Day -92 WorldCup2018
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.
Wednesday, 14 March 2018
Tuesday, 13 March 2018
Aston Villa? No, no mention
Day -93 WorldCup2018
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?
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?
Monday, 12 March 2018
Russian trouble for England fans?
Day -94 WorldCup2018
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.
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.
Sunday, 11 March 2018
Emgland boycott
Day -95 WorldCup2018
"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.
"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.
Saturday, 10 March 2018
It's all happening in the Championship
Day -96 WorldCup2018
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.
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.
Friday, 9 March 2018
Eder, before some Villa-Wolves
Day -97 WorldCup2018
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?
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?
Thursday, 8 March 2018
The Princes and the World Cup
Day -98 WorldCup2018
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.
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.
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