The results from their final world cup qualifiers may have been the same, but for England and Scotland, the 2-0 victories will have left a very different set of emotions. While England, having seen off the challenge of Poland, can bask in the euphoria of a confirmed place among the protagonists in next summer’s extravaganza in Brazil, Scotland can only dwell once more on what might have been.
Ronaldo left United way back in 2009, but does his achievements at Real Madrid merit his spectacular talent?
When I was a little boy there was one thing that seemed really simple to me. If you were good enough, and if you were English, you could one day play for England. How naïve I was. Apparently it’s a lot less straightforward than that.
During Sir Alex Ferguson’s time as Manchester United manager, he was famous for his mind games and his dominant personality. His subtle comments famously provoked rival managers and players into losing their cool, most famously in the case of Kevin Keegan’s “I would love it, love it, if we beat them” outburst way back in 1996; a quote which eventually got voted the most famous of the Premier League era.
It’s often said that one man alone doesn’t make a football team. This, of course, is certainly true apropos the beautiful game in general, although there are probably a handful of players at most who could lay claim to being so influential for their side that their absence automatically diminishes the team beyond all recognition.