Iceland 1 Stairlifts 6

England 0 v Iceland 1 

International Friendly 

Friday 7 July 2024 

Played at Wembley 

“You always seem to be at a game Phil. Don't you have any responsibilities at all?”

“Actually, I had to leave that game early to go and fix an Acorn Stairlift!!! The wire thingy in the photo had become disconnected. So. Yes. I have responsibilities.”

In fact, I'd had to stay in Carrier Bag Firm Mews all day anyway. Because one of the other stairlifts had broken t’other day. And I'd had to wait in for the engineer.

“One of the other stairlifts? Fucking hell. How many stairlifts are there Phil?”

“Six, bruv!!!”

Anyway. Stairlift. Wait in for the engineer. Only had time for one beer. But, it was a great ‘un.

Sutton Arms

16 Great Sutton St, London EC1V 0DH

That's in the CAMRA Guide. And is convenient for Farringdon tube. Direct to Wembley Park. First time I've ever been in. Stairlift fiascos notwithstanding, I'll be back.

Nine on Keg. Four on Cask. And some German Beers. (Stay fucking tuned for those, we fly Monday.) The geezer said they're the only pub in the UK serving some of those particular German beers. Salute.

DEYA Brewing Company (Cheltenham), Obligatory Sound Bites, Pale Ale on Cask at 4%

That one goes out to Keith & Graham. Although we did put it on their Tab … obvs.

I suppose if you're going to have to truncate an England game at Wembley to fix a stairlift, as part of your responsibilities, that's not a bad game for the occurrence.

Attacking wise, we relied on those shit chipped balls from the corner of the penalty area. And some fucker doing balletics over the other side. And mainly ending on his arse, with one leg in the air, and the lino signalling Goal Kick.

Indeed, Iceland could and should have had a second. When he's broke free on the right. Come inside a bit. But then inexplicably squares it. And matey misses. I was thinking of stairlift circuit diagrams at that point.

Poor. We move on.

You can find ALL my previous Blogs at

www.ball-sup.blogspot.com

Would you please consider subscribing (free) to have my Blog delivered to your email inbox (via Substack). Thank you.

You can find me on Social Media

X @ball_sup 

Untappd ball_sup 

Stats 

I have now Blogged from 1,442 games in 3,580 days 

And, we're out

England 1 v Iceland 2

Monday 27 June 2016

UEFA European Championship Round of 16

Played at Nice

Twitter @ball_sup

So that's it. Media & Pundits going crazy. Check the Blogs. I'm not one of these Divine Right England supporters. Realistic me. But, I didn't expect that. What went wrong?

Walker & Rose didn't bomb forward. (Like for eg v Wales). Rooney didn't hide. But, he had a shocker. Getting robbed. Losing possession. Passing to the Icelanders. It's OK Dier & Rooney, “at the back of the diamond”. Taking it off Cahill. But. Relentless. Predictable. Easy to counter. Easy to defend.

When you're struggling. Don't do stupid things. Which get the fans on your back. You know. Like having Kane take corners & wide free kicks. Corners ffs. They either don't beat the first man. Or they're far too heavy & sail for a goal kick/throw in. The odd one bounces on the penalty spot. With no fucker on the end of it.

At two one, I just never felt England could nick it three two in ninety. When Iceland sat back a bit. You needed waves of full backs & diamonders flooding forward. Ball at feet. At pace. Never happened.

We were shit. But, let's have it right. Iceland were superb. Could have had five. Deserved to win.

Where to? I'm an Identity fan. Not an Ambition fan. Sven. Fabio. No. “Best” Englishman please.

And, to cap it all. My beer was off. Can't complain too much. I did a bit of Hunting. Trying to track some Colgan’s down. (As per rest of trip) somewhat unsuccessfully. One lovely guy in a very upmarket wine merchant gave me a lone bottle free gratis. Basically, I think it was maybe an old sample he had lying around. Kind of him. But, too old. It'd gone to vinegar & froth.

Must. Remain. Upbeat. As we set the SatNav for Calais. I can award a Standout Beer Of The Trip. The lovely Orange, Citrus, Bitter, Colgan’s Hopbuckler IPA on keg at a just right 6.2%. I doubled up last night & had my second pint of it.

The Beer Hunting was like the football. Hard Work. Getting to the grounds hours early for a decent parking space. Starting hours early for the felt tip pen ticket check. The surly pat down. The ticket scan. In the seat two hours before kick off. To avoid the huffing pushing & shoving.

The game stealing sponsors. The jibber from the in ground announcers. Make some noise. I can't hear you. The England team bus has arrived. It's not an enjoyable experience. But, I was just about able to switch it all off until the whistle.

329/706