Scotland good, England not so good

Scott had a go at me the other night - he said that I hadn't said anything about Scotland's victory. Or anything at all about our night in the pub with the Scotland/England double header on Sky, the week before last (a real case of first half good, second half not so good)

Truth be told, it's been a busy two weeks both in and out of work (trip home - Bury lost that weekend) and last week I was too damn tired to think about anything. But yes, Scotland’s victory was impressive, plus two wins out of two means they are in good position to qualify even if admittedly there are tougher games ahead. But at least they took the game to Norwich, erm, I mean, Lithuania...

...which is more than can be said for a return to "form" by you know who. Another performance worthy of England's world cup campaign now that the fizz of the first two games against Greece and the mighty Andorra seems to have fizzled out. Perhaps Lampard and company have had bigger things on their minds of late - maybe all those books are not selling so well, which I suppose could mean the difference between making £55000 or £60000 this week? Got to feel sorry for the lads, still, Beckham's spoken out on his burning desire to fight his way back into the squad - (he has a perfume out too! Convenient) - still, on the pitch it was a job done, with six points in the bag and top of the group, so why so sad...

Another job done, exceptionally well in this case, was Northern Ireland. Fantastic result! But while the red tops cannot fail to fawn over England, the Northern Irish press has been anything but fawning over Lawrie Sanchez of late. But rather than cynically write a blog to moan about it (or maybe he has a book on the way?) he chose the more dramatic step of walking! Only to walk back again! Classic! Until next time, unless things change... still, three points and three goals in the bag for the boys at Windsor Park.

I was also supposed to get together with Scott for the other battle of Britain last week in the Champion's league - interesting as I thought neither of us would contemplate supporting either of our national club sides, and that's for sure! But I guess that's a conversation for another time...

Episode One: The Phantom Supporter(s)

Let me start at the beginning. Back when England were playing Trinidad and Tobago, somewhere between kick off and Rooney coming on, I overheard this crazy conversation between Jess and her work pals with regard to Star Wars (it's all I had to look forward to the summer before, even after the disappointment of two previous major outings - sound familiar?!). Anyway, Jess, bless her, joins in, and like a fly to one of those luminous blue electric lights that hang on the wall in restaurant kitchens, I'm drawn in. The conversation centres around the fact that none of the company present, keen film buffs the lot of them, had ever seen all six Star Wars films back to back. That's understandable right? I mean, they are not the greatest set of films ever and there are at least two hours a piece? And yet, there is something instinctly appealing about them and the impact they had on my growing up.... ...so several pints, a great Terry save, and a couple of late goals courtesy of Crouch and Gerrard later, we agree to get the thing organised (someone even offers their house - complete with BIG screen - as a base for the weekend) Fast forward two months - I start a blog about footie and the impending Euro qualifiers and their impact on the home nations and - BAM! - it dawns on me (after the first two entries) the first weekend of the entire project is when Jess and I have agreed to the once in a lifetime project... I feel conflict - the good and dark sides of my consciousness are in turmoil, fear of missing out on either turns to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.... ....and Andorra does look like a turkey shoot! So I am turned to the dark side... ...which is fine at first, but then I really start to sweat about my blog! And I feel I'm really letting myself down right at the start. Anyway, two Star Wars films later I'm happy to forget, until after a walk to the shops for extra supplies, we see some kids in a neighbouring house gathered around the TV - they are not so cynical as to be put off a damp summer. My phone beeps - it's Scott - "6-0: let's see what your lot can do"! I need to know! So I am tested on three fronts - loyalty to my nation, and loyalty to the self-imposed impartiality of this project - not to mention loyalty to completing the Star Wars saga! We manage to get back into the film festival groove and I don't share these conflicted thoughts with the present company - although if ever there was a time to discuss the issues of conflict and loyalty I'm probably not in the worst company based on what we are watching! The Empire rises, and falls, and life goes on...

So what did I miss? By all accounts it's a good start for England and Scotland, a strong performance (although ultimately a disappointment at wasted chances) for Toshack's Wales and a shocking disappointment at least for Lawrie Sanchez at his Northern Ireland team's performance. Scotland probably have the most to be pleased with, their best performance (goal-tally wise) for 37 years although they certainly face tougher tests than "the rock". England are getting into a groove although the defence was never really tested. Can we be so euphoric about the equivalent of Chelsea v Basingstoke? Andorra (it's a twin principality, if you hadn't heard!) ranks 132 out of 139 football nations. Macedonia, or even Croatia, could prove to be their first major test. Wales have something to take away and they cannot afford to squander home advantages as they have done in previous campaigns and one can only hope that Sanchez is proved right and Northern Ireland do improve against the bigger teams as they triumphed over England last year - Spain could prove a significant test for the new era at Windsor Park.

And what have I learnt? It takes approximately five 330ml bottles of Kronenburg to make it through a George Lucas production and I've got to take this more seriously if anyone else is going to take it seriously. So, we have Lithuania v Scotland and Macedonia v England back to back on Wednesday to look forward to, as well as Northern Ireland v Spain. And this time there are no prior engagements, and no excuses.... the force is strong with this one...