never be clean. But as much as Platini may be seen as the guy who got caught, he did deserve what he got.
But as the BBC put it, better than I can, he could indeed have been king....
 
http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/36252989

The Boleyn Ground at Upton Park

Day -765. World Cup2018

I've heard things in passing on the radio or TV in the past that have stuck with me, comments that were not the main point of what I was listening to or watching. One of them was when the former Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham and England centre forward Jimmy Greaves said that there was nothing better than watching football at Upton Park, just to listen to the East London wit in the stands. Upton Park, or better the Boleyn Ground in Upton Park will see West Ham play their last match ever there tomorrow. It's one of those iconic England stadiums which has maybe been romanticised a little too much when like many other stadiums it was where football supporters were packed in with little regard for their comfort. And, if you look past the hooligan years, it had the atmosphere that other stadiums didn't have, which came through even when watching a match on TV.

I never made it to the stands of Upton Park. My grandparents lived in Essex and I remember taking the train in and out of London with my Mum for a day trip while we were visiting in Essex. On the way out of London we were on the Underground line that went through West Ham, Upton Park and East Ham, all the way out to the end of the line, Barking or Upminster, I believe, depending on what line we were on. Since I knew my geography through football team locations I always made a note to myself to remember that when I would one day go to watch West Ham to get off at Upton Park and not West Ham. East Ham just amused me. East Ham! It was only West Ham, I thought, because they had a football team. But East Ham?  Even at my young age at the time, the thought of watching football at Upton Park fascinated me. I wanted to get off the train at Upton Park, even just to walk around and see the stadium.  I'd head about the West Ham legends but my time was more Tony Cottee then Trevor Brooking.

Upton Park made me think about World Cup stadiums I would go to one day. The Maracana, in Brazil, was high on the list. One hundred and fifty to one hundred and eight thousand people in one stadium, watching Brazil! Wembley. Done. Olympic stadium in Rome, Done. But those are the only two big ones. The Azteca in Mexico City, scene of one of the best World Cup Finals of my nine watched, Argentina-West Germany 1986. That would be amazing and loud.  I loved the Spanish stadiums in 1982, how compact and loud they all seemed to be. But I was fascinated by everything about that World Cup. I did get a tour, of sorts,  of the Bernabeu in Madrid in 2002. I didn't get to see the inside, or much of the outside really. My wife and I stopped in Madrid as part of our honeymoon and met some old Spanish friends. After a night out we followed in our car as one of them drove ahead back to his apartment. At one point he slowed down, leaned out the window and yelled, "that's the Bernabeu". The what? we thought as we glanced back for a quick glimpse.

Unfortunately, I cant think of one Russian stadium I wish I was at. Maybe they''ll all grow on me by 2018. And maybe I'll have memories of Moscow or Sochi's brand new state of the art stadiums. Maybe. But for now here's a little bit of the past, a few thousand Eastenders signing and to them forever blowing bubbles.

Sunday memory: 2014 final

Day -766. WorldCup2018

Sunday is happy memory night. I've watched nine World Cups over 32 years. I probably sat in front of a television for a tenth, but have no recollection of it. I've seen a lot of funny moments: the Kuwaiti Prince in 1982, the goalpost collapsing during Mexico-Bulgaria (1994), Rene Higuita being himself in 1990, Rivaldo's "I've been shot" in 2002, Fred, Jo and Hulk for doing not very good impersonations of Brazilian footballers in 2014 are some of my favourites. And, of course, the many controversies: the Schumacher-Battiston incident (1982), the Hand of God (1986), the Rijkaard-Voeller spitting match (1990), the Frank Lampard goal that wasn't in 2010 and take your pick from 2002.

