Best of the Best

Our son recommended that we watch this yesterday. He does not make too many requests so we listened to him. He has been unwell over the last few days. So when my wife and I travelled to London, we did not take him with us when we popped into see my mother.  She was sad that he was not with us, but understood that he needed to rest.  

We had intended to travel earlier in the day, but got caught up in traffic for the Spurs game. I know a few people who went to it, so I had to look at the result before Arsenal played. I laughed, but little did I know that would jinx us in our kick off. Arsenal, in the last few seasons, had a habit of dropping points if ahead in the table and playing an early kick off. This time we were level on points with the team that rhymes with City, but dropped points. I think that all would agree that Brighton deserved to win. Our son will be there next year as he will be going to The University of Sussex and he did watch the game with me. Hopefully he will end up an Arsenal fan though.

Anyway, back to the film. I will admit, I expected it to be terrible. I did wonder how they got so much set up with props, but the film was enjoyable. We all were glad to watch it, but I do not see me watching it again. 

We were top of the table

After Saturday, I was looking forwards to work today. Arsenal won on Friday. Come Saturday, I accidentally clicked on social media and saw the football scores. For those who are unaware, I prefer not to know the scores as then I watch Match of the Day with a lot more excitement. But I did, and then spent the time laughing. 

At the end of last season, with a terrible home form but the fifth best away form, I thought that Spurs would be able to do something, especially after spending so much building up this squad. They did heir best to prove me wrong. They lost and Saturday ended with the unofficial table having Arsenal top and Spurs bottom. ManUre losing was icing on the cake. 

But then Villa lost by four goals which meant that Brighton were top of the table.  I still got to laugh at work at the Spurs fans. Saying that, this is just the first weekend. Teams have yet to gel and it is unlikely that Spurs will stay so shit. But I can dream…

The best team won

First of all, England.  If someone told me that one side would have scored four goals by half time in the 3rd/4th playoff, I would have been depressed thinking that England surrendered again.  But we had not. France may have expected the team that allowed Argentina to play football to face them, but a changed line up with the pace that is a strength of the team brought belief and four goals.  The good thing about the game is that our two talismans were not playing for the first half, but we did need Jude for the final half with his goal to settle nerves.  I watched the game with my wife.  We actually have not watched any games together, this being the first one.  She did watch the game when we got back from Portugal, but I was off collecting our dog at the time.  What a game to watch together!  I may try to convince her that she is the lucky talisman and should watch more games with me in the future!  She has a soft spot for Saka after the abuse he has received in the past.  She is one of many who sent him messages of support after the abuse he got from that penalty miss (and he thanked her as well) in the 2020 final. 

As for the final, Argentina have regained the record for the most number of players sent off in a World Cup Final. They were a dirty team against us in the semi-final and while not as dirty in the final, they still were. They also got away with a lot of tackles that should have got a yellow card as well as managing to get a valid goal disallowed. Their behaviour after the end of the game is inexcusable, though based on what has happened before, I suspect that FIFA will let them off.  

Unlike 2006, when bad sportsmanship was rewarded, this year, the best team won.  Football would have been worse if Argentina had lifted the trophy.  I am glad, that on this occasion, the right result occurred.

Dirty cheating gits

Yes we lost. It appeared more of a surrender. What gets me is that the Argentine team were so dirty. At least until we scored. After that, they played football and we let the comeback team of the tournament do the same again. While I do not know as much about football as others, I would have kept pace on the field rather than taking it off. When we were defending, there was no threat that the Argentine team had to worry about. We have many players with pace who would have allowed us an outlet to punt the ball upfield to, not just Saka, but others as well.

But while many in the Argentine team were dirty gits, Messi was not. He was amazing. Anyway, two more years until the next tournament. And Arsenal will need to ensure that our players get time to rest. 

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

Not sure I would recommend this as a film. I watched it with my wife and daughter, both of them having watched the original. I have heard enough about the original that I was able to catch up on how the plot developed. By plot, I mean a weak one. It is funny enough that I enjoyed watching it, but I am glad I did so on streaming. I would be very disappointed had I paid to watch this in the cinema.

Would I watch it again? No. While this is not a film to go out of your way to watch, if you don’t mind the usual Sandra Bullock films that are produced, watch it if it is on. And if you do, this is a film you can watch while being on your device, as I did. Which may be why I do not dislike this as much as others who have watched it. 

