TFC...here we go.

Day -440. WorldCup2018

It was like MLS Cup Final 2016 all over again for Toronto FC in today's first home game of the season. After all the oh-so-close excitement of last year the expectations are high. But it's not just that. It's also a new level of energy in the support for the team this year, more widespread beyond the ever-present season ticket holders, often derided for supporting a dud team in a league of questionable quality. The feeling this year is "we almost did it last year, the city was behind you, and we know you can go one step further."

Life is in the way of me being one of those week-in week out supporters. If I could I would be at every home game. I had the bug but it really infected me last season. Today, those life events (which I also love) prevented me from watching until the last 20 minutes. And it looked like I was watching the December final all over again. A packed stadium, on a cold night, willing Toronto FC on to find a way though a packed Sporting Kansas defence. And, alas, again there was no way through. The loud crowd, trying to keep warm in the near freezing temperature, and the rain, (oh, the cold, cold rain) at night gave it a special feel. It felt like more than the fourth match of a long season. A 0-0 draw is not bad, and it maintains TFC'c unbeaten start to the season. There will be many more nights like this in September, October.....and more, we hope.

And on top of the wonderful trio of Bradley, Giovinco and Altidore it looks like the team will have another leader and player who can make a big difference. Victor Vazquez learned his trade at Barcelona's famed youth academy and was player of the year in Belgium when he played for Club Brugge. Now 30 years old, this could be seen as his long retirement party but the way he was all over the pitch today when I turned the TV on, looking to get things going it looks like he is here to use all his experience to help make this the even better season that TFC want.

I'm not looking back. This is the Final last December and I'm looking forward to more of the same.

Who? What? Fifa? Schweinsteiger......?

Day -441 WorldCup2018

Yesterday I thought I was helpful by answering the question about how Brazil have mathematically qualified for the World Cup. You're welcome. Today, I know you have a different question:
What six countries are going to be part of the play-off for the last 2 spots at the 2026 World Cup?

The answer: I don't know because Fifa who came up with this fancy new format have not answered that question yet.

Fifa announced the allocations for each confederation in the new 48 team World Cup. Everybody seems happy except for the four South American teams who won't qualify our of the ten that make up South American qualifying. Why not just let them all in? And New Zealand are ecstatic because they won't have to travel to Argentina to win a play-off to claim their spot like they will do in November of this year.

But with this so-far unexplained play-off South America could have seven teams qualifying. This is from the Bureau of the FIFA Council's proposal for the play-off:

"One team per confederation with the exception of UEFA + one additional team from the confederation of the host country"; and:
"Two teams to be seeded based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. The seeded teams will play for a FIFA World Cup berth against the winners of the first two knockout games involving the four unseeded teams."

We don't know who these teams are going to be. Are they the teams from each confederation with the highest number of points that didn't qualify? Let's assume it's the 7th team from South America. They will probably be seeded and chances are they will qualify, seeing as they could be playing the second Oceania team, or the ninth best Asian country or St Kitts and Nevis who are currently ranked 7th in CONCACAF.. So, 70% of the South American teams will qualify. Really, just let them all play. South Americans are fun.

The questions as to who these play-off teams are going to be will hopefully be answered when the Fifa Council ratifies the proposed format in May.

Fifa had a rival for baffling questions this week. Derek Henkle is a video journalist with AFP who was assigned to cover Bastian Schweinsteiger's first press conference with his new team, Chicago Fire. Henkle asked the German World Cup winner if his presence would increase the chances of Chicago winning the World Cup. Huh? Bemused looks all around. As Schweinsteiger looked for assistance, Mr Henkle kindly offered to re-phrase the question: Can Chicago win the World Cup with you in the team? H.U.H? And double huh.Thankfully, Schweinsteiger was very polite in his response. Mr Henkle has since attempted to justify his gaffe:
"As a general assignment video reporter, I was seeking facts at a press conference. I report on everything ranging from presidential politics to science - and I'm the first to admit that I don't know everything, but I do ask."

And all together now: it's called research before the press conference.

You've probably seen the video. It's entertaining, but I will defend Major League Soccer and say that it is by no means the norm. 

Brazil, first qualifiers and Oceania

Day -442 WorldCup2018

This is a disclaimer and a confession.

(And it also answers the question: how have Brazil qualified for Russia already?)
Yesterday I was hoping to share the news that Brazil had become first team to qualify for Russia 2018. They beat Paraguay and needed other results to go a certain way for qualification to be official.

At the time I wrote Peru and Uruguay were level at 1-1. In the last minute Peru scored and this changed everything. Brazil had now officially qualified. As I am not yet a full-time live reporter I posted my post with what information I had at the time, mindful of an early start this morning.

In the days leading up to yesterday's matches I had read a variety of reports that said Brazil would qualify if they won and Argentina lost and Chile didn't win; or if Argentina and Ecuador lost. I looked at the standings and didn't get into the mathematics of it but relied on what I read. Argentina lost, and it then transpired that Uruguay losing was also a factor.

Today I looked at the standings again and thought I have to figure this out myself without relying on other people working it out for me. At first it made no sense, and I thought could the BBC, ESPN, all the English newspapers be wrong?

The top 4 teams in South America qualify. The fifth placed team play the winners of the Oceania qualifying for a place in Russia. Brazil are 11 points ahead of Argentina with four matches left to play, which means a maximum of 12 points are available to be won. So if Argentina won all their matches and Brazil lost all of theirs and teams above Argentina won more points than Brazil, then Brazil would move down to fifth. So I had to look at the fixtures. In the next round in June, Uruguay play Argentina. Uruguay have 23 points. If they draw then Argentina will have 23 points and only be able to get to a maximum of 32 points from the remaining 3 matches, one point behind Brazil. If Uruguay win then Argentina can only get to 31 points. If Argentina win then Uruguay can only get to 32 points.

So, voila, there you have it, in case you were confused: Brazil join Russia on the "list of qualifiers so far." As the question was bugging me so much and because I thought I could get around looking into it myself I went to the trusty Google thingamabob and entered: how have Brazil qualified for Russia already? There were no answers but maybe now if somebody else did the same thing my answer will come up. And I will have helped somebody with something.

In other late news from last night, nothing happened in the last two minutes between Panama and the USA. It finished 1-1.

In more late, or early morning, news, Papua New Guniea won 2-1 in Tahiti. This has made the race to meet New Zealand in the play-off round very interesting. Tahiti have now played all their group matches and have six points. PNG and the Solomon Islands will play each other, home and away, in June. If they win one each all three teams will have 6 points. Goal difference and possibly goals scored will come into play. Tahiti have a 4 goal difference advantage over PNG and 5 over the Solomon Islands. So, my quick calculations show that if PNG and the Solomon Islands each get big wins over each other and cancel out each others' goal difference, they will both be behind Tahiti's goal difference. I may have to look at this again but it looks like one of PNG or the Solomon Islands will have to get at least a win and a draw.

If you're still with me you can thank me when you are watching New Zealand at the World Cup and you can turn to your friends and tell them that they made it after beating Argentina in the Intercontinental play-off, and after beating PNG in the Oceania qualifier who had made it that far after winning their penultimate group match against the Solomon Islands and then getting a last minute equaliser in their last match to top the group ahead of Tahiti by one point. Your friends may turn to you and say, "we really don't care and do they really play football in Tahiti? We just wondered how big of a hiding New Zealand are going to get." And you can say to them, "well, don't laugh at them, they were the only unbeaten team in 2010, the last World Cup they qualified for." Your friends may then ask you to go out to buy some beer "Damn know-it-all with all that useful information," mumbled as you walk out the door.

Around the world

Day -443. WorldCup2018

Quick round-up of some of today's qualifying action.

Brazil won again, 3-0 against Paraguay. It's not mathematical yet but they are very close to qualifying. Lionel Messi was banned by Fifa for four matches today for insulting an assistant referee after their last match. Today Argentina lost 2-0 to Bolivia. Oh Argentina! What a mess. The non-qualification possibility is back on. Chile and Colombia both won and Argentina are back in fifth place again.

Iran are very close to qualifying after beating China 1-0 today. All the big teams won: Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea and Australia. Uzbekistan also won and combined with Syria losing to South Korea, Syria's chances are very slim now.

New Zealand beat Fiji and are now guaranteed a play-off spot against the team that wins the other three team group. The winner of that match will play the 5th placed South American team for a place in Russia. New Zealand vs Argentina? Could 5th place in South America not be that bad after all or could it set the scene for the most embarrassing Argentinian football moment ever?

Right now, as I write, in the 72nd minute it's 1-1 in the grudge match between Panama and the USA. I should wait until the end to see if there's a repeat of the last minute drama from 2013. Mexico won again today and are looking like a pretty sure bet to qualify. Costa Rica are three points behind and the other 4 teams are currently three and four points behind Costa Rica. That will change with a win for either Panama or the USA.

Amongst all the friendlies played today, news from two of them caught my attention. The video assistant referee system was used twice in the France-Spain match with both reviewed decisions, for offside, going against France. It's still in its trial phase but I say bring it on. Why not take advantage of available technology? The status of Dutch football is looking pretty grim right now. Holland played, and lost, against Italy. After sacking their coach, Danny Blind, the Dutch interim coach for this match was Fred Grim. Really.

(86 minutes: Panama-USA still 1-1. The action might be about to start. Clint Dempsey scored the American goal. After being sidelined last season with a heart condition he came back and scored a hat-trick in the Americans' 6-0 win on the weekend. Not bad for a guy with a dodgy heart)

Malta: the day after

Day -444. WorldCup2018

I re-read my post from yesterday as I wondered whether I had exaggerated my feeling of disappointment at Malta's loss to Slovakia. Or had I been too glowing in my praise for how well I thought Malta played? No and no. I still feel that feeling of "oh, it was so close, it could've been." And I did think they played really, really well. It was the most enjoyable time watching Malta play, probably since the epic 2-2 draw against Turkey in 2007. My memory may be failing me because Im sure there was another time in the last ten years.

Anyway, the boys in red, if you happen to read this: well done. That was one hell of a performance.
You were a pleasure to watch and you made me look forward to the next time.

I'm sure the coach, Pietro Ghedin , was full of praise for them and reminded them that they need to do more of the same, eliminate a few mistakes and we'll all be laughing.

In the rest of the world, bar Europe, qualifiers carry on tomorrow. Tahiti will be looking to consolidate their place as the major challengers to New Zealand, and New Zealand will be looking to ease into the final round before the intercontinental play-off with another win against Fiji.

In Asia, South Korea will be looking for a win against Syria to put some breathing space between themselves and their opponents and to maybe put the propaganda fairytale to rest. If Syria did win they would jump above South Korea into an automatic qualifying spot. Australia need a win against UAE to keep in touch with Japan and Saudi Arabia ahead of them and thus avoid the tension of a play-off against the third placed team in the other group.

In South America Brazil could actually qualify tomorrow if they win and other results go their way. Either way, after a shaky start they are now firmly in control.

And in the CONCACAF region, the USA play in Panama, scene of the dramatic American comeback from 2-1 down in the 89th minute to win 3-2 in 2013. That result eliminated Panama from the intercontinental play-off for a spot at Brazil 2014. This time the Americans need a win after a lousy start which saw them lose their first two matches of this final qualifying round.

In Europe, there are some friendlies being played. Enough said. Actually I've given them too much prominence already. As was said on the BBC this weekend: Friendlies are the new testimonials. (This was an extension to the phrase, "Internationals are the new friendlies,," said by Gary Lineker while watching England stroll to an almost non-competitive win against Lithuania.)

Disappointment in perspective: Malta, Defoe and Bradley

Day -445 WorldCup2018

Disappointment is all relative I guess. Relative to your level of expectation or what is important to you as opposed to what matters to the man across the street.

Disappointment for me today was watching Malta play the best football I have seen them play for a very, very long time and still lose. The expectations are never very high, and disillusionment set in right away as Slovakia scored in the second minute. But Malta turned what looked like would be a damage limitation exercise into an opportunity to show that they can fight back, they can play, that 11 players who play for club teams in Malta, non-league or lower league teams in England and Italy can stand up up to players who play for some of the bigger European teams.

Malta drew level after 14 minutes and from then on until the last minute of the first half they more than played their part in a very entertaining match. They harassed and chased the Slovakians and that's what led to the defensive mistake for Malta's goal. And Jan Skrtel's increasing look of anger and frustration, and a yellow card, was testament to how much of a nuisance the Maltese were being to the former Liverpool no-nonsense defender. It was a joy to watch the Maltese. Slovakia barely had a goal-scoring opportunity and while the Slovak 'keeper was not exactly making save after save, the Maltese were quick around the penalty area and creating opportunities that, as I could best describe it, could have led to scoring opportunities. Apart from hitting corners directly into the Slovak penalty area they figured out that they were not going to have any luck on high crosses against the huge Slovak defenders. Maybe it was mental fatigue in the second half but they did start resorting to some long balls up-field.

Just as the match entered the dreaded "please don't concede now" moments just before half-time, Malta's goalkeeper allowed a hopeful shot from distance to slip through his fingers. From the attacking team's perspective it was one of those "shoot at any opportunity from anywhere, you never know what might happen" kind of shots. From the defensive point of view it was a "'keeper's going to save it, let's turn around and get back up the other end again." What a disaster for Andrew Hogg, who has been so magnificent for Malta. All that hard work undone by him. Disappointment? Hogg felt it like nobody else at that moment for letting his team down.

(Many years ago, Malta conceded a terrible goal (against Portugal, maybe?) where the Maltese goalkeeper looked like he was diving in slow motion. I was there, saw it live and held my head in my hands in despair....and then laughed about it with my friend. The next day on Eurosport's highlights of the weekend matches, the commentator called the error a save that a Sunday League goalkeeper would have made. Hogg's was almost that bad. But I still felt very sorry for him. And I did not laugh. Too much disappointment)

In the second half Malta still worked tirelessly to keep the Slovaks at bay, and one opportunity for a second goal and 2-2 final score seemed possible. And then, there it was! "He's round the keeper, empty net. He must. He has!" And the excited shout that left my mouth and broke the silence of a lazy Sunday afternoon in our house, and elicited a look from my kids of "Daddy, are you ok?", was sucked right back into my mouth as I realised the ref had blown his whistle. And it was not good. Jean Farrugia, scorer of the first goal had used his upper arm to take the ball around the keeper. Goal disallowed, second yellow card, red card. No goal and now ten players. Disappointed? Disheartened. But there was still a little bit of a hope. It was still only 1-2.

Not for long. Another Slovak attack and a third goal. And that was that. One of Malta's best performances and another defeat. Disappointment watching Malta recently has meant watching a team desperate not to lose by too many goals, with players who seemed to have little idea as to what to do with the ball. Would it have been better if they had been 3-0 down at half-time today so that all glimmer of hope was extinguished quickly? No. There has to be hope and, in the end, today's disappointment was optimistic. The relativity of the disappointment was a reflection of how well they had played. There were, there are, possibilities.

To talk about relativity, though, and putting things in perspective one only had to watch England taking to the pitch today for their match against Lithuania. The end result was the expected formality. The story was England's returning goal scorer, Jermaine Defoe, walked out with his "best mate', 5 year old Bradley Lowery. Bradley is a Sunderland supporter who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Defoe visited him in hospital last month and has struck up what is reported to be a genuine care for Bradley and his plight. We, including me, deride these football players for their seemingly selfish, greedy, self-centred lifestyles. But here is somebody who is making a difference. And to make it more special, England captain Joe Hart swapped places in the England line with Defoe so that he and Bradley could lead the team out. Disappointment? Not for Bradley. Probably the happiest day of his life, even though it was loud and he covered his ears as he came onto the pitch

Defoe's tweet after the match:
"I hope you had an amazing day @Bradleysfight. It was perfect to walk out at @wembleystadium with you... ⚽❤ #BestMates"

Malta, please......

Day -446. WorldCup2018

I don't have anything interesting today because most of my emotional attention is already focused on Malta's World Cup qualifier against Slovakia tomorrow. The battle between hope, resignation, and (misguided) excitement that this could be the one is going strong in my head. Just one win. One.

The hope of Papua New Guinea fans was probably also being countered by feelings of resignation that the recent football administration troubles in PNG would dampen their chances of a good result against Tahiti. And their fears were realised. A 3-1 home defeat makes it almost impossible that they will be the team to challenge New Zealand for the Oceania play-off spot. New Zealand won 2-0 in Fiji and that play-off spot is looking more like the normal formality.

Dutch fans might have given up hope already and may be resigned to no World Cup for their country next year. They were in a tricky group anyway with France as the favourites to win it, and Sweden as the team to beat to second place. Throw in the unpredictable Bulgarians and the fragile state of Dutch football after their Euro 2016 qualifying failure and it was always going to tough for Holland to not miss out on a second consecutive major tournament. A 2-0 defeat in Bulgaria today means Holland are playing catch-up for second place.

Other than the titanic, neck and neck battle between the two giants, Italy and Spain in one group, the other two team battle to the end looks like it will be between Switzerland and Portugal. They both won again today but Switzerland have a three point lead thanks to beating Portugal in the first match of qualifying when Portugal were still suffering the effects of their Euro 2016 hangover.

Apart from Malta's win to look forward to tomorrow (please!) the other highlight will be the reaction to England's win, draw or loss to Lithuania. A win will be expected but criticised if it's not convincing enough and if it is a thrashing anybody praising the team will be criticised because it's "only Lithuania". A draw or a defeat? Ha! That will be fun. It's too soon for another Iceland.

Fred, Jo...Roson-Kanu?

Day -447 WorldCup2018

If Wales, or Ireland for that matter, make it to the World Cup in Russia I will look at the this day and remind myself of the abysmal quality that is representing Europe. And it comes a day after Brazil tore Uruguay apart (4-1) for the seventh straight, emphatic, entertaining win. South America gives us Brazil. Europe give us Wales or Ireland. Hopefully, it's neither and we get Serbia.

I watched the first half of Ireland-Wales today. The reports describe it as "tense", "hard fought", "physical". I'd call it boring. Really, very boring. I even tried to find solace in it maybe being an intriguing tactical battle. Still boring. Wales attacked, Ireland defended. Bit was even worse than that. Wales had the ball in Ireland's half looking for Gareth Bale. Bale stumbled, lost the ball, passed it to and Irish player and Ireland hoofed the ball up towards the Welsh half.

Bale looked like the superpowers in his man-bun had worn off. Aaron Ramsey, the other Welsh Brazilian, seems to have had his Roy of the Rover skills wash away along with his blonde hair dye. And then there is Hal Robson-Kanu. He journeyed around a few clubs in England, became a bit of a hit at Reading, became Welsh because he wasn't good enough for England, and then he scored that one goal. He looked like another Welsh Brazilian with that bit of magic against Belgium in Euro 2016. Without a club last summer that one moment of brilliance earned him a big move......to West Bromich Albion. And for most of this season he has been the second choice striker, at West Brom, to a Venezuelan. I have nothing against Salomon Rondon, and his brute force and power, or the skill of footballers in Venezuela but with all the hype over Robson-Kanu last summer you would think he would be assured a place over Rondon. Robson-Kanu had his name in the news again last weekend for scoring against Arsenal in West Brom's 3-1 win. He scored with his first touch after the Arsenal defenders contrived to put the ball at his feet and clear a path for him to the goal. Yes, even Robson-Kanu couldn't miss.

Let me adapt my earlier thought. In 2014 Brazil gave us Jo, Fred and Hulk. In 2018 Wales (might) give us Hal Robson-Kanu.

Back to today's match, or the first half at least. The excitement was wondering when the Irish man with the big trumpet (or horn of some sort) was going to play his tunes again to get the crowd going, or when the Irish fans all stood up for a good old singalong in the 35th minute. And then there was the time Stoke teammates, Welshman Joe Allen and Irishman Glenn Whelan had a disagreement over an elbow and head collision.The gesticulating, wide eyes and threat of a coming together was particularly entertaining.

Talking of entertaining (with reference to Brian Williams, former host of the Olympic Games on Canadian television for that style of segue into a new topic), I went to watch a group of octogenarians play jazz in the second half. That was entertaining.

The talking point in the second half was, sadly, Seamus Coleman's broken leg after a tackle from Wales' Neil Taylor. That's never good to see, or hear about. But there were no goals and Wales now have quite the task to catch Ireland and Serbia.

Speaking of catching up (oh Brian Williams!) Argentina have gone from possible shock non-qualifiers languishing in 6th place in South American qualifying to 3rd place and a qualifying position. Their 1-0 win over Chile yesterday has really shaken up the 10 team group. Uruguay, in second, are three points ahead of Chile, in 6th. Brazil are pretty much home and dry, but it's going to be quite the battle amongst the other 5 teams. Make that 6. Paraguay are only two points behind Chile and Ecuador who are in the play-off spot in 5th.

And, in case you missed it, Syria beat Uzbekistan 1-0, to amazingly keep up their hopes of being in Russia. Putin might be prepping the red carpet for President Assad. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about how, for different reasons, I didn't care much for either Syria or Uzbekistan being anywhere near qualifying. Propaganda could be the common word that ties the football teams of both countries together. Incredibly, after South Korea's defeat in China, not only are Syria only a point behind Uzbekistan and a play-off place, but they are only two points behind South Korea and direct qualification.

Robson-Kanu has to have the last word, since I cant find any brilliance from Fred, Jo or Hulk. It was a good goal and it was one of the highlights of last summer.
(raw commentary for added entertainment value)

Podolski, Aird and refs.

Day -448 WorldCup2018

I said I would, or that I maybe would, so here's a shorter version of what I wrote yesterday and cyberspace stole.

Old news now but Lukas Podolski played his last match for Germany yesterday and scored a stunning goal, the only one in the Germany-England friendly. I always enjoyed watching Podolski over the years. It feels like it was many, many years and I cant believe he is only 31.

Also, yesterday, Scotland played Canada. It was an embarrassing 1-1 draw. Before you think I'm going to make a joke about how Canada should be ashamed for not being able to beat one of Europe's minnows, it was Scotland I meant who should be embarrassed. But the story was about Fraser Aird who scored Canada's goal. Aird's parents are Rangers fans who moved to Canada from Scotland. It was a dream come true for Fraser, and his parents, when he signed for Rangers when he was 16. There must be some irony in him scoring against the country where he grew up as a footballer.

I also had referees in my head. A couple of days ago Fifa announced that they had banned Ghanaian referee from football for life. He was found guilty of breaching an articles of the Fifa Disciplinary Code, "unlawfully influencing match results." Lamptey was the ref of the South Africa-Senegal World Cup qualifier last November. He awarded a penalty to South Africa for handball when replays clearly showed the ball hit the defender's knee. South Africa won 2-1 and are now in joint first place in their group, a point ahead of Senegal. Fifa will announce later if the match result will stand. If Lamptey "influenced" the match result, then it only seems fair that the players should have the opportunity to set it straight.

It reminded me of a story at the other end of the spectrum of referee's behaviour. Earlier this month two thousand amateur refs in England went on strike to protest against the abuse they receive from players, parents and fans, and the lack of support from the English FA. The strike campaign was started by an 18 year old who said he has been "headbutted, spat at and punched".

A couple of weeks ago a fight broke out in an Under 19 match in Malta between Gzira and Swieqi. It became more violent than a scuffle and one of the Swieqi players was knocked unconscious when he was kicked in the face. This brings up the argument of sporting discipline versus criminal charges and where the boundaries lie. But that's an argument for another day. Look up Duncan Ferguson for reference.

After the incident the president of Swieqi, in an interview with Tim Diacono in the Malta Today, said that this type of violence is a regular occurrence in youth football in Malta.

"Fenech said that an Under-17 game had to be abandoned last week after a player attacked the referee."

"Elsewhere, an entire team chased the referee off the pitch after he sent their goalkeeper off for foul language. Fenech said that the referee had to lock himself up in the ground’s bar and that the players only stopped in their tracks after he personally took a video of them and warned them to stop."

In Italy the head of the Italian Refereeing Association has pleaded with the media to stop over-analysing every refereeing decision that might be seen to influence a match result. He said all the critics think "of their own interests and not about the good of the game" and "they hurt the image of Italian football."

Ok, that was a longer version than yesterday. And it's still all here!

Lost in cyberspace

Day -449 WorldCup2018

If I was paid to do this I'd be writing what I just lost all over again. But since I'm not I'll just quietly curse that technology failed me, and despite all my efforts to retrieve it, it does seem to be gone. Copy, paste and save. Reminder. Anyway, there are worse things that could happen. I'll get over it.

