Brian Bollen's Blog

England 2 Croatia 3

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. What on earth was that all about? I make no secret of the fact that I'm Scottish, but I have lived in England for well over half my lifetime so far, and think I have finally reached a point where I can watch an England game without fervently wanting them to lose, but I found this game hugely entertaining.

Not because of the result, because I find it sad, even chilling, that football in these islands has fallen behind the rest of the world to such an extent that not one of the five countries attempting to do so has qualified. But because of (a) the high quality of much of the Croatia team's ball skills and (b) the belated recognition south of Hadrian's wall, and east of Offa's Dyke, that the England international team is not remotely as good as the endless hype would have it.

Scotland 1 Italy 2

It's hugely tempting to say 'I told you so' and smile ruefully, yet smugly. I'm fighting hard to avoid the temptation, but will probably have to give in. Events panned out at Hampden on November 17 2007 almost exactly in line with my prediction of October 18 (see Georgia 2 Scotland 0), when I wrote:

“My prediction is yet another in the long line of glorious failures, with Scotland holding out until the 90th minute, in which Italy will be awarded a free kick in a dangerous area, or even worse, a penalty. And it'll be tears long before bedtime.”

And so it came to pass. I only wish that I had acted on my instincts and placed a bet to that effect, so at least I would have had some winnings to count, and offset the huge disappointment. But I'm not a betting man.

There is absolutely no doubt that the decision to award the free kick to Italy in the first place was shockingly wrong, in fact it was so bad that it sparked off in me thoughts of corruption and skullduggery.