BOLIVIA IN A MESSI

It's also the Copa America, in Brazil, at the moment and Lionel Messi is doing his stuff for Argentina. He is his country's most capped player at 148 apps and has scored 75 goals with 51 assists. The Argentina's are top of their group and will meet Ecuador in the Quarter-finals: I hope this link works.....

https://www.goal.com/en/news/messi-shines-after-breaking-argentina-appearance-record-in/1kyzue0qfdn4pzcega6e3nx82 

or the one below.

https://www.givemesport.com/1713877-copa-america-lionel-messis-stunning-assist-for-argentina-in-41-win-vs-bolivia  The Aguero assist is against Bolivia in a 4-1 win. 

The groups played from 13-27 June and were made up from ten CONMEBOL countries: (Australia and Qatar were also invited to take part but declined due to Covid.)

A Group - 1st Argentina W3 D1, Chile,  Paraguay, Uruguay. Bolivia out 

B Group - 1st Brazil W3 D1, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela out.  

Here is the quarter-final draw (2nd and 3rd July), with Bolivia and Venezuela eliminated:

Semi-final 5th/6th July in Rio de Janeiro (Maracana) and Brasilia (Nilton Santos Stadium). 

The Final, Maracana, 10th July 

(3rd/4th in Brasilia on 9th)

The Copa was first played for in 1916 with Uruguay winning most times:15. Present holders Brazil (their 9th cup).

And as an aside, here are the top 20 footballers in history....well post war.....well since 1960?? 20. Eusebio 19. Marco van Basten 18. George Best 17. Zico 16. Franco Baresi 15. Ferenc Puskas 14. Paolo Maldini 13. Gerd Muller 12. Mane Garrincha 11. Alfredo Di Stefano 10. Roberto Baggio 9. Michel Platini 8. Zinedine Zidane 7.Cristiano Ronaldo 6. Ronaldo Nazario 5. Johan Cruyff 4. Franz Beckenbauer 3. Lionel Messi 2. Pele 1. Diego Maradona. Any substitutions?

ENGLAND v GERMANY: Old v Young?

 ENGLAND AND GERMANY-again

My son has just phoned from Wembley. After a very good education, impressive A levels, a sound degree (in Geography I might add) and plenty of work experience, as well as full support, mentally, physically and financially from his famly, he's ended up in Sports' Marketing, a job that gets him tickets for first class hospitality at major events, mainly football, where he has to earn a living being nice to people. Where did it all go so wrong?!! I hope he gets me a programme from Wembley.

The rivalry between these two big footballing nations, began as late in football history as the 10th May 1930, with a friendly international in Berlin, which ended up 3-3...diplomacy? The next meeting was in 1935 at White Hart Lane, with a 3-0 win for England with 2 goals from George Camsell and one from Cliff Bastin.This was played at White Hart Lane and 55,000 were in the crowd. In 1956 England won away 1-3, once again in Berlin. The goalscorers that day were Duncan Edwards, Colin Grainger and Johnny Haynes....Edwards, of course, lost his life in the Munich, Man Utd air crash. 

In May 1965, v West Germany, England won  0-1 in Nurenberg and the team was: Gordon Banks, Jack Charlton, George Cohen, Bobby Moore, Keith Newton,  Ray Wilson, Alan Ball, Ron Flowers, Derek Temple, Mick Jones, Terry Paine, George Eastham. The 6 1966 World Cup winners are underlined!

England beat Germany 1-0 away in February 1966, the team? Banks, J Charlton, Cohen, Norman Hunter, Bobby Moore, Keith Newton, RayWilson, Alan Ball, Bobby Charlton, Nobby Stiles, in a friendly and of course, they met months later 30th July, at Wembley in the World Cup Final, the result we all know. 8 WC finalists are underlined.

Overall England has won 13 games, Germany 15 and draws are 4. 

The past three friendly meetings? 26/3/16: 2-3 to England, 22/3/17 1-0 to Germany. 10/11/17 0-0 draw

The pundits suggest that both teams will line up 3-4-3 and their "individual scores" given to each player mount up to 91 for each country!

The Germans will also take the knee, Jose is giving his thoughts on Talksport...always worth listening to and Harry Redknapp reckons England will win 2-0, Lee Westwood says 3-1 to England, Jamie Carragher an England win on pens, Frankie Dettori (what?) England 1-0. After last night's thrills I wonder if the two teams are going to conjure up such excitement?