On a better note, I watched the Norway game with my daughter. I have been saying that we have to be cautious of a team that beat Brazil, and while it appeared to be one way traffic in the first quarter, I said to my daughter that I expected Norway to attack in the second. They did, they scored, but England held on to defeat them with two amazing goals. We may face Argentina in the semifinals, if so, I do not fear them. 

What a game

What a game. I went to bed early yesterday, was woken by my wife when she went to bed. I did not sleep too well, but adjusted my alarm when I found out the game was delayed by an hour.  

My daughter had gone into Colchester to watch it with friends.  I knew that Mexico would attack, which would play to our strengths. But during the week, when talking about it at work, I had forgotten about how the altitude would work against us.  I was reminded about this later in the week when players from that game in Mexico in 1986.  I was not intimidated by the record of Mexico at the stadium, but I knew it would be tough. But, I kept the faith, knowing that we have come from behind to win games. But the joy of going two goals up in the first half was amazing. My wife had told me not to wake her up and it was hard not to do so. I did not lose faith when they scored their first goal, or when we went down to ten men, or even when they scored the second.  But the boys did good (my family hate the phrase) and did the country proud. Our multicultural team was amazing. 

It was strange seeing the sun up at the end of the match. I offered to collect my daughter from Colchester, but she declined, walking back with a friend instead. Anyway, time to catch up on sleep. 

Back in Blighty

We are home, and are exhausted.  We left our apartment early in the day. Last night I ended up swearing at the children as one decided to pack at ten at night while the other was trying to sleep. While the apartment is nice and has a great location, it has no air conditioning and sleeping has been an issue in the last few nights. 

The journey back was not too eventful. We arrived at the airport with time to spare, Portugal appears to have suspended the EU passport checks which have caused chaos for British travellers, which meant that we arrived too early. But having heard of planes leaving passengers behind, we did not want to risk that ourselves. 

Our issues were once we landed. The taxi we booked was not available and a slightly smaller car was sent instead. But the M25 was very busy and our journey home took about two hours longer than normal. And it was so hot! I did get to watch the England match on my phone but there was a lag which meant that I saw my daughter respond to the radio before I saw England go behind. We were exhausted by the time we got back home, the heat and being trapped in the car not being enjoyable.  I decided to get our dog who was at in-house-boarding in Ipswich. Leia loves it there and loved seeing me. She expected the rest of the family to be in the car, but they needed to rest at home.  The dog-sitter is amazing, she loves Leia and wanted to chat, which meant that I missed the equaliser and ended up watching the highlights to see the two England goals.

I knew England would have to attack as the DRC would defend, I just did not expect us to go behind so quickly. But I had faith in the team and we got the result we deserved.  Our next game will be against a team playing at home, at altitude, in a stadium they have rarely lost in. But that means they will be attacking us… 

But we are at home, and we are happy to be so.  It is back to work for me tomorrow, hopefully it will not be too much of a shock! 

We were lucky

It was a penalty. For Ghana. But apparently I am wrong, and I am glad I am wrong as England would have lost. Ghana played well and England was not varied enough for most of the game to adapt. With taller players than ours, sending balls into the box for them to head away was not a good idea.

Towards the end of the game, players who could dribble past others were played, notably Eze and Saka and it appeared to make a difference. But the pace of Ghana was a big issue for us.  Hopefully this is a learning experience for our manager and team, one which will take us to lifting the trophy.

My sweepstake team, Uzbekistan did not do well and my hopes for them playing England in the final appear very unlikely. 

Family wise, we spent most of today at the villa, going for a swim and a drive. My daughter had some work to do, so we left her to it.  The holiday continues to relax us. 

Come on England!

What a game. And what a day. Family first. We are now in Portugal. I finished work late on Tuesday and was not around when Leia was dropped off at the dog sitter we use in Ipswich. My daughter said that she whined as she was being left. Yesterday, we woke up early to be driven down to Gatwick. I slept most of the way in the back of the taxi, to the annoyance of our children.  My wife and I split up from the children, they getting drinks in a different part of the airport to us. We were also separated for the flight, which again, I slept through. My wife has booked our stay and it is amazing, but I have been bitten, lots.

