Malta-Scotland: part 3, the new Maltese

Day -652. WorldCup2018

The build up to Sunday's Malta-Scotland continues.

Malta today drew 1-1 in Estonia, in what can be rightly called a confidence boosting result for the Maltese. By all accounts, Malta's newly acquired citizen and recent addition to the team, Luke Gambin, impressed again. And another new-ish citizen, Alfred Effiong, scored Malta's goal. One player became Maltese through his grandfather, and another through achieving the residency requirement of time lived in Malta. What Malta needs now is a new citizen from the third category: a player from a family with enough money to purchase a Maltese passport. Or maybe a Maltese person with a few million euros to spare could invest in the Maltese team by buying passports for a few non-Maltese players of a level high enough to transform the team. But that is a touchy political discussion that we keep out of football, right?

Back to the pitch the Maltese team is looking healthy and without getting too carried away with expectation there is hope that a result against Scotland is achievable and possible.

Malta-Scotland:part 2, the hotel team talk

Day -653. WorldCup2018

The Malta team continued with their preparation for the opening World Cup qualifier against Scotland on Sunday by listening to a team talk from their manager Pietro Ghedin at the Amsterdam Airport Hilton hotel. The team had to spend the night in Amsterdam after their flight to Estonia for tomorrow's friendly was cancelled. As they missed their training session (with a replacement to be found, looking for a spare pitch in Amsterdam might have been too big a task) Mr Ghedin decided a classroom session would be a good way to keep his group of twenty-something year old men focused and motivated during their boring, unplanned overnight stop. I pray that Mr Ghedin is very interesting to listen to.

In other news involving Maltese players abroad, Luke Gambin of League Two club Barnet FC, today turned down a £100,000 move to League Two rivals Leyton Orient because he is holding out for a move to a higher division. This may be because he can now call himself an international player. Gambin became a Maltese citizen earlier this year and has been impressive since becoming part of the Malta team. He was born, and grew up, in England but was "discovered" by the Maltese FA through Sky Sports news. Somebody at the MFA saw it reported that the had scored two goals in a match against Dover and was interested in his Maltese sounding name. A bit of research revealed a Maltese grandfather and straight out of the Jack Charlton/Republic of Ireland school of recruitment a new Maltese player was found. I honestly and truly wish him well, and not only that he makes a big difference for Malta but that he also achieves his ambition of reaching a higher level of club football.

I will keep an eye and ear out for transfer hews tomorrow, deadline day in England. Beyond tomorrow, a goal on his competitive debut for Malta against Scotland would do very nicely indeed.
Luke Gambin is is Estonia with the rest of the Maltese team today. They did make it and let's hope (if you are Maltese or if you like the underdogs) that an unscheduled night in Amsterdam will not have an adverse affect on their performance on Sunday.

Malta-Scotland: day 1, stuck in Amsterdam

Day -654. WorldCup2018

I'm getting pretty excited about the start of the European World Cup qualifiers on Sunday. Will Allardyce's England be any better than Hodgson's? How will Wales and Iceland deal with not being surprise packages anymore but teams expected to challenge for the top spots in their groups?

All fun stuff but what I'm looking forward to the most is Scotland starting off with a loss in Malta. The build up to the match has started in Malta. A new high-tech hybrid pitch has just been laid at the National Stadium, new team shirts have been unveiled and 75% of the tickets have been sold, including 5,000 to Scottish supporters. There is no doubt there will be quite the atmosphere with the Maltese supporters rising to the challenge of being out-sung in their own stadium by the visitors. I'm not quite sure the Maltese can compete with 5,000 of the Tartan Army's best but it'll be fun to watch them trying.

The Malta team is playing a friendly in Estonia on Wednesday. But they have hit a little snag. Their connecting flight out of Amsterdam today was cancelled, leaving them stranded in Amsterdam overnight. Any semi-frequent traveller will know how difficult it is to get a family of 4 re-booked on a different flight. Must be quite challenging for a group of twenty footballers and coaches and other officials. Hopefully they make it back to Malta on time.

In better news for Malta, their star striker Andre Schembri, scored his first goal for his new club Boavista in Portugal. It's quite the achievement for any Maltese player to be successful in a major league overseas. Carmel Busuttil did it in Belgium in Genk in the eighties and Michael Mifsud was almost there with Coventry a few years ago. Scottish defenders had better watch out, Andre is on fire!

I will try my best to find an online feed of the match on Sunday. If not it will be another social media experience, which I plan to turn into a bit of an experiment.

Fifa and the IOC

Day -655. WorldCup2018

Fifa President Gianni Infantino has been to the same school of memorable, yet incomprehensible, school of quotes as Eric Cantona. Cantona, the wonderfully talented, with a hint of self-confidence bordering on incorrigible arrogance, French footballer explained his pitch side attack on a supporter by throwing out a line about trawlers, seagulls and sardines. And then he promptly walked out of the press conference where he offered that classic line.

Infantino in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Blick, had this to say about men's football at the Olympics: "The tournament is neither fish nor bird in this form." Admittedly, the interview was in German and this might either be an interesting translation or a good (Swiss) German saying that needs explanation to English speakers. But just as Cantona delivered the line and turned on his heels, so did Infantino not really offer any further explanation.

The quote is, however, not the point. Infantino's comments show concern from Fifa that the governing body of world football is worried about the success and growing popularity of football at the Olympics. What he said is that the football calendar is already too packed and that the men's tournament in its current format "is not a good solution." What he really means is that there is fear that the IOC, a serious and direct competitor to Fifa's revenue, is stealing more of the football attention than Fifa is comfortable with.

It may not be universally known that the men's Olympic tournament is not on Fifa's Coordinated Match Calendar (or list of official tournaments) so clubs have no obligation to release their players to their respective national Olympic teams. Right there that seems to be a very strong argument for men's football as it is right now to be excluded from the Olympics. Its' own federation doesn't really want to be part of the Olympics. For the majority of the sports the Olympic are the pinnacle of an International Federation's sanctioned tournaments. Athletics, rowing, swimming, weightlifting all have world championships but it is the Olympics that the federations and the athletes want to be at. Being an Olympic sport also means funding from the IOC. Fifa clearly don't need this. While the Olympics have been hugely important for the women's game in terms of exposure, the men's game is dominated by the World Cup. While the question of amateurs at the Olympics is a rather cloudy argument nowadays, Fifa could take the opportunity to do what rugby did: present a different format of its' game. Rugby sevens was hugely popular and Fifa have futsal or 5-a-side football, which is fun to watch, not as widely watched as the full version and is played by players who do not have the same opportunity for exposure as those who play at World Cups.

The other solution is to pull football completely out of the Olympics. Fifa do not need to risk their big moneymaker, the World Cup, having a competitor. But the IOC needs football. It sells tickets, lots of them. And would the IOC get rid of football to make for for a sport that would really love to be part of the Olympics, let's say squash? Simply, no.
So while Infantino said that Fifa needs to work with the IOC to find a "solution" to this "sensitive issue" rest assured, or despair, that an Olympics without football will not be an option.

Football fan acorss the (online) world

Day -656. WorldCup2018

My story of how I came to be a supporter of Aston Villa is a fun one, I think. I have told it before and, for lack of time, cannot repeat it now. They have always been anything but a local team, except for a three years when I lived kind of close. I had a local team in Malta who I watched as often as I could. After living in Toronto for a while a team was formed here to play in the Major Soccer League. I've watched a few home matches and I can say they are my local team. And finally they are having a pretty decent season.

Today I was thinking about local, or not. I "watch" my teams mostly on twitter and facebook: live updates instead of live action on TV. Villa are in the doldrums of the Championship and unless I do some serious searching online I won't be watching them; Sliema, in Malta, are in Malta and I'm not; and I never seem to be around when Toronto FC are playing. With work schedules during recent World Cups a lot of my following of the matches was through live online updates. That's why I dream that by June 2018 I will have my dream job that allows for nothing but World Cup watching.

As an aside it was not a good weekend for any of my teams. Villa lost to mighty Bristol City (oh this Championship lark is turning out to be as much of a nightmare as I didn't t want to fear). Toronto FC lost after 6 wins and a draw in their last seven, and it was against their rivals for Canadian supremacy, Montreal. And Sliema lost to make it played two, lost two for the season.

At least I didn't have to watch any of them. Although the emotional pain of being a fan through social media is worthy of another post.

Macau: Syria's new home

Day -657. WorldCup2018

On September 6th Syria play against South Korea in a World Cup qualifier. Syria, the home team, are hosting the match in Macau, 7500kms from Damascus. It was meant to be played in Lebanon but the Syrian FA requested that it be moved due to security fears. It is now more of a home match for South Korea as it is now only 2100kms from Seoul. The Koreans are happy as they don't have to travel too far after a home match against China 5 days earlier. They also don't have to deal with a 6 hour time difference. It is now only 1.

However, in a peculiar twist that shows this change doesn't suit everybody, the Macau Daily Times reports that Korean striker Suk Hyun-ju has been dropped for the match. The reason given is that he needs time to settle at his new club, Trabsonspor, and this is a big distance to travel for him. I cannot find any news as to whether he is playing the home match against China. Seoul is also pretty far from Turkey. And so is China, for the return match. Maybe he'll only play the Middle Eastern teams. Or maybe he's just not good enough and this is a good excuse.

But the travel time of one Korean player is not the real story here. Syria travelling 7500kms to play a home match is. Damascus is out of the question and now even Beirut. Be not surprised if they are playing their home matches in Moscow soon.

Europa League woes

Day -658. WorldCup2018

I'm thinking of ways to take this to the next level. It's easier when World Cup qualifiers are on. There's something to write about. Today's football highlight was West Ham's elimination from the Europa league by Astra Giurgiu. Who? Exactly. West Ham, from the richest league in the world beaten by a previously unheard of outside-of-Romania team from Romania. Except they were previously heard of in East London. They beat West Ham at the same stage last year. As I read on twitter today: "Trust West Ham to have a bogey team from Romania." So West Ham in their fancy new stadium have no European football to look forward to. But that's ok, their fans will say. They can now concentrate on qualifying for next year's Champions League. That's something that bemuses, and amuses, me about teams in most of the major European leagues. Every season they try to finish as high up the table as possible to qualify for Europe. They make it into the Europa League and then proceed to try their hardest to get eliminated as quickly as possible from it by fielding a team of subs so that they can concentrate on their domestic league, where they will probably qualify for the Europa League again.

With that thought of the day explained, I will go back to thinking of how I will make something more out of this. More Champions League rather then Europa; in it for the big prize rather than happy with what could have been.

Counting backwards issues

Day -659. WorldCup2018

I realised that I must be challenged when it comes to counting down consecutive numbers from 1000 to 0. Not for the first time I sensed I was missing a few days in my countdown. It seemed odd that I was somehow into the 500s already. So a quick check back revealed that from one day to the next I changed a 6 to a 5 and, hey presto, from then on the 600s disappeared. I know all of you, my loyal readers, were just too polite to tell me.

To confirm I was still on track I checked with the official tourist portal for Russia 2018, the welcome2018 website. They are at 657, but are ahead by a day with the time difference. The one day discrepancy could be that they are counting until the day before whereas I'm going until the day of the opening match. That's my explanation and I'm sticking with my theory in order to not necessitate another day by day check.

The other thing the welcome2018 website gave me was an idea as to what to do with this countdown, to make it all worthwhile on top of the fun of throwing this out there every night. There is a button on the English version website to "sing in". I'm quite sure they are not auditioning for singing football supporters. I have come across various other examples of questionable English. Seeing as the website is aimed at informing foreign visitors about the practicalities of visiting Russia, I would think legible English would be important. Therefore, I could offer assistance in proof reading all their posts and in return become the official countdown website of Russia 2018.

What a great idea, I say. It has been a long day and I was fishing for ideas as to what to write about today. Maybe I'll re-think it.

Syria and football

Day -660. WorldCup2018

I'm looking through the fixture list of qualifiers in September. Syria play away to Uzbekistan on September 1st, followed by a "home" match against South Korea on the 6th. That amazes me on so many levels. Of all the matches listed on Fifa's website the Syria-South Korea one is the only match without a kick-off time. It hardly seems like the most important thing now, arranging a football match and finding a stadium and country (probably Iran) to host it. But on top of the thoughts of Syria putting out a football team when the country is in ruins, it strikes me on a very simple level how bizarre it is that the 20 players, plus coaching and management team, can take off to Uzbekistan and Iran to play football when so many other Syrians are trapped in the towns and villages and what is left of them. Yes, the team are known to be supporters of President Assad and the President is happy to use their success as a propaganda tool. But it is still incredible that Syria go ahead and play football. Bombs fall, people's houses are destroyed, thousands have no food or water. And the team goes off to Uzbekistan to play a football match.