Meanwhile Sweden play the Ukraine at Hampden Park at 8pm (predicted 2-0 to Sweden). This is the oldest England team selected by Gareth so far. The Germans make up the youngest yet.

Referee Danny Makkelie, a Dutchman, is at 38, regarded as one of the best young refs in UEFA. He is a part-time police officer. He refereed adult matches in his teens and went part time as a copper so he could do UEFA Champions league games. He was in charge of Southgate's England U21 opening match in the 2015 U21 Euros. Well, let's hope......

JOSEF AND LUKAS MASOPUST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYGnyJK3nyc 

Josef Masopust is a name that stands out in my football history...don't know why but he rates alongside Ferenc Puskas, di Stefano, Raymond Kopa, Bert Trautmann....some of you may have seen their names before or even play? Probably not!

I hook onto Masopust because there is a Lukas Masopust presently playing for the Czech Republic Euro squad, so why not delve into a piece of history. They are not related.

Josef died on June 29th 2015, in Prague, another reason for educating you and giving you a pub topic, assuming that you aren't locked down! He was born in 1931. Here he is as the Ballon d'Or winner in 1962.

Masopust's first club was lowly ZSJ Uhlomost Most but ZSJ Technomat Teplice (renamed to ZSJ Vodotechna Teplice in 1951) signed him as a 19-year-old left-half and gave him his top-flight debut. Then, in 1952, he joined a Czechoslovak Armed Forces football club under name of ATK Praha (renamed to ÚDA Praha in 1953 and to Dukla Prague in Winter 1956). Masopust won eight league championships and three national cups with Dukla. They also reached the semi-finals of the 1966-7 European Cup losing to the eventual winners of the competition, Celtic!! Belwo on the link you will find out a bit more about Dukla, a team that Spurs played in their 1960s European "pomp".

When he eventually went abroad in 1968, he helped Crossing Molonbeek win promotion to the Belgian first division as player-coach. His coaching career continued at Dukla, however his only Czechoslovak league title as a coach came with Zbrojovka Brno  in the 1977–78 season. Later, between 1984 and 1987, he led the Czech national team overseeing a total of 27 matches. He subsequently had a spell in Indonesia where he coached their national Olympic football team in the 1980s. Overall he made 483 apps in club football with 98 goals between 1950-70 and for his country 1954-66, 63 apps/10 goals; a World Cup runner up 1962. If you want a more historic account have a look at this:

https://gameofthepeople.com/2014/12/31/bohemian-rhapsody-josef-masopust-and-dukla/

Rather less well known is Lukas Masopust, who is a midfielder for Slavia Prague and who has played for the Czech Rep, since 2012, 24 times scoring against Montenegro and Albania! Who hasn't? 

I never knew this, but "Masopust" means Carnival and it's a celebration in Czech to mark the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring-people dress up. 

The Czech squad includes Coufal  and Soucek (West Ham),  Vydra (Burnley) and Kalas (Bristol City): 15 of their 26 strong squad are playing abroad.

LAMPARD'S LINE AND ROY'S RESIGNED

 

I think a lot of readers will remember this moment pictured, on June 27th 2010, when Frank Lampard's long range shot beat the German goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer, at The Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein in the South African hosted World Cup Finals, last 16. Germany beat England 1-4. It could have been so much different. Here it is on film.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5QlBHF6ib8

South Africa was the first African country to host the FIFA W.C.Finals. Thank you Seb Blatter. Matters off the field were a bit similar to the present UK's issues in Leadership, with John Terry being stripped of his captaincy after his affair with team mate Wayne Bridge's ex-girlfriend. 

Rio Ferdinand replaced him, but was soon out of the World Cup due to a knee injury. By May, testing pre-tournament wins in friendlies against Egypt 3-1, Mexico 3-1 and Japan 2-1 looked promising. 

The USA came next in the tournament and Steven Gerrard managed to rescue a 1-1 draw. Then came a  thumping 0-0 draw with Algeria and a cheeky 1-0 win over Slovenia. England qualified for the Round of 16 and on came the Germans in front of over 40,000. 

Team: James, Johnson, Upson (who scored), Terry, Ashley Cole, Milner, Lampard, Barry, Gerrard, Defoe, Rooney: Subs: Wright-Phillips, Heskey, Joe Cole.

