England's self loathing has arrived yet again...
Infrequent sunshine, frequent showers, England’s failure to enter a major Championship and the nation rests all its sporting hopes on one young Brit to win Wimbledon. You guessed it, the English summer has arrived and with it, our sporting self loathing.
When England doesn’t make the grade in national tournaments, everyone goes through the same motions. The talk in the bars and pubs is off how we blew it again, not able to capitalise on the chances that we had. Then we all have to pretend to find some feeble reason or connection to follow another nation, mainly because we fear the worst. Usually, four weeks of gardening or even dare I say it? Aimless wandering around flower shows with the wife. If you are a true football fan you have to be glued to it. You need to know what is going on in the football world. And, as a United fan I am looking forward to seeing which gem Fergie will pick out to join the rest of our galacticos.
But I’m not sure what my reason is this time around to support a side? Do I go with the team with the most Premier League players? Which I think would be France, but then, can I actually see myself cheering on the French for four weeks? I don’t think so. I’ll probably back the Italians, simply because I tipped them to win the World Cup and they didn’t let me down. I really admire the way they play football. Some pundits call them defensive, but it is their tactical nous which is fascinating to watch and I believe they will do the business again.
But obviously no matter what excuses we make, it just isn’t the same without England being there to build us up and knock us down. So naturally, Wimbledon becomes the focal point of our summer.
For me, Wimbledon is always a sign that summer is actually here. It’s eight o’clock at night, the barbecue is blazing and you put on BBC 2 to find some mixed doubles game still going on. You have never heard of any of the players but you crack open a beer and you sit and watch it. This is proper tennis!
The problem with Wimbledon is we are desperate for a Brit to win it. When Henman was playing, if he recorded an ace in his fist serve of his first match in his first game, your mate would turn to you and say, ‘Yep. He’s going to win it.’ And you would nod your head in agreement knowing full well in the back of your mind he would be out by the quarter finals. Our sporting self loathing kicking in again.
I had Andy Murray on the last Soccer AM of the season and he said he was raring to go. He looked fit and up for the challenge as he was injured last year. I don’t know if it’s a sporting term or what it actually means? But I told him, if he tried twice as hard as last time he could win. It didn’t go down too well. I think I’ll leave the advice to his coach.
Down to the business of the Champions League final, as a United fan I have to wish the lads all the luck in the world. My worry is that Chelsea play like they did in last years Cup final and just suffocate United, stopping them playing. I don’t think that is a bad way of playing because at the end of the day it is all about winning trophies. I do hope that is a clean game though and both teams can play their football. I feel it is good for Ronaldo that he is playing against a side he knows and a left back in Ashley Cole he has battled with before. He is at centre stage and because he knows the side he has a really good opportunity to shine and make history.
When I was asked the other day I said that United would win 4 -1, but realistically I think there will be three goals in the tie, but United will get two of them. This will probably be the kiss of death and when I turn off the TV on Wednesday night it will be 4 -1 to Chelsea. I just hope we win it so this side gets the recognition it deserves. It is hands down, man for man, a better side than back in 1999. I have my fingers crossed and I am confident my summer of sporting self loathing will start after Wednesday night. Come on United.
Andy Goldstein was talking to Nigel Brown