Finally we see England enter stage left and we're taking on our near neighbours the French. What were we expecting? It's over to Stevie Geeeeeee in the pre-match press conference, it's hot (check), we're unfamiliar with the new ball (check), we're confident of a good performance (check), it's a game of two halves (check), we've got a double-decker bus we can park in front of the goal if we need to (check) :-)
Some of us may have snuck off work for the early kick off and from the whistle England didn't look too shabby. They looked solid at the back, commanded the midfield, and Oxlade-Chamberlain ran at them opening up a lovely opportunity for James Milner to round the keeper only for him to hit the side netting. This was all positive stuff and our pressure paid off when in the 30th minute Captain Gerrard swung in a cross from a free kick right onto Joleon Lescott's face! The deflection made the net bulge, queue Ian Wright's celebrations! Then England started show signs of playing like England defending deep and not venturing too far forward. We weren't playing negatively just cagey. Sadly however it caught us out as Samir Nasri (Lescott's colleague at City) carved a shot through the England defence just out of Joe Hart's (Nasri's colleague at City) reach, one all.
Half time came and we were subjected to some indecipherable analysis from Stevie's bezzie mate, Jamie Carragher leaving viewers desperately trying find the subtitles button on the remote! The second half was somewhat slowed paced than the first (don't forget how hot it is out there) a few chances came and went for both sides testing both keepers but full time came round and it finished one a piece. Post match interviews were riddled with cliches about how we have plenty to be satisfied with and we're not out of it yet, it's a marathon not a sprint blah, blah, blah... OK, OK, we get the picture, you really don't have to tell Footcallers about the long road. Thankfully on thing that was missing from the match was the England Supporters club with their never ending rendition of the Great Escape Theme!
The evening match saw joint hosts Ukraine take on Sweden in Kiev. The result of this could have a bearing on England's placement in Group D. The stadium was adorned in yellow and blue as both teams national colours were pretty much identical. This was a much more open game than the earlier one and it had goals written all over it. It was end to end and very surprisingly finished goalless at half time. That all changed after the break when Swedish legend, Zlatan Ibrahimovic deflected a cross to put the Swedes into the lead. The Footcall league turned upside down at this point and it was interesting to see the live updates to the players' positions as the goal was went in. But Sweden hadn't banked on the opposing team having a legend of their own, Andriy Shevchenko, and were certainly caught napping as he headed in a wonderful cross on the near post. Then just seven minutes later he put them in the lead after he picked the pocket of Imbrahimovic (what was he doing defending?) and headed in another to go 2-1 up. Quick whizz back to Zlatan down the other end and he powered a shot at the Ukranian goal which would have split the net but the keeper just happened to be in the right place at the right time. FInal whistle blew and the Olympic Stadium went crazy go nuts!
And so to the Footcall league... England one all was a popular prediction and Mr Firmston scooped another three to push for the top. So did Paul's brother Keith, Dave Billington, David Bourne and Harry the B**tard Whitehouse all picking up a red square. Me ol mate, Iain Baker collected his first one (see Iain, I told you this would be fun) Leigh Boardman, Jamie Marshall, Gavin Day and finally Grant Broad rockets up the table with perfect predictions; hey Grant... they'll dancing in the streets of Bristol with that news!
Match number two was also a sea of red on the table. Young Hannah Wakefield back in the mix topside and Simon Clark got his first three after being Mr Consistent with a hatful of ones. Stu Are You Acott must also be relieved along with Stephen (and Sharon) Hills and the Rowland couple, James and Rachel who very suspiciously have identical score lines across all 8 matches so far, what on earth is going on there, this might be a job for the Footcall bods upstairs! Rob Smith and Tim Jennings picked up a couple of threes as too did Chris and Tim Amos who were both anchored to the bottom of the table, but in the words of Bob Hale... "Not for long!"
Special mention must go to Trish Bertram, I hope your twisted arm is better now you have your first three pointer; look at you cursing on to the first page. But stars of our show are Dan (I live in the USA don't you know) Schroeck and Rob (I love Footcall) Pearson who were the only players to score a perfect 6. Well done guys!
Right! I'm off to get myself a Lescott haircut!
Dj
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