02 July, 2006

And again

As expected, England not so much bowed as slouched out of yet another football tournament by losing on penalties.

To be honest, as soon as the match went to extra time it was obvious the thing would end in spot kicks and hence an England defeat, because for at least the last 10 years England have been shit at penalties. So I didn't actually watch the closing minutes of the game, preferring instead to finish the washing up and let the noisy reactions of the restaurant staff gathered in the car park down below tell me what was going on.

There was a great cry of delight from out of one of the flats underneath me when Portugal triumphed, which in turn prompted a lot of fierce but hopeless glares from the assembled throng. I then went and switched on the TV, enjoying the closing montage of English highlighs and lowlights set to, and this was a nice surprise, the Pet Shop Boys.

Of course England should have been dispatched from the World Cup ages ago, playing as they were to an infinitely worse standard than a great deal of other teams who had the misfortune to be eliminated as early as the first round. Not a massive football fan by any means, I'm hoping Germany repeats France's trick of 1998 and wins the thing on its home turf - if only to piss off the anti-German tabloids even more.

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