EnGerLand to try again, Espana to cruise

 

EnGerLand, My EnGerLand,

“Ever the faith endures, take and break us we are yours, when shall we rejoice again, such a breed of mighty men”.

These are lines from a poem written by William Ernest Henley towards the end of the Victorian Era when the empire was at its zenith, before the beginning of the slow decline which sees EnGerLand and especially its football team where it is today.

There comes a point in the blog, when I mention that I was five months old the last time EnGerLand won a trophy, and every time the number of years goes up by two and we have now reached fifty-eight. The way EnGerLand have played in their first three games, it does not look like the trophy drought is about to end.

What is wrong with EnGerLand? a rather mediocre Irish footballer with known Republican tendencies, was recently on a panel of pundits on TV when he said, “Who are EnGerLand anyway, they have only ever won one world cup and have not won the Euros, yet the press, not only in EnGerLand, build them up before every tournament as one of the favourites to win.” Whilst his comment came from an intense dislike of anything English, he does have a point.

Believe it or not, EnGerLand are the current bookies favourites to win the whole thing, ahead of Espana who have looked the best team to date, Les Escargots, that have the best players but seem to have gone into their shells, and the Shermans with their home field advantage.

Now of course this could just be a cunning plan by the bookies to take your money, but the odds setters usually do have an idea of what is going on.  The trouble is, that on paper, EnGerLand technically have an easier path to the final, with most of the heavyweights being in the other half of the draw, due to the surprise results in the group stages.

So basically, if they can remember how to play, they may yet go far, and everyone will forget the awful start.

Now the Slovaks on the other hand are much more interesting, technically, they have a partial trophy in the Euros, as Czechoslovakia won the Euros in 1976 beating the then West Shermans 5-3 on penalties with the winning attempt becoming famous and the name of a new type of penalty kick, the Panenka.

I remember watching this game, everyone wanted the Czechs to win, it was only eight years since the Russkies had invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 crushing the Prague Spring. The West Shermans, had won the World Cup in 1974, Bayern Munchen had just won their third consecutive European cup (including their infamous victory in Paris over Leeds in 1975, when the referee had been bribed to make sure they won) and the arrogance of the West Shermans was soul destroying, Uber Alles and all that.

Today Slovakia is a nation with a population of around five and a half million residents, in football terms they are ranked 45^th in the world compared to EnGerLand who are 5^th. On Paper EnGerLand should win this if not comfortably but within ninety minutes, the Slovaks will hope to take it to extra time and then penalties.

Two to watch out for:

 

Another goal for Schranz?

 

Another goal for Schranz?

can Cole Palmer get a tune out of EnGerLand?

 

 

I was looking for something in common for the next two teams and came up with dancing, so the second game today is a lopsided matchup between the flamenco dancers from the Iberian Peninsula and the Georgian Kartuli wheelers from the Caucasus’s. Both these nations are known for their toughness, I suppose it must be something to do with being rather mountainous areas with extremes of weather, heat in Espana and cold in Georgia.

They are also both quite diminutive in stature and are what used to be known as rather swarthy before the days of political correctness. In football terms, Georgia are the lowest ranked team in the competition, they had never qualified for any finals until now and in their last game stunned the other team from the Iberian Peninsula, the aptly name corks from Portugal who definitely bottled that one.

La Roja, on the other hand have been one of the better teams in the world over the last 15 years being World and European champions from 2010 until 2014. Georgia have had their fun and no one can take away the pain they caused CR7 and the joy that brought to millions around the world to see the whinger, whining like the baby he is as they lost 2-0. However, Espana will be a bridge to far and they can go home with their heads held high

 

Two to look out for: 

Yamal only turns 17 next month

Mikautadze has scored in every game so far.

 

 

I was two for two with my predictions on Saturday, so we now know that the Cowbell ringers await the winner of the EnGerLand game and The Shermans await the winner of the Matadors game.

Tomorrow we will preview The Gallic derby and the Cork boys from Porto versus one of the former components of Yugoslavia in Slovenia, definitely one of the surprise packages of the tournament so far. enjoy.