I'll try to come back to it tomorrow. It was about German retiree Lukas Podolski, Canadian/Scottish footballer Fraser Aird, banned for life referee Joseph Lamptey and other referees. But no mentions of perceptions and match fixing in Malta.

The facts on corruption in Maltese football

Day -450. WorldCup2018

A few days ago I wrote, again, about the perception of corruption in Maltese football. On reflection, the next day, I thought that I should re-visit the topic for two reasons that I felt needed clarification. The first one, which may seem obvious, is that I don't actually possess any evidence of corruption, or have spoken to anybody who has had first hand experience of it. The other reason is to say that because of the above reason I should stop talking about it as I have no authority. On the contrary, my consideration of reports that I have read over the years convinced me that I should stop talking about "perceptions" and be bold enough to call them facts. If the whole world danced around perceptions without facing up to facts, nothing would ever get resolved. So the following, with a possible exception of the first story, is a presentation of reported facts. The only question may be how well reported each story was.

(If you really don't care about Maltese football you may stop reading now. If you care about football, you may also choose to stop reading, but even though this is Malta, it could happen anywhere. The Toronto Star recently had a story about bribery in the barely watched Canadian Soccer League).

Sometime between 1991 and 1992, Ally Dawson, at the time the coach of Maltese club St. Andrews returned to his native Scotland and was interviewed by a Scottish newspaper. He mentioned how corruption was rife in Maltese football. I cannot find this report anywhere but I remember very clearly a picture in a Maltese newspaper of the story. I also remember very well how, on his return to Malta, Mr. Dawson was disciplined by the Malta FA for what he said. While we, local football fans, waited for an investigation by the MFA into his allegations there was none.

In 2012, Kevin Sammut was banned from all football activities for life by UEFA after having been found guilty of helping to fix the Malta-Norway Euro 2008 qualifier. Sammut was a regular player for Malta. Two other Maltese players were acquitted of the same charges.

In 2013, two Hamrun Spartans FC officials admitted to colluding with two Hamrun players to fix a number of matches. The two officials were banned for life. The players denied the charges but in December 2014 they also received life bans after being found guilty.

In May 2015, two Maltese brothers Robert and Adrian Farrugia, one the Vice President of Msida St Joseph FC and the other the team manager of Mosta FC were named in an Italian police investigation into lower league match fixing in Italian football. Taped phone calls revealed a conversation between Robert Farrugia and Felice Bellini, his Italian accomplice, about a fix that went wrong and that Chinese gamblers were threatening to kill Adrian Farrugia because of money they didn't receive. A report in the Malta Today newspaper by Matthew Vella detailed now Bellini was an unpaid "technical director" of another Maltese club Vittoriosa Stars after being involved with two other Maltese teams. Mr. Vella reported that this unpaid position is highly suspicious as it thought to be part of the increased foreign involvement in Maltese football, brought about by international betting syndicates who can control the results of local matches through these players and individuals like Bellini.

In December 2016, Birkirkara FC's Croatian goalkeeper was arrested after his club informed the police that they suspected him of suspicious behaviour. The club president, Adrian Delia, made an impassionate plea on Facebook about the need for Maltese football to be cleaned of it's corruption dirt.. "Football has been battered."

The Times of Malta, in February 2016, published an interview with the MFA's Integrity Officer, Franz Tabone who stated, "A former president of a Maltese football club has admitted that although he started out with the intention of playing clean, he had no choice but to become the most corrupt of the lot." And more from Mr. Tabone, "The extent of the problem is evident from the statement of another ex-president, who told me that I was trying to bring down Mount Everest with a toothpick.”

Keith Micallef in The Times of Malta in November 2016 reported on a study by the global players' union, Fifpro. The study found that, "Almost one out of every six footballers playing in Malta’s top division has been approached to fix a match sometime throughout his career." And also, "the number of such incidents in Malta was more than double the global average and was classified as the eighth highest among the 53 countries which were analysed by means of a questionnaire."

In December of 2016 Franz Tabone was quoted by The Times of Malta as saying that "Match-fixing in Maltese football is more widespread" than the study suggests. “Nothing surprises me at this stage except for the low percentages flagged in the study."

Franz Tabone has been at the forefront of the MFA's battle against this disease affecting Maltese football. Whether there has been any, or at least enough, action taken is debatable. Mr. Tabone compiled a report into match fixing for the MFA in Januray 2015. In his findings he stated, "Our football is infested by people who grade the game’s sporting spirit at the lowest grade, if any."

And this, which is my favourite quote from Mr. Tabone which perfectly sums up that what I perceive to be happening in Malta is confirmed by Mr. Tabone as a researched fact: "Some football clubs finance their entire operations by manipulating matches and betting on them."

They finance their entire operations off the revenue generated from match fixing. And I spent years watching and supporting Maltese football. Supporting there criminals, "who grade the game’s sporting spirit at the lowest grade."

The above are not my facts. They are not my opinions. It is what has been reported on as fact in Maltese football. Forever, I was surrounded by Maltese people who asked me why I bothered with local football. "It's all corrupt," they always told me. That's just the perception, I believed. Perceptions are now long gone out the window.

Do I enjoy highlighting the negative? No. But if the powers that be keep whitewashing over all the problems and try to get us all to buy into the "let's all be positive" attitude nothing will ever get done.

Friendly matches...bah!

Day -451. WorldCup2018

England play Germany in a friendly on Wednesday. It sounds like a big deal, the traditional rivals up against each other again. But with all this football happening these days (too much?) do we really need a meaningless, non-competitive match?

The result of this friendly, and the many others happening over this international break, is about as significant as Southampton's results from now until the end of the season: they really won't make a difference in the end. Anybody really caring about a win for England or Germany is similar to somebody caring about (my favourite example) Aston Villa winning again this season: there is no consequence to a victory at this point, they might as well lose.

Being asked, by Fifa or the English or German FA, to invest any emotional energy in this match is almost insulting to the real football fan. We've got our club teams in their domestic leagues playing for championships or promotion or relegation, or Champions League or Europa League spots. And then our national teams playing for a World Cup spot. And when these international weeks happen we (if you are like me) look forward to the competitive matches played for potential World Cup qualification. But then we are given these "glamour friendlies". All the players are together, the domestic leagues have stopped, why not play two qualifiers like they did in November? Why not have them play two now, when the players are fully into their competitive stride, rather than in September when the season is just starting?

That's my rant over. I never really get friendlies and see them as money making wastes of time. I'll be more excited about England-Lithuania and Malta-Slovakia this weekend then the supposedly big England-Germany clash. Give me a competitive match to cheer for any day. (But not everyday, it's too much.)

Happy Pep!

Day -452. WorldCup2018

I never enjoy saying that I am too busy, or its too late, for me to write anything of any interest. But today I will use the "not quite prepared" card. I started something but it was going to take a lot longer than I thought. So as the clock ticked (clock ticked? What is this, a 1970s crime novel?) towards tomorrow I decided that I would leave it until tomorrow.

Today Manchester City and Liverpool played what was described as the one of the best matches of the season. Apparently. I didn't see any of it. But I did hear that Adam Lallana did a Ronnie Rosenthal. And Pep was very, very happy. That's what he said. His players were very sad after losing to Monaco but today he was very happy watching how they played. Oh Pep, you are quite the charmer, aren't you? You know exactly how to deflect attention away from the fact that your project is not going as well as it supposed to be and that aiming to win the FA Cup and a spot in the top 4 is not exactly what you were hired for.

Until tomorrow....

Europe's most exciting league, or...?

Day -453 WorldCup2018

News that doesn't matter to anyone (football news doesn't matter to a lot of people and this news doesn't even really matter to those who do follow football; it also barely matters to me who supports this team): Aston Villa won again today. The recent record now reads: played 6, won 5, lost 1, I goal conceded. Again, I say, it would be league winning form but it all started too late. Eleven points away from the play-offs with 8 matches to go. It is not a mathematical possibility but a dreamer's reality. And after the last four wretched seasons of watching this team I'm not dreaming much.

With Chelsea running away with the English Premier League, Juventus sleep walking to the Italian championship, Barcelona slipping away from Real Madrid and Celtic having been crowned Scottish champions last November, I'm turning more of my attention to the Maltese league.

