Football Is My Conscience

So what if I wrote exactly what it is about football, just write what is going on all up in those synapses.

Man I love football. It really is one of those great things in life. Like when your are in the build up to a big game. Waiting for it to start, and the tension and all that jazz. And then occasionally you just get those awesome games. Like Italy vs. Germany in 2006. That was glorious. The whole of that World Cup was glorious. Football has really got good again. I don't know what happened with WC 02 and the '04 Euros, but they just were not as good as the tournaments that preceded and followed. I mean, France '98, oh god that ruled. I mean there was the final, and there was Croatia, my lord there was Croatia. I totally fell in love with Davor Suker. On the playground at school I was allways Davor after that (I was eight, come on). And Chilie. Zamarano and Salas are still one of my all time favourite strike forces. They just ruled. That time with the national anthem before the Brazil game. Daaaaang. And Baggio playing for Italy, and how glorious the Netherlands were. It was great. Then Euro 2000 came along. Oh Francesco. The classic Toldo hands on hips, dissilusioned pose. With his nose tissue holding back the blood, and his awesomeness holding back the tears. How did it end like that after the semis? After the first 85 minutes. And then there was Bobby. Never had it felt so good to be a Toon fan. We beat Arsenal at Highbury to go top, in like, January. We drew at the San Siro. 4th, 3rd, oh holy glories. Then there was that night. The missed pens. The Going out to Partizan Belgrade. The shame. And football was kind of medium untill 2006. But then Germany came along. And I fell in love with international football again. It was primo. The German renaisance under Klinsi, the French reeling back the years, the awesome bastardlyness of Ronaldo. The glorious, gloroius Italians. Grosso in the semi, the Tardelli run all over again. And then the penatlies. Those penalties. Those stand an inch from the TV screen penalties. Buffon. Grosso again. Oh Lord. I'll set this down. I loved Germany 06. And then off to the Alps. Where everyone played such good football. When you watch every single game, and they all rule so hard, I mean c'mon. The Dutch at first, then the rain, and Colin Kazim Richards. He was superb. The Turks were superb. The Tournament was Superb. Croatia again, Slaven's nightmare. Spain. Good lord. Anyway, I need a brew. Only 143 days to go.

Bosnia & HerzeGlorynia

Sup guys (Cal, Leanne, maybee Neal. Hows it going?). Okay, so I have a pro-Bosnia and Herzegovina streak in me. I am not going to deny that. And I totally think you should jump on my Yugo towed, Sarajevsko serving bandwagon. I even have some valid footballing reasons, which go beyond 'I totally had some way good times there a while ago', some of which may appeal even to the average Eng-Er-Land fan. Check it out. I even made a list:

1. This is for you England Fans (Kitchiner style point). England will get knocked out by Portugal. We all remember '06. That stamping, winking, Argentina 98-esque affair. No one wants that again, not even me. And the whole 'Sol Campell pushed someone in the box' thing from '04, where the ghosts of '98 were on poor old Sol's back again. They were horrible horrible games. Seeing all Owen Hargreaves hard work and steely penalty determination being undone by a weeping Steven Gerrard? No thanks. I would rather loose 3-0 to Germany ta.

2. Bosnia are a damn exciting football team. Not just in that 'they have young players who scored loads in the Bundesliga/Spanish mid table/For Lyon' way. They actually are exciting. They scored, and conceded most of all the teams to make the play-offs. It is almost Keegan-esk. The 'dead' game with Spain finished 5-2. Seven goals kids. They put 7 past Armenia aswell. Everyone loves teams of glorious attacking power, that really can't defend at well. Bosnia is that exact team.

3. It might be like Croatia '98. Remember that? It was the greatest, most super happy, heart warming run in football tournament history. Dzeko could be the next Davor Suker. I apreciate that comparison may not be at all popular in certain parts of the world. I just mean he could score loads of goals and stuff. Anyone who disagrees with this is clearly not a fan of football or happiness. It would be glorious. Eastern Bloc teams are allways great at World Cups, they either go nuts and reach the semis, or go nuts and loose 6-0 to the Dutch. Either way, top notch stuff.

4. Miroslav Blazevic - Talking of 98, this fella was coach of the tournament. He masterminded that Croatian dream team. Rad. The man invented 3-5-2*. Also Rad. He has lucky shoes, and best of all, said that he didn't need to qualify after seeing Bosnian Muslim fans cheering for his Bosnian Serb 'keeper. The man is 77 (73 next year) and is finally leading the country of his birth, hopefully to something historical.

5. The politics and history of it all. Some fool had a stab at summarising it here, and this guy is there first hand. Seems to me a football team to unite behind might be a damn good thing for this country

6. The team is exciting in the 'have young players who scored loads in the Bundesliga/Spanish mid table/For Lyon' way. Misimovic & Dzeko at Wolfsburg, Ibseviv & Salihovic and Hoffenheim, Pranjic at Lyon. This is such an exciting team. For such a small country, with so little money to invest in football to have these talents is pretty amazing. They really do need this golden generation to shine.

7. No one really likes Ronaldo do they? Really? If Portugal win this I will buy every fake Ronaldo shirt I see. Take that FIFA marketing board. Ha.

So there you go. I dare you to resist having a quick flick at Ceefax whilst watching the Brazil game on Saturday night. Those little pixelated numbers could mean a lot to a few million people not far from here.

