My Little World10

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sporteditors/2007/06/euro_2008_on_the_bbc.html

(title- i am referring to the humourous and strange comments on the article rather than the article itself) 

so the bbc 'won' the rights to euro 2008 according to their director, i got slightly confused as he said 'we got euro 2008' and then said it was shared with itv - we being the pair of them then? if so this is barely an achievement

from what i know about past tournaments free-to-air channels have to get international tournaments, the bbc and itv are the only two channels who are allowed to broadcast such international sporting events (4 and 5 aren't totally covered apparently -  i don't get 5)

so how exactly have they won? from the strange comments i worked out that there is some payment involved, and it was uefa causing problems by wanting more money, (i think) so by itv and bbc teaming up they ensured that the bbc kept the footie - therefore itv admitting that they are pathetic at football coverage, and everything else to boot

from what i understand british (or international?) law ensures that the bbc or itv has to get these events, huge international events such as euro/world cups, wimbledon (it's important here) and the olympics have to be supplied to the majority of the nation, therefore as not everyone has sky/cable only terrestrial channels are allowed these - some victory this is

i may be wrong but the bbc hasn't disputed this and no-one else seems to disagree so essentially the bbc are patting themselves on the back for winning practically nothing and wanted a pop at the licence fee, or perhaps that they are treated unfairly in a commercial market, either way i'm now moving on to the issue i'm far more knowledgable on - controversy!

firstly some people complained about ireland being included by the bbc bloke, he was being sensitive here, trying to not say wales wouldn't qualify as mathematically they still can (will never happen), and we all know england is over-represented in football here - why? because theyre the best side, the fact is scotland have a slim chance of getting past 3 superior teams - they are in a better position compared to us but the truth is they (and everyone else in that group) will get beaten by italy and france whereas we may be slightly adrift but will eventually get through - northern ireland stand a good chance, but may not have the legs, hopefully they will qualify though, and ireland also stand a good chance even though they technically aren't british or within the bbc

pause.. back - run out of steam now

anyway, ireland - technically considered a home nation for several reasons - they speak english, they were part of the uk until ww1, they have are irish descended communities in several cities and throughout the country, they still provide a significant amount of our immigrants, they share several of our media outlets, they are the only country with a land border to us and many northern irish people consider themselves irish - this is why ireland are in some respects a home nation, even if they aren't part of the uk, they are essentially close cousins - hence why certain countries like france who are equally close are not home nations, but are 'foreign'

as for unfair representation of england on the bbc - scotland and wales qualifying matches are aired as much as englands, if there is an england game on at the same time then bbc scotland or wales airs the respective match so we don't have to sit through it too and get to watch our own country - england does get more air time in tournaments for a simple reason - it's the only country that qualifies! wales have never qualified for a major tournament, scotland haven't this century and never get past the first round, i don't believe NI have either and ireland get a fair amount of coverage considering they aren't actually funding the bbc - their finals matches are shown, in fact all the games are shown it's just that england get far more coverage in the papers, adverts etc - and considering this is england i deem this as appropriate - the scots will complain that england get better commentary, hours of punditry and masses of pre-match hype but fact is there are 50 million+ of us and only 5 or 6 million scots - people will turn off if this is aired outside scotland - i have seen a few of the latest scotland qualifiers (we werent playing) and scotland got a fair amount of punditry and alan hansen is actually scotish remember

and as for the people who want to see cricket and horse racing on bbc - there's no market for it, the bbc still have ascot and channel 4 have plenty of cricket and horses - those who want county cricket can go sing for it - the audience is so small it's impractical to pay for it, even if it is 'their' licence fee it's hardly fair to cater to a small minority, the bbc does its best i'm sure but they and every other channel know it isn't worth broadcasting less-popular sports, although darts is apparently cheap enough...