Anyway, the football. I worked out how to use the TV and watched a lot of the match on RTÉ and I have to say, they analyse football better than British pundits. An example of this was with the goal by Jude Bellingham. Noni Madueke provided the pass for the goal, but also, importantly, made a run afterwars which stressed the Croatian defence and their goalkeeper as Bellingham could have crossed it too him. RTÉ noted this, the off the ball run by Croatia being missed by the British pundits for their goal. While pundits blame our defence, the runs by Croatia were good and I am not sure there was a right decision to be made at the time by our defenders. This means that while I can watch ITV and BBC coverage here, I will stick with RTÉ.  

Champions!

We are champions!  

It has been a long time since we won and I love the way the crowds came out last night. I am of course going to be unbearable at work and I actually feel sorry for the Spurs fans I work with. Especially as they may be relegated (fingers crossed).

Arsenal finish second. Again.

Arsenal started the final really well, pressing The Team That Rhymes With City really well, but the game changed and the pressure our players applied stopped. And then we were beaten, and sadly, I would have to say deservedly so. The season can progress in one of two ways. Arsenal can use this experience to continue to focus and go on to win something this season, or our main rival can be reinvigorated, stop dropping points and catch us. Again. 

Can You Keep a Secret?

The secret for this film is that it is probably not worth watching the film. It started poorly but did improve. It may be that the film is aimed at a much younger audience than me and it may be that my children would appreciate it more. The Guardian gave it two out of five, and I would agree that is a fair score. 

And on the topic of scores, Arsenal won today, which I am grateful for, but the holding in the penalty area confuses me. My understanding is that defenders should not hold onto attackers, but it may be that Arsenal got lucky again. 

Arsenal lost

Getting into work today, two people greeted me by laughing about the result as soon as I stepped through the door.  It did not stop there.  Even patients have been talking about it.  The only thing I can say back to them is that we are still top of the league.  Hopefully that will last...

Wishing for a Liverpool win

Sunderland fans may be thinking of how Leicester won the Premier League. I knew it would be a tough game and I would have grudgingly accepted a point if you asked me about this on Friday. But we drew and we still have a six point cushion at the top of the table, but that will only be so if Liverpool are able to take points from the team that rhymes with City. Fingers crossed… 

I normally do not know the score before I watch Match of the Day, but we had guests round for food, drink and a game of Linkee. Later their son joined us, a Chelski fan, who told me the result after I sang about being to of the league.

Athletic Bilbao

Another game and another victory. Watching the highlights, it appeared to be an easy game, at least until the substitutes came on.  It is too early in the season to comment accurately on how it will end, but victories like this are important for team morale. 

Arsenal and the victory on the weekend

I managed to watch the highlights of the Arsenal game. It was great to win again, even more so against the old manager of The Scum. Our second position in the league is on goal difference. I know I should be grateful that we have finished second, a position other teams would love to have finished in, but I cannot help but be envious at the trophies other teams have won. 

The Map That Leads to You

This is a film that we watched as a family yesterday.  I really liked it.

First of all, my daughter and I went for a walk earlier in the day with our dog, the dog loves it the more people walk her. After that, I rested before taking the two children to Freeport to get some shoes and trainers. The kids did spend money, but we returned without either.

Arsenal played well but our injuries will make the game next week even more daunting. Our striker scored, and a fifteen year old looked amazing! But it is early days and The Scum have almost the same record as us. 

Now for the film. It was enjoyable and I think it was worth three out of five, as opposed to the two stars given by The Guardian. Watching it as a family, we could talk to my daughter who has spent parts of this year travelling. Yes, the ending is predictable, but it is a sweet tale which I will compare fondly to my memory of a similar film which I watched many years ago.  I doubt I will watch it again, but it is worth watching, despite what those with a stone heart may say. But unlike the review on the image, it is not a good enough to be unforgettable. 

We (Arsenal) were lucky

I watched the highlights of the game, we were lucky in that I do not think that our goal should have been allowed to stand.  Saying that, we have had our share of decisions go against us, and we were playing Manure, so I will take the result!

Will Arsenal even finish second?

Arsenal who had a small chance at winning the title earlier this season are now facing the possibility that they may not even finish in second place. After an exciting season where we will have an empty trophy cabinet, that would be a kick in the teeth. 

Hopefully we will finish in second place

Am sad at our loss tonight.  I had watched the highlights for the other semi-final and while I had been confident that we could beat Inter if we faced them after we had beaten Real Madrid, I was not sure after watching the thrilling match against Barcelona.  But it was not to be, we were beaten, but we went down fighting.

I am just hoping that the team that rhymes with City does not pip us to second place as they are only three points behind us.