Ibra comes to LA

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Too late. Too tired. I'll be back at it tomorrow. If you need something to read about Zlatan's incredible LA Galaxy debut today was pretty incredible. But I guess that's Ibra.

Panini album, Mifsud style

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Good night and good bye Malta. See you soon. But please do me a favour and stop being in the news for match fixing allegations. Even a friendly against Finland can't go by without suspicion. A 5-0 defeat is bad enough.

On a final note of Malta memories: as the World Cup Panini sticker goes on sale below is an example of the home made version in the Mifsud household.

 

World Cup with no British refs

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Fifa announced the list of referees for the World Cup today and for the first time since 1938 there is not one British name on the list.

Is it just me that sees the irony in this, or am I making up the irony? The International Football Association Board which determines the laws of football and any changes is made up of representatives of the football associations of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, together with Fifa. This goes backs to the days when football started and it was the British who wrote the rules. The referees enforce these rules but not one of them at football's showcase event are from England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

The IFAB recently recommended the use of the controversial video assistant referee (VAR) in at Russia 2018. But again, none of the referees from the associations that introduced VAR to the World Cup are going to be a part of its' introduction to the World Cup.

VAR. You sure. Fifa?

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It's the day after......

The day after VAR was used to controversially hand Italy a 1-1 draw against England. There is so much debate about the penalty and if VAR actually helped or not, that I think there needs to be a VAR-type system to review the decision made to introduce VAR to Russia 2018.

Italy, we'll miss you

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I said I wouldn't watch. I said I wouldn't be bothered with these friendlies. But there's a feeling of excitement sitting in a bar surrounded by TV's showing England play Italy, Germany take on Brazil and Denmark against Chile at the same time. It's not the matches, it's the knowing that the real thing is coming soon. Very soon. And on top of that is the nostalgia of being in Malta watching World Cups.

It's a little odd watching Italy and having to think that they won't be in Russia. No Italy at a World Cup. Love them, because you're a fan, or hate them, because they have been boring, lucky, and oh so Italian, in the past they still add an elegance, a special-ness to a World Cup. They are like the aristocrats who you used to despise but miss now that they have been discarded and relegated to the pile of outsiders looking to fight their way in.

But in the world of professional sport there is no time for sentimentality, right? Only in the world of fandom of professional sport can you afford yourself that luxury. We'll miss Italy, and Holland, and Chile but so be it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kq7OZX4FFO0

France-Brazil 1986

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"The best 60 seconds of football without a goal."

What a wonderful football match this was. One of my all-time favourites. Fantastic, exciting, exhilarating. Beautiful. In this 60 seconds there was the wonderful Platini pass, the oh so obvious, game changing foul that the ref ignored (not missed) and the sudden switch to a chance for Brazil to win it.

At the end of a day of special memories, this is another one that will not be forgotten.

Wolves: greatest team in the world

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CxoI4AjgokU

Gerry Armstorng

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More 1982 memories. Northern Ireland were probably the most unlucky team to not not qualify for Russia this year, going out courtesy of an nonexistent Switzerland penalty. On the other hand they would have been one of the surprise packages of the tournament if they had made it, their team made up predominantly of players who play in the lower leagues in England.

In 1982 they pulled off one of the biggest upsets of that, and any World Cup, when they beat the hosts Spain. Watching it live, I remember the incredulity at Spain losing in front of their expectant home fans.

Gerry Armstrong, famous for this goal.

Mo Salah makes you happy!

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I'm not sure what happened last night. I did write something and I thought I hit the "post" button. I did not miss a day!

Here's a shorter version again. Apparently the last football my Dad watched was a compilation of Mo Salah's many goals for Liverpool this season. As my brother said that would be enough to cheer anybody up. So here is the most important goal that Salah has scored in his career so far. Could it get any better at the World Cup?

John Mifsud: Father and football lover

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(A special one)

There will no be asking of anybody to read between the lines. No guessing what I'm going on about. Today will just be what I have to say to mark, sadly, the most important event that happened today for me, and my family.

My father passed away this morning, peacefully in his sleep. His time had come. He was ready. We were also all prepared for this happening. The distance makes it hard. Missing the one last goodbye by about 36 hours made it harder.

John Mifsud loved his wife of 48 years, who left us 6 years ago, and his 5 children, and was a lover of football, golf and snooker (yes! It happened later in his life). A big fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sliema Wanderers he taught me a lot about the one thing that bonded us the most: football.

The seed of excitement of Aston Villa winning the European Cup in 1982 and the joy of watching the World Cup of that year, was probably planted on Tuesday evenings watching Big League Soccer with him. Me, him, my brothers and Brian Moore.

He took me to my first live match: Valletta-Hibs followed by Sliema against somebody. That's when I must have known that sitting in a half empty stadium on a Sunday afternoon was a something I wanted to do.

I'll forgive him now for not coming home to pick me up for the violent Malta-Poland match in 1980. He knew it would be chaotic. It was.

I won't argue anymore about the numerous disallowed offside goals when I seemed to understand the offisde rule more than him who had taught it to me.

I should have apologised to him that I argued with him because I thought Gary Bailey was the best goalkeeper in England because my "Match" magazine said so after my Dad pointed out that he should have saved one of the goals in the FA Cup Final. Was it 1983?

And I will smile now that I was in my bed, falling asleep, as my brothers and Dad watched the infamous 1982 France-West Germany World Cup semifinal, me not being allowed to stay up so late on a school night.

In 1986, again, I couldn't watch the France-West Germany semifinal. I was too busy doing last minute studying for my exams the next day. "If you don't know it by now, you'll never know it," was his line. Then why not let me watch the football?

1990 was probably the one we watched together the most. Everyone else was gone. I was pre-University. Together we saw David Platt's incredible extra time winner against Belgium and Gary Lineker's game winning penalties against Cameroon.

USA '94 was our last one together. After that it was phone calls home to make score predictions for the finals.

Over the years he who took me to watch my first Maltese football match told me not to bother with it as all results were pre-determined by who had the most money.

He bemoaned the amount of foreign players in England and all the money. He reminisced about the days of Billy Wright and Sir Stanley Matthews. He moaned every time Cristiano Ronaldo fell over. He taught me that Italians were divers and only knew how to defend. He confused me by supporting England but repeatedly telling me that they were terrible.

With distance our phone calls were when we talked the most. He asked about Aston Villa. I told him how the Wolves were doing, his interest waning a little as they fell from grace. My siblings could fill him in on other things. I could tell him all he needed to know about football.

I missed our football time together. He never said he did, but I know he did. He never asked when I was coming to visit, but his voice changed in tone to one of excitement when I told him about a planned visit. And once in Malta all he wanted to do was know if I was going to sit with him to watch "the match".

I'm sure he missed us all when we were away, but our success made him happy. He was more than my football-watching partner. He worked hard, very hard, so that we could all achieve what we did. His father worked two jobs so that he could send his sons to the best school in Malta. He passed that on to us.

School was important to him, more than anything else he told us. He was tough with us. He bemoaned the fact that I knew more about the TV football schedule than my school work. But he always wanted nothing but the best for us. That was his way.

He grew up in a different time, had a very different childhood. His family escaped wartime bombing. He had stories of bomb shelters and moving away from his home to be away from the air raid bombings around the harbour. He was at a boarding school in Malta, away from his parents, when the only interaction was when his parents came to watch them play football and threw sweets at them. His father must have been extremely proud that his three sons grew up to a be a lawyer, doctor and architect.

A couple of months ago, as he lay in his hospital bed, he told us a story that made us all laugh. When he was a young man in Malta you went to University to become a lawyer, doctor or architect. Or you became a priest. But even though he had strong thoughts about becoming a priest he couldn't because "priests weren't allowed to watch football."

Now do you wonder where I got my passion from?

I'm off now. Off to Malta for another visit. No football to watch, but lots in my heart.

As much as I long for Aston Villa to be promoted this year, my bigger wish is that the once great Wolves are back in the Premier League next year. He would have been happy. I would have been so happy to call him and tell him.

Football, all over the world

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It's amazing that in the 17 hours that I'm awake I don't find enough time to write about football. I think about it. So here I am, almost tomorrow, and I haven't recorded the day.

The international week started today with some matches that will have attracted little attention, unless you in Andorra are a celebrating a rare away victory (vs Liechtenstein) or if you in Qatar and are enjoying the news about a morale boosting win, before 2022, in Iraq.

Tomorrow there are some more classics lined up. I bet there will be thousands lining up to watch World Cup qualifying flops Algeria take on Tanzania. In the Faroe Islands, the locals might be watching TV instead of trudging out to see the Latvians in town. And in Malta, I know most of the locals will be staying home to watch TV, even if the TV isn't working, rather than venturing out for another attempt at winning a football match. Luxembourg are the lucky victims this time. There's is always hope and despite my sarcastic pessimism I always want to believe that a new dawn is upon Maltese football, again.

The big matches are on Friday: Russia-Brazil, Holland-England, Argentina-Italy, Germany-Spain to name a few. But no matter how much hype surrounds these clashes of the world's football superpowers nothing compares to the real action in June. The only winners and losers are the fringe players who either played the match of their life to stake a huge claim for a spot in the World Cup squad, or the other fringe players who messed up their one opportunity to be considered for Russia.

Algeria '82

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It may be a short one today. To carry on with my 1982 theme this is one of the greatest World Cup upsets which was then followed by one of the greatest World Cup travesties. But the moment itself, when Algeria beat the mighty West Germany, was wonderful not just for the win but for the way the unknown Africans did it: it was exciting, creative football. Just like Algeria in 2014. And in 2014 they did make it to the second round unlike in 1982 when the Germans and Austrians colluded to make sure they both progressed at the expense of the Algerians.

No war, it's football

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Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, said today that when it comes to the World Cup in Russia, "we are not going to war." Amidst fears of violence, especially between Russian and English fans. he maintained it will be a football party. Good for him. Let's hope

In 1982 I watched my first World Cup and l was vaguely aware that a real war was ending just as that World Cup was starting. Years later it was revealed that the British government considered pulling Scotland, England and Northern Ireland out of the World Cup as the Falklands War carried on. But it was also decided that pulling the Home Nations out would give Argentina a propaganda victory.

It was only after Espana '82 that I fully grasped the horrors of that war in a far away place and why British ships sailed all that way to fight the Argentinians. I do recall the news at the time of the British ships that were bombed. But there was a lot more than that. In Spain I remember a picture of the older English gentleman in his Union Jack outfit having his top hat knocked off his head as he went over to greet a group of Argentinian fans in the stadium were England were playing. What was his name? There was a story about him, I believe but Google is not helping me out. Anybody?

So, unfortunately, I was ignorant of what was really going on when England played France in their first match and after 27 seconds I had witnessed England's first goal at a World Cup in my life. Not bad, I thought. I feel guilty when I think how happy I was despite their being a war going on. So, you're right Mr Infantino, let's enjoy the football and not have it spoiled by idiots who think they can make up a war.

"Daar is em, goaaaal, goaaal...."

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I would hope that somebody read my statement of intent, or non-intent, yesterday when it comes to mentioning from now on a team from Birmingham in the midst of a promotion battle. I am reminding myself more than anybody else. It will be quite easy for a couple of weeks with the much-maligned international break coming up next week. But it won't be easy trying to feign interest in non-competitive matches which are the reason for putting what matters on hold.

Therefore, rather than looking forward to matches between teams that are giving false hope to players that they may make the trip to Russia and other teams who are terribly embarrassed that they are not going to Russia and represent a country of depressed football fans, I will look back at happy World Cup memories for a while.

I've been doing this for over 900 days, plus the 365 days before Brazil 2014 so there may be some repeats. But they're still good.

What better place to start then the opening match of the first World Cup that I watched, and the first upset of that World Cup. And it is also fitting seeing as the very talented Belgium team are seen as contenders for ultimate victory in Russia.

Belgium 1 Argentina 0.

My Villa silence

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"Football is the most important thing, amongst the least important in life." (Arrigo Sacchi)
It's the second time in about a month that I'm using this quote. It hit me again today. I can, but won't, list many, many things, current and ongoing, that I recognize as being more important than Aston Villa making it back to the Premier League, England being at the World Cup when the majority of the teams have gone home and Malta winning a football match. But, it has to be said, it is a lot of fun celebrating the highs and a deep emotion dealing with the lows.

I vowed a few moths ago to not mention Aston Villa's progress until promotion was almost guaranteed. After 8 wins in a row and then a couple more, I thought it was safe to come back to letting loose a little bit. But just like one of my superstitions is to not look at the "as it stands" table until the final whistle has blown, I should not have talked about Villa's progress until I was basking in the relief and knowledge that they would be playing Manchester City and United, Liverpool and Tottenham next season.

Two defeats in a row have now left us, the fans, not looking at catching Cardiff in second place but worrying about making the playoffs. Today I took my superstitions to a new level as Villa toiled against Bolton. It used to be radio on or off depending on whether Villa had previously scored when it was on or off. Today it was check Twitter....no, Bolton scored....don't check...but...maybe....no!....leave it for 5 minutes, come back to it...no!...but that was probably only 30 seconds....ok, empty the dishwasher, then check....clean the kitchen.....no!.....that didn't work. Ok, go out and leave it. No! Nothing. Game over.

So that's it. I have to go back to my pretend ignorance of all things Villa. I will still watch, I will still follow every minute but there will be no mention here, or little mention. From now it's full on World Cup, some Champions League, some politics, some family jokes or experiences. And look out for Villa news in May.

There'll be more Platini and less Grealish, Eder over Hogan and Valderrama before Terry.

So here's a start. To paraphrase Sacchi, "football is the thing that can make some of us happy, as a diversion from the things that we really have to worry about." Not many have made us feel the emotion of football better than Marco Tardelli.

