Im rolling Scotland (Wales have better stand out players but Scotland have a much better overall team, it would be utter blue balls if Austria or Ukraine qualify instead) Sweden (They stand out in this grouping although Russia away in Moscow would be tough) Italy (Much better organised than Portugal, despite Portugal having a great squad)
I didn`t know that the late John Sillett was from Southampton, and was on Saints books as a youngster. His dad played for Saints too.
It would definitely be a bit of a blue balls moment if it ended up being either Austria or Ukraine. Quite fancy Scotland to go through myself, Austria and Ukraine will struggle against both away. Wales hypothetically would be home in the final and have the bigger individual names, but Scotland have the much better overall squad and are more in form, plus they already have the experience of going away to qualify for a major tournament. Wales also need Ramsey, Bale and probably Kieffer Moore fit, which can be a tall order at times. Happy with either, quite like to see another Home Nation in a World Cup for a change.
Indeed, very sad news Tom. Thank you for posting, l had until now not seen these reports. Very underrated player.
True story, a guy I work with is Latvian and his sister played for Latvia in the last round of games. She quit about a month ago because the money wasn't there.
Really shows that in the men’s game, even though San Marino gets lambasted there needs to be some level of competency and organisation behind the scenes to keep the results from going to this level. This is what happens when that is missing.
There is certainly a massive gulf in quality in the women's game. There are perhaps 10 reasonably good international sides, all of which are capable of playing watchable, competitive football. There is perhaps another 10 capable of more or less hanging around in matches against the good sides, before losing by three goals. And then there's everyone else, who are effectively cannon fodder.
Just watched the goals. The defending and goalkeeping from Latvia is basically non existent. Standing up and sitting down to celebrate all the goals is basically a workout when it’s that many.
Germany is reducing football attendance to 50% of capacity, as part of their Covid protection. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59510506
They are taking these measures in response to have a similar number of cases to what we have had for weeks. But theirs looks like it is going up i think their vaccine rate is lower than ours as well? I’d be surprised if anything like that happened here To be honest 50% seems a daft approach anyway. If you are that concerned you have no one
Keeping an eye on the Fulham v Bompey game, primarily to see how Fabio Carvalho plays. 19 years old, has rejected a new contract offer with his current deal ending next summer. Attacking midfielder who scored a decent goal at St Mary’s, on debut last season. Said to be highly regarded. Just wondering if he might be in our sights and, given us playing youngsters like Tino and Broja, if we could nip in ahead of “bigger” clubs.