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.
Friday, 31 March 2017
Thursday, 30 March 2017
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?
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.
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.
Wednesday, 29 March 2017
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.
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.
Tuesday, 28 March 2017
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)
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)
Monday, 27 March 2017
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.)
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.)
Sunday, 26 March 2017
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"
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"
Saturday, 25 March 2017
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.
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.
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