All about heritage

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Jose Mourinho and football heritage has to be the theme of the day today. "This is heritage." I think that might become his standard answer to any press conference question that he doesn't really want to answer from now on.

"Jose, you lost to Brighton today and are now also out of the FA Cup. How do you explain this disappointment to the fans?'

"Brighton, 36 years ago were in the final of the FA Cup. They didn't win it, Man United did, but this is football heritage. Do you understand? Heritage.

"Can I name any players in this Brighton team who are better than the players in my team? There are many, but I cannot name them, because then their agents will be rubbing their hands in glee at how much money they can make. There are many Brighton players I would like in my team...like, er....the midfielder....no, I cannot mention his name...and the other one...but, again, I can't say his name. They are good players and our fans should understand that. And football heritage."

Route one and Glenn Murray might be the answer, not heritage.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, find a video of Mourinho's incredible (good or bad, up for discussion) press conference today. After the 12 minute rant, the second part is pretty good too. Was it the sign of a genius brain or a man who has run out of excuses, knows it, and resorted to pre-planning a full out attack that nobody would dare question?

I have a feeling one of the sideshows of this year's World Cup is going to be replayed videos of Mourinho's analysis on Russian TV.

The Red Bull final is still a possibility after today's Europa League quarterfinals draw. I wonder if it happened if UEFA would allow a Red Bull Crashed Ice race and a Red Bull Air Race as past of the pre-match festivities. And how about have Felix Baumgartner do another Red Bull Stratos space jump to land in the centre circle just before kick-off with the match ball in his hand. Or we could all just be drinking a lot of Red Bull to stay awake if its CSKA Moscow against Sporting Lisbon in the final.

A few days ago Australia announced that Graham Arnold will be the new coach of the Socceroos, after the World Cup. Before that he will watch to see what magic Bert van Marwijk can conjure up in his five month reign. What heritage will Arnodl be left to work with?
VAR is going to be used at the World Cup, it was officially announced today. The International Football Association Board (Ifab) approved it's use in a vote earlier thsi month. In one of those quirks of international football the Ifab is made up or members of the English, Northern Irish, Welsh and Scottish FA's and four FIFA members. It's a strange tradition, or heritage, that the British FA's have the biggest say in the rules of the game. And maybe ironic that the Premier League has said it will not be introducing VAR anytime soon.

Heritage, heritage. Cant get it out of my head. Like that song that you hear on the radio and can't stand but you're singing it all day. Jose, I'll give you some heritage.

Lots of Red Bull

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I will get to more World Cup stuff tomorrow. Today was Europa Cup day. Arsenal, Lazio, Marseille, CSKA Moscow, Sporting Lisbon, Atletico Madrid, RB Salzburg and RB Leipzig are one step closer to finally making the disappointment of qualifying for the tournament they didn't want be in pay off.

There's some good teams in there. Just imagine an Arsenal-Atletico Madrid final. Or Marseille-Lazio. Or how about the two Red Bull teams? The jokes would just be too easy, wouldn't they? All that Red Bull in the stadium. All those fans full of energy. That is, if UEFA allow the sale of Red Bull in stadiums.

There was a good chance that one of either Salzburg and Leipzig weren't even going to be in European competition this season. UEFA had to make a decision as to whether the two teams were breaking the rules of having two teams with the same owners playing in the same competition. They did announce before both teams played in the Champions League at the end of last summer that there was nothing preventing them from playing because Red Bull are only a sponsor of Salzburg and not an owner as they are with Leipzig.

And I don't really have anything else tonight but am struggling to end this. Shall I grab a Red Bull?

TFC tame the Tigres

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It was past my publishing time last night to contrast my misery about Aston Villa's defeat with Toronto FC's quite stunning Champions League quarterfinal win against the Mexican Champions, Tigres.

It was past midnight when I thought about completely rewriting yesterday's post. I didn't have much hope for TFC after they won the first leg 2-1. A comfortable Tigres win was on the cards, in front of their vociferous fans who would create an intimidating atmosphere unlike anything the TFC players had experienced before. When the brave boys from Canada made it to halftime at 0-0 I felt it was worth the late night to see if the miracle was possible.

TFC, it must be said, looked pretty good. They weren't hanging on desperately. They were solid defensively, and tried to get the ball out to Giovinco and Altidore quickly when they could. So it wasn't a complete surprise when in the 64th minute they took the lead. But it was a little surreal. It was a bizarre, very bizarre, own goal and the commentators were a little sure as to what was going on. There were many replays, in between which the TFC players seemed to be somewhere between arguing with the Tigres players and protesting with the referee. Steven Caldwell, the ex-Scotland international and former TFC player and his Canadian co-commentator seemed to be stuck between celebrating, questioning whether it was actually a goal and playing the part of professional, impartial commentators. Was there a question of offside or was it just bemusement that the Tigres defender had managed to score that goal.?

