Russia 🇷🇺 2018: Prologue

It’s been a while.

I have been writing this blog at every tournament since the 2010 World Cup, but I skipped writing about the Euros in France, 2016. Why….?

The main reason was that we hired a car and I drove from the majority of the tournament: from Marseilles to Toulouse and back again. I usually end up blogging whilst on the move; on coaches, buses, flights and trains. So driving meant I didn’t have much time to keep our 12 subscribers fully up-to-date.

It was my very intention to backdate our journey through France 🇫🇷 when we arrived back in London. But then the second reason. . . Iceland happened. What an ab-so-lute $hit$how.

I was only able to make the group stages in France and my last game was the dour 0-0 draw against the might of Slovenia. I have been following England at tournaments since 2004 and whilst standing on the terrace in St.Etienne probably wasn’t the best atmosphere I have experience watching England, it was definitely the best support. The chanting didn’t stop for a single second of the second half – complete unwavering support for our country. The performance on the pitch didn’t reflect the support in the stands and it was a taster of what was to come against Iceland.

It’s taken a while, but the pain is now out the system. Moments like the Iceland game do sometimes make you question why you do this. I don’t mean why you support England, that will never change. But why you spend thousands of pounds following your football team round the globe only to be let down time and time again.

Since the last Euros, I have got married and bought a new home with my wife which inevitably means I’ve been to less away games. But now we’re back.

There have been lots of stories about the safety aspect of coming to Russia. But to put it this way – if you’re a striker and on a hat-trik – you wouldn’t want to be subbed subbed off, would you?

This will be our third World Cup. We may have lost some soldiers along the way (Nedwards, Joyce, Paddy, Pendrey – #wishyouwerehere) but we are looking forward to Russia 2018 just like no other.

May the Gods bless Russia – we are coming….

Its #EnnglandAway time.

Why Robben should be a marked man

There is no doubt that Arjen Robben is a great talent. His obvious qualities lie in his jinking runs and deadly left foot but Robben also belongs to the rare breed of footballers that genuinely improve their game with age. It is often said footballers reach their peak at 28-29 when they have the ultimate blend of athleticism, skill and experience. For forward players and for those whose game is heavily relient on pace, I would argue that a more realistic age would be 22-25 – think of Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney and Damien Duff who played on the opposite flank at Chelsea to such devastating effect (what happened to him?!). The fact that Robben has improved throughout his career is testament to his character; he is an arrogant so-and-so but he is also a winner, a big name who thrives on the big stage. This said, he is also a diver and a cheat.

On the way down

Yesterday his antics deprived Mexico of passage through to the Quarter finals, winning a penalty in the final minute with the most theatrical of leaps – slight touch from the defender, legs up, ankles apart, arched back, hands and eyes to the sky….it really did have it all. I’m sick of seeing Robbens face on TV, every time I watch him he deploys the same tactics – drive towards the box at pace, look for a touch, then go down like a sack of spuds. Yes he did get a touch on the ankle yesterday but we need to get away from the idea that the slightest contact in the box gives attackers the divine right to hit the deck. Defending is an art and football is a contact sport.

Robben even had the cheek to admit he dived: ‘I have to apologise. In the first half I took a dive. The one at the end was a penalty’. Whilst admitting his mistermeiner on Dutch TV is the typically bold and brash response you’d expect from Robben (and probably crosses Cancun off his list of potential summer holiday destinations), surely his admission is tantamount to bringing the game into disrepute? I very much doubt that FIFA will retrospectively punish Robben, which leaves the question of what can be done for the rest of tournament to prevent reoccurance?

Harder to call - Danny Sturridge goes down against Costa Rica

So far I have been impressed with the refareeing at the tournament which has favoured open games and attacking football – refarees are not blowing up for every minor point of contact which has kept the games flowing. However, throughout the course of 90mins every single Refaree will be tested by players trying to con them into giving them free kicks by diving. The automatic caution for diving makes it a big call for the Ref to signal a dive. My hope for the rest of the tournament is that the men in black will be allowed a degree of common sense in their judgement calls on particular players. What I mean by this, is that they should be allowed, to a degree, to take previous form into account when making their decisions. Robben has form for diving in this tournament; the refarees know who he is and what he has done. Next time he flops in the box and there is a degree of doubt, a penalty must not be given.

NB. that I am not suggesting that Refarees take reputation into account which can be influenced by the media. I’m suggesting that any clear indisgressions from this particular tournament should be considered behind the scenes before refarees go onto a field of play. In a way, this is sensible refareeing – by studying players, a refaree may notice particular patterns, such a defender who has a tendency to pull the attackers shirt at a corner, and will therefore be able to spot incidents during the game they would have otherwise overlooked. In the case of Robben, this may work slightly against him for the rest of the competition where he may not get those 50/50 decisions but hopefully that will gradually encourage him to think twice before chucking himself to the floor in an utterly pathetic manner.

