"Unhappy the land that needs heroes".
Lets hear it for Bertolt Brecht although it would seem highly unlikely that he had Michael Owen in mind when he succinctly undermined nationalism and its links to xenophobia.
As the inevitability that is England's qualification for the Euro 2008 finals plays itself out in front of our disbelieving eyes, the gutter media is attempting to create spectacular societal headlines which have only a tenuous connection with the truth. Michael Owen's operation, his remarkable recovery, his refusal to play for his little club, his devotion to his island nation, his anger at the alleged disagreement with Big Sam is comedy journalism designed to fill column inches and establish the desired mass psychology for the betting markets in the international break.
I mean, who fucking cares?
Michael Owen could have been something amazing. He has become something abhorrent. Yet we are supposed to believe that this disingenuous little man is somehow the salvation of our national identity. Unhappy indeed. The fact that there is a climate of concern over the obstacle of Estonia is ludicrous. Estonia, a team 118 places below England in the FIFA rankings, a team that required a 92nd minute goal to scrape past Andorra at home, a team that is ranked lower than The Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and Eritrea, is, apparently, a real test for our £100K per week boys. Bejaysus...
The qualification pattern of corruption in England's pre-tournament groups is becoming a standard template. Underperformance in the early games (it is actually quite difficult to be so poor as to fail to score a goal against both Macedonia and Israel) produces a cacophony of angst-ridden headlines before the very same players who are happy to have a negative team impact in the early phases ride to the rescue by simply performing their job. Our belief is restored until these self same individuals let the xenophobes down by further creative unprofessionalism when their country needs them most. Now, personally, some of my favourite footballing memories are of England imploding on an international stage (sad, I know) but the fact that this warped euphoria is positively correlated with the whoops of joy from all bookmakers trading rooms restricts the width of my grin, even if only to a certain degree.
The most entertaining aspect of this weekend's Big Game is its utter irrelevance. Even if the mighty millionaires only draw with the Estonians, qualification will still be achieved by the draw in Moscow that is the only prerequisite for the finals in any case. Now, achieving a draw at home to the likes of Estonia takes some doing but with little Michael back up front, fat Frank doing his row Z shooting practice (if selected) and a heavily compromised if non-corrupt goalkeeper between the sticks, it could happen if the people's bookmakers and Goldchip (the footballer's bookmakers) desire it. The market has thirty hours to develop and, in true Thunderbirds stylee, anything can happen in the next thirty hours. Just be pleased that you are not naive enough to hand over your hard-earned cash for a seat at the theatre to watch this nonsense.
Elsewhere, there are some proper football matches taking place although, unfortunately, not without the corrupt influence of the English game. International matches are often rigged by bookmaking centres outside the sphere of influence of the English layers. Many former Soviet countries are still heavily linked to the Moscow markets while the Balkans and Palestine have their own peculiar idiosyncrasies. True to form, this irritates the British operations. Games involving the likes of Albania, Belarus etc are often removed from the coupons as control is in the hands of outsiders. Not so the events with certain English referees in charge. It is not a lack of coincidence that several top layers withheld opening prices for the Iceland versus Latvia match to be officiated by Michael Leslie Dean, for example.
For real events, check out the Romanians and the Scottish. Although the power hierarchies work against teams at their strata, excellent players in the former case and excellent spirit in the latter have ensured some nervous times ahead for the Dutch, French and Italians before the inevitable comes to pass. We will be particularly cheering on the Scots as Oleg Blokhin, the blockhead racist managing Ukraine, has said that he will resign if his country fail to reach the finals. See ya...
Finally, an optimistic development in the contorted divide-and-rule strategies that define our European game. Yesterday, we posted about the expansion power-grab by the G14(18)(50) and, today, we can balance that dynamic with focus on UEFA's historic agreement with Fifpro (the footballers union). Platini gushed: "In effect, this agreement is nothing more or less than the first decisive step towards the integration of all the families within football into UEFA's decision-making process". The Memorandum of Understanding covers a wide range of areas including the "equitable redistribution of wealth, collective rather than individual exploitation of wealth, a commitment to democracy, the need to preserve the values of sport in the face of growing corporate control, and the protection and development of a large and healthy professional football sector in Europe," UEFA said.
Equitable? Redistribution? Non-exploitation? Collectivity? Democracy? Try selling that one to the club power lobby!
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