But it really was 1-0 for TFC. Five minutes late Eduardo Vargas made it 1-1 and with the stadium rocking it looked like a matter of time before TFC buckled. Not long after, Giovinco worked his magic and scored directly from a free kick. The Tigres goalkeeper's efforts at saving it were questionable and, as Caldwell pointed out, he seemed more worried about not clattering into the post than making a save.

Game over? Tigres now needed to win 4-2. Not quite. Andre-Pierre Gignac scored in the 84th and then did a very good impression of a French centre forward who can't score when he missed a glorious opportunity to make it a very nerve-wracking finish for TFC. His reaction to the miss was priceless. He didn't shake his head in disbelief or embarrassment, he didn't hold his head in his hands, he didn't apologize. No he just sort of looked back at everybody with a look of, "so what, I missed. Why do you think I'm playing here in Mexico and not for PSG or even Lorient"?

He made amends, sort of, in the 93rd minute when he scored a penalty but the Mexicans ran out of time and the plucky team from the land of endless winters, ice and snow covered pitches moved on to the semifinals at the expense of the best team from the strongest CONCACAF country.

Today the real Champions League was on again, the European one. Barcelona hammered Chelsea and Bayern Munich yawned and stretched to a win over Besiktas. The quarterfinal draw is full of many of the standard favourites: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich.....Juventus? Are they favourites based on their history, or their two recent final appearances, or dark horses because everybody is compared to the first three? The same can be said for Liverpool. Then there's Manchester City, Sevilla and Roma.

I think we are due another outsiders' final. We haven't had a Porto-Monaco type final for a while. Roma-Liverpool, that's my pick. Not my betting pick, more like my wish list. Wouldn't that be fun? A repeat of the 1984 European Cup final in Rome, won by Liverpool on penalties thanks partly to Bruce Grobbelaar's wobbly knees. Look it up. It's out there.

And the World Cup? The British government announced today that no Ministers or any member of the Royal Family will go to Russia, in response to the Sergei Skripal poisoning. This may get really ugly for the English fans and team. No wonder the Foreign Office issued a warning today for UK nationals in Russia to be "aware of the possibility of anti-British sentiment or harassment." The fans are probably wishing the World Cup was in Argentina right now.

Aston Villa? No, no mention

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I cannot talk about Aston Villa today. No. They did not lose. Must move on. Cardiff and Wolves didn't really win, did they? No, no, no. There must be something else.

Ah. Yes. Manchester United are out of the Champions League after losing 2-1 at home to Sevilla. Man United are gone, done. No more Champions League for them and Jose Mourinho. No, that still doesn't work. Villa lost. At home. To QPR.

Roma are in the quarter finals of the Champions League for the first time in a long time. Good for them. The Italian underdogs. Kind of. We all like the underdogs. Happy story. No, no! Villa are now seven points behind second placed Cardiff.

Fifa announced that after the second phase of Russia 2018 ticket sales a total of 1.3 million tickets have been sold. After Russians, Colombians bought the highest amount of tickets in the second phase. Bought is maybe not the right word as the tickets are allocated in a random draw amongst all those fans who applied for tickets. I wonder if all 33,000 Colombians will take their tickets. Maybe Colombians like entering draws. I don't know. I don't really know Colombians. I do know that Aston Villa really messed up today

The Russian TV station RT announced today that Jose Mourinho will be their main analyst for the World Cup . British MPs said he is taking blood money. Will Mourinho change his mind?
Will Aston Villa get promoted?

Russian trouble for England fans?

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Today English fans travelling to the World Cup were warned to expect hostility and possible violent retribution from Russians, angry at the British government's accusation that Russia are responsible for the poisoning of the former Russian spy, turned double agent, Sergei Skripal. It's a bit more serious than the harmless entertainment of a James Bond movie. But let's hope that this is mere hype.

Emgland boycott

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"England urged to ignore World Cup 2018 boycott calls." That was a headline in a British newspaper today. Ha! The story is worth about as much as one titled, "Valdimir Putin in tight battle to regain the Presidency". England are not going to boycott the World Cup and Putin, well, his only tight battle might be with a Siberian tiger. Actually, that will be just as staged and managed as the election.

The English FA had many opportunities and reasons to not go to Russia. They are not going to pull out now. They could have also taken a stand about Qatar, the human rights abuses, the exploited labourers building the World Cup stadiums. But what did they do? They entered into an agreement with the Qatari FA to help promote football there.

