They Think It's Moldova....

Well, I came downstairs and sat down in front of the TV, only to discover that the Macedonia v. England wasn't on!

I listened to the first half on 5Live, before setting off to the pub for the second half.

Due to the queue at the cash machine by Wood Green Tube (some stupid woman using a teddy bear to obscure her key strokes), I missed the start of the second half; which means I missed the only goal. Which I still haven't seen, as Sky failed to show it again, despite the mediocrity of the game.

Anyway, I'm not a fan of watching England games in the pub because:
a) the boorishness of the drunken English fan,
&
b) the recent trend of "face-painters" that have adopted England as one of their brands, despite their complete lack of football experience. (You know, the guys in Beckham jerseys who look around the room in confusion as England struggle against the nobodies: Why can't England display the superhero skills exhibited in the adverts? ).

But, it was actually quite interesting. Not only was there little bigotry on display— only one loudmouth Londoner to whom the game was his chance to shine as "the people's commentator" (Thanks, but no thanks)—and the face-painters were subdued (including the "Tottenham Fan" in front of me with a Rooney shirt—how does that work?) so it was actually quite bearable.

So the highlight was actually the pub's reaction to the scores elsewhere:

San Marino 0-10 Germany got a cheer, but then France 3-1 Italy got a round of applause. When it got to San Marino 0-13, the cheers contained the Whey Hey! quality that England lost years ago.

I like the current Germany squad: they have that Keegan's Newcastle quality of aspiring to overcome their shortcomings by outscoring the opposition, however many goals that takes. So when it comes to San Marino they don't know when to stop: which puts England's five against Andorra into perspective.

Remember: I qualify as a German by birth! Come on yooo krauts.

And well done Northern Ireland against the perenially overrated Spanish lightweights. Fantastic result which shows just how overrated modern footballers at the top level are.