It's almost as though a surreal parallel world where everything is normal exists in Syria. Assad would like us to think so. And football carries on.

Olympics over, World Cup qualifying to look forward to

Day -661. WorldCup2018

For a crazy sports fan this could be the start of another daily count: first day post-Olympics. First day is always the hardest, right? It will get better.

So what to look forward to? September 1st. World Cup qualifying starts again with matches in Asia and South America. Australia kick off round 3 of qualifying with a home match against Iraq, hoping that it is the start of another smooth run to the World Cup. Being Asian has been good for Australia.

In South America, can the euphoria of Brazil's Olympic gold medal carry over into a must-not-lose match away to Ecuador. Brazil cannot afford to lose any more points or it won't be long before all their matches become must-win. And Argentina play Uruguay where the question is will Lionel Messi definitely be back from his short retirement?

On September 4th what many of us think is the real competition starts: European qualifying. Will the traditional powerhouses be back to their best, or will the Icelands of Europe be able to maintain their surprise status. Or are they are even surprises anymore? Maybe more of the minnows will feel inspired and will be minnows no more. Apart from the interest in how Sam Allardyce's England look against Slovakia, my eyes will be on Scotland's quest to avoid an opening day upset in Malta, hoping that the Scots do indeed suffer another embarrassing defeat.

Olympic football

Day -662. WorldCup2018

Well that was a fun 16 days. Just like returning to watching English Premier League football after a World Cup seems so boring, so does the thought of a World Cup right now after the exhilaration of these Olympics already seem like an anti-climax. If only Fifa can introduce rules to somehow make the football at Russia 2018 as incredibly exciting as that gold medal match yesterday.

At least, maybe, hopefully, it was the start of a new, or the old, Brazil that we will see in Russia.

Brazil! Neymar! Brazil!

Day -663. WorldCup2018

Uruguay 1950. Germany 2014. Partial redemption for past football nightmares for Brazil happened today. It wasn't a World Cup but an Olympic win which they really wanted, which they had never achieved before, against an opponent who had humiliated the nation two years ago and it will go some to way to bringing joy back to Brazilian football. And they also have a hero. Neymar, the victim of a terrible injury that kept him out of that semifinal two years ago, was in this team with the pressure of being the player to lead them to victory. And it was fitting that he scored a stunning goal to put Brazil in the lead, and that he scored the winning penalty.

The match itself was at times a breathless display of excitement. A good old end to end battle for parts of it and then a classic all out attack against disciplined German defending for the latter part. But as the pundits would say, and probably did say but I didn’t have time to listen to them because I didn't want to spoil how enjoyable this was to watch, very often the excitement was due to the countless errors. There were phases of the match were neither team could keep hold of the ball for more than two passes. It was pinball, the ball bouncing back and forth between German and Brazilian players. The German goal was a defensive comedy. Brazil lost possession just outside their penalty area when a defender pretty much passed a ball to the Germans, who immediately passed the ball right back to a defender on the edge of the penalty area, who subsequently passed the ball right back to the Germans. At this point the Germans probably thought: "really, we gave you two chances to get out of your half and you couldn't do it. We must punish you now and score." Pass, pass, pass....boom...goal!

The penalties in the shoot-out out were all perfect until one poor German had his saved. Cue the Neymar moment. And what a moment. He must have stepped up to take the penalty knowing that personal, and national, redemption and revenge was in his hands. And cool as a Brazilian footballer in the Maracana, who has 66 years of a Maracana football nightmare resting on his shoulders, he put the penalty confidently away. Cue the tears, from Neyamr, the rest of the team, the coaching team and close to 100,000 jumping, screaming Brazilians in the stands. It was a crazily magic moment, a perfect emotional storm of winning an Olympic goal for your country coupled with laying to rest a few national demons.

