First played at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow on 30th November 1872, England v Scotland is the oldest international fixture in football. On Wednesday 14th August 2013 the rivalry resumes after a gap of almost 14 years. This will be Scotland’s first appearance at the ‘new’ Wembley, which seems a tragedy in itself given the closeness of … Read more
“La Furia Roja” has been dominating the global stage for a bit more than 5 years now, winning two European championships in 2008 and 2012, one World Cup in 2010, and one second-fiddle Mediterranean games in 2009. This emphatic dominance has been accompanied with a style of play that impressed pundits all over the world; … Read more
Although many Premier League managers may view international friendlies with much distain, especially just a few days before the new campaign starts, the matches this week provided much entertainment for fans all over the world and especially Europe. The Paraguayan squad twice led Germany, one of the favourites for next year’s World Cup, before eventually … Read more
I couldn’t help it but to start off with a cliche – “The good, bad and the ugly” for some reason. AC Milan’s Mario Balotelli and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi along with their Italian and Argentine colleagues had a VIP meeting at the Vatican with the first Latin American-born Pontiff of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis. Ahead … Read more
The saga of the reportedly unhappy Wayne Rooney, even more banal than it was when he was last unhappy at Manchester United back in 2011, is set to this week take another turn as he prepares to play for England in the friendly against Scotland. In contrast to the normal avoid country, play for club … Read more
On June 22nd, Italy and Brazil will take to the pitch at Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador at they compete in their Group A Confederation Cup match. Stars such as Mario Balotelli, Neymar, Andrea Pirlo and Fred will entertain the millions watching around the world and the meeting will raise the excitement for the World Cup … Read more
The curtain fell on England’s international season in the Maracana on Sunday night and even though they played out a satisfying 2-2 draw with Brazil, the large possibility of Roy Hodgson’s men failing to return next year for the World Cup still lingers. A disjointed performance against Ireland followed a stuttering qualifying process that has … Read more
On Sunday night, England nearly reduced Brazil to their first loss on home turf in eleven years in a friendly match in the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Despite the 2-2 finish in a meaningless post-season international friendly contest, Roy Hodgson can take a lot of positive points heading into the upcoming four qualifying … Read more
With 12 months to go before the 2014 World Cup Finals in Brazil, who are the players in pole position to make Roy Hodgson’s final 23 man squad? Here I look at the players I believe will go to Rio, and split them into the ‘Dead Certs’, ‘Probables’ and ‘Long Shots’. I also list the … Read more
The post mortem of England performance against the Republic of Ireland and the missing man. A 1-1 draw at home against a side that was dismantled 6-1 by Germany last October is always going to evoke disappointment. We all want England to be destroying teams to give us confidence going into the World Cup and … Read more