On Friday night the small town team playing way above any level they've ever reached before, Balzan, were beaten by the big boys of Valletta and have now been replaced at the top of the league by Hibernians, another of the established teams. Three points seperate the top three and it should be a tense, and exciting, end to the season. It's been a few years since I enjoyed a live match in Malta and I'm sure it would be fun to stretch out over a couple of seats in the empty section of the stadium on a warm, Maltese spring Sunday afternoon and listen to the unique atmosphere between the rival supporters. I'm hoping Balzan can pull it off but, it being Malta, there is always the perception that there is more than just the 11 opponents on the pitch working against them.

I always believe there is good in everyone and have, for many years, refused to believe the never ending rumours of bribery in Maltese football. Recently, a few cases with evidence have come to light. With these latest incidents the sceptic's chorus of, "see, it's all fixed" have grown louder. It wouldn't take much of a survey to establish that the majority of people who follow Maltese football think that Friday's result was not completely un-planned. This is not meant to infer by any means, that I suspect or know, that anything untoward contributed to Friday's result. It is just a honest assessment, as a fan, of the low esteem many hold Maltese football in, amid the constant speculation that results are decided off the pitch. A three horse race is way better for a lot of people than one team cantering to the championship. The doubt amongst so many Maltese people is part of the problem, and it stems from the fact there exists such a strong perception of bribery and corruption. It's a challenge for the Malta FA to not just eradicate any illegalities but to change the fans' view of Maltese football.

I do really wish that if Balzan do win the league, it is celebrated as a great achievement of hard work by a small club.

The big one: Wales v Ireland

Day -454. WorldCup2018

I've been trying very hard to make any reference to Ireland today, March 17th, as it would just be too easy and predictable. However, while I thought I would ramble on about something else, my subconscious brought me back to one of the biggest matches in qualifying next week: Wales vs. Republic of Ireland.

It has been a while since a match between these two countries has been so important. Ireland are top of the group and Wales are four points back in third. Already, after four matches, Wales have to win. Otherwise they risk being another of the surprise teams of Euro 2016 failing to maintain the momentum from the Euro qualifying rounds. Wales, of course, were more than just good qualifiers in making it to the semifinals. But of the other teams, Austria are below Wales in the same group; Hungary are third behind Switzerland and Portugal; Northern Ireland will struggle to hold onto second place behind runaway leaders Germany; Albania are pretty much out of it already as Italy and Spain battle it out for first place; and Iceland are going to have a very tough battle to come back from third place and catch Croatia.

After pretty much the whole of Europe qualified for Euro 2016, now it's a little tougher. Only the group winners qualify and the 8 best runners-up play off for 4 more spots. Italy could be playing Holland or Portugal for a place in Russia. Or even more exciting these days, Wales could be up against Iceland. Now to sound even more predictable than green beer and terrible hats on March 17th, that would be the favourite clash of hipsters all over the world.

Defoe: he's back, and not Welsh.

Day -455 WorldCup2018

You know the next round of qualifiers are getting closer when teams name the squads that will lace up, or bench warm, for the upcoming matches. In today's announcements Wales named a 17 year old, Liverpool's Ben Woodburn, for his first call up to the senior team. Woodburn could have played for England but chose his grandfather's country.

At the other end of the spectrum many England fans wished that Jermaine Defoe had a Welsh grandfather but, alas, the 34 year old will be part of the England squad after a three year absence. For many long suffering England fans, it begs the question: is there really no younger, better goalscorer in England than a player playing for what is basically a second division team? And the answer is no. Well, not right now. Harry Kane and Daniel Sturridge are injured. Wayne Rooney can't decide if he is a midfielder or striker and neither can his club or country manager. And he's injured anyway. Andy Carroll? Ah ok. Marcus Rashford, Man United's 19 year old star is in the team. He hasn't been as hot this year so Gareth Southgate, the England manager, will have to decide between the still unproven youngster and the "I can't believe I might be playing for England again" veteran.

England also have the same question of lack of available talent in defence. Southgate has picked Luke Shaw, who missed a year to injury, and has only started one game for Man United in five months. Southgate said he didn't pick Carroll and Theo Walcott because they haven't been playing enough. But he picked Shaw to "give him a boost." Who are we to question the manager's reasoning?

Monaco, oh Monaco!

Day -456 WorldCup2018

What did I enjoy most today? Was it reminding myself that I enjoy the thrill of reading about football as an extremely close second to watching it? Or was it watching Monaco, and remembering how much enjoyment I get out of watching a team that plays football as beautifully as a good football book is written?

Monaco dumped a Pep Guardiola team out of the Champions' League last sixteen for the first time in his career. For the first half of today's win over Manchester City, Monaco played in a way that was so easy to watch, like 11 boys playing in the school field, as though there was no strategy other than having fun. The apparent simplicity of the tactics, run with the ball past defenders, pass, move, receive, all in one touch, was so wonderful because it seemed that when players can play that freely there is no need for any tactics. But that was all part of the plan: to not play like they were bogged down by limiting game plans. There was a happiness amongst the players; even the subs were smiling and enjoying themselves on the bench. It was like watching eleven young Thierry Henry's in full flow.

Monaco were conditioned by the need to score at least two goals. So, of course, they had to attack. But, rather than playing like a team under pressure of having to score, they played as though they purposely conceded five goals two weeks ago just so they would have to attack. And when City did finally score after a much better second half from them, Monaco immediately came back and scored the decisive third as if to say, "no problem, we can score whenever we need to and if you do score again we'll probably score a couple more. So go on."

Monaco were also helped by the fact that City, in the first half, looked like they, in contrast to their opponents, had no game plan, no Plan A, or Plan B after the first goal or Plan C after the second. Pep must have lost his folders of notes and diagrams. He may even have been so confused that he forgot to tell his players to pass the ball to the other players wearing the same coloured shirts. And without basic instructions, the players were lost. Ah well, it's only Year 1 of "the project". I'm sure Pep will remind us that he needs time to bring in "his players" and have the team playing "his way".

Later in the day I picked up a book that attracted my attention because it combined football and the history of a country and how the two influenced each other. Jonathan Wilson's "Angels with Dirty Faces" is the story of Argentinian football and it's parallels with the country's history. "How Argentinian Soccer Defined a Nation and Changed the Game Forever," is the book's byline. And there is a fascination in there, how football can shape a country's character and personality. I'm still in the opening minutes of the match, probably more like the warm-up but it promises to be a good one.
It reminded me of two other similar books that I always recommend: Brilliant Orange: "The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football" (David Winner) and " Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football" (Phil Ball). Get reading, everybody.

In the past I wished that I could play football like Zico and Platini. Now, reading books like this I get the same thrill as watching Zico and Platini, and wish I could write with the same clarity and emotion as Wison, Winner and Ball.

Leciester and the snowy road trip

Day -457 WorldCup2018

One of my ideas for doing this is to record events that happen in the 1000 days before Russia 2018. Today was the day that I drove 11.5 hours in a late winter snowstorm to get home from our mini-March Break holiday. Two highway closures, very low visibility, and snow covered roads to navigate and all I could think of was, what am I going to write about later today? Of course!

On one of our quick pit-stops there was something important I had to check. Would Leicester beat Sevilla in the Champions League? Despite all the signs that this would be the second part of Leicester's unlikely fairy tale I was still surprised to see they were winning 2-0 with 10 minutes to go. After nursing a coffee for 14 minutes (4 minutes of injury time) I could happily get back in the car knowing that the quarterfinals of the Champions League, and maybe beyond, will be very interesting to watch. Nobody will want to play Leicester, the team that is destined to win, again. Be it under the rule of Claudio, the dethroned King, or Shakespeare, the new pretender, it seems like those Leicester players just don't know when they are not playing their expected role in the script.

Panama?

Day -458. WorldCup2018

Many World Cups ago I didn't pay much attention, if any, to how teams outside of Europe made it to the World Cup. Now I know almost every detail of the process in each continental confederation, who's looking good to qualify and how the favourites may be struggling. This then adds a good story to each team which is then at the World Cup.

The region I probably followed the least was Concacaf, the North, Central and Caribbean. Mexico always seemed to be at the World Cup and were joined by Honduras or Costa Rica and more recently, the USA. The Concacaf qualifying is a long process with five rounds and an intercontinental play-off. 

