Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Enjoyment Of Football.

Gunther Gerzso 

Last night there was more football to distract us, which was good, especially for Richie as his shoulder was painful.

First we watched the game between England and Ukraine; once it started Ukraine took control.  

England had their defence so well organised that it wasn't possible for Ukraine to get a goal.

Again the English played very well as a team, Steven Gerard their excelent captain had total control.                                                                                     

Wayne Rooney returned after receiving a two match suspension, early in the second half he converted Gerard's right-wing cross into a goal.

This is the first time in eight years that Rooney scored at a tournament; it does him credit that he performed so well after a suspension.

There was some controversy as Ukraine had got a ball over the English goal line which was quickly deflected by John Terry.

Two linesmen were right there but neither of them noticed so it was not declared a goal.

The English team defended so well that they constantly frustrated any attempts by the other side to score.

In the last 15 minutes Ukraine brought on their national hero, and Captain Andry Shevchenko, hoping for two goals from him.

Sadly this time their hero could not provide the vital goals, so the game ended with England winning with one goal.

This meant that Ukraine, one of the hosts along with Poland, was also now out of the tournament, much to their fans disappointment.

The other game that was happening simultaneously was France versus Sweden, France did everything they could to score a goal, but whatever they did Sweden frustrated them.

I noticed how tenacious Ribery was, as was Maluda, the French team were good but they were outplayed by the Swedish team.
                      
The Swedish team’s mercurial Captain Ibrahimovic scored two goals, one of which was the best of the tournament.  

The game ended with Sweden 2 - France 0, as France had scored more goals in the qualifying round they were going through.  

England will also be going through, they finished top of their group and will play against Italy, France will play Spain.

English journalists had been speaking to Ukrainian football fans about the Panorama programme which revealed a huge problem with fascist thugs in Ukraine and Poland.

The supporters told them that they were glad the program had been shown, as it was true that they had a problem with fascists at games, it was however only a small group, perhaps 10%.

Hopefully the authorities in Poland and Ukraine will take decisive action to ban the fascist thugs from football games.

 I'm still rooting for Greece to win, but I'm happy with whichever team wins, for me it's nothing to do with nationalism, it is purely the enjoyment of watching football.




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