lookupsport

First up an apology to my reader for not posting for over a week - something called work has gotten in the way.  I’ve been flying about rural Yorkshire meeting some interesting people.

But what a week or so of sport.  It was good to see the Blue Army turn over Burnley mid week with a second string team, and even better to see Coventry beat Manchester United.

Then  there is the Jose situation.  I said in this blog at the end of last year that he might go over the summer, so I wasn’t too far wrong.  The fall out will go on and on with this and I think that will be it for Chelsea this season.  By the time they realise that the Israeli guy can’t coach and buy in somebody else, they will be too far behind to compete.

Then there is the Rugby World Cup with England bidding to not be the worst holders of the trophy in the entire history of the event.  They have to beat a strong Tonga side to do that so fingers crossed thay they manage it and then dont get too much of a mauling from the Ozzies in the quarter final.

And what about the F1 Championship.  Its offical - Lewis Hamilton doesn’t like Fernando Alonso.  He has finally come off the fence and said it rather than toe the diplomatic party line.  Whatever happens it’s been a great season for Hamilton and Alonso will not be there next year.  Let’s hope Mclaren sign Jenson Button and the British young guns can take on the world together.

Well lots more I could say but its getting late again after another long day.  And even later now as this didn’t post the first time and I had to start again.  Time for a beer I think! 

Its been a busy week for me and so not much time for blogging, but its also been a busy week in the world of sport.

First up England winning, and not only winning but winningwith some style against Russia mid-week.  Due to a complete cock up with keys, which I wont go into, I managed to miss the first half and so both of Owens goals, but it was good to see England pretty much in control of the second half with the exception of a 10 minute spell. 

Who would have thought that Heskey could make such an impact that Gareth Barry would fit in so well and that Owen would hit top form all at once?  You could heap praise on McClaren for finding a winning formula, but we all know that this team was picked due to the huge number of injuries he was faced with.

An interesting dilemma now for Stee McClaren.  Stick with a winning team or go backto the old and tried and tested formula (that’s irony) of playing as many stars in one team as possible regardless of fit and balance.  Tough one that! He might choose to make changes under the guise of people being on yellow cards and trying to avoid suspension.  To my mind though he should stick with this team, and leave the stars on the bench.  e.g. Lampard, Beckham and Rooney.  If somebody is suspended he can bring people back in at that point.  Psychologically it will be good for the team that has just played, give the big names a kick where they need it and go some way to intimidating the opposition when they look at the bench!  

An interesting test of McClaren’s mettle, although no doubt there will be any number of injuries before the next set of fixtures. 

Then there was the decision from the FIA regarding McLaren/Ferrari.  $100M fine - I nearly fell off my seat when I heard that.  No doubt being kicked out of the constrictors championship will hurt more than the money, but it is still a huge sum of money regardless of the amount floating about in the sport. 

The upside from a British point of view though is that they have not penalised the drivers, so Lewis Hamilton who has seen his lead pegged back over recent weeks still has a chance of becoming World Champion.  Credit to Alonso here - he has come back well and shown his true class.  It just goes to show that when he concentrates on racing and stops whining he can do it!

Then today we had a woeful performance from England against the Ozzies in the the Twenty20 World Cup, as they went down by 8 wickets and with 5 overs left. 

With England facing South Africa tonight in the Rugby World Cup this evening, it could be business as usual today for English sport - well we couldn’t expect to have antother day like last Saturday could we?

The weekend got off to a great start with the French losing the opening game of the Rugby World Cup to Argentina - a game that they were expected to win.  Is it me or do all English/British sport fans like to see the French get pummeled, especially when its on home soil? 

Saturday evening though could have delivered a serious blow to English sport, but fortunately the opposite was true for once with a rare hat-trick of success.

