FOOTBALL: UPSETS IN EUROPE

Ah, my first football post in almost three weeks! The agony and frustration of no live football coverage. I shall cry........

Scotland 1-0 France
Wales 1-5 Slovakia
Cyprus 5-2 Ireland
England 0-0 Macedonia
Denmark 0-0 Northern Ireland
Sweden 2-0 Spain
Bulgaria 1-1 Netherlands

To me, all the above are upsets. England again as always like Spain underperformed. Where is Germany by the way? France have all the players they got - Henry, Vieira, Makelele (forced to be a slave), Thuram, Sagnol, Abidal, Ribery, Coupet, Malouda, Trezeguet, Saha and Wiltord. The only difference is they have unreliable Boumsong and they don't have headbutt Zidane and butterfingers Barthez anymore. I heard Anelka is included back but I can't even see his name on the bench! Before the match, Scotland's center-back Steven Pressley claimed that France ware a better team without Zidane. That theory had been mentioned many times during the last World Cup as France started slowly but after killing off Brazil, Zidane was not a surplus in the team. I remembered he retired only to have came back to help a struggling France to qualify.

"Perhaps they’re [France] more of a team now because there’s not so much reliance and focus on one player”, said Pressley. "He [Zidane] was a great player and he had a tremendous World Cup, but they were maybe very reliant on his performances and now are more of a team.”

The defender clarified that "Throughout their team they have fantastic quality and it is a little daunting that they are still improving as a team, I must admit. They have the best striker in the world in Thierry Henry and you have to give him the respect that he's earnt."

Thierry Henry who? Always underperformed for France. Even during the World Cup finals. I see Sagnol, Ribery, Abidal, Zidane, Malouda, Vieira and the defence during the World Cup, not him.

England have Robinson, 'Cashley' Cole, King (surprise!), G.Neville (for ages!), Terry, Carrick (another surprise!), Downing, Gerrard, Lampard, Crouch (18 match a goal) and Rooney (rough rugby player who claimed he will never dive bullshit!). Scott Parker is on fire and he is benched to death. Shaun Wright-Philips who I don't know played how many matches per season was chosen to substitute instead. Defoe finally came in for Rooney but no goals were scored. England without Joe Cole (injured I heard) and 'John' Lennon have no creative juice in them as long as they play Gerrard (the only other player I consider who is creative) too defensively like during the previous World Cup.

They should bring in Parker and give him a shot now that he is on form. Well, whatever it is, weird midfield lineup there. You know what I really fear for England? Their belief that Wayne Rooney is a genius who is on the same league as Pele and put so much hope in him to give him an automatic starting line-up. Until today, I still don't see a single spark of brilliance from him! I don't see any clues of him becoming a great someday! I see him as a totally normal footballer who uses brute force, dives, swears, pushes in the field, can't even do any dummies, literally push himself into the penalty box and loves to receive red cards. I don't know why people are so blind. The spark of brilliance I can see for the new generation is in Messi and Robinho. England's only potential future brilliant player which I see in the World Cup is in Lennon.

As for Spain, second defeat in a row and Aragones' head should be called for by now. It is interesting when I read a news about Joaquin commenting of the national team set-up in a mess. Of course he was dropped so I guess he commented as he was pissed with it. Actually, during the World Cup, I saw some beautiful football from him.

"At the moment the national team is a joke, it's in chaos and not even Luis knows which way to turn," Joaquin told Punto Radio.

"I know what I'm saying won't help me get back into the squad but it's what I feel. All that is left to me is to work hard to try and regain the confidence of the coach."

Anyway, it is interesting that finally Raul is dropped from the national team. I hope it is for a longer basis and not just one match. Most of my hopes have come true. Drop those old invincibles like Raul, Ronaldo, van Nistelrooy and Beckham. If they are dropped, they will feel that they are no longer invincible and will only then work harder.

Finally, before I end this post, Google in talks to buy YouTube for $1.6billion? After buying SketchUp to integrate with GoogleEarth, now this?