Rob's Blog

3/7: Pune Tourist Board

Julie took this photo last August when we visited Pune on holiday and it has been sitting in our digital camera ever since. We had lived and worked in Pune, India for over five years running a Lotus Notes Software Company but returned home to England in January 2005.



I'd hate to have seen it before they started making progress ....

2/7: End of the World

Well according to at least one headline today, the world has fallen in.  England have lost.  Millions of expectant television fans fed over-hyped expectation had started to believe and now feel flat with another loss on penalties.  England weren't playing well and my prediction before the match that they would win on penalties betrayed a lack of belief in their ability to win convincingly.

The drama of watching England settle World Cup ties on penalties is tinged with the depressing knowledge that they always lose.  In my memory, they beat Spain on penalties in Euro96 but they have lost in four World Cups that way.  What is it about the English psyche that makes players who regularly stick them away in the Premiership bottle it under the ultimate test?

Sven's decision to take four strikers with two injured and one without any Premiership experience has definitely contributed to his decision to resort to a formation that isolated and frustrated Rooney.  Even before Rooney was injured at Chelsea, the flexibility of taking five strikers was clear and once Rooney was injured it should have been a formality.  I'm glad that Sven has now gone having cleverly pocketed over £20m over five years.

Breakthrough performances by Lennon and Hargreaves (who played a blinder on Saturday) were the consolation.

The Germany Argentina game on Friday was amazing.  Start with speeches by the captains on ridding football of racism and then end the match with a punch up between the two teams.  Yeah that's a great way to set an example -- probably not quite what FIFA had in mind.  I was glad that Germany went through.  The hand of God must have stopped helping Argentina.

As for who wins now, Germany have the momentum, Italy the experience and France the flair.  Anyone but Portugal, please.

So it's back to qualifying for Euro 2008 and then World Cup 2010 in South Africa.  Talk about wishing my life away.