They are now down to Round 5, a group of six from which three teams qualify and the 4th goes into the play-off against an Asian team. Like anywhere else the competition is now a lot tougher. While Costa Rica (the surprise team at Brazil 2014) and consistent qualifiers Mexico are first and second, the US lost their first two matches and are in last place. After the sacking of Jurgen Klinsmann, they will be hoping for six points from two winnable home matches against Honduras and Trinidad and Tobago.

The team I will be following, and hoping does make it, is Panama. This is my sympathy vote. Last time round they were beating the US 2-1 in the 89th minute of their final match of round 5 and ended up losing 3-2. Because of that they missed out on a play-off spot and were overtaken by Mexico who went on to qualify for Brazil. Because I'm an old football romantic I'm hoping they qualify not because I know anything about how good they but just so they can make up for the heartbreak of 4 years ago.

Mutko again

Day -459. WorldCup2018

Vitaly Mutko has been the a recurring subject for me over the last few years. The Russian Sports Minister, Chair of the Russia 2018 organizing committee and Fifa Executive Committee member has been a controversy constant. He was implicated as being involved in the Russian doping scandal but has refused to step down form any of his positions.

This may have changed. On Friday, Fifa announced that he is barred from running for election to the Fifa Council /formerly the Executive Council. Fifa. Fifa says this decision is in line with their policy that football remains free of government influence, and has nothing to do with the accusations that he helped cover up positive doping tests of Russian athletes, including footballers.

Mutko doesn't seem to be too concerned by the decision.

"I wanted to be re-elected but now Fifa, represented by its compliance committee, has somewhat changed the criteria. A new criterion, political neutrality, has been introduced. They want the organisation to be politically neutral and officials and representatives of authorities from various countries not to be elected to all their bodies. This is their right. There is no talk about an appeal. This is public work, everything is normal.”

I read it as, "I've been so lucky for so long that everybody at Fifa has been either so gullible or they haven't cared even though they knew what was going on, that I'm not going to bother fighting this."

This is not the end of Mutko as he is still running the organisation of Russia 2018. The cynic in me thinks that it is token disciplinary action against Mutko so that Fifa looks like it is taking a tough stance. They may also be trying to keep a step ahead of the International Olympic Committee who are wrestling with the idea, and subsequent implications, of banning Russia from the Winter Olympics next year. Despite all the accusations levelled against Russian Sport in the last year, and the instances of solid evidence, Fifa will never consider moving the World Cup away from Russia. So this Mutko ban is their compromise.

Villa, Arsenal and looking forward to more World Cup

Day -460. WorldCup2018

Aston Villa won again. After a 1-0 defeat mid-week they were back to their clean sheet winning ways: 2-0 against Sheffield Wednesday. Last 5 matches: won 4, lost 1, conceded 1 goal. That's promotion form. Pity they left it quite late. Next year.

Arsenal couldn't beat Bayern Munich. Actually, they couldn't stop Bayern giving them a good hiding. But it's ok. They gave Lincoln a 5-0 lesson in the FA Cup today. Poor Arsenal though. They can't even get credit for winning 5-0. But what was expected when they were playing a team 88 places below them in the English league structure? A 10-0 win. Lincoln still got more attention for losing than Arsenal did for making it to the semifinals.

I need World Cup qualifying to start again on March 23rd. Aston Villa's season is over, in terms of there being any meaningless conclusion. The minnows are out of the FA Cup. Chelsea are good good for their to be much excitement in the Premier League. Juventus keep winning and will win the Italian league with such a comfortable margin that they might as well hand them next year's title as well. Spain is still fairly exciting with Sevilla doing an Atletico Madrid this season and challenging Real Madrid and Barcelona. But is is the same two again.

World Cup qualifying will throw up some surprises. The competition in Europe is a lot tighter now and Italy v Albania does not mean the one sided match that it used to be. Ireland v Wales is a match between two serious contenders for qualifying. Northern Ireland v Norway is not what it was not long ago. Norway are the underdogs now whereas in the 1990s they were the ones upstaging the traditionally strong teams.

And And Malta against Slovakia? Well, there's always hope right up until kick-off that this time it will be better.

From Buenos Aires to Port Moresby: all World Cup

Day -461. WorldCup2018

On March 23rd before Argentina play Chile in a qualifier which will be hugely important in determining each team's chances of making it to Russia, Papua New Guinea play their first match in round 3 of Oceania qualifying against Tahiti. PNG and Tahiti don't have quite the same odds of qualifying as the South American giants, not because they are minnows in the football world but because Oceania as a region doesn't have the same strength as South America. Out of the 10 South American teams, 4 qualify directly and the 5th goes into an Intercontinental play-off against the winner of the Oceania qualifying. One team out of the 11 that started qualifying in Oceania make it through to the right to play for a place against the 5th team in South America.

Despite these very short odds of playing in Russia, PNG and Tahiti know, just like Argentina and Chile, that a win is a must. Or at least it would be a lot better than a draw.

PNG football has been going through a bit of a rough patch recently. The one bit of good news is a new dual citizenship law that was recently enacted by the government. The PNG Football Association welcomed the news as it allows for players of PNG descent, residing in, and citizens of, other countries, to obtain PNG citizenship and play for PNG. Four players, two living in New Zealand and the other two in Australia, have expressed an interest in taking up citizenship of PNG and it is hoped this would happen in time for them to play in the upcoming qualifiers.

The not so good news is the formation of a breakaway football body in PNG. John Kapi Natto, the owner of PNG's most successful club, Hekari United FC, made allegations of corruption within the PNG FA. The FA responded by filing a complaint with the Ocenia Football Confederation over his derogatory comments. Hekari were subsequently banned from competing in this year's OFC Champions League.
 
Mr. Kapi Natto received the support of 12 club presidents and is now in the process of setting up a new breakaway league, under the banner of the Football Federation PNG. The first competition for the new federation will be a 7-a-side tournament consisting of a North and South conference with 6 teams in each. This will be the precursor to the new National Premier League.

While the coach of the national team, Flemming Serritslev, may be welcoming four new players to his team he also has to deal with the loss of all nine players from Hekari. The players said they did this after the team was withdrawn from the league run by the PNG FA and to show their disapproval with the way the FA was running football in the country. They also mentioned in their statement that it was not because "our sponsors John and Vonnie Kapi Natto told us to." It would be naive not to think that there are commercial interests which may be playing a part here.

I could look up the PNG FA's website to see what the official stance may be, but I can't. Any attempt to access their website is blocked on my computer and phone, as it is a "security risk" and has been "blocked to protect my privacy." The new federation does not have website that I can find yet.

With World Cup dreams at stake there is always the wish and hope that a compromise can be found for the good of football in PNG. As small as the chances may be for them to make it to Russia, winning one match at a time will get them a step closer. And then the hope can grow.

A bit more about Jim

Day -462. WorldCup2018

The Barcelona moment: the day after. After the euphoria of the historic win against PSG the reflection set in. The six goals included two questionable penalties (but how often are penalties awarded without a few questions?) and an own goal. The excitement of the outcome, considering what the score was in the 88th minute, cannot be denied. How Barcelona achieved the result could be questioned, maybe? Or is it too soon?

My football loving character Jim (see yesterday) is probably still on a high. When I think back to his near misses over the years (you really have to read yesterday) I think it could have all started with Real Madrid's comeback from being 5-1 down to Borussia Monchengladbach in the UEFA Cup in 1985. The 4-0 second leg win was epic. That made Jim want to be at a classic moment like that. After a couple of missed opportunities (Arsenal, 1989 and Man United, 1999) he watched with envy in 2004 when Deportivo La Coruna came back from losing the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Milan 4-1. Their 4-0 win in the second leg was the biggest turnaround in the competition's history up to then. Jim thought Arsenal could be his team, the ones to give him the epic victory. They had been so close against Bayern Munich 2013, losing 3-1 at home and then winning 2-0 in Germany. And before that, against Milan in 2012 when, after losing 4-0 in Italy, they were so close with a 3-0 win in London. Jim thought the 5-1 loss to Bayern this year, in the first leg, would set it up perfectly for a 4-0 Arsenal win in the return match. Not quite, Bayern won 5-1 again and Jim learned never to put too much trust in Arsene and Arsenal ever again. Last night healed all of Jim's wounds.

Barcelona and the mother of all wins

Day -463. WorldCup2018

I was sitting at a car dealership this morning, waiting for my car to be serviced. As I enjoyed my free coffee I sat so I could face the goings on inside rather than look at the parking lot outside the window. I started making notes about car dealerships, car salesmen and women, service department customer care agents. It was a pleasurable experience. The coffee was good, not just because it was free. It was really good coffee. The staff were happy and friendly. And I reflected on how, of course, these people know what they are doing. Give me good service and I will keep coming back. I wanted to sit there longer. Drinking a coffee and reading a book, when's the last time I had that luxury? It's a far cry from Chalie in Malta, the one man show, who will grunt at you if he does come out from under a car to greet you, will grunt at you again to leave the keys somewhere and, if you're lucky. will tell you that maybe it will be ready today, or tomorrow, "but I don't know." Before anybody rams my perceived (by you) snobbery down my throat, this is exactly what I was making notes about and how

I could compare it to watching football. Should we really care about the whole "fan experience" or just the football on the pitch? No frills non-league football or the Champions League at Stamford Bridge with all it's excessive frills? That was my argument that I was going to expand on later. But then Barcelona happened.

There's a story in my head about a football loving guy who was a fan of the game rather than a fan of a particular team. His hobby, because he was independently wealthy and could do this, was to buy tickets for matches which promised to be unique experiences: World Cup finals, domestic cup finals, league deciders and the such. He was always looking for the "I was there moment', but he'd had some bad luck which was mostly down to his own impatience. Let's call him Jim, because it's nice and short.

It started in 1989 when Arsenal had to go Liverpool on the final day of the season and win by two goals to win the league over Liverpool. In the 91st minute with Arsenal winning 1-0 and Liverpool in possession, Jim decided he didn't want to stick around for an anti-climatic ending. Liverpool would win the league, again, and their would be no fairy-tale win for Arsenal. So he made his way out on the street, happy to get away before the crowds. And then he heard it: the muffled cheers. If it was Liverpool scoring the noise would have been incredible, but this was coming from a smaller crowd and was surrounded by silence. Yes, Michael Thomas had scored THAT goal in the 92nd minute. Arsenal were champions and Jim was standing on an empty street outside Anfield. Ah, they'll be another time, he thought.

As he carried on with his quest and watched a number of fairly flat World Cup finals he decided that Manchester United against Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final could be the one. He battled with his gut feeling that it wouldn't be anything special: the clinically organised Germans against the English team. What usually happens? The Germans get into the English players' heads and win, without too much fuss. But he thought because that's what was expected it could be the opposite. At the 91 minute mark it was all, unfortunately, going to plan, the wrong plan. Bayern were winning 1-0 and United were huffing and puffing trying to find a way through. Jim thought he had been so wrong and this would be a good time to get back to his hotel and forget that he had hoped for anything better. And, of course, as wandered down the empty streets he heard it, not once, but twice: the roar of a fans celebrating a goal. It could have been Bayern but he knew he was wrong. United's 2-1 win was regarded as the most exciting finish ever to a Champions League final.

Not to be deterred, but determined to see out a match to the end he bought a ticket for the 2005 Champions League final. This one was easy. Matches between English and Italian teams were always special and he was looking forward to a classic final. What he did not expect was for Milan to be beating Liverpool 3-0 at half-time. Now he was in a conundrum. This was definitely over. The second half would be a controlled Italian procession to the end. It was his first time in Istanbul and he wanted to experience what he had heard to be one of the most fascinating cites in the world at night. So he decided to ditch the dead as a contest football match and walk the streets of Istanbul. By the time he got into the city he was hearing and seeing cheers of wild excitement from fans dressed in Liverpool colours who didn't have match tickets. He peeked into a bar to check the score: 3-3 going into extra time. So he stayed and watched the penalty shoot-out and saw Liverpool complete the incredible comeback, the most amazing Champions League final of all time. But a bar was not the stadium. When he told his story to his fellow drinkers they were consoling and assured him his time would come. But, they whispered to each other, you are never, ever, going to see something like that again.

You would think that Jim would have learned his lesson. He happened to be in Manchester in May of 2012, not for football, but for a distant relative's wedding. At the wedding one of his cousins mentioned he couldn't go to the Manchester City-QPR match the next day. He wasn't really a football fan and had been given the ticket by one of his business clients. He offered it to Jim, who thought why not. It was the final day of the season and it would be fun to watch City celebrate their first league win in forever. All they had to do was beat almost relegated QPR. And there he was again, 91st minute, QPR winning 2-1 and he started thinking, "I can't even get lucky when it's a sure thing." His phone buzzed. His cousin, another one, asked him if he wanted to come join the newly weds for a pre-hoenymoon drink. "Football's pretty much over. City are losing right? Better get out of there before the crowd get really angry." Sure, he thought. This is over. Or is it? Yes, yes, it is. City always mess up. That's their deal. And off he went. And, yes, the rest is indeed history. One, two goals. City are champions. Jim is sitting in a cab on the way to the Dog and something.

Jim is now disillusioned, believing he will never see "the one." Instead his life will be full of the "I was there, but I left" moments.

On March 8th 2017 his cousin (the non-football fan) was on a business trip in Barcelona and Jim happened to be there too. The cousin had been given two tickets to the Barcelona-PSG Champions League last 16, 2nd leg match. Because Barcelona had lost the first leg 4-0 it was easy to get corporate tickets. Nobody really wanted them. Jim was not going to give up on an opportunity to see the most exciting team of his generation, even if was probably going to be a foregone conclusion that they would be eliminated. His cousin would be asking lots of questions about the game and Jim resolved that he would be happy to share his knowledge and explain his love for football. It was looking like the miracle was on when Barcelona where 3-0 up. Then PSG scored and it was, to all intents and purposes, all over. Eighty-eight minutes on the clock and Jim's cousin turned to him and said, "so what do you think? Get out of here? We'll have time for a few drinks. Make a bit of a night out of it. This is over, isn't it?" Jim stood up, beckoned his cousin towards the exit while looking down at the pitch for one more glimpse of the forlorn looking Messi, Neymar and Suarez. "No!" Jim said suddenly. "Let's stay. There's a few minutes left. I want to be here to enjoy PSG's big moment."

And it happened. The moment. The once in a lifetime moment. The "I was there and I will never see anything like that again" moment.The mother of all moments. Neymar, 88 minutes. 4-1. Neymar, 91 minutes, penalty. 5-1. Sergi, 95 minutes, unbelievably, 6-1" Chaos, absolute bedlam all around Jim and his cousin. "Wow, Jim, this is pretty incredible. It really does go right up until the end. Who would ever leave early?" Jim was so high, so drunk on emotion that he was ok with that. He had his moment.

(Aidan did not have Jim's moment but would have wanted nothing more that to be at the Nou Camp this evening. Also, because of the workings of TV rights and available channels in Aidan's house he was watching Manchester CIty play Stoke. It was 0-0. Dark jokes about doing it on a cold winter night in Stoke swirled around in his head, even though this was Manchester)

Uzbekistan

Day -464 WorldCup2018

Could this be the day that Mr. Arsenal for the past 20 years and a bit, Arsene Wenger, finally realises that his time is up. Another 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich, for a 10-2 aggregate score, another round of 16 exit from the Champions League and another season with only the FA Cup to look forward to. The fans have had enough and I hope Wenger accepts that he can do no more. Leave now and avoid the embarrassment of a sacking at the end of what could become an even worse season.

That deserved a mention, to remember Arsenal's low in March of 2017 ad to compare to where Arsenal will be at the end of next season, at the start of the 2018 World Cup.

What I was really thinking about today was Syria vs. Uzbekistan on March 23rd. The World Cup qualifier may not be the most glamorous of the Asian qualifiers but it has an element of fascination. Syria still don't play their home matches at home and are playing in Malaysia again. This could be Syria's last chance to keep their unlikely World Cup dream alive. They are 4th in their group, 4 points behind Uzbekistan. The two third place teams in each group will play-off against each other, with the winner moving on to the Intercontinental play-off.

The match between these two teams brings up a few comparisons between the two countries, and an opportunity to do some research into Uzbekistan. Football, as always, is my teacher.
After the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Uzbekistan was one of those Soviet states where a high ranking Communist Party stalwart from the Soviet era took over as President of the country. Islam Karimov was President until his death last September. Independence did not bring much freedom or prosperity to the majority of Uzbekis. Amnesty International has reported widespread use of torture of any opponents of the regime. Journalists are regularly jailed for voicing any opinions that challenge the government. Karimov made freedom of expression a crime.

The new President, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, vowed to carry on running the country just like Karimov did. The justifications from the ruling party for the method of governance is to suppress any moves by Islamist opposition groups to seize control and create an Islamic state. But because of the repression of any opposition, recruitment by radical Islamist groups amongst a young population (half of Uzbekistan's 30 million are under 25) has become very common. According to a report quoted in the Washington Post last September, Uzbekistan has experienced more terrorist attacks than any other country in Central Asia and more jihadists have joined foreign conflicts than from other Central Asian countries. Many of them have gone to Syria.

Reading about Uzbekistan it has many eerie similarities to Syria and its' regime. An uprising of any sorts would also lead to instability not just in Uzbekistan but also in the region. Uzbekistan is the largest country, by population, in Central Asia. It has oil and gas pipelines that run to China and Russia and is the main source of electricity for many neighbouring countries, while also being a key transit route for all the Central Asian countries and Afghanistan.

For reasons why the rest of the world did not intervene in Syria, or ever oppose the brutality of President Assad, so the rest of the world seems to turn a blind eye to the suffering of many in Uzbekistan. Better to have repressed stability than a whole new issue of instability to deal with.
And while we consider and debate the similarities between the two countries, Syria and Uzbekistan will play a football match which many in their own country will not care about it but see it only as furthering government propaganda. While the thought of the war ravaged country or the new kids on the block making it to Russia may seem like an accomplishment to the romantic, this romantic would rather neither of them make it and thus get not further opportunity to give their regimes a bigger stage.

Waiting....

Day -465. WorldCup2018

It's about time I started setting the scene for the next round of qualifiers starting on March 23rd. There's going to matches with political undertones, renewing of old rivalries and grudge matches. And I look forward to all of it.

Tomorrow I will start.

Aston Villa: going nowhere

Day -466. WorldCup2018

I missed mentioning yesterday that Aston Villa won again. That's three in a row and a third consecutive clean sheet. While the fans on the old social media cheer the good run and celebrate manager Steve Bruce as the saviour I reflect on what the last three results will bring: nothing. Except for a higher position in the Championship. As I said a few days ago there is only one reason for being in the second tier of English football: to get into the Premier League. Even little Burton Albion who are already exceeding their own expectations would probably love to go one step further and reach the promised land. I just see another season outside of the Premier League for Aston Villa. Even though I do get disgruntled with professional football and dream of following smaller, amateur teams I do still enjoy watching the best compete. And if I support a professional team (and I do) then I want them to be competing to win something. And that something is not a mid-table spot in the Championship.

And that may be my last public mention of Aston Villa for a while. But I don't promise.
I wonder what I will be saying about them in 466 days from now.

TFC back on the road again

Day -467. WorldCup2018

Just under three months since Toronto FC lost the MLS Cup to a team that didn't have a shot on goal in 120 minutes, the new season started for TFC in warm and sunny Salt Lake City. It seemed like a world away from that bitingly cold night and that loss against Seattle.

Whereas football teams all over the world seem to go through wholesale changes over the off season, Toronto started with the same 11 players that took the field against Seattle. If it ain't really that broke, why fix it? TFC'S theme for the season is "unfinished business." So, the same players have been given the opportunity to go one step further.

Even though I have become a fan of MLS football, I still have my self-amusement moments. The approximate kick-off times will forever baffle me. TFC played Real Salt Lake today. To Europeans it sounds like the name of a football team with a long football history. In North America it sounds like the name of a twitter account. Of course it would be amusing if there was a competing twitter account for the team and the official account had to be called the real Real Salt Lake. Now I'm just being silly.
Real Salt Lake, or RSL, were named after a relationship was formed with Real Madrid, who were given the Royal designation by the King of Spain. The owner and founder of RSL joked that there was no monarch that he knew of in Salt Lake, and he looked forward to conversations with his family where he would have to correct them on the correct pronunciation of "real".

After TFC'S exploits last season there has been more excitement in Toronto for the start of the season. It's become a bit more cool to be a fan of soccer. A couple of days ago the dude on the radio (he really is a dude) was going on about TFC'S home opener this Saturday. "Home Openers" are big deals in North American sports. Calendars are marked and there is always lots of hype. The dude was talking it up and "aren't we all so excited?". He even warned his listeners to dress warm in anticipation of the forecast cold weather for Saturday night. I'm sure a lot of his bemused listeners were wondering why they would need to dress warm to sit in front of the TV. How the dude (and his researcher and producer) got it completely wrong was amusing. It diminished his dudeness, his trying to be "one of the lads with talk of football" kind of backfired.

TFC's home opener is on March 31st and I hope it is a lot warmer that the -10C we had today. It was even colder than that cold night in December. I wonder if the dude is still standing at the gates in his long underwear and two winter coats wondering why the lights aren't on and nobody else is there. Mind you, he was probably at home planning to watch hockey on TV all along anyway.

And in 5th place.....

Day. -468. WorldCup2018

I'm getting excited for the nest round of Russia 2018 qualifiers, starting on March 23rd. We're not at the end yet but now the matches do become more significant. In Europe teams that had a shaky start can't afford to lose again. In Asia teams can't afford to fall too far behind the top three spots which guarantee qualification or the chance at the intercontinental play off. In South America it is a very tight race. Ecuador in third place are only three points ahead of sixth place Colombia. The top 4 qualify and 5th place means an intercontinental play-off.

As I was going through all the standings and reading news from the different confederations I came across a mention of Colombia and their "fifth place finish at Brazil 2014." This was on Fifa.com and I thought, since when do we assign places for any team other then the top four. We remember the winners and losing finalists, and nobody wants to remember the 3rd place team, not even the 3rd place team. But how did Fifa now make up that Colombia, losing quarter finalists finished 5th. Is it all just to add a label (the 5th place team) or add some pedigree to a team that needs it? "Colombia, the 5th place team at the last World Cup, after previous disappointments....."

Losing quarter finalists. That's what they were, like the other 3 losing quarter finalists. Statistics from their matches before that don't mean anything. But I do hope they make it to Russia and have another good run, just to see the happiest goal celebration.

Dreaming of World Cup qualifying

Day -469. WorldCup2018

One of those days when my head was full of potential topics all day but now the day is reaching an end and sleep is calling. I'll be back, just like World Cup qualifying will be soon. The next round of matches starts March 23rd. It's crazy to think that on the same day that Uruguay play Brazil, Papua New Guinea play Tahiti for the right to play in the same competition.

Bigger World Cup, and Wolves

Day -470 WorldCup2018

I haven't forgotten about World Cup news. I'll ignore mention of mediocre English teams today, and of sacked Italian managers living off one great (ok, incredibly wonderfully unexpected) season.
World Cup 2026 may be a long way off and we don't even know which lucky country, but probably countries, will have the pleasure of dealing with the logistics of 48 teams. The excitement and controversy that surrounded the expansion has predictably subsided. There's nothing happening until Fifa decided the next step: how many teams qualify from each confederation. And then the real fun will begin in 2024 when teams who never thought they had a chance of qualifying will look forward to having a chance of joining the party. Brazil and Argentina might show up for qualifying in late 2025, because they'll figure it's hardly worth the effort of trying for the first few rounds when 6 out of 10 South American teams will qualify.

The latest reported numbers are:
Europe: 16 teams
Africa: 9-10. Ten was reported but the President of CAF, Issa Hayatou, said he expected 9.5 (one team in intercontinental play-off.
Asia: 8-9
Concacaf: 6.5
South America: 6. That's 60% of the teams in the confederation
Oceania: 1. Will the other teams raise their game to challenge New Zealand?

I will make one mention of a currently mediocre English team today but this is a sort of tribute to somebody who got me hooked on football with his talk of Billy Wright and the best team in the world in the 1950's, in his eyes anyway. Wolverhampton Wanderers are hardly world beaters these days, and are worse off than that other former giant of the Midlands, Aston Villa. My father's disappointment, maybe, was not just that none of his children showed interest in his profession as a career, but also that none of us shared his love of the Wolves. But we got the love of football. And like we had the confidence and knowledge to choose our own careers, we also chose our own teams. Or came across them by chance.

Here they are beating the other "greatest team in the world." I'll have to ask him about it next time we have our regular football chat on the phone. I bet he'll remember it well!