as for the premiership - that does have the support but is worth so much the bbc can't afford it - and club football would be nice but fact is there are usually 7 games on at one time so 12 teams won't be aired, leaving fans annoyed and the bbc filling its channels with the same stuff anyway - it isn't in the national interest to protect club football from sky and co. - sky have dedicated channels and pump money into the game, which may have its downsides but does mean we can have the best league in the world, and a further point - 3pm games aren't aired for fear of losing crowds in the stadiums so there goes that idea anyway

i support the bbc, i don't like that they lost the fa cup and international friendlies as i think these are national interest (not enough clearly) but they can't spend all their money on football - they have a responsibility to air things of national importance so euro 2008's protection is justified but they also have to provide for everyone else, news, entertainment, documentaries, whatever and while they quite often make tosh they are no worse than the rest 

i hope i made a point here, i got distracted and lost my thread a bit and i didnt comment on the bbc page for a reason - it wouldnt let me go for this long 

what the bloody hell was that???

a team supposedly the fifth best in the world held to a nothing scoreline by a team of nobodies from eastern europe?

that was a shambles, absolutely shameful

i dont even need to explain why it was so bad, but i will anyway, i saw little decent play from any one player and there seemed to be no effort involved, no cohesion at all, ill give some credit to macedonia for being buggers but seriously they shouldve been taken down

in defence we were ok, ledley was hardly great but terry and cole managed to cover up the cracks, fortunately they werent really tested, neville was getting the ball forward but missed an open goal! all his fault then!

midfield, carrick was probably one of our best players, lampard was playing close to him all the time and carrick needed the ball more tho, gerrard clearly wasn't 100% and gets to miss the croatia game for a sod-all challenge, lampard was his usual useless self, and downing wasn't great, a few good crosses and thats about it, when wright-philips came on it was much better, he was the best player out there, shouldve been on earlier, he'll be starting on weds tho without gerrard

up front crouch struggled to get a chance, he came close but kept being stupid, rooney wasnt firing on all cylinders and doesnt look fit yet, defoe came on apparently?

that about sums it up - its fate i guess 

well, fortunately im old enough and experienced enough to accept a cruel defeat like that - i think it shows the sort of team england are when they can never lose by being utterly defeated, it would be so much easier to take losing if we were actually beaten!!! we're still a top 8 world side and still deserve a seeding

and do you know why im really upset? because i decided to opt for lehmann in my dream team over robinson because i couldnt bear the double agony of needing robinson to stay clean and england to win - and robinson made about a dozen saves, so he got loadsa points (admittedly said saves were fairly simple shots)

so...where do we start really

the 10 men of england fought brilliantly, they were better without the roo, and were ultimately the better side, they didn't score though so...that's what you get

portugal did not deserve to win, how can i say that without being biased? i probably can't so i asked a german and he said portugal dont deserve to be in that semi, i agree and to me that game was a draw not a win or a loss - penalties are like drawing lots - so i dont accept that portugal won, they progressed and will hopefully be demolished by the french

it goes against my nature as an englishman to support the french, however in football terms they played well, beating brazil again and playing some great footie, particularly the elderly bald one (ZZ) - i wouldnt have objected to a defeat in the semis to them, as long as it wasnt bloody penalties

so there are only the 4 euro sides left in, a rare situation considering brazil's many feats (quarter finals? Brazil?? oh well) - the 3 european world cup winners and one team of pretenders and drama queens (ok italy are still in it but they didnt play us did they and at least theyve got 3 to their name) - of course englands presence would be a perfet scenario for a european world cup (all 4 euro world champion sides, if youre wondering why im so hung up about it it's because usually europeans win it in europe and south americans win it in south america - this makes it 9 each between the 2 conts) but it was not to be - portugal must now be detroyed at all costs

shall i rant about the portuguese? ive said it before and i will say it again, and again and probably again - they are a bunch of little tarts and cheats - particularly one, you know who it's gonna be - yes that little cunt ronaldo, yes he's skilled but hes also an arrogant little shit, we were all shouting abuse at him in the group stages and wenever he plays for man united (thats not gonna help his rep in england is it) - so its not just because he basically got rooney (his own bleeding teammate - lucky hes got a scottish manager) sent off

as alan shearer and co. pointed out it is not an english thing to go up to the ref and urge him to book players, that doesn't happen in england much and usually would result in a booking for said gimp - but in internationals, the so called 'better' sides particularly do it - although more like the mediterreans and latin sides (germans dont seem as bad) and it will incense players, i appreciate rooney is hardly the most restrained of all players, and i make no excuses for him but he was being wound up earlier and ronaldo had no reason to be in the refs face (anyone wonder if a non-argie ref wouldve been more sensible?)

so in short - ronaldos a cunt and should never step foot inside this, his adopted homeland - i think no differently of my team - it was expected to be honest, lampard and gerrard being saved tho? bloody ricardo

im keeping on...:  ratings time

Robinson: didnt let any in did he? he even had a fairly good shoot out, altho he didnt actually connect with the 2 missed, it was just ricardo saving every bloody shot that screwed us up - he wasnt really challenged tho, one decent save i think so its a 7

Neville: he's been away?? had a great game - 8

Terry: booked unfairly, played very well - 7.5

Rio: as always - 8

A. Cole: reliable as always, got forward a lot, did the job - 8

see!! this is how good our defence is!! we just cant bloody score

Hargreaves: i think he'll be coming back a hero of sorts, maybe not "hero" but certainly the press have no reason to berate him any more - will he come back to england or just stay?? he had a very good game, probably our best player, he was defensive, thats not his fault, it was a tactical problem and lies with sven - 8

Beckham: poor old boy, didnt really see much of him again but just completely losing it with the ref (and justified in doing so) and his raw emotion warrants a 7

Gerrard: he was my one hope of scoring as the game went on, he nearly did it and like most of the team picked up after rooneys dismissal, bloody ricardo - 7

Lampard: had a bit of a crap world cup really hasnt he? he's never replicated what he does for chelsea for the england side, lucky for him we all know what he is capable of but it may get tired soon - 6

Joe Cole: i saw him trying so hard! him and ashley looked great on that left flank, getting the ball forward and trying to put it up to rooney - 7.5

Rooney: oh god where should i start? i wont blame him that much - he was isolated up front and we had more chances without him, his red card fired the team up and so is it his fault? - no, he was provoked, he shouldve known better but...i refuse to be that harsh to him, it was sven and his bloody one up front - 5.5 (red cards still a red card)

Crouchy: i love crouchy, i really do, he was putting the effort in all alone up front and tried really hard, he lacksthe pace and strength tho - 7

Lennon: also love this guy, excellent at getting the ball up which beckham cant do and went round dozens of players, he should be in that first team - pity its the captains slot hes in contention for - personally i think despite lampards brilliance he should be dropped, beckham should switch to central and lennon on the right - if beckhams still got the goods then great, if not youve got lamps as back up 

sven: yes hes getting a bloody review as i attribute this to him, i appreciate that managers only get flack for losing games and rarely praise for winning them but he really does deserve it - one up front against portugal? one up front doesnt work, even if you had bloody pele!! i know our midfield is great, our defence is great but 0-0 does not win games! we need a two pronged attack with rooney in his best position - when rooney left we still had our defence, which worked fine as it shouldve - but was he really expecting a penalty win?? it's hard to make a 10 man team strong but he didnt risk anything - just say fuck it and drop into 4-3-2, bring on walcott! take a chance! put gerrard up front with crouch! leave lamps or hargreaves, cole and lennon to hold midfield - do something! anything! - what does he do? uses the final sub to bring on a defender for a penalty! why did u even bring walcott???

i still hate little bastard ronaldo more - just for being who he is, very unnice of me but seriously he's an unsporting bastard (i quite like figo - just to prove i dont completely hate them just for "beating" us) 

we're not gonna win are we? ill be happy with semis to be honest

so we now have our 8 quarter finalists - the 6 world cup winners are through, and then there's portugal and ukraine, so from having an african and oceanian side we now have 6 europeans and brazil and the argies, all too familiar

brazil game - they still dont look great, they pretty much cruised past ghana but ghana seemed quite dominant, although very poor in defence and a better side couldve challenged brazil - but theyre doing the job and are in the last 8, and looking better as they progress - germany v brazil final again?? 

