Why England Arent Hosting The World Cup...

Well just here we are, just off the back of another failure of English football. This time with the faces of Davids' Beckham and Cameron, Gary Lineker and some guy to do with Manchester City?? I'm watching the news and seeing the inquest start already various pundits and journalist bleating on about the injustice and the old "why does everyone hate us?" line cropping up in the undertones of the conversations.

Well now it's time I take my Englishness off and have a real look at some of the reasons why England didn't get the World Cup...

Perceived English Arrogance...

"The Premier League the best league in the world" how many times have we heard that? Well every time we say that it could be translated as "your leagues are crap not very good". I mean we live in a country that still celebrates winning one World Cup at home back when three and a half teams entered it. And every time it is World Cup time we all get in a hype about winning the thing? South Korea has played in the same number of World Cup semi finals as England in the last 30 years...

The English Media...

There is also the English media, remember exhibit A and B? Well these are just examples of the contempt the English press has for people ("Cheating French" and "Fritz The War German") who we then go on and expect to vote of us, because we have David Beckham smiling and can put on a decent light show? We give our foreign counterparts very little credit if we think that history will be forgotten and we can all get along nicely.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Panorama??

There is also the little matter of a Panorama program discrediting one of the most powerful men in FIFA, the man who could've given us three points. All the excuses are coming out about it the UK being a democracy, about free speech and that it was the right thing to do? These excuses show we didn't want it badly enough, if we wanted the World Cup to be in England, our own institutions shouldn't have been serving their individual interests and derailing the bid... I feel sorry for the people who worked so hard to get the bid ship shape only to have someone from the BBC to piss all over their bonfire ruin all that hard work.

England fans...

Well through the 80's and 90's a minority of England fans have enjoyed tearing up town centres of European towns as part of their footballing days out. Well its true and its pretty easy for us to forget as it isn't our police being attacked and our government footing the bill for the damage caused. This aspect of English football has improved greatly but just like we won't forget about "zee Germans" I'm sure our past indiscretions haven't been forgotten. 

There Were Other Teams Competing?

It is a reason isn't it? Just like English supporters think that the world cup is theirs, but as soon as someone mentions Brazil... or Spain? Or Italy? Maybe even Holland? And the lead balloon lands... This is the same with the competition to host the World Cup.

Yes England has the facilities to host the tournament, easily if I'm honest. But look at the teams the bid was lost against. Spain/Portugal - led by the country which won in South Africa 2010 and has better weather and equal facilities in comparison to England. Russia - the tournament has never been hosted by an Eastern European country, definitely has the facilities to host the tournament in relation to grounds and training facilities. The Russian bid also has serious financial backing and finally Holland/Belgium, they certainly have the facilities, but I'm not sure they had the monetary backing of the Russian bid.

Maybe the countries who finished ahead of England might have better relations with the people making the decisions. As is so often pointed out in everyday life its not what you know, its who you know...

I'm sure there are more reasons to why we aren't celebrating England 2018, but I hope these three have given you an insight into how England has stopped itself from winning the opportunity to host another World Cup.

Why El Diego Was Better Than Messi, Ronaldo and Kaka Put Together...

Ok... I've decided to take some time out from the seriousness of league and champions league football to pay tribute to the greatest player ever to have kicked a ball. And also prove that he was better than anything we have in the current game.

Born in Villa Fiorito a slum on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, his talent led him to become the face of Argentinian football. We won't go into the nitty gritty of his career just stick to the highlights and it'll show how good he really was. He had the strength of Cristiano Ronaldo, the ball skills of Leo Messi and the vision of Kaka if your laughing at this, have a look.... Oh and like most people I forgot he was a lethal free kick taker...

The thing is Maradona did his thing during the dark days of football when footballers were nicknamed the "Butcher of Bilbao" (yes that's Maradona having his ankle broken) or brutal man-markers like Italian Claudio Gentile were the order of the day to stop creative players. Its difficult to imagine any of the current talents lasting very long during Maradona's era, I think most of them would've feel a warm trickle down their legs before having their careers ended by the hatchet men of the 70's and 80's.

El Diego had the mental strength to overcome little protection from referees and constant targeting from opponents to carry Argentina to the world cup in 1986. In this tournament he scored two goals which rocked English football... There is also the classic image of Belgium trying to stop him in the World Cup semi final...

Maradona vs Belgium

The four Belgians not in that picture were used to make the 9 Argentinians who weren't named Maradona... This picture shows clearly the fear El Diego struck in his opponents especially in a time when the physicality of the game was very advantageous for defenders. An example of this can be seen with the career of Dutch legend Marco Van Basten who's career was ended by one too many overzealous tackles.

Maradona also went on to represent Argentina in Italia 90 and helped them reach another World Cup Final. He was the most fouled played in this tournament but he still managed to get one over against deadly rivals Brazil on the grandest stage. Argentina didn't win this tournament losing to West Germany in the final but he still left his indelible mark on the tournament.

Now on the talent front he was an equal to Messi or Ronaldo but what he had was the swagger of a genius. He was a big personality as well as a big player this can be seen in his press conferences during his time as Argentina Manager. Despite his legendary status Maradona still shows no signs of arrogance and with his humor and outlook on life can still relate to the fans of the game.

If any of the great players of today leave half the mark El Diego has left on the game as a personality and as a player I feel they would be happy. Idolised in his country, respected world wide and still reviled in England, has their been a player or more importantly will there be anyone like him? And remember I haven't even said a word about his club career...