For that reason I hope you all took my advice and watched possibly your first Olympic football final. And despite my misgivings at some of the quality, I hoped you also watched it and enjoyed it for one of the most exciting football matches you will have seen for a long time. It made the Euros look like a bona-fide bore-fest. Admittedly that's not saying much. So how about it made me wish that any match from the last 5 or 6 World Cups were played at that same speed, with all the errors.

It was that good. And I still have not read one report about it. I don't want some smart aleck to spoil it for me. I would just like to think that Lawton, Parkinson and McIlvanney appreciated the craziness in the same way I did.

Can Brazil do it?

Day -664. #WorldCup2018

I'm using one of my late night/long day lifelines. See you tomorrow, or Brazilian football partial revenge/redemption day.

Barzil, almost there

Day -665. WorldCup2018

Brazil play Germany in the Olympic football final on Saturday. Revenge for the 1-7 in 2014? The players will say no. Even Neymar who missed that match will probably go on about how this is a new match, and they can't dwell on the past, and all the usual lines that are fed to the media. But what we all know is that all those Brazilians want to give the Germans a good hiding. Redemption is needed. And for no-one more than Neymar who was helplessly injured in 2014. It may only be the Olympics but it is football and what matters more than that in Brazil? And Brazil have never won Olympic football gold.

Whatever psychological angle you believe I think if you are reading this you should watch it. It'll be a goody. I can almost guarantee it. Saturday, 10.30pm in Europe, 9.30pm in the U.K., 4.30pm on the East Coast of North America, 3.30pm if you're lucky enough to be in Rio and at some other time to be calculated by yourself if you are somewhere else in the world.

I cannot remember an Olympic final that will be watched like this one.

Brazil, another step closer

Day -666. WorldCup2018

Brazilian football may have got it's mojo back. And the Neymar who plays for Brazil, as opposed to the Barcelona version, seems to be enjoying himself again as is the whole Olympic team. Neymar scored the first and last goal in their 6-0 semi final win against Honduras today. And Manchester City's new star-to-be Gabriel Jesus scored a couple more.

I read on the BBC that after losing that World Cup semi final against Germany 7-1 they are now level on aggregate 7-7 for major semi finals. They may not be quite back to even keel when it comes to psychological damage done to the whole of Brazilian football, but they may be getting there.

The old guys

Day -667 WorldCup2018

It's late and Olympic watching is taking up a lot of energy. So I'll quickly share the news that Lukas Podolski announced that he is retiring from international football for Germany. My reaction was, "hadn't he already?" Him and Miroslav Klose seemed to be playing forever.

While reading that story I came across another player who really has been playing forever, Australian Tim Cahill. After a hugely successful career overseas, mostly in England, he is returning home to play for Melbourne City. Cahill is 36 and after scoring a spectacular goal at the 2014 World Cup when most people thought he was past it, nobody will be surprised to see him in Russia in 2018.

Dalian Atkinson

Day -668. #WorldCup2018

The beginning of my life as a football fan, or my memories at least, was May 1981 when Aston Villa were crowned Champions of England. Everything went to a higher level of memorable football watching when Villa won the European Cup in May 1982, and the fandom went stratospheric while watching my first World Cup in 1982.

The next milestone was January 1993 when I finally made it to Villa Park and stood on the famous Holte End and watched a 5-1 win against Middlesbrough. Every surge of the crowd around me after each goal was well worth it. I had watched this team on television since 1981, tried to understand the fans' chants, had my favourite players and here I was seeing it all live, listening to the songs and seeing the players up close. It was a great team, top of the league after this win. They had an exciting attacking trio of Dean Saunders, Dwight Yorke and Dalian Atkinson. Watching them live was another world of excitement compared to television. Atkinson performed a quick 360 degree turn with the ball played at speed to his feet in one match which I tried to recreate. After my childhood football heroes, Atkinson was one of my idols of my young adulthood.

Today he passed away, only 48 years old, after being tasered by police outside his father's house in Telford, England. When the news first appeared I had to search all my regular news and sport websites to confirm that it was true. Sadly, it appears there may have been health issues which lead him to not being in a very sound state of mind.

