Swansea Brentford Playoff Final Reaction (from the perspective of a realist first, Swansea fan second)
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Written by Richard Collins
Football fans are a romantic breed. We spot patterns where others might not. It’s the reason hunches and superstitions are treated as gospel, the reason commentators often say things like “well tonight this team became the first team to win at this ground by a margin of 3 goals when the wind was blowing in an easterly direction and the managers middle names both began with F,” or whatever. We can’t resist looking for the signs, the connections, and the psychological satisfaction of symmetry.
Across the Channel, Les Dogues, that is to say Lille, seem to be having their day in spectacular fashion, a title win this season following flirtation with relegation just the previous campaign- we might wonder what & who has sparked the turnaround. The club, now owned by a Luxembourg based investment group Merlyn Partners SCSP, was managed until just two days after the triumph by Christophe Galtier, who hinted that the change in ownership was at least in part a factor in his decision to depart.
Before San Marino took the crown as worst national team in the world, according to FIFA rankings, there was Bhutan- & it would seem a common thread of tardiness in assembling an infrastructure is at least part of the problem…
In 2001 Filippo Inzaghi played his last game for Juventus, after what had been a pretty productive 4 seasons where he had scored 89 goals for the Bianconeri in a mere 165 games. Unfortunately, the relationship only resulted in one major honour, the 1997-8 Serie A title, although they did also lose the 1998 Champions League final by the thinnest of margins to Real Madrid.
Inzaghi moved to AC Milan in July of 2001 and the rest, as they say, is history. 'Super Pippo' spent the rest of his career with the Rossoneri and got his hands on the Champions league trophy twice (in 2003 and 2007). And now, 20 years after leaving Juventus, Inzaghi has handed out some managerial retribution to his former club.
As England gear up for a World Cup qualifier against San Marino on Thursday evening, it might be worth considering just why La Serinissima- as they're called back home- often top “ worst of the worst” lists! The first point to draw attention to this is probably the most important- they've won just one match, a 2004 friendly with Liechtenstein, & while they've participated in every World Cup & European Championship qualifying campaign since their début as a competitive nation, they still await a competitive win.