On June 27th 2016, not long after the "Brexit Vote", David Cameron had resigned his leadership and England had celebrated the occasion against Iceland, leading their Euro cup tie, with a 4 minute goal by Wayne Rooney. Iceland pulled themselves together and England melted away, losing 1-2. After that, England manager Roy Hodgson, bless him, resigned. This will cheer you up:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFaxs4L77y0

ST HELENA ISLAND FOOTBALL

The Island of Saint Helena (where Napolean was isolated) football team made its international debut in June 2019 when participating in the 2019 Inter Island Games. The games were played on Anglesey, North Wales because the original venue, Gibraltar, couldn't host the number of games. The country is not affiliated to FIFA.

Previously, St. Helena FA had played one fixture in 1949 against an English side, away, at Lockheed Leamington FC. (from Leamington Spa, Warwickshire). The Friday 18 November 1949 issue of the "Leamington Courier" notes 'Lockheed beat St. Helena 15-3, the visiting team coming from the island of St. Helena'. The sponsors of the games were Anglesey based Huws Grays builders merchants! Serious stuff ££££. 

The next recorded match is one against Holyhead Hotspur Reserves, on June 10th 2019 with a win for the Islanders 2-0. The crest shows the St Helena plover (the wirebird) with a motto of "Loyal and Unshakeable".

Further results in 2019 included a loss to Ynys Mons, Anglesey 2-7, on June 12th, a defeat to the Shetland Islands on June 16th 1-6, a 0-9 defeat by Guernsey on the 18th and two days later a 1-2 loss to the "Western Isles".                                           

SUAREZ'S "BITE TRICK" and A LOVING VALENTINE AND NEIGHBOURS- sorry two days here!

On June 24th 2014, when the headlines should have belonged to England and their magnificent 0-0 draw with mighty Costa Rica, ending their World Cup campaign with ONE point, it was 'Cannibal Suárez' whom everyone was talking about. Feeling peckish, the Uruguay forward bit Italy's Giorgio Chiellini. This was Suarez' THIRD biting incident, and a four-month ban followed, during which time he fancied a change of appetite and moved from Liverpool to Barcelona for £75 million; the internet loved it!

Luis Suarez was suspended for nine international matches and banned from taking part in any football-related activity (including entering any stadium) for four months, following this biting incident. He was also fined CHF100,000. After an appeal to the Court of Arbitration, Suárez was later allowed to participate in training and friendly matches with his new club Barcelona. 

On 20 November 2010, Suárez bit PSVs Otman Bakkal, on the shoulder during a 0–0 draw. Ajax suspended him for two matches and fined him an undisclosed amount, which the club said they would donate to a "good cause". The Dutch daily newspaper De Telegraf branded Suárez the "Cannibal of Ajax".The KNVB increased Suárez's suspension to seven league matches. 

On 21 April 2013, during a 2–2 draw with Chelsea in a Premier League match at Anfield, Suárez bit Branislav Ivanovic. No particular reason?

On this day 25th June 1982, West Germany needed to beat  neighbours, Austria, by one or two goals, to allow both countries to progress through their World Cup finals' group, eliminating Algeria. The Germans took the lead after 10 minutes, after this the two teams appeared to settle for that score with an agreement between the two nations to settle for status quo. This match was known as the "Disgrace of Dijon". After Hrubesch headed home from Littbarski's cross, the game came to a grinding halt with the crowd showing their disgust by attempting to pitch invade and German flags were burnt.           Referee? Bob Valentine of Scotland.

Needless to say FIFA didn't take any notice of the Algerian's protests. The Group ended:

1st: WGermany P2 D0 L1(to Algeria!): Goals For 6 Against 3 = 4pts

2nd: Austria P2 W2 D0 L1(to West Germany): Goals For 3 Against 1 =4pts

3rd: Algeria P3 W2 (beat West Germany and Chile) D0 L1(to Austria): Goals For 5 Against 5 = 4pts   

4th Chile NO POINTS:  Goals For 3 Against 8.

SCOTLAND THE EUROS AND THE WORLD CUP

On June 23rd, Scotland, in the 2016 World Cup, were defeated by Morocco 3-0, leaving the Scots bottom of their group, making their record of 8 out of 8 appearances in the FIFA World Cup, when the Scots have failed to progress to the knock-out phase of the competition. 

