Rob Smyth's Blog, page 45
October 18, 2023
Nessun Dorma podcast: World Cups, Oranje, Souness and football books
The show about 1980s and 1990s football dives into Euro 88 and looks at Italia 90 and France 98 through a different lens
After a couple of years out with booze-up-in-a-brewery issues, the Nessun Dorma podcast returns with some new voices and some new formats, but the same commitment to going long on an era when many English teams did just that.
Martyn Ramsay takes on hosting duties, joined by regulars Gary Naylor and Rob Smyth and a series of guests, including Mike Gibbons, Mac Millings, Jonathan O’Brien and the Guardian’s own Jacob Steinberg.
Each player can only be picked by one person. When Maradona has gone, he’s gone.
It’s a reality draft, not a fantasy draft: players should be judged solely on their form during the tournament/season/era in question. So, at Italia 90, Salvatore Schillaci is good, Marco van Basten is very, very bad.
The listeners vote on which team has won the draft.
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New Zealand v Afghanistan: Cricket World Cup 2023 – live
Devon Conway’s a decent footballer – I didn’t know that – and he chose cricket because the matches last longer. Smart rationale. And Rachin Ravindra’s a big fan of him as a bloke – it’s really sweet seeing what good mates they are.
I’m looking forward to seeing how Lockie Ferguson goes today. If he’s firing, he gives this side a different dimension and, as I type, Simon Doull says there might be enough pace in the track for NZ to go short. He also suggests that batting first is a decent option, and isn’t expecting much dew given the head of the day, which makes me wonder if Hashmatullah’s call to field was the right one; I thought he’d want to get in the match by setting a target, but I guess he trusts his bowlers to get their strangle on.
Continue reading...October 15, 2023
England humbled by brilliant Afghanistan in historic upset: Cricket World Cup – as it happened
Afghanistan pulled off one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history, stunning England with a 69-run victory in Delhi
Email! “Surely on the heating front,” says Tony Cunningham, “by the time your wife gets back from the pool it’ll be several degrees warmer anyway (and warmer than the pool) so you can pretend the heating has been on and she’ll never know ... unless she reads what you write for The Guardian.”
This had occurred to me – and she’ll also be coming out of a car so hot it should be illegal. There is much more chance this ruse succeeds than there is she reads these words.
Continue reading...Afghanistan v England: Cricket World Cup – live
“He wants to prove to people how good he is and he certainly is that good,” says Zak Crawley of Dawid Malan – a statement that is philosophically unimpeachable.
Athers notes England have done well to meet Afghanistan in Delhi and Bangladesh in Dharamsala, where it doesn’t really turn. He also reckons that, had this been a match against one of the better sides, Ben Stokes would’ve played and will be good to go against South Africa on Saturday.
Continue reading...October 14, 2023
India thrash Pakistan by seven wickets: Cricket World Cup 2023 – as it happened
Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma starred as India pummelled Pakistan with almost 20 overs to spare in Ahmedabad
“I’ve got goosebumps just sitting at home watching this one,” says Simon McMahon. “Imagine what it must feel like to be actually playing in it. I‘ve no idea to be honest, but I’d imagine it’s a mixture of nerves, excitement, focus, pride? Maybe a bit like doing the OBO for the biggest game of the World Cup so far…” Ha, lovely thought. Big as The Guardian is, somehow I’m not sure the hopes of a billion people are on my shoulders.
Pakistan fans in the house
Continue reading...India v Pakistan: Cricket World Cup 2023 – live
“I’ve got goosebumps just sitting at home watching this one,” says Simon McMahon. “Imagine what it must feel like to be actually playing in it. I‘ve no idea to be honest, but I’d imagine it’s a mixture of nerves, excitement, focus, pride? Maybe a bit like doing the OBO for the biggest game of the World Cup so far…” Ha, lovely thought. Big as The Guardian is, somehow I’m not sure the hopes of a billion people are on my shoulders.
Pakistan fans in the house
Continue reading...October 13, 2023
Euro 2024 qualifying, England v Australia, Mead set for Arsenal return: football news – as it happened
Beth Mead moved closer to a long-awaited return and Sheffield Wednesday appointed 34-year-old Danny Rohl as their new manager
Jack Grealish has been something of a fringe figure for Manchester City. Can he lift his season by playing well for England? He spoke at the England camp this week.
I have never been off the back of a season like the one I had last time. I felt I was really on top of my game in the second half of it, I was playing in every big game and we had the perfect end to it. You come back in pre-season and it’s a bit like … not ‘What now?’ actually. But do you know what I mean? So, in that sense, yeah, it was a bit difficult.
The big moments went against us. It’s a tough one to take but we certainly competed for long spells. It is very difficult to win here but in the circumstances it was near enough impossible.
I need to be very careful what I say. I think everyone from a Scotland point of view, whether you were on the pitch, in the stand or in the dugout, it just felt like we weren’t getting a decision. Fifty-fifty balls, going in for fair challenges and not getting them. It made it extremely difficult against a word-class team to try and get anything from the game. On the disallowed goal, McGinn added: ‘He changed it (the decision) in the game, which is the frustrating thing.
Continue reading...Football Daily | England take on Australia in a can’t-win game for Gareth Southgate
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Let’s start with some England team news. Nigel Spink is in goal, with a back four of Danny Thomas, Nathaniel Clyne, Russell Osman and Frank Lampard senior. Midfield is Mark Barham, Danny Drinkwater, Nick Pickering and John Gregory, and up front we have Peter Ward and Francis Jeffers. This England XI is comprised of fringe players who were capped against Australia. In four cases – Spink, Pickering, Ward and Jeffers – it was their only cap. England have played Australia seven times in international football, and all seven games have had the whiff of a ‘B’ international.
Continue reading...Euro 2024 qualifying, Scotland’s VAR outrage, England v Australia, WSL: football news – live
Team USA had a poor Women’s World Cup and still don’t have a coach. Jeff Kassouf investigates.
Who will that coach be? It’s anyone’s guess. When will the hire be made? Not soon enough. And who will make the decision that will shape the program? One man, for all intents and purposes, who recently took over as US Soccer’s sporting director.
Matt Crocker joined US Soccer earlier this year, arriving from Southampton. Crocker previously served as head of development teams at the English FA and helped establish the “England DNA”, a concept by which all teams wearing the badge play a similar style. He hopes to bring the same approach to US Soccer.
Continue reading...October 10, 2023
England beat Bangladesh by 137 runs: Cricket World Cup 2023 – as it happened
Dawid Malan’s career-best 140 and a deadly new-ball spell from Reece Topley helped England to their first win of the tournament
3rd over: England 11-0 (Bairstow 6, Malan 4) Just one from the over, as both Malan and Bairstow play and miss at Mustafizur. On the radio Steven Finn muses that “anything back of a length or on a good length is pretty difficult to score off”. Do send me an email or two with your morning coffee.
2nd over: England 10-0 (Bairstow 6, Malan 4). The tall Taskin, navy blue napkin tucked into his trousers waistband, zips in. Bairstow bashes his first ball through the covers for four.
Continue reading...Rob Smyth's Blog
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