I hadn't heard much about him since he left Villa and tried to recreate his Villa form at a number of clubs, finally retiring in 2001 after a stint in South Korea. So it's rather shocking for him to be back in the news for this reason. I have to, therefore, recall a happier time: Dalian Atkinson at his imperious best, striding the length of the pitch to score the BBC Match of the Day goal of the season against Wimbledon in 1992.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ksRjCXzHfCc

IOC and Fifa merge

Day -669. WorldCup2018

After another exhilarating day of Olympics I almost forgot about my mission. And I'm thinking as I switch between all the very different action all day, that maybe the World Cup and the Olympics should just merge. If tennis players and golfers now chase Olympic glory why not footballers. The two biggest events in the world come together. And only one city in the world will have to go bankrupt after building venues and stadiums at hugely inflated costsevery 4 years. And if you get bored of watching Syria and Turkey, or Russia, play out a pre-arranged draw, you can always turn it off and switch over to watching the air rifle final. Or if footballers rolling around on the ground, faking injuries, becomes too much there will be some real athletes, like judokas and triathletes, to watch.

And everybody will win. More non-football fans will watch football (because it's at the Olympics) and more football fans will watch other sports (because they can't stand the down time between matches).

I think I'm on to something. Mr. Infantino and Mr. Bach, I am available for further consultation. You can thank me in a few years. You're welcome.

One more step for Brazil

Day -670. WorldCup2018

The Brazil and Neymar redemption carried on today. Neymar scored one and Brazil beat Colombia 2-0 in the Olympics quarter finals. An easy semifinal against Honduras (easy! how many times have we said that?) awaits them before the final against Nigeria or Germany. A gold medal here and maybe Brazilian football will be out of the doldrums.

Messi and the short retirement

Day -671. WorldCup2018

So Lionel Messi's retirement from international football for Argentina lasted about as long as the time that Argentina didn't have any matches to play. He had his little sulk after not helping Argentina to not win the Copa America but the new coach convinced him to return. I guess Argentina are now odds on favourites to win Russia 2018.

No more Argentina on the beach

Day -672. #WorldCup2018

Following the Olympics on BBC text online I read a comment from a journalist yesterday who said he came across a group of singing Argentinians. But, he said, they're always singing!

It reminded of the great singing banter between the Brazilian and Argentinian fans at the 2014 World Cup. The Argentinian's favourite song was their taunt of Pele.

"Brazil, tell me how it feels
Having your Daddy here at home
I swear after all these years
We are never going to forget
That Diego slipped it by
To Cani who banged it home
You have been crying since Italy
Messi with no doubt
Will bring the Cup to us
Maradona is greater than Pele!"

And here they are singing it at Copacabana beach in 2014. Sadly, they will not be on that beach, singing that song, this year. While Brazil found some form when they needed to and made it to the quarter finals, Argentina were very disappointing. After a loss to Portugal, they beat Algeria but were eliminated after a tame, or lame, 1-1 draw with Honduras. Ah well, memories are fun. It's just too bad they got so close to having the wishes of their song come through in 2014, but Messi didn't quite deliver.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68xn8hExh18

Brazil, alive!

Day -673. WorldCup2018

Maybe the Brazilian Olympic football team did it just for me. Of course. Apparently they were at their Brazilian best in their 4-0 win against Denmark tonight. And Neymar did what he was taken away from Barcelona pre-season to do; to lead the team and make a difference. I say apparently because despite the three different channels we watch the Olympics on at the same time none of them showed the football. So I will just have to happily believe the reports.

Next up for Brazil is a quarter final against Colombia. Memories of World Cup 2014 and Neymar's cracked vertebrae. I hope for a happier ending and better tv coverage. Otherwise I'm going to have to be all 2016 and look for it online.

Russia and her friends

Day -674. WorldCup2018

A few months ago I was writing about how politically awkward it would be if Russia were drawn in a World Cup group with Ukraine and Turkey. This after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet and diplomatic relations between the countries plummeted to a "we don't talk to each" level.

Today President Erdogan went to Moscow to meet President Putin to "reset the relationship". Two countries, two Presidents, who realized they need each other as the Western world is a little upset with both of them.

So a group at Russia 2018 of Russia, Syria, Turkey would need a 4th friendly country to make it a happy World Cup family.