The Scots have appeared eight times at the FIFA World Cup including five consecutive tournaments from 1974-1990. The team has never advanced beyond the first round of the finals competition. They have missed out on progressing to the second round three times on goal difference: in 1974, when Brazil edged them out in 1978, when the Netherlands progressed at their expence and in 1982, when the Soviets qualified.

Scotland did not compete in the first three World Cup competitions, in the first three tournaments (1930, 1934, 1938) because of a dispute with FIFA over "broken-time" payments to players. The SFA, with the football associations of England, Ireland and Wales, withdrew from FIFA in 1928 and did not rejoin as a permanent member until 1946.

The readmission of the Scottish FA in 1946 meant that Scotland were now eligible to enter the 1950 World Cup (photo below). FIFA advised that places would be awarded to the top two teams in the 1949-50 Home International tournament, but the SFA announced that Scotland would attend the finals only if Scotland won the competition. Scotland won their first two matches, but a 1–0 home defeat by Engkand meant that the Scots finished as runners-up. The SFA stood by this proclamation, despite pleas to the contrary by the Scotland players, supported by England captain Billy Wright and the other England players. Sportswriter Brian Glanville later described the SFA as showing "baffling insularity and pique" in their refusal to send a team to the World Cup.

The same qualification rules as in 1950 were in place for the 1954 tournament with the 1953-4 British Home Championships acting as a qualifying group. Scotland again finished second, but this time the SFA allowed a team to participate in the Finals, held in Switzerland. To quote the SFA website, "The preparation was atrocious". The SFA only sent 13 players to the finals, even though FIFA allowed 22-man squads to turn up. Despite this self-imposed hardship in terms of players, the SFA dignitaries travelled in numbers, accompanied with their wives. Scotland lost 1–0 against Austria in their first game in the finals. After falling out with the SFA, probably due to the poor preparation of the team, manager Andy Beattie resigned hours before the game against Uruguay, the reigning champions and who had never before lost a game at the World Cup finals. The gulf in class was exposed in horrific fashion as Uruguay won 7–0.

Scotland qualified for the 1958 tournament and manager Matt Busby had been due to manage the Scotland team at the World Cup, but the severe injuries he suffered in the Munich Air Disaster with Manchester United in February meant that trainer Dawson Walker took charge of the team instead. In their first match at the finals Scotland achieved a creditable draw against Yugoslavia. Squad member, Tommy Docherty, and a colleague were sent to watch next opponents Paraguay and they reported back that Paraguay was a "rough, fit and good" team. Walker chose to ignore this advice and left out some of his combative players, including Docherty, and Scotland lost 3–2. They exited the competition after also losing to France. Between 1974-90 the Scots reached Round 1 only. They failed to qualify for 1994, reached Round 1 only in 1998 and then Scotland failed to qualify from 2002-2018.

In European Competitions Scotland did not enter in 1960-4. In 1968-88 they did not qualify. In 1992 and 1996 they reached the First Round only, did not qualify from 2000-2016 and in 2020 reached the Group Stage, as we know from recent results, ending bottom of their group. They now hope to qualify for Qatar:The squad has been drawn in Group F against Denmark, Austria, Israel, Faroe Islands and Moldova.

ENGLAND PAY THE PENALTY

 

"Football is a simple game - you play for 120 minutes and then the Germans win on penalties." Gary Lineker

Well, Gary Lineker's comments about losing penalty shoot-outs seems to apply to every country England play, not just Germany. Of eight shoot-outs in World Cup/European Championship tournaments England have managed two victories. The list of disappointment -

