Sorry folks, but I've got to get this off of my chest: I don't get why everyone is so happy that England is through to the next round of the European Championship.
We've generally not played very well so far in the tournament and we were lucky to win today after the Ukraine had a goal cruelly denied in the second half. Admittedly all we needed to do today was not lose but if the goal had been given like it ought to have been, it could have radically changed how the remainder of the game played out. England has been ineffective both going forwards and hanging on to the damn ball and today Rooney looked every bit like someone who hasn't played or trained for the last month or so. Oh, and spare me that "justice for the World Cup" crap. All today did is prove that the sport is no further along than it was two years ago when it comes to making a decision on goal-line technology.
I feel bad for Baines, Jagielka and Gibson as yet again they make their respective squads but have to be content with the position of Designated Bench Warmer. At least some of Everton's other lads got a couple of games in with Jelavic scoring for Croatia and Heitinga starting for two of Holland's games. Shame that both countries got eliminated from the tournament but at least they got some pitch time in. I guess the saving grace is that none of them have gotten injured so they should be in good shape for pre-season next month.
On the plus side of all that, we're facing Italy in the next round so crashing out of the tournament has done from dead certainty to probably a 50/50 shot. I'll take it I guess.
Switching gears somewhat, I swear if another co-worker or end-user asks me if I'm a) excited about the Olympics being in England or b) if I'm going to go then I'm going to go postal. Really. I honestly have a huge amount of ennui when it comes to the Olympics, I'm not that impressed by plans to turn the stadium into the Shire for the opening ceremony and if I was rich enough to be able to afford to fly home and stay for the Olympics, I sure as hell wouldn't be doing that. Well, I might fly home but I'd be staying well away from London that's for sure. A co-worker jokingly remarked today that I have no national pride and that couldn't be further from the truth. I have plenty, I just don't like it when mediocrity is made out to be something to be lauded.
