or should that be England 2.
That’s what it would have been on paper after the German’s stuffed Maradonna’s lot in the quarter-final on Saturday, of course on actual grass it probably would have somewhat different.
Yes Argentina were not good, at one point they were just humping aimless long balls up the park – it was just like watching England except Heskey wasn’t there falling over – and they never really looked like scoring but I still feel they would have humped England’s superstars. Messi would have finally found his form, though it has been ridiculous to compare him with the rest of the big names that haven’t performed to the standard we have expected. Rooney, Ribery, Ronaldo, Torres etc. haven’t performed at all whereas Messi did play his part in Argentina getting as far as they did. No he didn’t score but at least he did contribute to the team, unlike those others mentioned. I did start to type Kaka’s name in that list as well but then thought better of myself as I still don’t rate him, though that doesn’t explain why I included Ribery who is also vastly overrated.
On Saturday night unlike the rest of the known world I wasn’t supporting Ghana. The main reason for this was ITV and their insistence that everyone was Ghanaian for the night. So of course Uruguay cheated their way into the semi and the Dutch contain footballers the TV sofa sitters have heard of so we all have to be orange for the night. Er no. I won’t be orange and supporting the Dutch as the TV channels will be claiming everyone is. I couldn’t bring myself to actively root for any team containing van Pervert or Kuyt, especially when they’ve been as dull as the current Dutch outfit.
I don’t care about how Uruguay got there, they wouldn’t if someone had taken the penalty properly as he did a few minutes later. Funny reading some of the vitriol in the media, would they have been saying such a thing if it had been the other way round? I doubt it, they would have been praising the Africans for growing up in the game, showing some nous. Would it have been the hand of all Africa?
Funny how there was much talk of the South American’s getting through the groups and the low numbers of European teams and then you get to the last 4 and it’s three from Europe and one rather unexpected South American team.
I had picked a Brazil v Argentina final. The former certainly wasn’t picked because I rated them just figured teams get scared of the shirt and the players who have filled it in the past. Some luck for Holland that Dunga’s mob had to wear their away kit. The blue doesn’t instil any fear does it?
I figured the latter would get through once Diego had figured he wasn’t playing his strongest front line. Always felt that Milito and Agüero would be better alongside Messi than Higuaín and Tévez. But that wasn’t to pan out, also figured that any team who left Riquelme – that’s Juan Román Riquelme not Larissa Riquelme – Cambiasso and Zanetti out couldn’t be half bad. Though of course I wasn’t figuring him using a Newcastle player as a fullback in place of Zanetti.
I wasn’t at the beginning of the tournament figuring on the Germans turning it on. I should have known better shouldn’t I.
I see Alan Hanson is making as big a dick of himself in print as he does on the telly. “You can’t win anything with kids”, he’s spouting that crap again. This time with the England set-up. What he and so many seen to not realise is you can’t win anything with this bunch of established failures. He needs to listen to one of his print colleagues who has finally had the guts to tell the truth about Steven Gerrard. That he is “tactically illiterate”.
I see Spurs are also at the front of the queue for things that are wrong with the national team. They have refused permission for 4 of their players to take part in an international Under-19s tournament. The full senior squad won’t advance beyond the mess it’s currently in if the club v country situation isn’t resolved. Added to that they are one of the favourites for Joe Cole’s signature, a player who epitomises so much that is all wrong about the over-hyped failures that are current England internationals. Here’s a player who isn’t close to being as good as he thinks he is – while slagging off others technique he should look as his own ability to lose possession of the ball – has been a bench warmer for club and country but wants a huge pay-packet and to dictate where he plays. But he only wants to play in England, hasn’t got the balls to try his “technique” abroad, where it would be found out very quickly.
But I’ve seen the future, after the announcement that because money is tight, Roy took another job and ‘Arry ‘as baggage Capello will keep his job for another two years – when over a third of managers at this tournament have had the decency to quit of have been sacked – and the future is in Fabio’s own words “Bobby Zamora!”
English football, the gift that keeps giving!