England Vs Uruguay

This post is being written over a week after England’s World Cup dream was ended by an average Uruguay team + possibly the best player in the world right now. A lot can happen in a week; Luis Suarez is facing a 4 month ban from football after sinking his teeth into Italy’s Giorgio Chillini, England completed their World Cup campain with a mundane dead-rubber against Costa Rica and we are sat on a beautiful beach in Guarapari. Assuming that anyone reading this blog will have watched the match, there it little point in rehashing the thousands of match reports and editorial inquests into our pi$$ poor defending, so with that in mind, here is an overview of our match day experience.

Corinthians Arena

Our first task on the agenda was to get an extra ticket. Joycey’s last minute decision to divert his flight from Australia to Brazil was awesome news but it did mean he hadn’t applied for tickets via Englandfans (England supporters club). Getting tickets in Manaus hadn’t been a problem; the 3000km round trip from São Paolo had put a lot of England fans off attending the first game and the lack of travelling support for Italy also made spares easier to come by. São Paolo, however, was definitely not a buyers market; the increased amount of England fans (many of whom had flown out without tickets) coupled with South American opposition meant all of the 68,000 tickets seemed to be accounted for – we didn’t see a single person selling at the stadium Metro. A good proportion of tickets for every World Cup game had been apportioned for Brazilians only and it seemed they were all keen to attend the matches rather than cash-in, even for up to R$2000 (around £500) which is what some England fans were offering.

In the back Ref!

We needed an alternative option and it was at this point that Joyce took a gamble, flashing his ticket from the previous Italy match was enough to get him through the outer perimeter security. After 25mins of ambling up to the stadium the next checkpoint was the airport security scanners. No problem getting Joyce through here as no ticket is required, although the stewards did confiscate our World Cup (presumably because it could be used as a weapon) and our t-shirts from the fans friendly because they were not official FIFA merchandise – what a nonsense. The final barrier to entry is the ticket scan and it actually proved a litter easier than we thought; Lee and I scanned our tickets to gain entry to the stadium concourse and passed one ticket with accompanying ID back through the fence. Thankfully, once through onto the stadium concourse the stewards haven’t beeen checking tickets to get to your actual seat which meant I was able to get to my seat (without a ticket) and Lee joined me despite his ticket being for the upper tier. Outside the stadium, Joyce scanned his ticket which was obviously rejected but with 20mins of persistance in the ticketing office a ‘replacement’ ticket was issued and Joyce was in, only missing the first five minutes of the game.

It had to be.... Luis Suarez

After the refreshing attacking football that we saw against Italy in Manaus, the first half against Uruguay was a return to the more conservative football that got us through qualifing. To win World Cup games you need your best players to perform on the biggest stage. The game was a story of two strikers; Suarez who linked up well with Cavani and was clinical with both his chances and Rooney, for all his endevour, was only able to convert one chance out of three.

Fine Margins: Rooney so close

England did improve their game once behind and after the wild celebrations when we equalised the belief was that we would go on to win the tie. However, courtsey of some Sunday League-esque defending Uruguay were able to take the lead and use every single trick in the book to ensure they held out for the victory. Time wasting needs to be addressed in football and from our viewpoint the refaree had several opportunities to deal with Uruguay pushing gamesmanship to the limit. Three times he warned the keeper to speed up his goal kicks but not once did his yellow card come out for that, or for what looked to be a horror tackle on Ross Barkley.

I think he'll live

The grapes turned even more sour as we left the stadium to collect our confiscated items. The t-shirts had entirely disappeared as had our Copa – not even a simple raffle ticket system had been put in place and so the collection point had turned into a bit of a free-for-all. Thankfully three other Replica World Cup trophies had been confiscated and after close inspection we made our way back to the Metro with a replacement in hand. It took over and hour to get onto the Metro, with the military police ensuring everyone had a valid ticket – what ever happened to free match day travel?! Maybe the protests against FIFA and the World Cup had persuaded the governmenf not to fork out for a free travel. Either way, it meant that we spent about 45mins queuing along with jubilant Uruguay fans. Of course these minor complaints go completely unoticed when your team wins but when you loose and are out of the World Cup every little hurts. As we queued for our Metro tickets amongst thousands of Uruguay fans in full voice, (no idea what they were singing but it sounded amazing) I realised that we have twice travelled half way round the world only to see England knocked out of the World Cup after just two matches.

Down & Out

Still, could be worse, two weeks left in Brazil and a trip to Rio, Belo Horizonte and beyond still to come. The World Cup is not just about England, we would be here whether England qualified or not…

A full set of match pictures can be found here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjYWNw4Y

Fans Friendly: São Paolo

São Paolo is Brazils largest city and hosted England’s second group match against Uruguay. On the morning of the match the England fans team met up in the East of the City for our fans friendly match against a local Brazilian side from Vila Madelina. The game had been organised with the help of friendly ex-pat Vince, who had liased with the municipal government to organise and pay for the pitch. The game had also been sponsored by Beats Audio, the headphones brand masterminded by Doctor Dre himself. Beats provided refreshments for the game along with free t-shirts featuring either Danny Sturridge or Neymar.