I’ve watched some great matches and a few good finals. Argentina-West Germany in 1986 was a highlight, Argentina-West Germany, version 1990 was the worst, with Italy-Brazil (1994) a close second. I watched the first four finals with my family and have memories of the un-airconditioned sweltering heat, the pre-match forecast (we all had to have one). France '98 was my first one not in Malta where the call home to register my prediction before kick-off resulted in my missing all the news about the Ronaldo mystery illness. From then until 2014 it was a new experience with my new family and friends. 2002 happened too early in the morning in a hotel room by myself, with a hangover so bad that it hadn't even hit yet; 2006 was the Toronto Italian party; 2010 was memorable for sick daughter (on me) in second half and Spain's win.

But it was the Final of Brazil 2014 that will probably remain in my memory for a long, long time. Back home for a few days (too few) for my sister's wedding, we watched the final outside, the day after the wedding, up high overlooking the beautiful Maltese evening, fireworks and all. I wrote about this in my epilogue about the 2014 World Cup. But it came back to me today. A wonderful night.

The TV set up.......

The fireworks.....

Nessun Dorma....and Notte Magiche

Day -767. WorldCup2018.

Andrea Bocelli sang "Nessun Dorma" before Leicester played their celebratory match against Everton today. It brought back memories of summer nights in 1990: BBC's adoption of Luciano Pavarotti's singing that same piece as their theme for their World Cup broadcasts brought a bit of opera to football fans, and meant it forever stands as an unofficial football song.

It wasn't the greatest of World Cups but it did have a few stories. One of them was Italy's star centre forward, Toto Schillaci, who was virtually unknown outside of Italy before the World Cup. Today, Jamie Vardy scored 2 more goals for Leicester today. Could he be England's Toto in 2018? Yes, he won't be unknown, but his meteoric rise from part time footballer to the English Premier League, to playing for England has been a real Roy of the Rovers story.

Here's to a few "Notte Magiche" from that summer and a bit of Italian nostalgia.

Filler

Day -768. ‪WorldCup2018‬

When I started this latest countdown I said it wouldn't be everyday (you can look it up) but not a late night goes by where I think I have to get something in for the day. The press conference thought is still brewing in my head. One day soon I'll have the time to write about it.

Short.

Day -769. ‪Worldcup2018‬

Press conferences have to wait one more day. The day is too short. Later....

Three days late but.....

Day -770. WorldCup2018

Press conferences! The uselessness of press conferences. That's what I was going to write about three days ago (day -773) when I couldn't remember what it was that I was thinking about earlier in the day. I'm just happy I remembered. Fifa, and sponsors, require that a player or two and the manager are at a press conference before or after a match at the World Cup (as do leagues and local associations in most countries). That the majority don't want to be there is painfully obvious. Time is not my ally right now so I will come back to this.

But in the meantime here's a recent classic from the King of dour (not Mourinho, the other one). The master tactician at the last World Cup with Holland has become the champion of  self-defence in England, with some colourful explanations.

Kosovo

Day -771. ‪WorldCup2018.

‬
When does a country become a country? Is it when UEFA say so? Today Kosovo was accepted as a member of UEFA. Still not a member of the United Nations, Kosovo can now apply to become a member of Fifa and therefore play in the qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. So not a country in the UN's eyes but a country when it comes to football.

The citizenship issues of who qualifies to play for a country that is not really a country are going to be very interesting. Some players who were born in Kosovo played for other countries already because their state of birth wasn't a country. Fifa doesn't allow players to play for more than one country if they represented a country at senior level. So Xherdan Shaqiri and Valon Behrami (Switzerland), Shefki Kuqi (Finland) and Lorik Cana (Albania) are Kosovans who will not be playing for their "country" of birth. Nor can Adnan Januzaj of Manchester United , who Kosovo tried to recruit. His parents are Kosovo-Albanian but he has played for Belgium. I see an interesting case for an enterprising citizenship lawyer.

King Ranieri!

Day -772. WorldCup2018.