First up were the English cricket team, who were putting the finishing touches to the ODI series against India.  Following an exciting and at times controversial morning, England were set a target of just 188 to win the series 4-3.  I expected them to make a meal of it as per normal and they did get off to a shakey start, but ultimately ended up winning comfortably by 7 wickets and with 13 overs to spare.  More importantly, they finished in time (or at least the result was a full gone conclusion to mean that I could watch the England v Israel match.

Again, as a long suffering England football supported I expected them to make hard work of it, especially with the inclusion of a cetain Emile Heskey.

However. I was once again pleasantly suprised that they were not only playing some attractive football, but were also creating chances and even the man himself was linking well with Michael Owen.  I had some slight concerns that we hadn’t extended on Sean Wright-Phillips goal despite a number of qulaity chances, but that was removed when Owen finally hit the target early in the second half.  This all resulted in the second win of the day, with England taking it comfortably 3-0.

The to England Rugby.  I missed this match as I was busy with the football mentioned above and expected England to win comfortably.  They did win, although not as comfortably as might have been expected, missing out on the bonus point.  They will definitely have to be more convincing when they play Samoa and RSA, but don’t let that get in the way of the fact that England actually won in all 3 sports. 

We have to celebrate these small victories as we never know when the chance might arise again!

Oh dear what a weekend in store.  I’ve no idea what to watch.

First up is the final ODI with India after a thrilling finish to the last match.  One train of thought is that England let India chase down over 300, something which we would probably have not managed, but the other side of the coin is that India would have won much more easily had it not been for Mascharenas’ 5 six over.  The bottom line though is that it was great entertainment.  If tomorrow’s match is that close then the cricket might just win out as it will be reaching critical point as the football and rugby are being played. 

Next up England will be looking for their first win at the New Wembley and to keep Steve McLaren in a job of course.  Defeat is unthinkable, which means we will no doubt be put through the ringer and score in the final minute to win the game 1-0. 

The good news it it looks as if Gerrard is going to start - at least he seems to want to play for his country unlike a few others who aren’t prepared to fight for a place and don’t play with much pride.  No names mentioned - I’m sure you all have your own list of people that fit that bill.

Good news to that Robinson will play over James.  Ok. Robinson may have had a few blips lately but Calamity has been doing it for years and even as a Pompey supported I cringe everytime he comes charging out of his area.  Decsion making is not his best quality.

And then there’s the rugby.  England start their defence of the Web Ellis Trophy.  Although I am keen to see England do well of course I think this will rank third in my list of priorities as its only the first match and against the USA - a game we should win comfortably even without the injury prone Wilkinson.  I did say in my last blog that it would be a miracle if he stayed fit, but was hoping/expecting that it might be the opposition who inflicted the damage!

So, for my monry its going to be Football, Cricket, Rugby - unless the cricket is really close then I might need total control of the remote and it will be a case of “fastest finger first”, which will no doubt become annoying and normally results in missing the important bits of both!

And so its almost here.  On Saturday, England start the defence of their Rugby World Cup title against the USA.  After recent performances including two defeats against France few people are giving them much chance of success.

Certainly much has changed in 4 years, not least the retirement of Martin Johnson.  The gentle giant of English rugby, he led by example and gave the team the shake up and motivation that was required, and always seemed to find the right words in the changing room, particularly at half time in the semi-final.  According to Sir Clive Woodward, the first couple of minutes at half time were normally spent with the team taking on fluid and nobody speaking.  Johnson broke this rule for the first time just once and that was in the  semi final, telling his team they would be on the plane home if they didn’t buck up their ideas.  According to Woodward “it was exactly the right thing to do”, and clearly it worked.

If everybody stays fit for this campaign (and by everybody I mean the fragile Jonny Wilkinson), then England might, just might have a chance. As Mark Cueto has said, we have “30 of the best players in the world”.  However, they will undoubtedly miss the sheer physical presence and leadership of Johnson, and it needs somebody else to step up to the plate and assume that role. 

We will know how serious their challenge might be when they play South Africa on 14th September.