The Round Ball Game - II

[Lat-Literal]

Do keep up, Lat. It was dropped 38 years ago!

Was it.

[eighthobstruction]

....now I'm afraid Lat all your stats, opinions, forecasts, histories have been drawn into question....

[Lat-Literal]

....now I'm afraid Lat all your stats, opinions, forecasts, histories have been drawn into question....

They always have been.

[vinteuil]

....now I'm afraid Lat all your stats, opinions, forecasts, histories have been drawn into question....

... just don't mention 'Devizes'



.

[Lat-Literal]

... just don't mention 'Devizes'



.

Even when left to my own Devizes, I probably wouldn't.

I still find that entire discussion very weird - it must have been Bristol Temple Meads on the way out and Swindon on the way back but memory wise neither feels right.

Perhaps it was Newbury - anyhow, the key detail is absolutely correct : the tomato ketchup etc.

I am very sound on these things - I can tell you that 1997 and 1998 were both mud baths but the first was like walking in deep concrete to a depth of several inches : it could not have been negotiated without tied up boots designed for the trenches which had to be bought - and even then they could come off. Some folk actually got trench foot and one of the biggest stages collapsed into it. Whereas the latter was entirely different - very sloshy like paddling in the sea from A to B. It was the sandal sellers who were especially happy on that occasion.

[zola]

Kilmarnock 0 St Mirren 0

St Mirren won 3-2 on penalties. First forum win of the season. St Mirren marginally the better team overall.

[Beef Oven!]

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180713-is-football-the-universal-religion

[Lat-Literal]

Have just seen the result of England v Belgium.

He should have played Rashford and Loftus-Cheek.

Oh hold on...…..he did.

[antongould]

Hartlepool 1 Sunderland 1

Mackems equaliser was last kick of the match .......

[cloughie]

Hartlepool 1 Sunderland 1

Mackems equaliser was last kick of the match .......

The luck of the Hangers goes on then - however they will be spared the long trek to Torquay this year, whereas The Makems will have to make the Pilgrimage! Longest league trip I think just pipping Exeter v Carlisle but I may need my dividers to confirm that!

[eighthobstruction]

.....I was lucky enough not to see this game....I wish it was Crystal Palace that had played this game....they, including Loftus Cheek, would have won....Man U + Rashford , minus Lukaku would have lost....

[Lat-Literal]

.....I was lucky enough not to see this game....I wish it was Crystal Palace that had played this game....they, including Loftus Cheek, would have won....Man U + Rashford , minus Lukaku would have lost....

With hindsight, perhaps with so many Spurs players involved, to finish in 3rd or 4th place was in the utterly predictable ball park, not that they didn't all do well.

[Beef Oven!]

Have just seen the result of England v Belgium.

He should have played Rashford and Loftus-Cheek.

Oh hold on...…..he did.

And the performance was so much better for it. They had an excellent second half and although unlucky, they succumbed to a team that had 3/4 world-class players.

[LMcD]

Just to say that I'm pleased that I can still claim that the 2 most successful England teams at the World Cup were provided courtesy of Ipswich Town. Perhaps we might have won the Jules Rimet trophy had the team been managed by Mick McCarthy? (Yeah, right...)
I've got my expectations well and truly screwed down for the Tractor Boys' umpteenth campaign in the Championship.
CORRECTION: I should, of course, have said 'two of the three most successful teams at the World Cup', seeing as we came 4th in 1990.

[Lat-Literal]

And the performance was so much better for it. They had an excellent second half and although unlucky, they succumbed to a team that had 3/4 world-class players.

There was a good one half in the previous match so at most it is a score draw.

Just to say that I'm pleased that I can still claim that the 2 most successful England teams at the World Cup were provided courtesy of Ipswich Town. Perhaps we might have won the Jules Rimet trophy had the team been managed by Mick McCarthy? (Yeah, right...)
I've got my expectations well and truly screwed down for the Tractor Boys' umpteenth campaign in the Championship.

Interesting.

I could be wrong but I am not sure the world cup is the Jules Rimet Trophy which went to Brazil in 1970 as the first team to win the competition on three occasions in line with Rimet's original instruction. I accept there were complications re theft along the way and that "Three Lions" includes the line "Jules Rimet still gleaming" but presumably it harks back to 1966.

Croatia v France

Croatia football went into this tournament following significant scandal/corruption not without links to the criminal underworld. The favourite song of the fans is "To fight, to fight, for our people" which has been the subject today of a media offensive denying vehemently any military connotation. This is almost certainly linked to FIFA's singling out of a few England fans for being political in using the words "no surrender", a point on which the FA has already been asked to answer. I doubt Croatia need to worry, though - corruption favours corruption.

So good luck to France.

That is, if you can like the Deschamps "style", the Macron "smile" and the millions who had relentlessly slagged off their team hypocritically jumping into boulevards in victory.

I will be with the tennis until that finishes.

Best fans of the tournament - Peru : entire families from grannies to babies, there for the duration, colourful, friendly, not sure how they got the money although some sold their houses deciding that they would just have to worry about it later, the visa access for all South American citizens was much more straightforward than for the British and all other EU citizens

A few England 2020 options - Foden, Maddison, Sancho, Sessegnon, Cook, Walker-Peters, Kenny, Abraham, Maitland-Niles, Winks, Holgate, Nketiah, Nmecha, Doyle, Brewster, Shelvey.