france looked good at last, 3-1 was rather flattering but they did score some decent goals, couldve gone either way really, and i was predicting spain but once again they cocked up, maybe france could beat brazil and make the final more interesting - then hopefully we beat france...(pleaseeeee!!)

one point - i didnt like henry being elbowed in the chest and then going to ground holding his face, he's a good player and there was no need for that and it ruins the game, also i think they scored off that so a bit of a hollow goal for me

somebodys going to be getting an extra star 

well, as switzerland and ukraine sap the life out of 40000 fans in cologne and head for penalties im gonna write a blog as im all lethargic and depressed

italy sneak through, a pity, i was of course biased towards the ozzies and the italians played better on the day but a fair result wouldve been a draw and penalties, not a dodgy penalty in the 93rd minute

that penalty pretty much sums up why ive always hated the italians, they might have a bit of skill but they also practically invented diving and that was never a penalty - you could see all the i-ties congratulating del piero or whoever it was as he lay grinning on the ground - it's a bloody joke

i appreciate that the ozzies werent playing great but im biased and had that been england god forbid i would be fuming and penalties wouldve been fair i think...thats my two pence anyway

as for this little showdown, very few chances and as alan shearer pointed out there's been no offsides which is a pretty clear indication of boring play - i wouldnt go as far as the commentators by saying it's killing the game, it's one game out of 64 and most have been pretty good

both ukraine and switz are defensive sides, i expected ukraine to win because theyve got more up front, but they havent been able to break the swiss wall and therefore very dull - italy are defensive too so thats not gonna be much of a quarter-final, altho the i-ties have more skill than these two, but based on the ozzies they may get frustrated and held, especially if the swiss go through

think ill go watch paint dry... 

ah, the sweet smell of victory...

ok, so 1-0 isn't that impressive but it gets the job done and ecuador were pretty much neutralised by our midfield so not bad not bad, and we're definitely getting better, and we kept a clean sheet

so, time to rate the players i think

Robinson: thought he was properly injured for a minute but he was ok, had a good performance, a few mistakes early on but pretty good overall, although not tested really - 7

Terry: got booked, but got better from there and did some good work - 6

Rio: Finally come good, some brilliant clearances and looked really impressive - 7.5 (nearly gave a goal early on)

Hargreaves: I'm gonna be honest, ive only ever disliked him because the media told me to, he played well and i think now the media and fans will lay off him - 7

A. Cole: Great as always, really keeps that left side closed and he blocked ecuadors best chance, good lad - 8

Beckham: as he scored you can't really fault him, wasn't his greatest performance, he seemed ill and he was getting back and clearing well - 7.5 

Lennon: i love this kid, great pace and is a really good option for that right wing pity he only played 5 mins, and a pity he can't find a permanent place in the starting squad, im sure he will in a few years - 7

Carrick: beautiful play, did the job he went out to do and successfully held the ball up and got it forward through to lamps and stevie, i can't fault him at all - 8

Lamps: bit of a bad day for frank, he shouldve scored at least one and he didn't seem to be on top form, probably our weakest link - hopefully it was just the heat - 6

Stevie G: good play as always, not as great as usual and he fluffed a few balls but not a bad performance, could definitely play better though, again i'll put it down to the heat - 7

J. Cole: one of his bad days, you could see flashes of brilliance but he kept wasting the ball, maybe he was a bit cocky, maybe he was suffering, who knows - 6

Wazza: some great play, looked 100% fit and was consistent the whole game, great til the end and played some great balls, set up several chances, one frank shouldve finished btw - as good as he was i still think he needs someone up there with him, if frank and stevie can finish his plays then fine but i think a second striker may be useful - 8

so what now? we played quite a defensive, patient game and were pretty strong, i think our lack of attacking moves could be a weakness against a much stronger side like holland or portugal, we can't always rely on set pieces but it worked today - carrick i think earned his place on the first team, and so did hargreaves, shame we cant have a 13 man team really

