This week like many others, I have been watching the Euro 2008. Although it has failed to provide the thrill of Euro 2000, atleast we have been served with some entertainment value from notable teams such Holland, Spain and to a less extent Portugal.
Conspicously missing from the tournament is England national team who were knocked out from the qualifiers by Croatia. However, at the ongoing tournament Croatia struggled to beat Austria in their first game but luckily won 1-0 thanks to a 4th minute penalty converted by spurs bound Lucas Modric. In their usual style to influence popular opinion, the English tabloids picked on Croatia and their coach(Bilic), questioning how a team that was struggling to beat Austria were able to beat England. In essence the Journalists were saying that croatia are not good enough to be at the tournament over England. Today, Croatia responded to all doubting English people by beating German 2-1 to go top of their group, underlining the fact that the results they got against England(home and away) was not fluke.
I must say that am fed up of this attitude by English press. England national team is full of players with egos, and it is the press who overrate these seemingly useless players who earn tonnes of £££s a week for doing nothing. All they do is spend alot of time on Playstation and Xbox while other players such Ronaldo, Fabregas constantly work on their fitness to perfect their game. Then when the national team fails, they are quick to blame foreigners for their mess.
Sepp Blatter and the 6+5 rule
The FIFA president has since proposed that teams must feature 6 homegrown against 5 foreign players. The English FA has since welcomed the idea subject to further exploration. It is hoped that by adopting this rule, clubs may be able to nurture homegrown talent other than relying on talent from abroad. But why am I sceptical about this idea?? Firstly, it would restrict freedom of players and indeed clubs to play/purchase from wherever they want. Secondly, most clubs are owned by billionares who are not nationals of the country in which their football clubs are domiciled. Their interest may be at odds with say the FA. While FA may be interested in ensuring as many English players in a team as possible, club owners may be looking to purchase world class players who may add business value to the club.Thirdly, when Sepp Blatter embarks on journey such as this, he is up to something. I remember he duped the Football Association of Malawi by promising to fund the construction of Chiwembe stadium through GOAL project, but as it turned out all he wanted was a vote from FAM and as soon as he got it, Blatter disappeared. Today, Chiwembe stadium is nothing but a dream. He has since offered England to host the 2018 World Cup and he has now interested English people by proposing the 6+5 rule. Would this fella be enticing the FA for a vote? Would this be an attempt to silence the English media in their quest to investigate his involvement in corrupt practices at FIFA?
Anyway, all am saying is that England must learn to respect other nations. Croatia deserve to be at the Euro 2008 as they emerged top of the Group and beat England twice. The problem of falling Football standards has nothing to do with the influx of foreign players. What foreigners have done is to improve the premier league other than destroy it. England can not improve if they persistently blame others for the misdeed of their own creation.
State of the Economy
On the economic front, a special report has in part blamed migrants for the state of the British economy. It is alleged that migrants send alot of money abroad which does not help their economy. Koma abale!!!
I will not discuss this indepth but my understanding is that the credit crunch has been caused by a global phenomena, especially the USA housing market. The rising costs of crude oil has affected all countries and not Britain in isolation. The British economy is propelled by migrants who themselves earn less for hard labour while native British citizens sit phwii getting government social benefits. Migrants have been coming and settling in the UK since time in memorial, these were not attributed to as factors when the UK enjoyed economic success.
So as you can see, English people will blame foreigners for anything that goes against them.
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