The real Brazil, please show up

Day -675. WorldCup2018

Brazil, oh Brazil! And Neymar. Struggling to get into a strong position in South American qualifying for Russia 2018, Brazil were hoping for a boost from their Olympic team. But it's not going to plan so far. Two 0-0 draws against South Africa and Iraq has taken the magic factor of Brazilian football down a few more notches. It's been fairly low since being practically destroyed at the last World Cup. Brazil have never won Olympic gold and they put together a pretty strong team for Rio 2016. A stroll was expected, especially through the first round. And now it's down to a probable win needed in their last group match against Denmark.

I will probably never see a more beautiful football team than Brazil version 1982. But I always hope that at some point they will come close to that again.

Let's all be positive

Day -676. WorldCup2018

This is my happy, positive Sunday post. I am going to look forward to Russia 2018 because I love watching open, exciting football played by the best teams in the world with no concern for defending. And I will not let any controversy get in the way of my enjoyment. Corrupt bidding process? Bah! A tournament being organized by a country and an individual, that supported illegal doping of its' athletes, including a footballer. Why should I care? At least I'll get to see Messi work his magic in Moscow. Oh, maybe not.

And I know it will be ok in the end. I'm confident that if Fifa uncover any wrongdoing they will come down hard on the Russians, and their buddy Vitaly Mutko. Just like the IOC did, or didn't. I'll only feel negative and sad that the Paralympic Committee banned all Russians from participating in Rio, something the IOC couldn't bring themselves to do. And I'll say what I'm sure a lot of people are thinking. It's was an easier decision to make when there wasn't the risk of as big of a political fallout as there would have been if the IOC made the same decision.

I won't even wonder anymore why Rio Ferdinand, English footballer, got an 8 month ban some years ago for missing a drug test and English cyclist, Lizzie Armitstead missed three tests and is competing in Rio, completely un-punished. I'm not negative. I'm just trying to understand how they both had similar excuses ("I didn't know, I couldn't be there") yet one person's poor me routine worked better than the others.

I am happy. I love watching the Olympics. I love watching the World Cup. I love the atmosphere, the competition and all the side stories. I am just not 10 years old anymore and am aware of the politics which have invaded all of what I watch.

No comment, really

Day -677. WorldCup2018

So Fifa president Gianni Infantino has been cleared of any ethics violations by the Ethics Committee. It's reassuring, I guess, that the new guy didn't have to resign so soon after becoming the big cheese. And now we know that this new Fifa is all squeaky clean.

Now how about the Fifa Council member, suspected of being an important player in his government-backed doping program. What power does Vitaly Mutko really have? The IOC didn't allow him to go to Rio. But Fifa....nothing.

The EFL is here!

Day -678. WorldCup2018

I'm all tired out by that Olympic watching, too tired to think about football. That will come this weekend with the start of the English football season. No, it's not the Premier League but where the real football is: the newly named EFL, the English Football League. The Premier League has Mourinho and Pep, the EFL has Rafa and Bobby (di Mateo)....and Zenga. Not to mention many teams are becoming the playthings of the Chinese billionaires.

But to bring it back to Olympics and Russia, I'm also mentally drained from trying to do some calculations as to how 270 of Russia's 330 team are still in Rio despite the widespread bans. Take out the track and field team, and the weightlifters, and Sharapova and...er...I guess that was it. So it does make sense. All that fuss about bans came down to almost nothing. Yeah, Russia are really going to get reprimanded by Fifa in the lead up to 2018.

Welcome Russia!

Day -679. WorldCup2018

I thought it was time for another check of the welcome2018 website,the Russia 2018 tourist portal, to find out the latest in Russia's preparations for the World Cup visitors.

"The resort town of Svetlogorsk in Kaliningrad region is planning to finish a new promenade by the time World Cup 2018 arrives to Russia."

"A 2018 World Cup-themed tournament held at Nizhny Novgorod festival."

"Russia's largest water park to be constructed in Moscow region."

"Stamping ceremony for 2018 World Cup post stamp held in Kazan"

I do wonder if this website was set up a tad too early. This may be just me, voicing an uniformed opinion, but who knows yet that they are going to be visiting Russia for the World Cup and, if they did know (who is lucky enough to plan that far ahead) would they really be taking the time to read tourist info already. Visas and hotels maybe, but not promenades, water parks and stamps. I can imagine that in early 2018 many people will be looking for good information about going to Russia and hopefully this official tourist portal will have some practical information.

