Before we set sail for the South Atlantic, there is only one thing we can say about last night's game, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! This was another in a long line of Gallic capitulations, Alesia, Crecy, Agincourt, Dien Bein Phu, Espana played in white last night, but it should have been the Froggies, as the white flag appeared very early.
Instead of Torquemada, we had Rodri (at least I predicted that) turning
the thumbscrews on the poor little tadpoles. I do not think I have ever seen
such a one sided game in a major semifinal, which does not bode well for
whoever will be facing them on Sunday in the final.
The question is, of course, which team will advance to Sunday's final. EnGerLand
or the Argies?
On the face of things, it seems very strange that there is such a deep rooted
rivalry between the Argies and EnGerLand. One can understand the rivalries
between EnGerLand and Ze Shermans or Los Gauchos and the Samba Kings, but why
two countries on different sides of the globe.
Of course, it is not just football which has created this animosity
between the two. The dispute over the Falkland Islands or Islas Malvinas as the
Argies call them goes back nearly two hundred years, but to be honest, no one in
EnGerLand had heard of them until the war of 1982 and today have probably
forgotten where they are.
However, at the time, the war was very much an issue due to internal politics
in both countries. The Ruling Junta led by General Galtieri, was in deep
trouble and started the invasion to try to distract from the domestic crisis,
thinking that GB would not respond. The Iron Lady herself was not that popular herself
in the UK and seized the opportunity to also distract from domestic woes by
sending a Naval Taskforce to reclaim the islands.
The tabloid press whipped up the jingoistic spirit, with such headlines
as "stick it up your Junta", and the infamous "Gotcha",
after the Argentinian ship General Belgrano was torpedoed and sunk leading to
the death of more than 300 personnel.
Islas Malvinas and their status is still a hot topic in Argentina to
this day.
The football rivalry dates back to 1962 and the world cup in Chile but
really began to heat up in the 1966 world cup quarterfinal between the two
nations.
In that game the Argentinian captain, Antonio Rattin, was sent off for supposed "violence
of the tongue" which was interesting as Ze Sherman referee spoke no Spanish.
Rattin took ten minutes to leave the pitch, he claimed he did not understand
the referee. Imagine Manuel from Fawlty Towers not understanding what Basil was
saying and you get the picture.
I am a bit surprised that Rattin who incidentally died this past Saturday, did not understand any German, as there were lots of Sherman expats in Argentina at the time and Rattin played for Boca Juniors which is only a fifteen minute walk from a certain house on Garibaldi Street.
The English manager of the time called the Argentinians animals and
forbade the customary swapping of shirts after the game.
The hand gestures are the same.
Because of this incident, FIFA introduced the yellow and red card system that is in use today in time for the
1970 world cup to try and avoid the need for the referee to explain himself verbally to a player.
The next time the two met in a world cup was in 1986 also in
Mexico, which was only four years after the conclusion of the Falklands war and
of course that game will be remembered for two moments involving Maradona, the
hand of God goal and his brilliant individual goal.
Fast forward twelve years to the 1998 world cup, the game is poised at
2-2, and David Beckhan receives a red card for retaliation against Diego Simeone
who had just fouled Beckham. Simeone received a yellow card for his part. The
two of them will probably be in attendance today, so look out for both of them.
Four years later, Beckham redeemed himself by scoring a penalty as EnGerLand overcame the Argies.
They have not faced each other since that day in a world cup which means
that this will be the first time that Messi will be playing against EnGerLand
as he nears the end of his stellar career.
So, what can we expect today? Both
sides have struggled, EnGerLand trailed to Congo, and the Vikings before beating
them both and the game against the Sombreros will long be remembered as a classic
back to the wall performance.
The Argies were taken to extra time by those giants the blue sharks from
Cape Verde, they trailed the Pharaohs by two goals with fifteen minutes to go
and managed to win without the need for extra time and the cowbell ringers also
took them to extra time despite being at a numerical disadvantage.
I have held since the tournament began that the Argies are too reliant
on the great man, he leads the way for them in most of the attacking
statistics, we saw last night that individual brilliance can be nullified by a
strong team ethic, which is something EnGerLand possess. EnGerLand are
physically stronger and fitter than the Argies, and yet it is still Messi that they
are facing.
Who apart from the standout players should you watch out for? I believe that Elliot Anderson will have a vital role tonight in midfield breaking up the Argies attacks at source. For the Argies, Enzo Fernandes the combative midfielder from Chelsea who popped up with the winning goal against the Pharaohs.
 |
| Mr Anderson watching Leo closely |
 |
| Enzo |
I think EnGerLand will win tonight, again it will not be easy, it will be a very tense affair, these games are not easy to watch but EnGerLand to prevail and set up a repeat of the Euro 2024 final against Espana.
I will end by paraphrasing William Blake, "And did Judes feet in
ancient time, walk upon England's mountains green, and was the holy Harry Kane
on England's pleasant pastures seen.
No comments:
Post a Comment