Scott Murray's Blog, page 34

Football Daily | Alfredo Di Stéfano, can you hear me? Your boys took one hell of a beating!

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We probably shouldn’t be waving big meaty slabs of succulent temptation in front of fate’s drooling maw, so apologies in advance to all affected supporters should the worst happen this evening. But facts are facts are facts: Scotland have a surprisingly good record against Spain. Their first-ever World Cup qualifying match that wasn’t part of the old Home Championship was against the Spanish at Hampden in May 1957, and if you think the Scots are underdogs tonight, then this was another level altogether. Scotland’s team was made up from players from Clyde, Charlton and second-tier wastrels Liverpool, while Spain were a glamorous amalgam of the brightest stars from Barcelona and Real Madrid. The Spanish forward line that evening consisted of Ladislao Kubala, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Luis Suárez and Paco Gento. Time to crank that old Sunday Post-o-meter up to 11: jings, crivvens, help ma boab!

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Republic of Ireland 0-1 France: Euro 2024 qualifying – as it happened

Benjamin Pavard’s piledriver was the difference between Stephen Kenny’s spirited side and the World Cup runners-up

7 min: This is an impressively confident start by Ireland. France were about to go two up at this point against the Netherlands, but have done nothing so far tonight.

5 min: Ferguson makes his presence felt down the inside-left channel and nearly releases Ogbene on the overlap with a reverse flick. Not quite. Then he sends Ogbene into space down the right. Hernandez does just enough to stop his opponent bursting into the box. Ferguson is a player who things happen around. He’s 18!

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Football Daily | Daniel Levy’s procrastination means Nagelsmann’s suddenly on the market

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There must be something in the London water. Well, of course there is, it’s jobby; thanks to the shower in charge of the country, there’s tonnes of the stuff bobbing up and down the Thames. But it’s also an idiom, and just like exactly this time last week, it gives us an excuse to lash Chelsea and Tottenham together for the purposes of our story. Thing is, neither club appears to be a model of corporate competence right now. Only this morning, Chelsea posted a loss of £121m for the 2021-22 season, a number which doesn’t look all that clever to simple folk like Football Daily. The club blame the Boris Johnson-approved sanctions imposed on former owner Roman Abramovich, which will continue to be felt “in the following years”, as presumably will the £500m splurge set to hit next year, so good luck to everyone at the Bridge. Perhaps someone can find a way of pinning Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella on Liz Truss when it all goes up.

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Croatia 1-1 Wales: Euro 2024 qualifying – as it happened

Croatia were seconds away from an opening victory in Group D when Nathan Broadhead popped up with a dramatic equaliser on debut

3 min: Wales afford Modric far too much time and space, 25 yards out. Croatia’s captain pearls a shot towards the bottom left, and Ward does very well to parry out for a corner. That was heading in.

2 min: A fairly quiet start … if you factor out the noise pouring down from the stands at the Stadion Poljud in Split. A fine atmosphere!

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Scotland 3-0 Cyprus: Euro 2024 qualifying – as it happened

Scotland get their Euro 2024 campaign off to a winning start at Hampden

5 min: Porteous sticks his elbow into Ioannou’s lug and it’s a free kick out for Cyprus out on the left. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Scotland box. Kastanos hoicks it into the mixer. Hanley heads clear and the danger is over.

3 min: Demetriou flaps at the corner. Tierney tries to return the ball into the mixer from the right, but his cross is blocked. A bright start for the hosts, though.

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Italy 1-2 England: Euro 2024 qualifier – as it happened

Harry Kane became his country’s all-time record goalscorer as England won in Italy for the first time since 1961

Italy get the ball rolling. One hell of an atmosphere in Naples, like that’s breaking news.

