Month: October 2006

Having just mentioned non-BBC, non-Sky camera angles, here’s an alternative view of Xabi Alonso’s goal in the 2005 European Cup Final. Plenty for our domestic broadcasters to learn from there.

I promise to get around to some actual football sooner or later in this series, but first, films. And two scenes in particular. Casablanca: Rick, drunk, listens to Sam, concerned and sober, playing “As Time Goes By” (you must have seen it). The scene is filmed in a warm monochrome, the sound is slow and…

The English might be grateful to Sepp Blatter for threatening the end of the penalty shoot out. It’s been our downfall on five separate occasions, and in each case bar 1998, victory would have left a tournament open at our feet. Since watching the last episode in this sequence, I’ve been working on a mix…

Under the camouflage of Beckham’s defenestration, Steve McClaren continues with a policy of continuity from the Erickson days. Despite his brace against Andorra, Defoe looks to lose out and we are going to see the Rooney/Crouch frontline so many wanted to play against Portugal. Rooney is supposedly off-form at present, which in effect means only…

That’s not capitalized for emphasis: explanation follows. Last night, as part of my increasingly despairing attempts to find a local pub in Sutton that’s fit for human beings (as opposed to neckless tattooed skinheads in football shirts) I ended up spending a couple of hours in the Claret Wine Bar in Cheam. A warm, friendly…

Now I know this isn’t 101BestGoals.blogspot or whatever that johnnycomelately site that’s got everyone excited about is called, but I can’t ignore Van Persie’s fantastic strike against Charlton yesterday afternoon. And I have THE clip of it to show you. The commentary, you will agree, lived up to the moment: