Since I'm not there it's a fun substitute reading the Tartan Army forums about the Scottish supporters in Malta, or on their way to Malta for Sunday's match. There is talk of bars to meet, seats on buses to get to the stadium and, in a nice touch, a collection amongst the supporters for a local charity. It'll be fun in the stadium on Sunday, something not seen since Malta hosted Turkey a few years ago. The then newly formed supporters group did a great job of drumming up interest, and drawing crowds, by drawing on history and the attempted Turkish invasion of Malta in the 16th century. There's no need for anything similar to generate enthusiasm for Scotland's visit. It's only Scotland, and they haven't exactly been world beaters recently (or even World Cup qualifiers) but there is something exciting and glamorous for Maltese football fans to be playing a British team. Add in 5,000 Scottish supporters and it's going to be a great atmosphere.
Russia 2018 qualifiers started again today in Asia and South America. In the only surprise in Asia, Japan lost at home to the United Arab Emirates. Syria didn't have a fairy tale start to their first participation in round 3 of qualifying, losing 1-0 to Uzbekistan.
Lionel Messi returned from his very short lived retirement to score the only goal, via a big deflection off a defender, as Argentina beat Uruguay. But the biggest news out of all today's matches was Brazil's 3-0 , in Ecuador. Given their poor results recently, and a new coach, a draw would have been seen as a positive outcome. But it's great to see that the positivity from the Olympic win has carried over to the World Cup team. And the scorers today? Neymar and Gabriel Jesus. Both of them were instrumental in the Olympic victory and the question now is when are they are going to have an off season? I may have complained in the past about highly paid footballers moaning about not having a rest, but these two have been going strong since the beginning of last season. And next week it will be back to Barcelona, and Palmeiras for Garbriel before a move to Manchester City in January.
Neymar and Brazil is all wonderful to watch and read about. But it's the big match in Malta on Sunday that I am really looking forward to.
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