*The invention of the 3-5-2 is up for debate. Here it is: It was Blazevic you pricks

This Could Rule #2

Sheeesh. The one time I really wanted England to win they go and throw it all away. Ukraine's win puts them in a pretty commanding position to oust Croatia from the World Cup. Surely they will win in Andora on wednesday? Surely. I am pretty devastated that Croatia probably wont make it. I have had a soft spot for them since Davor Suker and co. lit up France 98, and helped me realise that football was about more than endless Newcastle United induced heartbrake. They could and probably should have made the Final of Euro 2008, if only for the one million minutes of extra time on that rollercoaster night in Vienna. I am going to have to pray for the biggest night in Andorran football history.

Bosnia & Herzegovina made the playoffs. Good times in Sarajevo. Thing is, now Blatter (dick) ruined the playoffs I really fear they might not make it through. Would Greece be seeded? That might be their best hope. Let us pray once again for the miracle of Bilino Polje. Serbia made it. Gonna stick my neck out and make them my dark horses. Infact, Serbia and Chile will both reach the quarter finals. For sure.

How good did Ireland-Italy look? I really wish I had been down the pub for that one. Massive crowd, loads to play for, and some top notch goals being scored. Richard Dunne could see world cup football yet. Check out these highlights for yourself. Irelands first goal is sublime. Sublime I say!

Italy still need to get Cassano involved mind.

I Didn't expect Germany to get a win. Kudos to them. How many international goals has Miroslav Klose got now? It must be in the thousands. Should be pretty good to see Joachim Low lead a side once again, especially with the names Germany can call up. I feel 2010 will be Mario Gomez's chance to shine.

And yeah. That Argentina game was epic. The rain, good lord the rain. Who would of thought Martin Palermo would be the hero. The fact he scored the greatest header of all time with his face the other week could have been a clue. That was some comeback though, the rain made it somewhat biblical no? If he scores again on wednesday I would vote for some sort of new Martin Palermo adventures chapter to be inserted into the holy book. I reckon I could get a few others on side with that plan.

So wednesday brings one final evening of reckoning, before yet more november reckoning, you reckon? Is there any sequence of events that would see Portugal finish as the 9th best runner up. Finger crossed. Argentina should make it now. I would be confident if Maradonna could be trusted not to rotate his tits of between now and kick off in Uruguay. Thing is I hope Forlan makes South Africa aswell, so I should be supporting Chile right? Well I do that anyway. Problem solved.

And oh yeah, Bahrain-New Zealand was a disappointing 0-0. Damn.

This Could Rule

International week next week you know. A super huge international week at that. England are allready there so only a fool would pay attention to something other than Sky's premiership superleague. WRONG. Yes 'we' are there and I am quite happy about it, allthough I probably would have prefered Croatia to have the automatic spot, so England could get caught up in some playoff madness.

So how is the World Cup shaping up. Lets go through who is allready there. England are in. I am kind of excited about how we do. Maybee it is Defoe's time to shine and Young & Milner are exciting enough. The presence of Heskey and James should bring some hilarity to the table. The Netherlands should be glorious in the groups, then go out in some hilariously bad tempered afair, perhaps ending with penalties. Spain won't win, they lost at Soccer last summer.

Brazil's presence should be cool as will Paraguays. Not quite as good as the glory days of Chilavert, allthough I would like to hope he will be involved with the team in some way, perhaps sensationally becoming the first sporting director to score in the World Cup. Aisan teams are pretty much sorted and both Korea's are there. Both! South Korea I will allways love, after they won me eight quid eight long years ago. But North Korea? They play football there? How much does everyone want them to be drawn with Italy. And yeah, Ghana are in. The Black Stars ain't a great nickname by African standards but it is pretty sweet in a world wide context, and they where the best African team last time round.

The excitement of next weekend is due to the teams that could yet still qualify however (Duh!). I am probably most excited about Bosnia's games against Estonia and Spain (stay with me). Bosnia have some exciting players. Everyone knows Dzeko after last wednesday, but Misimovic, Ibsevic and Muslimovic are a few other names in an exciting team. They have never qualified as an independant country, and hopefully Blatter's (dick) sell out play off seedings will not ruin the dream. Imagine if they got Serbia or Croatia in the Playoffs though? I really hope they can make it.

Croatia should secure a play off spot, and I really hope they make it through. By far the team of Euro 2008. Hopefully Germany and Joachim Low (3rd sexiest manager in football) send Russia into they playoffs and the Azzurri should secure top spot in group 8. Why Lippi leaves out Cassano, his super stylish speedo, pie loving and Sampdoria-dragging-to-the-top-of-serieA ways is beyond me though. Italy could have one of the most exciting squads in South Africa if Lippi will drop some of the old guard. CoughCamourinesi.

Groups 2 & 3 seem to have few big teams, hence Slovakia all but guarenteed a place, and Northern Ireland still being in the hunt. I mean, what the hell? Greece? Switzerland? Sheesh.

And so to the France/Portugal situation. France are not as good as Serbia at the minute (Go Eastern Bloc!) but Ribery's gallic magic will see em through, and I hope that Denmark and Sweeden put Portugal out in Euro 2004 stylee so that Blatter (dick) and his stupid seedings don't get Team Ronaldo a place. Big weekend in Europe then, all I need is for someone to fill me in on how the 9 second place teams into 8 playoff spots things work and we are good.

And so to South America. Argentina play Peru and then put it on the line against Uruguay. I so hope they get in. Tevez, Aguero and Messi coached by Maradonna is so so so awesomely rad that i would cry if they missed out. They should get in ahead of Uruguay and Ecuador on passion and super skilled tiny attackers value alone, and i don't reckon a playoff against New Zealand, Honduras, Bahrain or like Shrewsbury or something, would be the end of the road. They have to make it through.

And so finally what of Chile. Guarenteed a place pretty much, allthough I couldn't name a player I don't think. Is Salas still involved? Allready they are my dark horse for the tournament.

Oh God next June is going to rule so hard.