England are going to be at the World Cup and so are all the other countries that made a lot of noise about the way Russia were awarded the World Cup, and the political situation in Russia, and not just the Ukraine issue. It is unfortunate that the US didn't qualify, just to see what Donald Trump would have done.

It's all happening in the Championship

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There's not long to go before the fun in Russia starts and with it the excitement of figuring out how you are going to be able to watch Japan play Senegal in between important work meetings, important only to those people who don't know that starting June 14th there is nothing more important than the World Cup.

But if you are looking for some thrilling football action before then may I recommend that you follow the Championship in England. The Premier League was over by December but, in contrast, the lower division looks like it will go right to the wire.

Aston Villa demolished the leaders Wolves 4-1 today. Wolves' seemingly unassailable lead at the top is down to three points over Cardiff, Villa are 4 points behind Cardiff and Fulham are two behind Villa. The recent form of the latter three teams is incredible. Cardiff have won six in a row, Villa have won 10 of the last 12 (1 draw, 1 loss), and Fulham are undefeated in 15 with 10 wins out of the last 12. It is fascinating to see who may slip up first. Will Wolves be overtaken? Will Fulham keep up this pressure on the teams above them? Will Cardiff do what is expected of them and collapse? Will Villa keep up their form and get back to where they feel they belong?

It may not be easy to follow on TV but, again, if you want some real excitingly competitive football look below the Premier League. It's going to be a crazy few months.

Eder, before some Villa-Wolves

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I'm in the mood to get in the mood, and also in the mood for some football beauty. So after 903 days and the 365 days before the 2014 World Cup I go back to where it all started. It's been shared before, it's been talked about before but it's always wonderful to watch. Brazil, 1982 and Eder.

Just before that it has to be mentioned that tomorrow in the English Championship one of the biggest matches of the season is taking place: Aston Villa vs Wolves. Big if you are a Wolves fan, because your team's unstoppable march to the Championship championship has slowed down a little in recent weeks, and absolutely massive if you are an Aston Villa fan with wins needed every weekend, and midweek, to catch Cardiff in second place. It feels like a cup final, like the most important local derby ever, like the match that will define Villa's season, like the one you don't want to miss watching. Fine, shake your head. You don't get it. Go enjoy your Man United-Liverpool. Remember what a barnstorming classic it was in October? Exactly, do you even remember it happening?

The Princes and the World Cup

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Princes William and Harry are not going to the World Cup this year. At least one of them has been at each of the World Cups in the last 16 years and a member of the Royal Family has been a fixture at the tournament for many, many years.

The reasons could be numerous including the strained relations between the UK and Russia right now, the fact that it is soon after Prince Harry gets married in May, or that Prince William's wife, the Duchess of Cambridge will be giving birth to their third child in April. But I think it's because they are so sick of England's embarrassing early exits and do not want to be on the receiving end of nay inane, polite banter anymore.

66,000 Icelandic people have made requests for World Cup tickets, or 20% of the population. There's going to be a lot of Viking clapping. Will it become more annoying than the vuvuzela in 2010?
P.s. In case you missed it, Toronto FC came back to beat Tigres 2-1 last night with an 89th minute backheel winner. The second leg in Mexico will not be easy.

Champions League over there and here

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Look at that. 99. Double digits. This calls for a celebratory beer. A Hop House 13 Lager, by Guinness to be exact. (Not my sponsor, but if Guinness are interested.....I can say it's very, very good).

It's a Champions League day today. I missed the fun of Spurs-Juventus, and the wonderful Juve comeback. I was sitting on a bus following on twitter, BBC and keeping up two chats, one with my brother at Wembley. Jealous, was I? Course not.

I could have chosen to go to a Champions League match of my own. Toronto FC are playing Tigres of Mexico, right now. But I didn't. I'm here, writing this with updates open in another window. Tigres have a couple of notable players: the Chilean Eduardo Vargas, Enner Valencia, formely of West Ham and André-Pierre Gignac, the guy who almost won Euro 2016 for France but carried on the strong French tradition of French centre-forwards who can's score for France.

TFC, of course have Giovinco, Bradley and Altidore. If you're a fan of Sunderland you may be laughing at any suggestion of Altidore being a great player. But this is the MLS and h'e good over here. And tonight TFC are hoping for great things from their new import, former Dutch international Gregory Van de Wiel. Reports so far are that he's looking good. TFC are looking at this as a new challenge, a real step up from winning the MLS last year.

It was 0-0 at half-time but, bad news, Vargas just scored for Tigres. Counter attack, bad defending.
Ah well, there's always next year. I never fancied TFC's chances in Mexico. With an away goal for Tigres it'll be even harder now.

Update: 1-1 Altidore. Hope.

How Steve Wright muscled in on Day -100

Day -100 WorldCup2018

Well, well, well. One hundred days to go. It popped up on a visit to the BBC website today and I thought, bah, amateurs, where were you when there were 900, 800, 600, 200 days to go?

I had a dose of nostalgia today when I found out that Steve Wright is still on BBC Radio, the same Steve Wright who I used to wake up to every morning over twenty years ago; the Steve Wright from whom I first heard of the comedian Steven Wright and that really confused me. Hearing him took me back to the days of the opening day of the 1994 World Cup (the only day of that World Cup that I was in England for), Eric Cantona and scissor kick attacks on abusive supporters, the seagulls and trawlers that followed that kick, Tony Yeboah and amazing goals for Leeds, Leeds playing a season as reigning champions, Liverpool winning the league (oh no, sorry that was before that time), trips to Villa Park, Dean Saunders' wonder goal against Ipswich scored right in front of me at the Holte End, Dalian Atkinson (oh Dalian, RIP), Steve Staunton's incredible dare-to-dream goal at Old Trafford watched in a near empty pub in Loughborough on a Sunday afternoon where the few locals wondered what I was getting so excited about, Man United winning the first Premier League. And there was University, but I'm the football nerd.

The last bit was particularly painful with Fergie time, Sheffield Wednesday, Steve Bruce, Brian Kidd and all that. The saddest trip to Villa Park was the final home game in 1993, prior to which the league title was already pretty much lost but a 1-0 defeat to a desperate Oldham confirmed that United would be champions. My first end of season lap of appreciation for the fans by the Villa players was a sombre affair. All the excitement of the 5-0 win against Middlesbrough (my first match), the late winner against Wimbledon (when the Holte End was packed because of the £5, or £10(?) special) and the memorable abuse of Vinnie Jones, the Saunders goal against Ipswich, the many Dwight Yorke magical moments: all of that fun, all the exertions, looked like it had drained out of the players' faces as they trudged around the pitch.

I say sad and sombre but I always remember that it's all relative to real sadness. The BBC had a great time repeatedly reporting yesterday and Sunday about an Arsenal fan who called into the radio, in tears, because of Arsene Wenger and what he is doing to Arsenal. In tears. Really. I digressed, but I really have to stop because I could take that a lot further.

Steve Wright's on the radio but where are Leeds or Oldham, or, of course, even Villa? Oldham in the Premier League. It really happened, kids. Joe Royle was the genius manager who then couldn't do a thing right at Everton. They are now in the third division. And this was also around the same time that Tranmere Rovers almost beat Aston Villa in the League Cup semifinal. Tranmere were up 3-0 in the first leg and Villa scored in the 94th minute. In the second leg it was 2-1 for Villa until a couple of minutes before the end. It went to extra time and Villa won on penalties. Against Tranmere. They are now a non-league team.

If anybody is still with me now on this personal history journey of mine, I commend you and thank you.

That's my 100 days to go marker then. A look back at something quite unrelated. I should have, could have, mentioned Boris Johnson's threat that England will not "fully" participate in the World Cup, after the suspicious incident involving the former Russian spy and his daughter in England today. Hoping they both recover is more important than Johnson's theatrical diplomacy.

One more thing. It's hard to get fully excited about the 100 days to the World Cup when before that I have to suffer (relatively) through Aston Villa's increasingly tight promotion battle. Another win today was good. That's nine wins out of the last eleven, but wins for Fulham and Cardiff means it's going to mean that even a draw is going to seem like a defeat.

I'll leave it there. C'mon the Villa. C'mon the 100 days, be good, full of fun and we look forward to the end.

Russia: not so happy

Day -101 WorldCup2018

I was in the mood for something happy to share and I chose my subject to be Russia at World Cups. Bad choice, if you are Russian. Sorry.

They haven't been exactly lighting up the World Cups since the break up of the Soviet Union. So I thought I'd go further back and recall my memories of Igor Belanov and Oleg Blokhin, their stars (that I remember) of the 1986 World Cup team. But, oops, they are both Ukrainian. And, even worse, of the 22-man squad, 16 played for Ukrainian teams: 13 for Dynamo Kiev and 3 for Dnipro.

So there goes my happy feeling post. Bad memories for Russians, that's all I gave you.

Davide Astori

Day -102 WorldCup2018

There didn't have to be any thought as to what I had to write about today. Sadly, it was very simple.

Davide Astori. Fiorentina's captain, Italian international, died suddenly today hours before a league match against Udinese.

This is his only goal for Italy where he got a touch just before the ball crossed the line. He was playing for Cagliari at the time and this was the first time since the great Gigi Riva that a player from that team had scored for Italy, something the club and the island of Sardinia were very proud of.

James Horncastle, writing for the BBC reminded me of an Arrigo Sacchi quote, very appropriate for today:

"Football is the most important of the least important things in life."

Funny stuff in the MLS

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This is MLS themed today.

I started the day reading a very interesting article in the Independent about the issues with football in America, specifically the lack of existence of any support from the US Soccer Federation for any league other than the MLS, and the absence of promotion and relegation. The owners of two clubs outside the MLS have put together a case for the introduction of promotion and relegation to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, citing the lack of implementation of Fifa rules in football in America.

"Article 9 of Fifa’s statutory regulations enshrines promotion and relegation, ordering that a club’s “entitlement to take part in a domestic league championship shall depend principally on sporting merit. Of course this is not the case in the US, where the only way into MLS is with a cheque."

"The question for Fifa is whether they have the stomach to forcibly impose this on the US. The fact that they have not done so yet, with MLS about to start its 23rd season, is revealing enough."

Read the whole story.

Later this afternoon after sitting through a couple of Premier League matches, devoid of the excitement of keeping up with Aston Villa's score at the same time (the beast from the east saw to the postponement of their match) it was time for the start of the MLS season.

My first "what?" moment was when Remi Garde appeared on TV being interviewed in his role as manager of Montreal Impact. Remi Garde was the supposed saviour of Aston Villa in their last year in the Premier League. Hired because of his glowing reputation in France he came to Birmingham when Villa were already looking like they needed a miracle. In the months that followed Remi sat back and, with his complete lack of charisma or any sense of excitement, watched as Villa got worse and worse. Really, having a big teddy bear sitting in the dug out would probably have had the same result, and results. We heard that Remi was off back to France for a job where he would be appreciate for all his managerial talent. And now here he is in the MLS. It's hard to see it as a compliment of his skills.

Then it was TFC' s turn to take to the field for their "home opener" against Columbus. Home openers are a big deal in North American sports. And TFC made sure they added to the occasion by not only marking the first day of a new season but also celebrating the successes of last season. So after the players came out on and lined up on the pitch they had to watch highlights of last year's greatest moments on the big screen, moments that brought them the three trophies that were proudly on show.

But what also adds to the uniqueness of home openers in Toronto is that it can be pretty damn cold at the beginning of March. Today wasn't a particularly bad day. It was around 2 degrees Celsius, but the wind off Lake Ontario added a significant chill. So not only were the players probably very keen to get playing, because that's what they like doing, they were most likely cursing the cold hitting their bare, standing still legs.

However, they weren't the worst off. Each player had one or two young kids accompany them on to the pitch. And while the players wore their cosy looking track suit tops and gloves to keep their hands a little toasty, the poor little ones were all decked out in TFC short-sleeved shirts and shorts. They looked freezing as they walked out and must have been beyond miserable as they stood there for what must have seemed like forever.

Curiously, Seba Giovinco's companion, a little girl, was wrapped in a winter coat, hat, scarf and gloves. I wondered if she was either his daughter or the daughter of smart parents (maybe Mr and Mrs Giovinco) who said there is no way my girl is going to stand out there in that cold in a t-shirt and shorts.

And there I just spent more time than I imagined I would lamenting the cold felt by the poor children. There are be worse things, but I just couldn't help feel sorry for them and shake my head at how no-one thought to keep them a bit warmer.

Funny stuff over there in Denmark

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Friday is the day I occasionally check what's going on in the Danish Superliga. There were no matches today, unusually, based on my past discovery of regular matches everyday from Friday to Monday, but I did come across an interesting story.

On Wednesday three fans of Hobro IK won a sponsor's raffle to watch their team from a pitchside hot tub. It was -4 degrees and snowing. Their team lost 2-0 to Copenhagen but at least they also got to drink beer in the hot tub as they sat there in their bikinis.

I also stumbled upon an older story of Brondby being fined last May because their fans threw dead rats at their opponents.

Crazy, and a bit weird, people those Danes.

Drugs at Russia 2018

Day -105 WorldCup2018

It was widely reported today that fans will be allowed to bring cocaine, heroin and cannabis into stadiums during the World Cup in Russia as long as they have a prescription.

In the past Russian authorities had warned fans that it would be very hard for them to get their hands on alcohol in or around stadiums and at fan zones. President Putin stepped and made sure that changed. Now it turns out fans can get away with more than just a beer. Russia is part of the Eurasian Economic Union which allows for certain drugs to be brought into Russia as long as all the correct forms are filled in.

Apart from the catch of having to have a prescription the organizers have also maintained that the security teams will be strictly monitoring fans for effects of drugs or alcohol in stadiums. So if somebody has a prescription, which on paper means they have to use the drug when needed, they still won't be able to take the drug. So why bring it anyway?