Would Brazil be the same without England fans?

England boss Roy Hodgson can't win, even if he wins. If England beat Ukraine later, they would be pretty close to being able to book tickets to Brazil - and start the paperwork for all the convicted criminals in the team to get visas! But they are expected to make the major tournaments, even tho they haven't won one since 1966 - just so that the fans can turn on the team, get depressed, smash up the bar and boycott the favorite beer of the host nation or team that knocked them out.

So here's to the optimism of England fans, and the hope that a win is on the cards, just so I can get easy access to Bohemia beers on the Copacabana next summer!

Just go to the bar

Keep it on the deck, play to feet, possession is 9/10 of the law and all that.

Coaching goes out of the window when your keep can't even get the ball of the the box from a goal kick.

 Usually a nasty wind occurs after a few too many beers and a curry, but this is just out of control.

Summer Blues

It's almost enough to make me a baseball fan...

Rooney to leave, Mourinho’s return, Monaco to buy everyone, Cassano joins his 29^th team, Messi not turning up for an autograph signing – it’s summer, so plenty of people making up stories to fill the back pages and websites with rumors and gossip.

We all love it to some degree – the hope that our teams are signing someone great, selling the deadwood and moving forward from last season, but it can be too much. I started watching Panama against Martinique last night, and was tempted to stay up for the Mexico v Canada game in the Gold Cup. It’s July – there’s no need for TV. Sit on the deck, drink beer, watch the world go by and think about anything but football.

There’s the Ashes cricket, the Lions tour, the Open, the X games, MLS soccer – hey, there’s even the opportunity for conversation about something other than sports, but who are we kidding. The countdown is on. Pre-season has begun. A summer without a major tournament just isn’t the same. The Confederations Cup doesn’t count. Tahiti were fun to watch, Brazil even more so, but all the players looked like they wanted a few weeks on the beach – and who can blame them.

Instead we’re stuck with stories of Nigerian teams winning 76-0 and 67-0 to try and boost their goal difference to get promoted, tales of Gareth Bale being seen shopping in the same place as Real Madrid’s communications officer’s third cousin, and beheadings in Brazil over a missed offside call.   

Roll on August. The rumors get too crazy in July, and ‘journalists’ really scrape the barrel to fill some space. Another Moyes and Rooney bust-up story is going to turn me into a baseball fan.

 -JEM