Netherlands 2/ England 2
Thanks to suicide defending from Rio Ferdinand and Gareth Barry, The Three Lions endured a very uncomfortable first half in Amsterdam. Fabio Capello blamed an abundance of confidence, rather than general crappiness, for the unforced errors. Fortunately, Jermain Defoe saved their graces with his one-man rescue operation.
Spoiler bonus: British licence fee payers were outraged last night as the BBC decided to show Scotland’s woeful attempt to qualify for the World Cup. Lowlights after the jump…
Will you be watching the Three Lions go Dutch tomorrow?
With the exception of “injured” self defence expert Steven Gerrard, Fabio Capello’s England squad travelled to Amsterdam today to prepare for tomorrow night’s friendly with The Netherlands.
Understandably, several Premier League managers are less than delighted that a full programme of international fixtures has been scheduled just three days before the start of the Premier League season: Roy Hodgson and Martin O’Neill have vented their fears, and brand new Black Cat Steve Bruce has gone as far as saying there shouldn’t be any international friendlies at all:
“I’ve never known anything like it before. I don’t know why there are internationals scheduled this week.
“I’m baffled and it really is total nonsense. International friendlies should be banned anyway.”
The managers clearly aren’t impressed by this friendly, and it’s unlikely that the players are savouring a pan-European trip for a meaningless game just hours before the start of a new season. But is the game actually of any interest to fans? Are you keen to see the Three Lions get some vital practise before September’s crunch tie with Croatia, or would you rather be watching Coronation Street/ Midsomer Murders/ whatever crap ITV show on a Wednesday?
Let us know your thoughts below…
Spoiler promotion:Why not make the game more interesting by having a punt? For all your football betting needs, visit bwin
Did Slovakia’s finest sportslady enjoy a tryst with a Madrid star?
Up until January, Real Madrid’s Wesley Sneijder was married to lovely Dutch lady Ramona Streekstra. The dissolution of their relationship and Sneijder’s subsequent €6m divorce payout may have had something to do with strong rumours that the attacking midfielder was seeing Slovakian tennis star Daniela Hantuchová.
Sneijder denied any such rumours (and has since started a relationship with model Yolanthe Cabau van Kasbergen), but any excuse to draw attention to Miss Hantuchová’s bikini wearing abilities cannot be passed up.
Wesley Sneijder divorced his wife Ramona Streekstra in January, and hasn’t wasted any time in getting back in the game. Our girls at Kickette inform us that the Real Madrid star has started seeing Yolanthe Cabau van Kasbergen.
The 24-year-old has carved out a career in modelling and TV presenting in the Netherlands, and for her efforts, the Dutch have voted her FHM’s Sexiest Woman in the World twice (2006 and 2007 if you must know).
Dutch youngster Roy Beerens (right) clearly went to the Vinnie Jones school of getting to grips with opposing players. Muchos thank yous to Eugenia for the spot.
After Abbey Clancy’s convincing victory in the transatlantic WAG battle yesterday, the penultimate round sees a former NFL cheerleader take on a TV presenter whose marriage to Rafael van der Vaart was broadcast live on Dutch television…
Attraction to all things orange leads supporters into trouble
Up until Holland’s impromptu exit from Euro 2008 at the weekend, Switzerland’s National Railway had told its workers to stop wearing orange reflective jackets. According to Reuters, Dutch fans, presumably high and transfixed on their army of good looking supporters (see above), are inexplicably attracted to anyone or anything sporting their national colour:
Switzerland’s national railway has told its workers to stop using their normal orange reflective vests after confused Dutch soccer fans started following them on to the tracks.
A railway spokesman said the changed strip had been prompted by an incident in the Swiss capital Berne when a group of Netherlands supporters followed a worker on to the lines after mistaking his uniform for their traditional orange dress.
As a solution to this problem, the railway folk have been donning vests lent to them by the Police instead. The colour? Bright yellow. Let’s hope there’s no more Swedes knocking about in the neutral country…
National team are better than Holland and Portugal, apparently
Despite not qualifying for that big tournament thing that’s happening at the moment, the English national side have jumped from eleventh to ninth place on the FIFA World Rankings. Bizarrely, Capello’s men have have switched places Portugal. You know, the side who did qualify for Euro 2008 and who won their group:
1. Argentina 1559
2. Brazil 1513
3. Italy 1424
4. Spain 1303
5. Germany 1274
6. Czech Republic 1246
7. France 1143
8. Greece 1133
9. England 1123
10. Netherlands 1111
We’ve probably earned some points by defeating low-ranked teams like Trinidad & Tobago, but how does this put us above the Netherlands and Portugal? Does anyone even care about FIFA rankings? Why is there a light in the fridge but not in the freezer? Why is ‘abbreviated’ such a long word? So many questions, so little time…
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