Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Entry 434

Here's an unlikely scenario. In the wake of last week's Euro 2004 qualifying round results, Wales are getting the accolades, the English and Irish a good bit of stick. And Scotland? They're getting a few kudos but nothing like the praise heaped on the resurgent Welsh.

Before getting into the particulars of Wales's positive reviews, I must first mention that Wales has moved up again in the FIFA rankings. This time the move is 15 places to 61st. The Guardian has details, in "Brits on the Up."

The Guardian's Football site offered a story this past Saturday, "Wales Steal the European Stage," that about sums up the prevailing view. While England have staggered about with Slovakia and Macedonia and Ireland have lost to Russia and Switzerland, the Welsh have beat Finland and Italy to go top in their group. (Scotland have collected a bit of praise for whipping Iceland at Reykjavik.) The Guardian's Wales-steal-the-stage story features this quote from the Times's Oliver Kay: "Suddenly, Hughes' vision of football replacing rugby union in the hearts of the Welsh people does not seem quite so outlandish." Quite a contrast to what's being said about England and Ireland.

Here's a small sampling of the plaudits Wales are getting. The Observer's Ian Ridley has a story, "Hartson Fit and Firing," that begins with Italy boss Trapattoni's observation that Wales were "superior athletes." Ridley goes on to praise Wales's Mark Hughes "as one of the most promising of British managerial talents" and, with regard to the defense, "the tightness of the unit, Gabbidon in particular a revelation - a Premiership defender in waiting." The Independent's Trevor Haylett has a piece, "Bellamy and Wales High on Self-belief," extolling the Newcastle striker's virtues. The Guardian's Roy Collins has a Mark Hughes story, "Hughes Excels as Organiser and Motivator," that sees the Wales coach making "the best of the ability at his disposal - and he is fortunate that it includes emerging talent such as the match-winner Bellamy and winger Davies - while aligning the backroom details to satisfy the needs of a serious team."

Meanwhile, England are getting hammered. In "'There is No Natural Leader Anywhere in the Present England Team'," the Guardian's David Lacey is about to throw his hands in the air, to the point where he begins his piece with "What is the point of international football?" He acknowledges a bit later on that Wales might have an idea or two. In the Independent, Glenn Moore's "FA Stands by Eriksson as Vultures Gather," observes that, for Sven "the honeymoon is over, but the divorce is not yet imminent." Another piece from the Independent, James Lawton's "Eriksson's Talk of Diamonds a Cheap Substitute for Gilded Craft of Ramsey," says "that Eriksson's England were employing Braille. They were uncomfortable with themselves and their team-mates. They lacked leadership and any kind of sustained vision. Beckham's posturing was a parody of the kind of captaincy supplied by [Bobby] Moore. Eriksson flitted from one bright idea to another." A third Independent story, Nick Townsend's "The Clock is Ticking for Eriksson as Doubts About His Judgement Grow," suggests that "what the last few days have left us with is concern that England have a coach slowly shedding his reputation as a master practitioner like a snake does his skin."

Ireland have been getting battered as well. In "'Poisoned' Irish," the Observer's Amy Lawrence contends that "the Roy Keane factor looms larger than ever. He casts a menacing shadow over every press conference, every training session, every team sheet, every misplaced pass, every sagging head, every thickening cell of Mick McCarthy's skin." In the Independent, Steve Tongue observes, in "Irish Faith in McCarthy Falls," that "Many of the Irish World Cup heroes are out of form with their clubs and McCarthy may have stuck with some of them out of a misplaced sense of loyalty." He adds, worryingly, that McCarthy's "most damaging admission, however, was that the feud with Keane, which will be bought to the fore again by publication of McCarthy's unnecessary World Cup Diary, is having an adverse effect on performances." It doesn't sound as though things will get better before they get a lot worse for McCarthy.

I'd go into a bit about Scotland and the lukewarm praise they've been winning, but there hasn't been much about them in recent days. Berti Vogts has to be happy about that. I'm sure that after the Faroe Islands furore he's happy to be left alone for awhile.

That Loss on Saturday Wasn't Pretty But Nobody's Worried