The Olympics

Less than 3 weeks to go before the start of the Olympics.
I have to admit I've been sick of hearing about it for years as everyone has been using it as an excuse to screw us.
The local road system has been in chaos for over a year due to major roadworks "for the Olympics" and it won't be finished in time!
The local airport has been expanded despite protests "for the Olympics" meaning bloody great big Easy Jets screw up my TV reception every time they go over.
I am not allowed to take holidays at work "during the Olympics" because of the odd chance we might get some extra work because of it? and it seems nearly every dodgy decision taken over the last few years usally gets followed by "for the Olympics" :(

I will watch the 100 metres final and a few other highlight shows but don't really care about the rest, but good luck to all our athletes anyway.

As far as the football goes Britain have a good record when they have played, they won the first 3 they played in (1900,1908,1912) and a 4th place and 2 quarter finals from the other six, but haven't been involved since 1960.
Here's the British squad - 13 English, 5 Welsh, no Scots or Northern Irish and no Beckham.
Nice for Ryan Giggs to finally get to a major international tournament and it will be good to see players like Sinclair, Cleverley and Sturridge playing international football.

J Butland (Birmingham) 19, J Steele (Middlesbrough) 21

R Bertrand (Chelsea) 22, C Dawson (West Brom) 22, M Richards (Man City) 24,
S Caulker (Tottenham) 20, N Taylor (Swansea) 23, J Tomkins (West Ham) 23

T Cleverley (Man Utd) 22, J Cork (Southampton) 23, J Allen (Swansea) 22,
R Giggs (Man Utd) 38, A Ramsey (Arsenal) 21, D Rose (Tottenham) 22, S Sinclair (Swansea) 23

M Sordell (Bolton) 21, D Sturridge (Chelsea) 22, C Bellamy (Liverpool) 32

Ever since I first saw the Olympic logo this is what has popped into my mind :)

Olympic Champions From Upton Park

I was just doing some reading about the Olympic football and stumbled on something I reckon (as an avid Hammer) I really should have known?
In 1900 Great Britain were represented by Upton Park FC who won the competition beating French side Club Français de Paris 4-0 in the final.
There was only 3 teams in the tournament which devalues it a bit, the other side was a Belgium XI which included a Frenchman, an Englishman and a Dutch player :)

Upton Park FC who played at West Ham Park aren't related to West Ham United who play at Upton Park despite the obvious links!!
The current West Ham team were still called Thames Ironworks and played at Canning town, the teams did share a few players but Upton Park were a strictly amateur club.
They were formed in 1866 and played in the very first FA Cup competition and reached the quarter finals 4 times.
Their glory moment came in 1900 when they were asked to represent Britain and won gold, and as it was 30 years before the World cup started could probably claim to be world champions :)
The team also supplied 4 England internationals (3 footballers and a cricketer!!).
Sadly they dissolved in 1911, although the name lives on for the obvious reason and in the Channel Islands where the annual play-off between the Jersey and Guernsey champions is named the Upton park trophy because of the clubs frequent visits to the islands.

Prize Time

Here you go Biopunk :)

Prediction Competition

Congrats to Biopunk for winning the Euro championship prediction competition :)

All I can offer as a prize is some football related music or pictures of your choice (if I have or can find them).

Premier League predictions back around mid August .... all welcome :)

Saving The Best Till Last

Well Spain certainly proved me wrong tonight, in most of their other games in this tournament they seem to have been content with a lot of possession without much of an end product.
But straight from the off they seem determined to kill off Italy having more shots on goal in the first 15 minutes than they managed in the whole game against Portugal.
Italy found their feet in the next 20 minutes and looked like making a game of it but as soon as Jordie Alba put Spain two up with a really good breakaway goal the game was over.

Italy had some bad luck with Chiellini's early injury and Cassano still not fit enough to play the entire game so he went off at half time, then Motta was brought on and within minutes had pulled a hamstring leaving Italy with ten men for the last half hour.
But Italy looked tired from the beginning and just couldn't cope with Spain this time after looking really good in their first meeting a few weeks back.
Spain brought Torres on and it was just a matter of time before they scored again, Torres scored and laid on a goal for late sub Mata to finish it.

Useless fact - Despite 10 of the 14 players being used by Spain being from Barcelona and Real Madrid, the 4 goals were scored by the 3 English based players and Alba who I think is still a Valencia player although he will sign for Barcelona after this tournament.

Bogey Team

The Germans have never beaten the Italians in a major finals and that record continued tonight.
Another quality performance from the Italians putting the highly rated Germans to the sword, a performance which makes England's effort look slightly better because John Terry and Lescott surely wouldn't have made it so easy for Super Mario score his two unchallenged goals.
Balotelli looked very good mainly because the Germans didn't frustrate him like we did, although they did make it slightly harder for Pirlo but forgot that the Italians have other players capable of quality passing.

Joachim Loew must have scoffed more than his usual amount of bogies trying to figure out what he could do, he replaced the frontmen at half time but it didn't really make a difference as one thing the Italians were always good at was defending.