With a strong squad of around twenty players to choose from, the England team had a different look from the side that started in Manaus and opened the game brightly. The opposition team had come from a local favela and were a relatively young looking team. Thankfully the conditions were more favourable for England than the temperature and humidity experienced in the Jungle – a temp of around 17c and light drizzle meant the English were definitely made to feel at home.

The game started off at a high tempo with both teams competing for every ball. England were keen to show their Brazilian counterparts they could play and maintained some good spells of posession in the opening period. Its was clear that the Brazilian team were technically very good with both their centre back and central midfielders showing great footwork and close control when under pressure. However, this was a strong England team who were comfortable in possession and were able to stretch their opposition with some slick passing.

Competitive till the end...

The first goal came from some excellent link-up play on the right hand side between Sam Overnall and right back David Rhodes. Just as it looked like the Brazilian left back had intercepted a slick one-two, Rhodes managed to extend a long leg and whip in a cross which looped over the keeper and nicely onto the head of striker Ashley Deekes who made no mistake, heading home from five yards out.

From the restart Brazil were straight back into the game, playing out from the back and creating some good chances down the left hand side. England remained confident in possession and looked dangerous on the counter attack, with Derek Atkinson breaking away and putting a delicate lob inches over the bar. It was Brazil who scored next, making their pressure pay with an excellent move down the left hand side, the pacey striker latching onto a through ball and finishing neatly past England goalkeeper Dickens Richards.

Brazil close control

Before half time England manager Ed Rhodes began to show his hand, introducing brothers Daniel & Joe Simmons into midfield and Glen Thornton at centre back. The revised team kept a tight line and despite some dangerous attacks from Brazil, the teams went into the half time break at one-a-peice. Half time saw further changes to the England lineup with both Jo Friar and Brett Ackroyd making an impact from the bench. It was Brazil though who started off the brighter in the second half, with their pacey striker again showing a clean set of heels to the English defence and slotting and excellent finish in-off-the-post past England’s goalkeeper for the second half, Andrew Fryer.

Overnall heads for goal

Brazil further extended their lead around 30mins into the second half as their striker claimed a well deserved hat-trick. Trailing by two goals and with only 15mins left on the clock it would have been quite easy for the visiting team to capitulate.  However, the English team stuck to their game, being tough in the tackle and showing good forward movement when in possession. From the substitutes it was perhaps Thornton who had the biggest impact, with some astute defending supplimented with accurate deliveries into the box from set peices. And it was from a set peice that England equalised – referee Dave Beverley blewing up for a free kick 25 yards outside the box, from which Thornton smashed an upstoppable shot into the bottom left of the net.

Referee Dave Beverley blows for full time

With five minutes remaining it was clear that the game would go right to the wire. It was England who were applying all the pressure with several corners being put in from the right hand side. Brazil had replaced their keeper with Vince (our host) and after successfully defending three corners in a row, England were finally able to make their pressure count. A great delivery into the far post was met by Sam Overnall who headed towards the top left corner of the net. Just when it looked as though the equaliser had arrived, Vince sprang into action making an unbelievable save to his right hand side. Unfortunately for Brazil, the save of the match meant nothing as England were able to pick up the second ball and scramble it over the line to celebrate a scrapy but well deserved equaliser.

Penalty Shoot out after 3-3 draw

After a closely contested match, the man in black blew up for full time and signalled for a penalty shoot out. As the players swapped shirts and the crowd gathered towards one end of the pitch, five brave English players put their names forward to attempt break England’s duck by winning a World Cup penalty shoot out for the first time.

It was Glen Thornton who stepped up to taks the first pen, again smashing the ball into the net past the Brazilian keeper. Brazil missed their first penalty and England capitalised by scoring their second to make it 2-0. Brazil scored their second penalty to make it 2-1 and then it was England’s turn to miss, dragging their third past the left hand post. Brazil equilized with their third penalty to make it 2-2 but England extended their lead to 3-2 with their fourth. The fourth Brazilian penalty was uncharacteristically blazed over the bar and England’s victory was complete as their fifth penalty was converted to secure a 4-2 win. 

Presentation of the trophy

The match was followed with a short presentation in which our hosts thanked the English players for a great game and told us that it meant a lot to them that the English fans had made the effort to come an visit their community. We were lucky to have a visit from the municipal Mayor, who via our translator Vince, agreed that the fans friendly iniatitive is what the Wolrd Cup is really all about; meeting new people and learning about different cultures through football.

We would like to express a huge thanks to our hosts who showed us such a warm welcome and the Mayor who showed a real interest in the match and provided the pitch. A massive thanks also goes out to Vince and and Mark Perryman for all their work arranging the match.

A full set of pictures are available here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsjYYtPio