Originally posted by Stanfordian
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Hmm. I fancy Belgium to beat Brazil, actually. What is known in the trade as a 'good value bet'.And the tune ends too soon for us all -
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Originally posted by Stanfordian View PostStan, Messi has been consistently disappointing in World Cup competitions but no one has ever seriously said that he shouldn't be played. Sterling as with many players in this squad isn't quite playing in his best position. We don't necessarily have a natural No 10. Had Phil Foden been given opportunities at Man City - and there are other examples - we might have had more options for creative play. I note that Allardyce is carping/managing from the side lines. Mostly what he is saying doesn't impress me, mainly because he is saying it at this time. But I think he is right to express concern that few of England's goals have come from open play. Hopefully this will have been addressed in the most recent training. To my mind, we should stick with Sterling on the basis of limited alternatives and the law of averages. Rashford has only scored 3 goals for England in three years and Loftus-Cheek has scored none.Originally posted by Beef Oven! View PostComment
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Sociological aspects:
Some contributors are slightly older than me and have memories of the 1966 World Cup and/or slightly less impressionistic memories of 1970. I am now struck by how England fans of a certain age were in a similar position to supporters of the other Home nations in missing out on quite a lot. We didn't qualify from the time I was 7 to when I was 19. With hindsight, it might not be entirely coincidental that I didn't attend a football match from the age of 10 (my last early one was in 1973 before the failure to qualify for 1974) and 1982 (after that World Cup). These things can be defining, much as any length of time a political party is in power, whatever you happen to think of it (in my case the Conservatives from age 16 to 34).
Hooliganism as it was presented in the media was also something of an issue during my teens, along with an emphasis on school work. It probably encouraged a statto quality in many of us with a focus on football journalism, league ladders and football based table games. You can hear that influence in much of journalistic output now, where those who are slightly older show an imagination to veer, within reason, from the editorial constraints imposed on them. They are mainly less identikit though the modern template here is still quite good.
Historical connotations were also different. Older family members who had attended matches, the game before the television age when, by definition, it had as a supporter to be more conceptual and no less substantial for being so, the fact that it was all much closer to when it had all started, with the previous century of it concertinaed (yes it really is spelt like that) into two zones - 1930 and onwards (again and probably no coincidence the start of the World Cup as well as the radio age) and the little known 50 or so years of football before it.
When I trawl through the YT footage of celebrations of fans in London, Brighton and elsewhere, I recognise that what I am seeing is not quite what I expect. Mostly I shouldn't be surprised as it is an extension of society and what one witnesses on any street as a whole. Younger obviously - many would not recall Three Lions the first time around - and from a wide range of working backgrounds. There is a combination of all knowingness and naivety there. No doubt many have wives and girlfriends but there appears to be a glaring gap between the two concepts. It isn't especially easy to believe. Elsewhere, it is all more mixed gender and/or mixed age : older adults, sometimes with kids - where the atmosphere is somewhat different. These are people who are reasonably savvy on health issues and legal rights and one senses that it is the latter which diminishes more direct aggression. But across the spectrum, there is a slightly contrived way with emotional expression - it's wilder and no doubt genuinely joyous but also a bit hyped up : a little "post Diana" in some ways.
The traditional male working classes have gone. The ones who naturally bonded as an extension of bonds in the workplace and who, as soon as they became parents, if not before had no thoughts about their own personal appearance. These days it is the older kids who seem unconcerned in the latter regard while the parents have huge emphasis on emulating the Beckhams. They were there at Euro 1996 although they had already travelled. Picket liners who listened to the Faces had slightly mellowed so that hooliganism had been translated into an amusing and colourful devil-may-care that wasn't wholly out of sync with the ways of their grandfathers. Younger punkish elements had moved on to big business, art or nothing.
Now, of course, they are in their 60s and their 70s. And I guess it was around 1989 when in our own late 20s we were suddenly in trainers and Sergio Tacchini shirts when not reading the NME or later Q. More football tops were also worn. It was a tad edgy but counterbalanced by a sense of freshness and hints that many alongside, only ever so slightly younger, were sporadically on ecstasy and full of the new summers of love. Perhaps it is something about one's 30s - and it didn't always seem so at the time - but I would say that the 1990s were unexpectedly the decade when I felt the greatest sense of inclusivity in football and in the round. Most external reference points in other people were identifiable. One can see the seven Britpop years - the 1990 World Cup was a critical axis along with Diana's death after Euro 96 in 1997 - as having been the start of the new but without the media hype of the 2000s.
.........it's fine but personally I feel that anyone under about 42 is a different country.Last edited by Lat-Literal; 06-07-18, 15:06.Comment
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....I see some folk admire their footballing qualities....but basically Uruquay are just thugs....referee: all theatrics but naive....(all refs generally it seems- only 3 yellows in tournament)bong chingComment
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....sod Sterling....NO MORE CHANCES....Originally posted by Lat-Literal View Postbong chingComment
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"...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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Thugs, perhaps. But amazing footballers. C’mon Suarez, ger yer finger out!Comment
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....to Uruguays credit....cough ahem....at least they didn't go around clogging all the star players once it was obvious they had lost -as they usually do....bong chingComment
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Without Cavani, Suarez had no real outlet - brilliant feint by Griezmann to create the first goal, and then wonderful Courtois save. Once that happened Uruguay offered very little.Comment
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Lloris actually ! I'm just looking forward to next Friday when BT Sport have Kilmarnock v St Mirren from group H of the League Cup. Well, it's a better prospect than the programme for the First Night of the Proms.Originally posted by johncorrigan View PostComment
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Thanks zola - getting ahead of myself - cor! are the Buddies getting going already and I've not been on my hols yet!Originally posted by zola View Post
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I generally like French sides but the only surprise with this lot is that they weren't required to wear on their shirts a picture of Macron. Deschamps is not the most exciting of managers. Mmm-Bop is clearly worshipping the antics of Neymar. And if England do play France it will be a re-run of Atletico Madrid against Arsenal with Griezmann as usual bathing in glory.
On balance, I am for Brazil over Belgium and either of them over France.
The only negative is Neymar but then away from the hype Countinho is their key player.
Jesus, for example, even now is no Aguero.Comment
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Soon, there will be only six countries left in the World Cup - all European!Comment
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