Looking forward to Sunday where hopefully the Italians can turn it on again and beat the dull Spaniards.

Old Codgers

West Ham seem to have been linked with a selection of slightly past it superstars recently, but I do like the current rumour that Alessanro Del Piero might consider a switch to the premier league with us.
I had only just told my missus that her favourite foreign player had recently retired and wouldn't be coming on for Italy tonight, and then I read that he didn't want to retire yet :)
Although she's a Hammers fan like me she owns a Juventus shirt with Del Piero's name on the back, so just maybe it will have a new lease of life :)

Disgrace

He might have a dodgy barnet, some dubious tattoo's and be a bit past it but so what?
David Beckham has done so much for the British Olympic organisation with the bid and publicising it around the world since we were chosen.
All he asked was that he be part of the British football team as one of the 3 overage players, instead Stuart Pearce has gone for the equally old Ryan Giggs, dodgy kneed Craig Bellamy and Micah Richards?
I don't think we have a hope whatever team we choose as most of the other nations are used to this competition and build squads especially for it, so Beckham's inclusion won't really make much difference.

So as far as I'm concerned even if he only performed a ceremonial kick off and was substituted straight after he should have been in the squad, I think he has earned the right :)

Here's Hoping?

Probably the day I made the Italians my second favourite international team.
Still gives me goosebumps :)

Deja Vu

Oh well the dream is over in the usual way as even the Italians manage to beat us on penalties :(
I think after years of us getting knocked out of major championships on penalties I am getting used to this!! the first time in 1990 I was devastated and felt the same way in 96, 98, 2004 but by 2006 it was getting obvious we would blow it and tonight it just seemed inevitable.

 For the first half hour of this game it wasn't looking too bad for us, it was a far more open game than anyone could have guessed, the Italians hit the post early on and Johnson and Wellbeck missed good chances for us.
But for the next 90 minutes it was nearly all Italy and only wasteful shooting from Balotelli and co kept us in it.
John Terry was a wall and Johnson and Lescott also blocked nearly everything thrown at them, Pirlo was controlling everything and even former Hammer Alessandro Diamanti came on and looked good.
Somehow we got to penalties and after Montolivo put it wide there was a hope we could finally win a shoot out, after all the Italians are usually worse than us at penalties but then Ashley Young blasted it against the crossbar and Ashley Cole's tame shot was saved leaving Diamanti to win it.

My Ratings -
Hart 8, Johnson 9, Cole 7, Terry 9, Lescott 8
Parker 8, Gerrard 7, Young 3, Milner 6
Rooney 6, Wellbeck 6
Subs - Walcott 7, Carroll 8, Henderson 6

I didn't change my score for Ashley Young because of the penalty, he was shit all night and for most of the tournament it was just a shame he didn't get a run in the penalty area where he could have used his greatest skill (but we probably would have missed the penalty anyway).

I wish the Italians well against the Germans (as my money has been on them from the start) and reckon they might give the Germans some problems, and as for Spain v Ronaldo it should be the Spanish but you never know?

England showed better as a team this tournament and at times showed they can pass the ball around with the best, but it's obvious we need to find some creative midfielders from somewhere?
Gerrard looked better without Lampard in his way, but sadly his best days are over.
Parker showed he is a better holding midfielder than the overrated Gareth Barry but isn't getting any younger.
Oxlade-Chamberlain looks promising and may be part of a brighter future.
Walcott is hit and miss, six years of inconsistency doesn't look like ending.
Ashley Young seems to have gone back to his Villa days when he could only turn it on against inferior teams and was anonymous against the good sides.
Milner is average, he'll do a job but is never going to win matches single handed.
Henderson who knows? hasn't showed much since his Sunderland days but might get better.
Wilshere was looking good before his injury so hopefully he can come back.

Roll on Brazil 2014!!

Please

Suddenly the expectation levels seem to have risen way above what they should be, I've quite enjoyed it so far putting one over on all the doubters I know and work with.
Now England flags are being flown everywhere and people that were telling me 2 weeks ago we wouldn't make it out of the group are now saying we are going to win the whole thing.

I must admit I am not at all confident today we have played well against Sweden despite the goals we conceded, we were ok against the Ukraine who are an average side but were over defensive against what has turned out to be a piss poor French side, and now we are coming up against the big boys who could find us out?
I will be wearing my lucky England shirt and foregoing the haircut I badly need in the hope it adds some small bit of luck for tonight.

