• Euro 2012 Day 4 Match 2
    Ukraine 2 Sweden 1 If you read it in a comic, you’d dismiss it. The plot, you’d rightly claim, lacks all conviction. Football people to a man would diss it as merely some improbable work of fiction. A proud new nation hosting this great tourney, keen to show the world they can deliver. A most […]
  • Euro 2012 Day 4 Match 1
    England 1 France 1 Once more unto the breach friends, once more; and hurl your bodies ‘gainst the Gallic fire. For Harry and St. George, the lion will roar but this time, with a softer timbre, for the troops are clad in more modest attire. No longer does their arrogance of jaw proclaim their god-giv’n […]
  • The morning after
    Sometimes we can’t do the unexpected; sometimes we can’t upset the odds; sometimes we just feel so dejected and wonder why we’ve irked the football gods. Sometimes Shay Given proves he’s mortal; sometimes hard graft is not enough; sometimes we look back through time’s portal and hearken for a younger Keane and Duff. Sometimes our […]
  • Euro 2012 Day 3 Match 2
    Ireland 1 Croatia 3 Make a mistake in the qualifiers and you may ride your luck. Make mistakes in the finals and you come unstuck. So they put us under pressure and we made mistakes. We could have recovered but they got the breaks. At the highest level we must retain the ball if we’re […]
  • Euro 2012 Day 3 Match 1
    Spain 1 Italy 1 They told us the Italians were finished, rocked by a domestic betting scandal. Their chances of success had been diminished, their only hope to light a holy candle. They said their camp was riddled with dissension and injuries had filled them with dismay. The fans displayed uncommon apprehension and had, in […]