Posts

Showing posts with the label FIFA

They've done it

Image
If you watch the video you'll see a guy lighting a flare in celebration moments after Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. For him it was a surreal evening. I don't want to speak for anyone else, but I know how he felt because he told me. I also remember him once telling me: you don't understand, England always qualify for tournaments. English fans will know that qualification, when it happens, doesn't often come without some drama. But the point stands, England expect to qualify, and more often than not they do. Tonight is truly historic for Bosnia and Herzegovina. They have never qualified for a major tournament as an independent nation...until now. They made the playoffs for the last Euros and World Cup, losing to France and Portugal. We heard people try to offset the double disappointment with conspiracy theories as to why they came so close but remained so far. This time those are just not necessary. There will be in Brazil. Leg...

It's a funny old game

Let's pile on the the cliches; we are talking football after all. That game of two halves. The one where things always seem to be up there and probably at the end of the day! It's been described as a game that is't a matter of life and death, it's more important than that. Maybe it is, probably it isn't. Nevertheless, these days, many a manager mangles words like a would be philosopher while the stars of the pitch are schooled to deliver non-committal, controversy-free press conference performances a politician would be proud of. Taking their cue, this post will touch a little on the political and philosophical, which I hope makes up for the lack of anything more important. Tonight I played a little game. I typed 'Bosnia news' into Google, determined that I would blog about the first link it served up under its 'News for Bosnia news' heading. That was this link from ESPN Soccernet. I was the story I expected. Although I've been aware of th...