So they did it. Leicester City, Champions of England. It feels like 30, 40 years ago when teams like Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Everton were winning the league before the dominance of Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United, and more recently Chelsea and Manchester City. The big teams, with the big money. The small club, the team that fought back from the brink of relegation last year. It is a pretty incredible achievement. The nature of football, not North American leagues though, is that you watch it unfold week after week from August to May. It's a league where the team at the top of the pile come May is the winner. There's no play-offs where the team in 8th place can come from nowhere and win. We all followed Leicester, week after week, stay at the top. In the end, only die-hard Tottenham fans thought it might not happen. So we had time to digest the surprise factor. It was a slow-building surprise. But it is pretty amazing that it happened. Maybe every country, no matter how small, that qualifies for the 2018 World Cup will believe that they can "do a Leicester"

But will theyhave a manager like Claudio Ranieri? I almost wish some country hire him just before the World Cup for the entertainment he will provide. Greece will definitely not be in the running to hire him after his disastrous spell with them in 2014 where they lost to the Faroe Islands, twice. Ever since he was Chelsea's manager, in what seems like a different lifetime now, I've been a fan of Claudio and his honesty and his humour. And within the Leicester team he has obviously used some incredible managerial skills to create an incredible winning formula. And it takes a very smart man to get a clause written in his contract that he would get a £5m bonus if Leicester did win the league. Was that confidence or a sense of humour?

So give me Vardy and Mahrez, Kante and Fuchs, Drinkwater and Huth and their happy go-lucky style of play. But most of all give me a happy man, a happy manger like Claudio Ranieri any day. If you haven't seen it already here is one of the best press conferences ever, so typical of the man. This is when he first admitted a couple of weeks ago that they could actually win the league.

Dilly ding dilly dong

Football on the radio

Day -773. ‪#‎WorldCup2018‬

Leicester didn't "do a Leicester" yet. So the dream is still alive. The Tottenham dream. And while Leicester were busy not quite doing what the whole of the world that still believes in the little guy winning was willing them to do, I was busy looking for a way to watch their league winning match against Manchester United on my phone or on any available TV while happily doing Dad stuff away from home. With no luck I turned to online radio. As I rediscovered the joy of listening to football on the radio, I formulated a post for today in my head. It was perfect, was to be a wonderful addition to my Sunday memories posts. What a genius I am, I thought. In the euphoria of my self-proclaimed brilliance, I did not take into account my not-so-brilliant memory. And try as I may, I cannot remember what wonderful thoughts I was going to share with you tonight.

So instead it's radio talk. There was something old fashioned romantic about sitting in a crowded shopping mall, headphones on, listening to commentary of a football match. Good radio commentators have a way to describe what's going on that television commentators cannot. (In fairness TV commentators don't have to be so descriptive because, well, you can see what's going on.)
Something funny happened later in the day. In my early days of watching football on North American TV I was amused and irritated by how much the commentators spoke constantly. "They sound like they're on the radio," I thought. Today I started watching Toronto FC on TV but when I had to go out I turned on the car radio to check the score and, yes, the radio commentary was the same TV commentary. So they really are on the radio!

In the days before live football on TV, and when I was at University, I developed a superstition about listening to a match on the radio. If I had BBC Radio 5 Live on (that was good radio) and Aston Villa scored then I had to keep the radio on, even if it was a mid-week evening when I was desperately trying to get an essay written. But if I turned the radio on mid-match and Villa were winning then I had to turn it off again. I wish I could report on statistics of how true this was, but my memory was that it was a superstition with strong evidence of it being well founded.
Before there was even a hint of live football on TV, BBC World Service at around 5.30pm on a Saturday afternoon in Malta was my friend. There was always live commentary of the last 15 or 20 minutes of the day's most important match, followed by the final scores read by the man with the legendary intonation.

I had never listened to a World Cup match on the radio until 2014, when I found it necessary to have it on in the car as many of the matches were played as I was on my home. And happily, even though the pre-match was Canadian, when the match started it switched over to the BBC feed.
(Now I even thought there was something more interesting I was going to say about football on the radio, but that's it. So I'm going to fade out quietly here and pray for a memory flashback tomorrow).