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Italian view

Like yourselves, we are bitterly disappointed with our second successive poor performance in the World Cup. My Florentine friends have been texting me angrily that this would not have have happened if Rossi had been selected. I agree. He, not Cassano nor Immobile, was the type of forward who would [...]

June 29, 2014 // 0 Comments

Coming Home

In a period of 10 years American cinema produced some fine films hardhitting films about Vietnam: Apocalypse Now (1979), Good Morning Vietnam (1987) and Platoon (1986). Coming Home (1978) is not as remembered as much as the last three but, watching it recently, it engages more issues than the other [...]

June 28, 2014 // 0 Comments

Post-round round-up

The qualifying round in the World Cup is a bit like losing your virginity; you want to get over it with the minimum of embarrassment. It’s not that accurate an indicator of who will win. This tends to be the team that gathers momentum. Italy, for example, only got 3 points in 1982 in the [...]

June 27, 2014 // 0 Comments

An eye opener

In my pomp I had a battery of secretaries and personal assistants to cater to my every whim and to ensure my energies were better deployed on the great affairs of commerce. It has come of something of a shock to the system therefore that in retirement I have to deal with chores personally. In [...]

June 26, 2014 // 0 Comments

The Tanner Report

I was in my local butchers, deciding whether it would be a Porterhouse or rib eye steak, and chewing the cud with Colin there. We laughed about the latest excuse: the selling of the playing fields. Of course we all know that the favelas are replete with fine pitches and sports pavilions. He said [...]

June 25, 2014 // 9 Comments

Who’s to blame?

In the media coverage of English national football, post defeat and debacle, it’s vital to have someone to blame. In the first 48 hours it was unclear who this would be: Roy Hodgson is affable, good with the press; it was not the younger players but the experienced ones, notably Gerrard, that [...]

June 24, 2014 // 0 Comments

Diary of a modest punter

Some of my gambling friends mock me for the small wagers I lay, saying I will never make any money but it’s the converse that matters to me – namely I will never lose that much.  The combination of ill judgment, incompetence and bad luck – of which every gambler, big or small, [...]

June 23, 2014 // 0 Comments

View from Italy

Here in Italy we have been shocked by the defeat by Costa Rica but all is not lost and we think we can beat Uruguay in the crunch game on Tuesday. Our problems are defensive, which is surprising given our reputation. Giorgio Chielini is the worst culprit being now slow and making clumsy challenges. [...]

June 22, 2014 // 0 Comments

Another debacle but not another debate

The main reason for England’s defeat last night will not be debated – it never is – namely, a press campaign revolving around Wayne Rooney. This was good for Rooney but bad for the camp. No other national media is so obsessed with individuals.We were once with Gascoigne and now [...]

June 20, 2014 // 0 Comments

Defending the indefensible

Had Sepp Blatter  retired two terms ago , he would have been recognised as the great administrator but, as so often happens, he stayed too long and has become a disliked and disrespected figure. His great contribution was  the globalisation of the game. It’s not really perceived here as [...]

June 19, 2014 // 0 Comments

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