ill be back later with news of holland/portugal  

###back

well that was a game wasn't it? certainly for the ref

i wouldnt even say it was a dirty match, just chaotic, the ref lost control and started by giving yellows for minor offences then the players took advantage

the dutch are a very dodgy side and i think deserved to lose for their diving, which the portuguese soon started doing themselves, i thought portugal would win and they did and we have an advantage in the loss of deco and possibly ronaldo

figo should also be missing our match, so hopefully fate will intervene somehow, unfortunately the fact that the ref gave him a yellow protects him, if he had got nothing he probably wouldve been suspended by fifa

so not a pleasant match, probably the worst of the whole tournament but it may play to our advantage and now we have to finally beat scolari - which we will!!! 3rd time lucky and all that 

me again...im posting a hell of a lot these days, but i love the world cup so why not

so germany and the argies go through as expected

germany pissed all over sweden, altho the swedish keeper did brilliantly to deny germany so many times, a fairly easy romp for the germans but they face the argies next and that will be a very intersting game (presuming england remain and i am still watching it)

as for argentina - by the skin of your teeth you dirty diving hairy little buggers, these guys are/were the current favourites and they came this (very small amount) close to going out, fair play to mexico who played a blinder (note: just had a look at the odds and the argies are still a fraction ahead of brazil, and somehow we are now 5th - behind italy?? woopdedoo, i figure neither side has a chance in reality)

so mexico played better, probably, and there were some dodgy decisions, nothing on graham poll level but heinze shouldve been sent off early for his tackle as he was the last man, (one of these days im going to understand this last man rule - surely the last man has a right to go for the ball) - and as the rules go he shouldve been sent off, therefore mexico probably wudve won - so be very thankful, i think im actually gonna support germany for the next game

im having a foreboding about tomorrow, lets just hope we win, im remembering 2002 when we won 3-0 in the last 16, then the quarters may be a bit tricky - portugal or netherlands?? i dunno who wud be easier, i think it's time for revenge on portugal for that cheating in euro 2004 

oh and in a violent, drink fuelled strain - that was blatantly the german fans starting it, i admit both sides were completely pissed by the look of it but for some reason our fans get arrested - i guess there were less english ppl to arrest, anyway, it shouldnt blight our improving rep as we didnt actually start that one (now here's a warning to what will happen if we lose tomorrow - that, times about 267)

yes yes the referee is, if you're english you'll know the chant well, meanwhile im here to moan about 2 things: referees and the french

firstly referees, i have decided that the game is far too focused on the ref, he (or possibly she) is there to ensure fair play and the following of rules and it really gets on my nerves when players get booked for things like dissent or even worse - celebration

i appreciate that refs require some degree of protection from disgruntled players so fair enough and therefore thats more of a problem with the game and the players, and partly the fault of dodgy decisions

ok, watching the germany game and lucic just got sent off for a tiny little shirt pull which frings has decided to stop running and moan about it, making lucic get a second yellow - this is my grievance, players basically abusing the referee's position to manipulate the game, in short in unsportsmanlike and it's not what the game is about

this is a hard argument for me to put across because rules against diving and dissent are there to protect the ref and ensure a fair game, (although the fact is that diving is almost always present in most fouls) - however i think some refs take it too personally, it's not their game they should just be getting on with it

diving for instance, it's basically an appeal to the ref to get a free kick - and it works both ways, sometimes they get pulled up for the dive and sometimes it works, as i said most fouls involve a degree of diving to exagerrate the tackle - this should not be so - so therefore i dont think it is the ref per se that is at fault, unless they suck, but the way the game has changed and how players abuse it

in short - do we need video refs?? 

