22 November 2007

There shall be no English WAGs at Euro 2008

Well, we may see the English footballers' wives & girlfriends as spectators of Euro 2008 matches, but certainly not in any other roles (hmm, they could be football pundits, haha) since their BAHs (that's boyfriends & husbands, coined by Mark unless some press lay claim to it) just crashed out of the tournament via a home loss (yes, it was a match at Wembley) to Croatia earlier this morning local time.

I remember while in London reading on the WAGs' exploits during World Cup 2006 in the Evening Standard newspaper. In fact, their stories sometimes overshadow that of the players whom they were supposed to be providing moral & emotional support to. The tabloids had a many interesting news to increase their publications' short term circulation. Yes, even from the viewpoint of 1 sector, we can already see the financial effect of England's elimination from the Euro 2008 finals on the British economy.

To me, the England national football team is more hype than substance. The fact that they even got to this recent match with a glimmer of hope of reaching the final stages of the tournament was due to an olive branch from the Jews, who beat Russia last Saturday (Sunday morning local time). I got up at 0540 this morning & grinning after switching on Astro as my prediction that England would fall on home soil was nearly true. Seeing the last 3 mins plus a further 3 mins of extra time, England players were directing long balls hoping to still get a last grasp equaliser that may send them to Austria and Switzerland next summer. The equaliser never came & Steve McLaren swiftly left the bench. The English players & some fans stood around the pitch (while the Croatian side celebrated) hoping that minnows Andorra would actually score a last minute equaliser (something England couldn't) & allow England to seal 2nd place in the table ahead of the Russian. Such desperate low has English football fallen into & I think it'll be a gross injustice if they actually scrapped through.

I expect lots of mud slinging & witch hunting as those involved conduct a post mortem & try to restore the English's lost pride. Heck, I won't be surprised if they even see Arsene Wenger's recruitment policy as plausible excuse. Bleh!

Till later, live long & prosper.

1 comment:

  1. i was never too keen on the appointment of steve mclaren as england head coach. he had his chance, and he failed... quite miserably too. im guessing few of us english will be putting a bet on football during the Euro Finals next year. Just out of interest, if you were to participate in a bit of football betting at some stage during the Euros, who would you back?

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