You’d have asked for anyone save Portugal.
It’s one for the remaining band who believe that the lesser the opposition, the better our chances. For the rest of us, we can only hope that England stir themselves, and trust in something more interesting for the semi-final.
Brace yourselves for a week of the following stories on the back page, none of which are likely to do anything other than sour your day:
- “Big Phil” would have dropped Beckham
- “Big Phil” has “outthought” Eriksson twice: will he do it again?
- “Big Phil” could teach Eriksson a thing or two about substitutions and inspiring his players (we’ll forget about Portugal’s lack of penetration against a weak Dutch side, and the way Scolari’s players lost their discipline completely in the second half..
- Various comparisons between Scolari and Steve McClaren, all of which will run in Scolari’s favour
- Eriksson should drop Beckham/Hargreaves/Robinson!!/Terry/anyone else, but won’t because he lacks the football knowledge and nous of the sweating tabloid hack in question.
It’s going to be a horribly ugly game, in what has suddenly become an ugly World Cup – Wimbledon can’t come soon enough.