The teams are out! Just in time for the national anthem of both Italy and England. First performed by singer-songwriter Adriano Celentano in the original satirical approximation of what English sounds like to the Italian pop kids …

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Football Daily | The chaotic chain of events that led to England appointing a good manager

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We’re three and a half days into International Week, and Football Daily has yet to properly mention international football. That’s pretty good going, you have to give us that, but we were always going to run out of this particular road and so here we are. England, then, and this week’s appointment of erstwhile Halmstad, Örebo and Neuchâtel Xamax method man Mr Roy by Crystal Palace has served as an instant reminder of just how far the Three Lions have come in a relatively short space of time. Less than seven years, to be precise, a clock that started ticking when Mr Roy and his assistant Ray Lewington, in lieu of scouting Euro 2016 opponents Iceland, booked themselves tickets for a leisure cruise along the Seine. Oh Mr Roy! Aiiee Mr Ray! How could you?!

One memory of Mesut Özil (yesterday’s Football Daily). Before a Germany match, he was presented with a bouquet of flowers (for being German player of the tournament in winning the 2014 World Cup, if I remember correctly) and was cheered to the rafters. In the second half, he was hoiked off during an insipid team performance and booed to whatever the booing equivalent of the rafters is. Some players divide opinion, but seldom so dramatically among the same bunch of people within one hour” – Bernard Clark.

Sad to read that Mesut Özil is retiring, though not entirely surprised. His performances in Turkey have followed a long, slow decline, with each appearance less impressive than the two before it. I think it’s known as his Fenerbahce sequence” – Simon Mazier.

With Sky decommissioning Soccer AM, what’s to happen with The Bull, Jimmy Bullard, and You Know The Drill? Presumably I’m not the only one of Football Daily’s 1,056 readers who will miss his antics? My only gripe is he visited Bristol City when Lee Johnson was at the helm. Big Nige and Alex Scott would give him a bath. They say football is always the winner, but maybe not this time” – Chris Komorek.

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Football Daily | Antonio Conte nets the full house of 6.0s with a high tariff for chutzpah

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There must be something in the London water. Well, of course there is, it’s jobby; thanks to the shower in charge of the country, there’s tonnes of the stuff bobbing up and down the Thames. But it’s also an idiom and, you might recall, back in 2015, José Mourinho responding to one simple question after his Chelsea side lost at home to Southampton – “What did you make of that?” – with a passionate seven-minute soliloquy. “I don’t run away,” began its highlight. “If the club wants to sack me, they have to sack me. I want to carry on, no doubt, no doubt.” It was a robust defence of his position, particularly impressive given that nobody had previously questioned it at the time. Within a couple of months, he had gone.

Perhaps it’s just my anecdotal experience as a Catholic schoolboy that had to go church every Sunday until I was 16, but I always thought that the causality was the other way around to David Baddiel and, that for most of the congregation, God actually filled a football-shaped hole. Having said that, most of them were Spurs fans so they were probably better off ignoring football and believing there was a god” – Noble Francis.

In Friday’s News, Bits and Bobs (full email edition) and the mention of Erik ten Hag dead-batting Manchester United ownership questions, I was disappointed to see that you went for a very traditional ‘said’ rather than something funky from the parped, honked, etc stable. ‘I just met them, we shake hands, but I am focused on the game,’ he Eddie-Howed, gives so much more context, in my opinion” – Maurice Hope.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

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Manchester City 6-0 Burnley: FA Cup quarter-final – as it happened

Another day, another Erling Haaland hat-trick, as Manchester City swept Burnley aside to reach the FA Cup semi-finals

4 min: Ortega gives Lewis something of a hospital pass, and the young defender is nearly dispossessed by Vitinho’s tackle. The ball breaks kindly for City, and Dias tidies up.

2 min: A reminder that there are no replays these days. We’ll go to extra time and penalties if necessary.

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Real Betis 0-1 Manchester United (agg 1-5): Europa League last 16, second leg – as it happened

Betis gave it their best shot, but United held firm before Marcus Rashford fired them into the quarter-finals

4 min: Perez briefly threatens to bustle his way into a shooting position down the inside-left channel. The home side look up for this. An early goal would certainly give United something to think about.

2 min: De Gea gives Wan-Bissaka something of a hospital pass. The full back does well to return it to the keeper before Juanmi can nick it away. The Betis forward would have been clear on goal. Somewhere in the multiverse, it’s already 1-1.

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