International weekend – can Wilton Town and England rescue me from the boredom?

Here we are again then. An international weekend with no club football. Does anyone else hate these weekends as much as I do?

Ruled by the beautiful game

Now, many people say that my life is somewhat ruled by the beautiful game. I think that is a harsh observation but I suppose they may have a point.

The weekend should involve waking up feeling excited because it is football day. I’m OK today because the team I coach have a game so I am excited by that. The morning should involve writing an article on this site with my Premier League predictions. Not this week it doesn’t. (Mind you, I think I only got two results last week, so maybe that’s a good thing.)

Beloved Watford

Next on the agenda is a phone call with my brother to discuss the chances of our beloved Watford in their game in the afternoon. No, again, not this week.

OK, the last thing to do before I go off to my game is to watch the start of Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports. A discussion about all the up coming Premier League fixtures. No, not this week.

Read the reports

After my game, I return home to catch up with all the scores and read the reports. Today, I shall be back in time to watch the second half of the England game. I’m not holding my breath for a thriller! There will be no scores to catch up on.

Then, when it is time for Match of the Day, one of the finest moments of the whole week, what will be on television? Some bloody awful old film no doubt.

Real treat

On Sunday we have a real treat. One live Premier League game at 2.00PM, another at 4.00PM and then if we are really lucky, a couple of La Liga games in the evening. Guess what? There’ll be nothing this week.

At least we’ll have the Monday evening live game to look forward to. Oh no, we won’t.

Some people might say that watching five live games of football and at least one highlights show in a weekend is a little extreme. I don’t understand the type of people who my think that (my wife) but think it they do. This week there will be hardly any of it. I will feel as though I am in limbo. I might have to go shopping or do some decorating or even, heaven forbid, talk to my family!

In depth preview

I could give you an in depth preview of Wilton Town’s relegation battle against Swindon Irons in the Wiltshire League division two, but I’m not entirely sure how interested you’d be. Instead, I’ll take a quick look at England’s game against Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan have three points from three matches in the qualifying group after beating Andorra 3-0 but then losing to Croatia and Ukraine. They are not a very successful side although they rarely concede more than three goals. That’s as many as both Croatia and Ukraine put past them. So, whilst we should be confident of an England victory, we shouldn’t expect a goalscoring extravaganza!

Injured list

England will have close to their strongest team out with only Joe Cole and John Terry on the injured list. They should have far too much ability for Kazakhstan and nothing other than a comfortable victory will be acceptable.

Don’t forget that prior to England’s exceptional win in Croatia they had been booed from the field at Wembley in their two previous games.

Theo Walcott will almost certainly play and I really hope that he hasn’t raised everybody’s expectations too high with that hat-trick in Croatia. I well remember how a young John Barnes scored a brilliant goal for England in the Maracana against Brazil and then spent the rest of his England career trying to live up to it.

Add to his tally

There should be an opportunity for Wayne Rooney to add to his tally of fifteen international goals and even Emile Heskey might fancy his chances of getting on the score sheet.

England need to be efficient and focussed against Kazakhstan because they need the three points. Although Belarus, their next opponents, are hardly Brazil, Spain or Argentina, they will provide a much sterner test for Fabio Capello’s men.

I hate them

So there we have it. A bloody international weekend. I hate them. Still if Wilton Town pick up three points and England get a decent win, I suppose I could settle down with a nice bottle of wine and a takeaway with the wife and try my best to enjoy it.

Have a great day.