 on to a short frog bashing - yes they scraped through by the skin of their teeth, i wouldve preferred to see them go out but they will lose to spain on monday/tuesday whenever it is and the swiss have a better chance of going through with ukraine - which i think will provide a better game

and can i just point out - out of the 6 former champions the only team not to top their group was the frogs, but thanks to portugal the board is pretty even as there as 4 seeds on both sides of the last 16 (although portugal are better than mexico anyway) 

well well, out go the usa as predicted and so do the czechs

the czechs lost to ghana and wouldve had to have beat italy so that match couldve gone either way, usa were pretty much out anyway, and ghana deserved to win

so ghana will probably get brazil, unless they are defeated by japan and oz thump croatia, but lets face it brazil will win and all eyes will be on croatia vs oz 

i havent mentioned yesterdays games, argentina and holland ended goaless and therefore holland land on our side of the board, neither of them looked impressive against a good side so maybe there's hope yet

alongside holland are portugal, those cheeky buggers who unfairly knocked us out of euro 2004, so if we beat ecuador well be getting one of them

meanwhile argentina should breeze past mexico and face germany, and hopefully italy will get australia, (or rather brazil but thats wishful thinking) 

so 10 teams decided, group f and g are pretty crucial, only one real upset so far - czechs, beaten by a worthy ghana, i hope they destroy brazil...

by the way, no that wasnt a penalty (ghana vs usa) but as they wudve drawn without it usa still wouldve gone out and exactly the same wouldve happened...so there

####me again###

im being lazy and summarising

brazil won, ronaldo finally scored, very scary...if we get to the semis we're dead i reckon

as for australia..wooooo...they won (or rather drawed)

it was actually 3-2 in my book, oz had 2 blatant penalties denied (and yet got given a more questionable one) and kewells goal was offside

and croatia had a bloke with 3 yellow cards, only graham poll could forget to send him off...ah well oz are through, bring on the I-ties! 

im tired...

so eight down, eight to go - we now have germany, ecuador, england, argentina, nederlands, brazil, portugal and spain

the only big team not to have qualified so far is france, who may or may not qualify - italy and the czech rep are in a different category as they will probably knock each other out

so spain still look good, tunisia really screwed that game up, score one and stay behind the ball for the next 90 mins? not when you aint that great a side, tunisia just hoofed the ball into the other half and retreated, spain had to eventually score really

the swiss and the ukraine also won, i felt togo should have drawn with switz but they kept screwing up chances, ukraine played well, not a bad side and should qualify behind spain

and so onto the only game that matters, 8 o clock tomorrow and to be honest i just want it all to be over, partly so i can fill out the last 16 part of my wallchart and partly because im fed up of all this speculation

rooney and owen are starting together..yay, just having rooney back is a yay tbh and hopefully he will support owen and the ball will stay on the ground and allow owen to get involved more, a lot of people have been slagging him off, mainly because he's the main goal scorer and it's more obvious when he's not delivering, ok, i appreciate he's still not quite 100% but he's not been getting the ball sent up to him enough and the long ball is a really bad plan, that's why we need rooney to get it along the ground more

then there's everybodys favourite - owen hargreaves, i dont think he's a bad player and doesn't deserve a booing, clearly sven watches the bundeslige more than most of us and he is a good player, obviously hes never played here so is unknown and that will get peoples back up, especially when he normally only plays when we're performing badly - my only criticism of him is that he's not really english, having been born and raised in canada and then germany, an englishman should not have a german accent

so what do we do, personally i dont want sven's job, unlike most people over here, because he's decided to rest gerrard  which is a good choice, he's important for the tougher games but then what do you do?

the main contenders are hargreaves and carrick, the tottenham fans all want carrick of course as a "holding midfielder" so that lamps/gerrard can break forward, the other option is hargreaves, presumably in a central attacking role and sven has gone with the german/canadian

i dont get it with gerrard and lampard, you have the 2 best centre midfields in the world in them and yet at least one of them (usually lamps) will perform subpar, gerrard is a naturally better player and can rely on personal brilliance and maybe has a little bit more of attacking mentality, i think lamps is either told, or believes that he should stay back in a defensive role as he doesn't have claude (makelele) sat behind him

ive seen games where the players seem to get their choice in how to play, usually a loose 4-4-2 which lets gerrard and lampard break free and get the ball forward, with beckham doing his usual pinpoint long balls and crosses and joe cole running up the left, and our defence does the clean up job when necessary - this for me is the best option, id just love to see both gerrard and lampard performing at their best together

my opinion - bring back scholesy!