Ah well. That all turned out to be a lot more serious sounding than it was in my head. I'm not re-writing it now. It is what is. I read the welcome2018 website right now for the entertainment and amusement value. Maybe that's mean and unfair.

But it's funny...

Football in America, the funny side

Day -680. WorldCup2018

After a few days of talking up the enthusiasm for football in North America, and just as I was nearing full belief that North Americans have finally embraced soccer as a serious sport, I get hit by an idiosyncrasy of football fandom in North America that throws me right back.

To be fair my recent posts were about football in the US and today's reminder happened in Canada but it is the same league and I feel it is safe to say that spectators' actions are fairly similar.

I got off my train from work this evening at the station about 500 metres from the Toronto FC stadium. As I exited a loud cheer went up, a cheer that was definitely that of ecstatic supporters celebrating a goal. I thought for a second that it might have been to celebrate a win at the final whistle, as a number of Toronto FC shirt wearing fans had been getting on my train. But as I looked towards the stadium it was obvious that the match hadn't ended. I ventured towards the stadium to see if I could get a glimpse of the scoreboard. As I did a number of people were coming out, which made me think that it was near the end. I checked the score online and the goal just scored had given Toronto a 1-0 lead in the 68th minute. And more and more people were, maybe not spilling, but slowly streaming out of the stadium. In the 68th minute!

I cannot imagine any football match in Europe where the home fans would leave more than 20 minutes before the end, just after their team had gone into the lead. One or two might, if they had a wedding to go to...indeed, if the two people were the groom and best man. It may be argued that the young families were leaving because the children had to get to bed. Or that the older fans had to also get to bed. But this was a cross section of demographics. And the huge majority of them were wearing Toronto FC shirts, which made me think they were semi-serious fans.

I was so baffled that I was almost ready to ask some of them why they were leaving and if it hadn't been for my bike and no lock, I may have asked them for their ticket.

It made me realise that despite all the progress (and it has come a long way) it is still very easy to make fun of North American football. Attending a football match is still just a source of entertainment for many spectators, or customers. It's just another thing to do in the social schedule before they move on to something else in the same evening. An hour at the game, and then we'll meet at the bar on the other side of town that is the place to be on a Wednesday night. It's still hilarious being at a match and noticing how many people are coming in way after kick-off and how many people are just constantly walking around. There's always people moving, everywhere. It's as though half the spectators can't just sit still and watch.

Despite all this, I will still repeat what I've said for a few days. I wouldn't be unhappy (quite the opposite) if Fifa decided to make a bold statement, take the World Cup away from Russia and give it to the US. The infrastructure is there, and regardless of what I wrote above, there is still lots of enthusiasm. It's a useless dream, I know, because Fifa will never do that. But if they did, I would buy my tickets and sit in my seat until the 90th minute. Quite easy anyway when the beer an ice cream sellers walk though the stands continuously.

Phew, Fifa, no Russia in Rio

Day -681. WorldCup2018

Football started at the Rio Olympics today, two days before the opening ceremony. Neymar is there for Brazil along with a few other European based Brazilians, Felipe Anderson, Rafinha and Marquinhos as Brazil aim to win the one major tournament they haven't yet won.

While Fifa may be a little worried about the prominence the Olympic football tournament may get and possibly make it competitive with their World Cup, they at least were spared the embarrassment of having to make the Russia decision. Russia did not qualify for the Olympics, men or women, so Fifa did not have to decide whether to ban Russians from the Games as other federations had to do. So Fifa happily bounce along, safe in the knowledge that while Neymar will bring more support to Olympic football when it comes to Russia 2018 they can safely decide to not make any decision that will harm Fifa's interests in Russia 2018.

Back home...research done

Day -682. WorldCup2018

I have to get properly back on track after a long weekend of researching the popularity of football in New York, New Jersey and a little bit of Pennsylvania. From my sample size of about 5 people I can conclude that the future looks bright.

But more importantly I kept this going even though I thought I was going to miss a day or two.