Woeful Wednesday

Taken me a few days to catch up with this... Shock of the England result NOT being the cause (not really surprised at all) but I actually have a life elsewhere and over recent days it involved a pub crawl around the Circle Line in London! We won! We also saw a fair bit of the Man U/Wigan and Chelsea/Reading games on our travels (not the exciting bits to be honest) but we were amazed how many places were NOT showing the footie Saturday, which is a bit of a theme running over from the Wednesday before (and a worrying development with regard to pubs and their Sky licences). We found ONE place showing it near Scott's office in Canary Wharf, and after half an hour of trying to find a square inch within which to watch the England game, we gave up and followed via the internet. Surprisingly, we found a lot of other people had the same idea and comments such as "we just cannot be bothered watching them just turn up and be England anymore" were common - led us to debate when was the last time you saw a decent England game, which wasn't a 5-0 thrashing of a team less experienced than Bromley FC on the world stage. We think it was at least two years ago....

Scotland lost too, which was a pity, but they still end the year in a strong position. South of the border, we are now depending on other results in the meantime, but qualification is no longer a 100% certainty. We did catch most of the much improved performance from Wales, who are still not out of the running for qualifying just yet - what a difference five days made, and an enjoyable game to boot. Parallel to Saturday (where Wales was the warm up to the England game) a lot of fans hung about to watch something that might cheer them up after Croatia - we had also moved back to the solitary TV bar at this stage. Called it an early (ish) night at that point - such was the disappointment of the evening (okay, I said I wasn't surprised, but I couldn't help feel disappointed!) Meanwhile, Northern Ireland were further consolidating their position as a respectable football power only one place behind the qualifying positions on goal difference only and climbing the Fifa rankings to within a shout of the Republic - I was trying to stay awake on the train home...!

So what next? There are a handful of games to go in the various groups next month which will have an impact on our teams. Also a friendly against Holland for England to really prove to the world they are worthy of the hype perhaps?

Is it time for Theo?
(Was Sven right?!?!?!!!)

Shocker Saturday!

Scott and I settled into a multi-screened venue in central London this Saturday for a veritable feast of hotly anticipated international football, and at least one of us went away happy! To begin with, there was Wales - we were rather surprised at the crowd this game got although by the end we were surrounded by lost looking students and girls from out of town ("where's Frankie?!") expecting to see England on TV and instead seeing a result on screen which to be fair perhaps did not reflect the performance - Wales dominated the first half although Slovakia took their chances and used them to stunning effect (we counted six on target). Hard work to be done, not least by Chris Jones' barber, but not all over for Wales just yet....

Four pints later, and joined by Matt and Ali (the girls from out of town having departed with their luminous green cocktail - there must have been tears later...) Macedonia returning for round two against Sven Goran... ...sorry, Steve McClaren's men on all the screens in the pub bar the one at the back above our table where Walter Smith's team expected anything except a miracle win against France (Scot was at least pleased with his choice of table now but I think it was more chance than design). The next 90 minutes seemed to fly by and to be honest my attention shifted between watching the game at Old Trafford, from talking to mates, to keeping an eye on the Scotland game - all in all it was an overload on the senses. Which is more than could be said on pitch at Old Trafford. I'm not eve going to bother with that one, except to that I was reminded that I had thought their last victory in Macedonia was lucky, and this was the long overdue draw macedonia probably deserved. England are lucky to be on top of the table and Croatia and perhaps Israel must be looking on with glee...

Back to Scotland - there was a slight delay kicking off so as the England crowd went to sleep, the Scottish fans (who had by now figured out the game was on after all albeit at our table and gathered around us) were increasingly excited. Scott popped to the loo so naturally they scored! And a few minutes after the final whistle at Old Trafford, the screams of delight from the back of the pub woke the England crowd and as they turned to face us they witnessed the 12 or so people sat at the back of the pub go mental for a fantastic result!

We then left (another four pints down) as I had friends to see. I was rather a few sheets to the wind - I also had a very patient fiancee to find and a bad case of munchies to settle so I missed what was by all accounts another good performance from Northern Ireland and the second shock of the day. Lawrie Sanchez was so pleased, he threw away his jacket on this occassion, which must have left the Irish FA equally pleased as on this occassion they only had to worry about a lost jacket and not the man within...

Anyone missing Beckham?

Anticipation

Parker or Carrick? Beckham - right or wrong? Crouch - England, not Liverpool? Sanchez - did he or didn't he? Bellamy - risky decision or safe pair of hands? Scotland v France - does Walter Smiths depleted team stand a chance against the World Cup Finalists? It's been a week of questions and the anticipation is very high. Northern Ireland (manager v media aside) and Scotland have had the best of starts. Wales have two home games to look forward to and right now qualification is possible. England are still England - Rio's got a book out (it's his turn this month) and Macedonia are coming (again)... ...maybe we could return the favour of the opening ceremony of the last game which was the highlight for us - hankerchief sized flag aside (okay, there were a few muffled giggles in our place) was more than made up for by the two gorgeous ladies singing the national anthems! Do we know if Jordan and Kate Moss are available for a duet in Manchester this weekend? Maybe they could bring their other halves too for a laugh? Or maybe, just maybe, the football will finally be scintillating enough - or does it all rest on Croatia? Looking forward to the weekend...

I said it had been a week of questions and I had one for my own singing top model last weekend. She said yes ;o)

(insert your own diamond formation joke here)