By Myles Palmer

_________________________

TODAY WE CAN forget a tedious week of talk about Sol, Rio and John Terry.

We can see England beat Austria, one of the minor teams of world football.

All week it's been : Sol is not in the England team. Then it was : Rio is dropped, Sol will partner John Terry.

Is five days of Sol v Rio good news management by the FA?

Or just dopey journalism by sports editors?

Do you think that's a big story? Do you really think that is an interesting story?

It's worth one paragraph !

Rio Ferdinand deserves to be dropped. He is off form.

When Rio concentrates 100% he is good.

When Rio concentrates 99%, he is useless.

That is why Sven has preferred Sol, who has to work at his game far more than Rio does.

DAVID BECKHAM has missed his last three England penalties, so he lets Frank Lampard take them now.

Frank says John Terry is the best defender in the world and he IS the best defender in the world when he has Gallas at right back and Carvalho next to him and Makelele in front of him and Del Horno at left back and Duff working back like a galley-slave in a Roman rowboat.

FOOTBALL is a team game and players can look very good in a well-constructed team and rubbish in a badly-constructed team.

England will beat Austria 2-1 or 3-1 but I'm not betting on it because I do not bet on plonkers who play as badly as these plonkers played against Denmark,Wales and Northern Ireland.

MARCO VAN BASTEN reprimanded Ruud van Nistelrooy for kicking a teammate in training, so it looks as if Holland are fired up to get a draw in Prague, where no national team wins.

IN 2003 Holland played the Czechs in Rotterdam and drew 1-1 in a Euro 2004 qualifier and then they played in Prague, a game I remember quite well.

The Czechs went 1-0 up and then 2-0 up and then Holland got a goal back.

This was when the old team was being mixed with new faces. Frank de Boer but also Rafael Van der Vaart, Kluivert but also Mark van Bommel.

Frank De Boer was injured at half-time and van Bommel switched to centreback and played well and in the last minute the Czechs broke away and Milan Baros went round Van der Sar on the right side, racing towards the corner of the six yard box and ready to shoot into an empty net, but knowing that the last man would probably be covering the post.

The last man was Mark van Bommel and he did the only thing a fullback or centreback can do in such an emergency.

He went to ground and stretched out his right foot, so that his leg and body covered the six feet nearest to the goalpost, to block a shot that was going to be rolled into the empty net.

Seeing the last defender out of the corner of his eye, or knowing a last-ditch block was likely because had been in such situations since he was 12, Baros delayed his shot for another second, until van Bommel was stretched on the ground, then clipped the ball sweetly over his body for 3-1.

A classy goal.

Czech Republic v Holland should be a good game.

And maybe an interesting signpost for those wondering whether Marco van Basten will be a world class manager.

October 8th 2005

Home | Previous News'99 | Features | Comment | Interact | Search | Links | Subscribe