I was waiting for a train yesterday evening, prior to the Sweden-England game, and as the one before mine pulled out of the station, I noticed it was called Sir Bobby Robson. I took this as a good omen, but then I remembered this and decided it wasn't.
Having already noted that Kyle MacLachlan was in charge of Germany, I was surprised to see that ITN newsreader Mark Austin had taken over as the Sweden manager.
It was also good to see a member of the Bishopthorpe cricket team keeping himself busy in the midst of this damp and dreary summer.
As for England, well, Roy Hodgson is a lovely chap, and a fine manager. I am very glad he was appointed, and hope he gets a fair crack of the whip, even if England lose to the hosts on Tuesday and have to go home. I do think it's a bit much to expect the 9 year-old Theo Walcott to keep scoring goals against the big boys though.
Oh, and my favourite moment of the Sweden game was provided by one of the Additional Assistant Referees. There to make decisions such as whether the ball has crossed the goal-line, our intrepid official had a judgement call to make when Joe Hart tried to keep a wayward backpass in play.
Hart had clearly failed, even to my bespectacled eye watching a pixellated TV image of a distant digital film camera in a dingy front room, but the assistant gave nothing. Eventually, the referee signalled a corner, at which point the replays kicked in. And these showed that the ball had rolled about three feet over the line, directly beneath the official's nose! I've not been able to find an image of the hilarious misjudgment, but the BBC online reporter noticed it too (at 21.31 on this page).
Having already noted that Kyle MacLachlan was in charge of Germany, I was surprised to see that ITN newsreader Mark Austin had taken over as the Sweden manager.
It was also good to see a member of the Bishopthorpe cricket team keeping himself busy in the midst of this damp and dreary summer.
As for England, well, Roy Hodgson is a lovely chap, and a fine manager. I am very glad he was appointed, and hope he gets a fair crack of the whip, even if England lose to the hosts on Tuesday and have to go home. I do think it's a bit much to expect the 9 year-old Theo Walcott to keep scoring goals against the big boys though.
Oh, and my favourite moment of the Sweden game was provided by one of the Additional Assistant Referees. There to make decisions such as whether the ball has crossed the goal-line, our intrepid official had a judgement call to make when Joe Hart tried to keep a wayward backpass in play.
Hart had clearly failed, even to my bespectacled eye watching a pixellated TV image of a distant digital film camera in a dingy front room, but the assistant gave nothing. Eventually, the referee signalled a corner, at which point the replays kicked in. And these showed that the ball had rolled about three feet over the line, directly beneath the official's nose! I've not been able to find an image of the hilarious misjudgment, but the BBC online reporter noticed it too (at 21.31 on this page).
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