I Like Like v Like

Hendon 1 v Harlow Town 1
FA Cup First Qualifying Round
Saturday 8 September

England 1 v Spain 2
UEFA Nations League A, Group 4
Saturday 8 September 2018
Played at Wembley

England 1 v Switzerland 0
Friendly International
Tuesday 11 September 2018
Played at Leicester City

Swallownest Miners Welfare U19 0 v Sheffield United Futures U19 8
North Midlands Development Football League U19s
Thursday 13 September 2018

SUFC 2018/19 Game 22

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The UEFA Nations League, a homage

Right. We start here. Lots of “noise & traffic”. Glorified friendly. Too complicated. Waste of time. I’m hearing.
It seems like everybody has a statistics or analytics Blog nowadays. As I have two degrees in Statistics, I’d better start. Since I started going to England away games in late 1982, England have played Spain JUST ONCE in a FIFA or UEFA Qualifier or Finals competitive fixture. In EURO 96. In that same period, in England have played San Marino SIX times, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Andorra & Moldova FOUR times each. That has just got to be wrong. I know about England’s inflated status in world football. I’m not one of the divine right, entitled England fans. But, the seedings for World Cups & EUROs means we play a lot of smaller nations & only meet the big boys infrequently. And, It’s not just us. There are not enough games involving the best v the best. Too many mismatches. Park the bus to keep the score down. The UEFA Nations League is far from perfect. But. it’s a start. Like v like.
Cut out all the frippery. The choccy topping, 100s n 1000s, raspberry sauce & a flake. Stick to the main event.

Sep/Oct/Nov (2018) - three team groups, four games, play for a place in the four team finals, or for promotion & to avoid relegation.

June (2019) - the final four, three games, two semis & a final, done & dusted in a week, proper football, for the fans, fuck the neutrals, leave the facepaint at home.

March (2020) - last chance saloon play-offs for the 2020 EUROs. Four spots available. Sixteen teams. Two games. Or you’re gone buddy.

Sep 2020 - start all over again, after promotion and relegation.

EURO 2020 qualification is still basically the same. March 2019 through November 2019. You’re drawn into a seeded group of 5 or 6 teams. Ten groups. Top two qualify. Twenty teams. (But, if you don’t qualify, you might have a last chance saloon play-off if you’re Nations League performance was good enough).

England are in a group with Spain & Croatia. Staying in League A could see us up against the likes of France, Germany, Belgium, Portugal in September 2020. Relegation to League B could see us up against Albania, Finland, Bulgaria & Montenegro. Now, we are where we are, if that’s our level, fine, the League Table can’t lie. But, that’s why the UEFA Nations League matters. If you want to stay at the Top Table, you have to get points, you have to stay in the League, you have to avoid relegation. In time, the number of games will increase. The number of friendlies will decrease. In time, FIFA will get on this model as well. There’ll be a league which includes (on merit) Spain, Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Mexico, France - and who knows, England will be somewhere in that FIFA World League mix. We’re all witnessing the start of something BIG. Early days. Slowly, slowly. I’m embracing it. I’ve just seen England play their second competitive fixture against Spain since late 1982.

The Beer

I was able to do a Double Header on the Saturday. Hendon v Harlow in the FA Cup in the afternoon. Before England v Spain in the evening. It’s a big Thumbs Down to the FA Regs. Which don’t allow you to drink a beer while watching the game. Matched by a big Thumbs Up to Hendon. Therefore automatically serving in Glass in the clubhouse. From a (presumably) bright beer cask of Portobello, Start at 4.3% perched on the end of the bar.

However, Outstanding Beer Of The Mini Break goes to The West End Brewery in Leicester, ahead of the friendly v Switzerland. We had to bide our time a little. As it was 5pm opening. The geezer let me do the now obligatory selfies with the brewing kit behind me to harvest ticks for the Brewery Hopper Geek Awards. I had the West Coast IPA v2 on cask at 5.1%. An outstanding beer. Everything in balance. Always, always, always - I’ll go back to simple Plan A beers. Brew ‘em. Put ‘em on. I’ll buy ‘em. Promise. Very well balanced, The hop bitterness was not overpowering. But, filled the beer with flavour. Superb.

716/1486