What do you think of it so far?
WITH the Euro 2020 quarter-finals now upon us what did we garner from the round of 16? Wales 0-4 Denmark, Italy 2-1 Austria (AET), Netherlands 0-2 Czech Republic, Belgium 1-0 Portugal, Croatia 3-5 Spain, France 3-3 Switzerland (4-5 pens), England 2–0 Germany, Sweden 1–2 Ukraine (AET). The Danes were a different class to the Welsh and look good for further progress. For that to happen they have to get past the Czech Republic who took advantage of a surprisingly limp Dutch side. Belgium showed that they can win with a gritty backs-to-the-wall performance against Portugal, who should really have won but came up short. But would a similar performance have been enough to get past Italy last night? The Italians, after storming through qualifying, had a hard time against Austria at Wembley and had VAR to thank for not exiting in the round of 16. Spain are now scoring goals for fun but, as could be seen in their 5-3 win over Croatia, defensively they look vulnerable. Certainly the Swiss, who saw off France in a shootout after a cracking 3-3 draw, won’t be overawed. England once again adopted a highly pragmatic approach against Germany with effectively seven defensive players. The plan worked, as England deservedly saw them off, but hopefully Gareth Southgate will be confident enough to revert to four at the back and play an extra attacking midfielder against a Ukraine side who can be expected to sit back and counter.
Earn the right
“We’re back”, “It won’t be another 23 years of hurt”, “This is just the start of a beautiful journey”, “The whole of Scotland is proud of you”. These were just some of the quotes that came after Scotland’s all too predictable capitulation to Croatia that ended their hopes of advancement out of a major tournament group for the first time ever. Well I’m sorry but if that is how they react to their team coming bottom of the group, having sneaked into the competition via multiple back doors and penalty shootouts while playing two out of three games in Glasgow, then my expectation is that we may not be seeing the Scots in a major tournament any time soon.
Guardian quote of the week
In fairness following England’s win over Germany there were many candidates, but I plumped for this gem: “Racism? More like xenophobic thumping on beer-barrelled chests harking back to the days of Rule Britannia actually riding the waves instead of being cowed by the Russians off the coast of Crimea”. Quite what this has to do with the beautiful game is frankly beyond me but it should be noted this was less than an hour after England won a football match and the writer was actually shot down by a lot of Guardianistas. That said, the amount of derision poured on our “beer-bellied, drunken, oafish, gammon, fans for booing Deutschland über alles was pretty much as expected. (As if no fans anywhere boo their opponents anthem.)
But I did like this one
“No doubt we’ll be told this was a poor German side as were the Croats and the Czechs, not forgetting the Scots, who battered us 0-0” retort “to be fair the Scots batter almost everything”. Euro 2020 quarter-finals today, 7pm: Czech Republic v Denmark; 10pm Ukraine v England. Semi-finals Tuesday, 10pm: Belgium/Italy v Switzerland/Spain. Wednesday, 10pm: Ukraine/England v Czech Republic/Denmark.
Moment of the week
Thirty-six-year-old Mark Cavendish crossing the line on Tuesday to win his 31st Tour De France stage five years after he won number 30. For a man whose career was thought to be over to now be trailing the great Eddy Merckx by just three stage wins is an incredible achievement.
F1
Austrian Grand Prix tomorrow, 4pm. Another result like last week’s on this same circuit will do serious damage to Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of retaining the drivers’ championship. Quite simply, Mercedes were dominated by Red Bull, who simply blew them away, and unless they can pull something out of the bag then this race, and quite possibly the championship, is Max Verstappen’s and Red Bull’s to lose.
If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, etc, etc
Then it probably is a duck: last week a letter writer who chose to remain anonymous basically suggested that I may be a racist because I regularly condemn Black Lives Matter as a group and its infiltration of the English football scene.
Guilty as charged, though being a supporter of a club that has proudly championed two coloured captains and having worked with and alongside people from all over the world, I would refute the racist insinuation.
The letter ended with a nonsensical sentence that I think basically meant that in my opposition to political encroachment within sport I must be racist as proven by the fact that I don’t agree with the letter writer’s point of view; or, to put it another way, if you’re not with us you must be against us. I think that way of thinking is dangerous in the extreme but he’s entitled to his opinion as I am as well, but apparently I shouldn’t express my opinion that politics has no place in sport. Welcome to cancel culture.
And finally
Last week I asked: which club has provided the most players for England over the years, and how many clubs have provided England with players that have totalled over a century of goals for the national side? For the former, the top three in reverse order reads: Aston Villa and Corinthians tied with 76, while Spurs lead the pack with 78. Others of note include Liverpool (74), Everton and Manchester United (69), Arsenal (65), and Chelsea (52).
For the latter there are five clubs whose players have totted up a century or more of goals, with United on 244, Spurs (237), Liverpool (152), Chelsea (134), and Everton (102).
For reference, Citeh’s 50 players have knocked in 91 goals while Arsenal’s have scored a mere 88. This week: who was the first player to be capped for England despite not playing in the English leagues?
Sincere condolences to those readers of the Guardian and the four million Scots who are supporting ABE (Anyone But England) in the Euros. If it’s any consolation, I hear that Sports Direct are doing a special deal on Ukraine shirts for this weekend and should (heaven forbid) England win in Rome there’s 20 per cent off Danish and Czech Republic shirts.
Keeping it in the family; the other week John Atkins walked away with the silverware at CMC and last Sunday it was his wife’s turn to upset the applecart. I couldn’t be more delighted for Rhona as she shrugged off two tens on her card to take the honours with a net 66 proving once again that good things do happen to West Brom fans. C’mon the Baggies.