Sadly for both England & Scotland there are better teams than Costa Rica & Bolivia...
Feels quite partridge for my next paragraph to be about how good England looked against Costa Rica and Im starting to get my hopes up . Old enough to know its the hope that kills you .
I think it'd have a massively detrimental effect on the nation to actually win. Glorious defeat is just what we do. It's built in to our national character and we mess with that at our peril. I can't actually see it being an issue at this World Cup any more than it has been previously though
I don't get the love for Bellingham last night – at one point in the first half, in the space of about 10 minutes, he passed the ball directly to the opposition twice, then played a ball to a team-mate so far behind him that all momentum in the move was lost, and he was anonymous for the first 20 minutes.
I watched 28 Summers last night, a doc about Scotland's qualifying campaign. Very good it was too, the togetherness of the squad really comes through. There has been a lot of talk about how Clarke has created a club mentality but I think he's created something even better than that. Most clubs now have a high turnover of players and it's hard to believe that most aren't just there because they offered the most money. I really hope they do themselves justice, for all the justified criticism of Clarke it's hard to see a better option at the moment.
Wrong shape ball. I'm out.
Don't forget to shut the (creaking) door behind you.
Looks like the first 72 games will knock out just 16 of the 48 teams. Maybe the knockout stage will be good.
A few boos for stars and stripes, not just from me.
Right, here we go. Looking forward to seeing some of the new laws / guidance in effect. 5s countdown for timewasting at throw ins and goal kicks. Subbed player has 10s to leave the field or the oncoming sub has to wait at least a minute, and then only come on at the next stoppage. Injured players leave the pitch for a minute and no team talks during injury breaks.
But the first big question - WTF were Andrea Bocelli's shoes?
Well this has started off lively enough. First goal an absolute defensive howler
I have both Mexico and South Africa in the office sweepstake. Can’t see South Africa getting anything out of this
This hydration break is fun...
I'd written off this world cup long before it'd started. However, I'd like revise that assessment based purely on my catching, in the corner of my eye, the shirt of SA player "Sithole" 😄
Poor lad
This hydration break is fun...
What? Binners at his local?
Are the hydration breaks just so the mekins can have more delicious advertisements?
However, I'd like revise that assessment based purely on my catching, in the corner of my eye, the shirt of SA player "Sithole"
...who got a red card.
I'm in Vancouver at the moment, tho not for the football....but weirdly everyone keeps referring to it as "the Fifa"......
"are you here for the Fifa?"
Very odd
