The 'script' for next year's World Cup continues unabated
England qualified comfortably, as usual... then, at the tournament they will then be frustratingly bland, scrape through the second round, then go out, either to inferior opposition (who are fired-up and know how to get in our lads' heads) or on penalties to superior opposition. The usual England 'bogey teams' are there - Argentina (more on them in a bit), Portugal, Germany and, more recently, Iceland... all these teams stand in the way of England spectacularly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I'll be in a pub somewhere watching their games because me and millions of other England fans are gluttons for punishment.
Argentina managed to scrape through qualification with a 3-1 victory over Ecuador, prior to the game the odds were stacked against them - small point margins between 2nd and 5th in their group, Messi not firing, poor performances overall in past games, poor record against Ecuador, playing high altitude etc etc, yet somehow they pulled out the stops and got the victory they need and not only that, a Messi hat-trick too.
Now what will happen is, at the tournament, they will play the most sublime football ever, and reach the semis or the final... this being the polar opposite of England's fortunes... very, very frustrating.
Of course we can't discount the possibility of us being disqualified because of Russian machinations in the guise of inciting football hooliganism... and with FIFA being to weak to accept the truth, we'll get disqualified and Russia will get a collective hug.
Every four years we go through this stress, I sometimes wish we never qualify because I've thoroughly enjoyed watching these tournaments as a neutral.
