tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post656014134642629394..comments2024-01-08T19:49:13.932+00:00Comments on Froogville: Ping-pong's coming home!Frooghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-23019011091909317002008-08-30T06:25:00.000+00:002008-08-30T06:25:00.000+00:00Yes, it perhaps wasn't an amazing surprise at the ...Yes, it perhaps wasn't an amazing surprise at the time.<BR/><BR/>It's just that looking back through our dismal history of not being able to win a big game to save our lives, it seems kind of amazing and unbelievable now.Frooghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-87963967209798130572008-08-29T15:40:00.000+00:002008-08-29T15:40:00.000+00:00I think a top-4 team is a fair estimate; and in th...I think a top-4 team is a fair estimate; and in the nature of international football, I don't think it is a surprise if a top-4 team wins a knock out competition.The British Cowboyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00439277300657927816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-625424561742499402008-08-29T04:09:00.000+00:002008-08-29T04:09:00.000+00:00Ping-pong may be "coming home", but I very much do...Ping-pong may be "coming home", but I very much doubt if we'll be winning any medals at it.Frooghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-82525986121082390242008-08-28T18:01:00.000+00:002008-08-28T18:01:00.000+00:00I suspect those judgements were only made in retro...I suspect those judgements were only made in retrospect.<BR/><BR/>We had been performing disappointingly at the international level for some time before, and have continued to do ever afterwards. No denying that we had a very strong team that year, but everyone I've spoken to old enough to remember that tournament (though admittedly their memories may be corrupted by subsequent disappointments) seems to have felt that we were a Top 4 team, but not, even with home advantage, likely winners. People fancied Portugal, Brazil, Germany, even Russia much more.<BR/><BR/>Looking back, given our record in the 40-odd years since of being pants, or not pants but woefully underperforming, or fairly pants but overperforming and outrageously unlucky, the idea that we could ever have won anything under any circumstances begins to seem amazingly improbable.Frooghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-82841903947137016692008-08-28T13:45:00.000+00:002008-08-28T13:45:00.000+00:00I think we have had this argument before, but how ...I think we have had this argument before, but how improbably was 1966? If you mean improbable as in "however good England are, they still manage to screw up, so winning is improbable" that would be fine.<BR/><BR/>Otherwise, well, home teams have a major advantage in World Cups. And England were really bloody good. Maybe not the absolute best team in the world, though we could more potentially have been called that in 1970, but certainly very good indeed.<BR/><BR/>The spine of the team - Banks, Moore, Charlton, Charlton, Hunt - were all world class players. The rest of the team were no shirkers either.The British Cowboyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00439277300657927816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33211251.post-41040974855653423202008-08-28T12:36:00.000+00:002008-08-28T12:36:00.000+00:00Just in case people baffled by the "coming home" r...Just in case people baffled by the "coming home" reference can't be bothered to follow the link, or watch the second YouTube clip on that post....<BR/><BR/><B>"It's coming home, it's coming home,<BR/>It's coming..... football's coming home!"</B> was the surprisingly infectious refrain of the theme song for the '96 Euro Championships. It was the first time Britain had hosted a major tournament in 30 years (since our wonderful, improbable home victory in the 1966 World Cup)..... so, the thinking was (more sentimental and cautiously optimistic than arrogantly triumphalist): "Goddammit, we <I>invented</I> this game, we taught the rest of the world how to play it; not that we're finally on home turf again, <I>maybe</I> we'll finally enjoy another victory."<BR/><BR/>It was a great singalong song (just about the only song of this kind I can remember that's ever been any good!), and became - for us Brits - inextricably entwined with the memories, the mythology of that tournament (some of the best football our national team has ever played; and we were painfully unlucky to get beaten on penalties in the semi-final).<BR/><BR/>Thus, a simple but <I>very evocative</I> phrase.Frooghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06738623732860210935noreply@blogger.com