If we get through I actually feel more confident of overcoming the Germans who although looking the best team in the tournament struggled against the Danes who play a bit like England.
So come on England, let's pray for a Balotelli meltdown and some more dodgy decisions in our favour, and keep this dream going :)

Bye Greeny

Bye Robert Green :(
Sad to see him go as he's rarely let us down over the years.
Obviously money was the main reason but after serving us well maybe he did deserve a big pay day and it's a shame the Hammers board couldn't come to an agreement with him.
He has said the right things in his interview so hopefully he will get a decent reception when QPR come to Upton Park and we can commiserate after each goal goes in :)

Job Done

Not much to get excited about in our final group game, the Ukrainians had a lot of the play but rarely looked like scoring, England just about did enough to win with Rooney taking the headlines, he should have given us a half time lead but missed an easy header, but he made up for it by getting to Gerrard's low cross after the goalie fumbled.
Ukraine were unlucky in the second half when John Terry cleared the ball which had just about crossed the line, the goal line official managed to miss it even though he was only about 6 yards away? although ITV claimed that there was an offside in the build up so maybe justice was done?
Now we have Italy on Sunday and if we manage to win that it looks like the Germans in the semi's which obviously brings back bad memories, I still think Spain was the easier game?

My Ratings -
Hart 6, Johnson 7, Cole 7, Terry 7, Lescott 7
Parker 8, Gerrard 9, Young 7, Milner 7
Rooney 7, Wellbeck 6
Subs - Walcott 5, Carroll 5, Oxlade-Chamberlain 4

Euro 2012 Predictions - Part 2

Here's the second part, so new predictions please :)
We'll make it the final score before penalties, so including extra time if needed.
(bonus point for correct penalty score) :)

Biopunk 17 Lee 14 Gobshyte 11 Longy 0

Czech Rep v Portugal
Germany v Greece
Spain v France
England v Italy

*****************
Edit - Semi Finals
Current scores - Biopunk 20 Lee 17 Gobshyte 15 Longy 2

Portugal v Spain
Germany v Italy

UEFArghh!!

I know Bendtner's underpants were a horrible colour and really should have only been worn by Irish players but EUFA have managed to outdo FIFA with their latest decision.
Dodgy underpants = £80k fine and a ban.
Racist chanting and abuse = £64k.
That's really going to deter them isn't it ... just don't wear a sponsored swastika!!

England Expects

That day is here again :)

The expectation level is rising and a few of those doubters I know have said to me that England won't finish bottom (because it can't happen Dumbo's).
A draw will be enough to see us through to a match against Spain (which after seeing them last night looks the best option).
A win might be enough to take us top but only if we win by a goal more than the French, or the French lose or draw.
To complicate things only a win for Ukraine will send them through so there can be no settling for a draw if the French are getting stuffed.

I have pre-booked the semi-final dates off, so you could say I am in my usual state of over optimism :)
Gonna be gutted if I've used valuable holidays to sit at home watching Portugal v Spain :(

So come on England make us proud, let's win something before I'm too old to jump up and down :)

Holland Dozy Holland

For about 15 minutes it looked like Holland would easily beat Portugal and possibly qualify for the next round if the other result went their way, then for some reason it all went wrong?

Ronaldo was certainly in the mood and had one of his best games for Portugal, but the Dutch just seemed to fall apart and were lucky only to lose 2-1, the Germans did their bit in the other match and must be favourites now.

As for the Dutch Huntelaar is supposed to be a top quality striker but I've never seen it when I have seen him play before, and tonight all he did was stop Van Persie playing in his normal position which meant he was innefective as well. Van Der Vaart played pretty well and scored a good goal but a lot of the other big names just didn't play and the defence were being ripped apart by Ronaldo and Nani at will.
So Holland join Russia, Poland and Denmark out of the competition, I feel sorry for Denmark who played well in all 3 games which you can't say about the Dutch.

The first 2 quarter finals will be - Czech Rep v Portugal and Germany v Greece

A Greek Tragedy

Obvious title :)
After the first games what odds would you have got on the Greeks and Czechs qualifying from Group A??
The Greeks amazingly beat the highly fancied Russians which just makes you remember 2004 where they kept scraping through each round all the way to the title.
Poland probably confirmed their FIFA ranking by making the Czechs look good?

Whoever qualifies from Group B must expect a semi-final place as neither the Czechs or Greeks should progress against  those higher quality teams.
Group B itself could go any way with the Germans not certain of qualifying despite 2 wins and Holland still in with a chance despite 2 losses!!
The Germans have looked the best team in the tournament so far but nothing is certain.

* I am impressed that the Excel Euro 2012 spreadsheet I downloaded recently has dealt with "head to head records" meaning I won't have to fiddle with it like in previous tournaments when they have sent the wrong team through :)
But I will reserve judgement until tonight, if Denmark and Portugal win it gets really confusing with all of them on 6 points and they have all won against one of the others so not sure what the next deciding factor is? hopefully it's just goal difference.

For The Irish

Thanks to Biopunk for this, a song for Gobby and all the Irish fans ahead of their final Euro 2012 game against Italy tomorrow.
I reckon they need to start searching those ancestry records like Jack Charlton used to, as this could be a final fling for players like Keane, Given, Duff and Dunne :(

Flash

Lightning at Shakhtar Donestsk stadium.
I'm not sure if this picture is from yesterday's game as the crowd seem to be missing, but it looked like this :)