Warming up

This is going to take a lot more planning than I thought even at the end of my last entry... It's very easy to be drawn back in to old behaviour! Bad habits (like ringing my mate and agreeing to go down the pub to watch England v Greece) are hard to get out of. If I'd planned my week better, I'd have done the same on Tuesday instead, watched Wales v Bulgaria on Sky, and sat at home Wednesday night with my Jess and the Beeb rather than get drunk with my mate (which is always fun) and listen to him dissect a remarkable first performance by the McClaren's team (which much as I appreciated at the time, being an avid Scot he can't help himself!) My point is though I'm going to have to take opportunities when they are there, as it's going to make this "Mission"/"adventure"/"story"/"whatever" harder if I don't...

Wales v Bulgaria, although only a draw, and a rather poor performance by Bulgaria, was encouraging. If they enter this competition with more confidence, building on the two-year Toshack inspired revolution, their youth and experience could see them put in a more consistent performance than in recent years (which Wales will need against the likes of Germany). A lot (perhaps too much, too soon) has been said about England's performance (and jokes like first half good, second half not so ARE also consistent!) but it was very encouraging - if a little hurtful like "why couldn't they have...." etc. Let's see eh.... ...but no denying the best friendly result since beating Northern Ireland in 1932, which leads onto...

...Northern Ireland and Finland. Another encouraging performance - despite losing their number two coach only hours before - and again with little or no coverage! - back to my last point about making more of an effort to get info - my mission for the next couple of weeks it to get into the murky world of regional news, particularly for Northern Ireland, who I've not heard a lot from since, well, the last time they met England.......

Missing someone? Scotland meet the Faroe Islands in their first competitive match on September 2nd, as do all the home nations. This leads to my next dilemma, one I’m not prepared to admit to you yet........!