England and international football

Well yes, but the general values are in line with anywhere else I could live. And, hey, at least the government here (that I was allowed to vote for) gave me a chance to vote to take a small step towards addressing some of the ways in which indigenous people are being mistreated.. for all the good it did. And, of course, my paycheck is one that I need, and that doesn’t come from the people perpetuating all that discrimination, with the implied condition that I don’t criticise them for it regularly and openly.

So yes, we all exist in imperfect places, and some of us even chose one that’s not the one we were born in, but his place and his choice are really very different.

I expect lots of people hold the view that white folk emigrating to Australia is inherently ‘problematic’ and it’s not one I’d argue with them over. We all gotta draw our own lines.

Jordan Henderson is not principled. He said he would stand up for gay rights and didn’t and then moved to the country that has one of the worst human rights records for homosexuals for the money and then whined when criticized. He also said that he wouldn’t say anything about the culture he was living in so clearly he is not making a difference.

I wouldn’t move to Saudi. I just wouldn’t. I have clients who lived there (women) and they tel me stories and also I have a good Saudi friend who played on my football team over here. Top geezer here. Quite strangely conservative back there. I understand family pressure for him. Filthy lucre for Jordan. Fuck him.

Chicago: Living in an overly racist country.

Surprise, surprise, another World Cup (2034) arranged with money being the only driving force.

Who else bid for it? I thought Australia withdrew?

Withdrew with a few suitcases stuffed full of gold, I reckon.

More likely decided it wasn’t worth the time and expense just to get outbid by the suitcases already handed to the decision makers… like what happened last time Australia bid.

Fair enough. Australia is really good at hosting these events… it does so routinely, has excellent facilities and always invests more into them for events, and always gets buy-in/crowds. But we all know that FIFA isn’t actually looking for the best hosts, and certainly gives no fucks about the experience for fans or players.

Well... there's also the fact that Australia lives in a timezone that makes watching games a massive pain in the arse for pretty much every country on the planet that care about football, so broadcasters hate it because they can't generate as much ad revenue.

It’s crappy for Europe and the Americas. But fine for Asia.. which is a key place they are interested in. We had a tournament in Japan/Korea, and you can bet your ass that when China decides to throw some suticases around that they will get a go. There are an awful lot of people who’d not be put out by matches being in our, admittedly annoying, timezone. The Olympic organisers are also similarly focussed on their ad markets, and they send their games down here plenty.

Time zones, as well as a possible desire to use a few oval stadiums, would, perhaps, be legitimate marks against Australia in a fair fight. Be we both know this wasn’t going to be one of those.

Ezri Konsa, Rico Lewis and Cole Palmer called up to the England squad. I confess, I had to look up who Rico Lewis is. He's a full back / defensive midfielder with 18 senior appearances for Man City, so I presume this is more of an experience with the squad thing than any plan to actually use him.

Edit: replacing Maddison, Wilson and Dunk from the previous squad, who are all out with injury. Bellingham is still a doubt.

Cole Palmer looks and acts like a giant twat but fuck me he's some footballer.

Chicago: Offering a seal of approval.

Montiel did not get off Argentina's bench yesterday.

The big Vlach v Wood head to head kicks off at 5.

I thought he had been out injured.

Saw a tweet that said Taiwo had come home early due to a groin issue.

Hope it's just precaution

There's also a suggestion that Elanga has picked up an injury with Sweden.