1. England v West Germany Wednesday 4th July 1990 at the Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin, Italy World Cup semi-final England 1 West Germany 1 after extra time Goalkeepers - Shilton (England), Illgner (West Germany)
	England			West Germany
	Lineker	scored		Brehme	scored		1-1
	Beardsley	scored		Matthaus	scored		2-2
	Platt	scored		Riedle	scored		3-3
	Pearce	saved	x	Thon	scored		3-4
	Waddle	missed	x				3-4
West Germany won 4-3 on penalties - they went on to win the competition.
2. England v Spain Saturday 22nd June 1996 at Wembley European Championship Quarter-Final England 0 Spain 0 after extra time Goalkeepers - Seaman (England), Zubizarreta (Spain)
	England			Spain
	Shearer	scored		Hierro	missed	x	1-0
	Platt	scored		Amor	scored		2-1
	Pearce	scored		Belsue	scored		3-2
	Gascoigne	scored		Nadal	saved	x	4-2
England won 4-2 on penalties to enter the semi-finals. There they met Germany and lost - on penalties (see below).
3. England v Germany Wednesday 26th June June 1996 at Wembley European Championship Semi-Final England 1 Spain 1 after extra time Goalkeepers - Seaman (England), Kopke (Germany)
	England			Germany
	Shearer	scored		Hassler	scored		1-1
	Platt	scored		Strunz	scored		2-2
	Pearce	scored		Reuter	scored		3-3
	Gascoigne	scored		Ziege	scored		4-4
	Sheringham	scored		Kuntz	scored		5-5
	Southgate	Saved	x	Moller	scored		5-6
Germany won 6-5 on penalties and went on to win the competition.
4. England v Argentina Tuesday 30th June 1998 at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, St Étienne, France. World Cup Second Round England 2 Argentina 2 after extra time Goalkeepers - Seaman (England), Roa (Argentina)
	Argentina			England
	Berti	scored		Shearer	scored		1-1
	Crespo	saved	x	Ince	saved	x	1-1
	Veron	scored		Merson	scored		2-2
	Gallardo	scored		Owen	scored		3-3
	Ayala	scored		Batty	saved	x	4-3
Argentina won 4-3 on penalties but were defeated in the next round, the quarter-finals, 2-1 against the Netherlands.
5. England v Portugal Thursday 24th June 2004 at Estádio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal. European Championship Quarter-Final England 2 Argentina 2 after extra time Goalkeepers - James (England), Ricardo (Portugal)
	England			Portugal
	Beckham	missed	x	Deco	scored		0-1
	Owen	scored		Simao	scored		1-2
	Lampard	scored		Rui Costa	missed	x	2-2
	Terry	scored		Ronaldo	scored		3-3
	Hargreaves	scored		Maniche	scored		4-4
	A. Cole	scored		Postiga	scored		5-5
	Vassell	saved	x	Ricardo	scored		5-6
Hosts Portugal won 6-5 on penalties and went on to reach the final where they were surprising beaten 1-0 by Greece.
6. England v Portugal Saturday 1st July 2006 at the Veltins Arena, Gelsenkirchen World Cup Quarter-Final England 0 Portugal 0 after extra time Goalkeepers - Robinson (England), Ricardo (Portugal)
	Portugal			England
	Simao	scored		Lampard	saved	x	1-0
	Viana	missed	x	Hargreaves	scored		1-1
	Petit	saved	x	Gerrard	saved	x	1-1
	Postiga	scored		Carragher	saved	x	2-1
	Ronaldo	scored					3-1
Portugal won 3-1 on penalties to reach the semis where they were beaten 1-0 by France.
7. England v Italy Sunday 24th June 2012 at the Olympic Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine European Championship Quarter-Final England 0 Italy 0 after extra time Goalkeepers - Hart (England), Buffon (Italy)
	Italy			England
	Balotelli	scored		Gerrard	scored		1-1
	Montolivo	missed	x	Rooney	scored		1-2
	Pirlo	scored		Young	missed	x	2-2
	Nocerino	scored		A. Cole	saved	x	3-2
	Diamanti	scored					4-2
Italy won 4-2 on penalties and went on to reach the final where they lost 4-0 to Spain.
8. England v Colombia Tuesday 3rd July 2018 at the Spartak Stadium, Moscow World Cup - Round of the Last 16 England 1 Colombia 1 after extra time Goalkeepers - Pickford (England), Ospina (Colombia)
	Colombia			England
	Falcao	scored		Kane	scored		1-1
	Cuadrado	scored		Rashford	scored		2-2
	Muriel	scored		Henderson	saved	x	3-2
	Uribe	missed	x	Trippier	scored		3-3
	Bacca	saved	x	Dier	scored		3-4
England won 4-3 on penalties to win their first World Cup penalty shoot-out, at the fourth attempt. England went on to reach the semis were they lost to Croatia and they then lost the 3rd/4th place match against Belgium. Below: Gareth Southgate........ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWXgUH44FZE and below definitely worth watching and introducing to your players for the coming season.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFaxs4L77y0