Ignoring England’s ridiculous, money-spinning, injury-ravaged jaunt to Brazil; and the baffling decision to put the first friendly anyone might have given a toss about for ages firmly out of physical reach of the average fan, there are some actually important games going on this weekend.
The World Cup 2010 UEFA playoffs start tomorrow, complete with added seeding-system nonsense, as eight European teams fight it out for four of the remaining nine places. Who will take a first leg advantage?
Ireland vs France
Shots have been fired by players and diplomats alike, prior to this weekend’s marquee clash. Raymond Domenech’s job rests on the outcome, which in turn rests the surety of his centre-back pairing - currently Gallas plus ‘whoever wants a go’. This one may be closer than the French team care to admit.
Last night in Innsbruck, some old Scandinavian men were given an early summer holiday by some spritely Russians. Elsewhere, some Dutch people were starting to get quite concerned.
Meanwhile, the team whose only Euro 2004 defeat was at the hands of Russia managed to lose all three of their games this time round. Bravo.
Spurs and Chelsea are just two of the pack of clubs racing to steal David Villa away from Valencia, but after last night’s hat-trick they’ll performance, they’ll have to part with at least £25million for the privelege.
Over in Salzburg, Greece and Sweden did their best to bore the shit out of us for an hour, but thankfully Inter’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic (see his lovely WAG here) woke us from the coma by slotting home a superb goal of the tournament contender.
Which nation will prize silverware from Greek hands?
Without a British team on which to place unreasonable expectations in Euro 2008, it’s time to pick a side in order to make the next three weeks vaguely interesting. The Germans are favourites at 4/1, despite the fact that they haven’t won a game in the past two tournaments. But who will you go with? The unlucky Spaniards? The solid Portuguese? Votes and comments below, please.
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