We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
Yes, there is a cornucopia of festive footie today, and most of it is on FSC. First up, it's the U.S. vs. S. Africa in the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup at 9 a.m. Then, for lunch, there's the crucial Israel vs. Russia qualifier. And later we can follow the other qualifiers such as Italy vs. Scotland online. Go on, take a big bite!
posted by gatorbob @ 9:04 AM
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
294 Comments:
Bob Bradley has brought along a squad full of Europe-based players along with debutant Jozy Altidore for this intriguing match. It'll be Dempsey and Adu up front. Should be interesting.
Carlos Alberto Parreira is fielding the first eleven against the U.S., with Blackburn's Benni McCarthy as the main striking threat.
South Africa have started brightly and it will take a lot for the U.S. to keep them out. Great atmosphere in the ground, which FSC is only partially picking up on the feed. Max Bretos is obviously nowhere near Capetown.
I still don't fancy Clint Dempsey as an out and out striker. I would've preferred to see Altidore alongside Adu. Even Adu isn't really a striker. It's a pretty defensive set-up for us today.
A lot of patient build-up from both sides. Just the first signs of whistles from the crowd, who've obviously come to party.
Lovely stuff from Freddy earns the U.S. its first corner. Swung in for Dempsey but nodded out by Makoena.
Bradley and Feilhaber really bossing the midfield at this point and S. Africa are being pinned back into their half.
Just came up from the basement after I beat the pants of Jon and Matt in pool. I am ready for a GREAT DAY.
You did forget that we are following Leeds Swindon as well!!
I am listening to the Beeb but they will blacked out in about half an hour for the Wales Ireland game. I will then go over to talksport.
Bit of the indoor league, eh Dave? Good morning!
Oh, yeah, I've completely forgotten that there's a full schedule of fixtures in League 1. I've got my England shirt on - should I change it now or is that unlucky?
GOAL! Cherundolo with an excellent finish there. It's 1-0!
U.S. looking rather comfy at this point.
Half-Time: 0-1 U.S. And it's been a rather good half for the boys, with good chances for Beasley, Adu and a lovely strike from Steve Cherundolo to have us in with a one goal advantage.
Good chat today.
All the league games have started.
I am listening to talksport. For those of you that don't listen to it, you should. They are all over everything.
My window keeps on going back to the beginning and I start listening to the same thing. So, I have to refresh but it is great.
Have Leeds got anyone on international duty?
The guy on talksport is Peterborough fan and they have a Welsh guy not playing for them today to sit on the Welsh bench!!!
Correct Gator. This lineup is way too defensive for a pretty abject S.African side. Weird, the hosts of Euro 08 are rubbish and the hosts of WC 10 are looking pretty rubbish as well. Good work from two of the premier football organizations.
I would have been more comfortable if we'd dropped Edu, and put out a more forward looking midfield.
I'd have had Adu and Altidore up front from the start, Beasley wide left, Bradley cleaning up, Feilhaber creating, and Dempsey wide right.
I'm ok with the back 5 because really any selection we have at the moment can stifle the S.Africans who are rubbish, notwithstanding the evergreen McCarthy.
Really happy to see a big improvement in Adu's game. Passing, dribbling, and even getting his body in the way when he knows the foul's coming are real advancements.
Why though isn't Altidore playing? Bretos says it's because Bradley doesn't want to heap pressure on an 18-year-old? C'mon! Playing a meaningless friendly against abject opposition isn't pressure.
Beasley? Why isn't he getting more involved. He's running offside like he's blind or something and apart from one shot that he should have put away has been anonymous. A kick up his ass is demanded.
Anyone else worried about the playing surface? It's way bobbly if you notice. They can't roll that out? Isn't it spring there?
And what's with that section of Celtic supporters? There must be 100-150 guys in green and white hoops. Celtic have an academy down there?
The only "international" we've got in our side is Jonathan Douglas, who's been on the bench for the Republic. Other than that....I suppose that's the advantage of being in League 1.
Is he on the bench today in Wales?
He is not in the Leeds team today.
He isn't the Republic's team either.
Does he just suck?
Southend 0 Cheltenham 1
Good news for Leeds. Cheltenham are bottom!!!
Way Hay!
Stevenage are beating Halifax 1-0. Stevenage managed by Peter Taylor. Seven years ago he was managing England
I don't think I've ever said this before, but...there's too much footie on today. This is ridiculous! I can't keep up!
Sky Sports Centre is keeping completely up to date.
You've shut that window, haven't you?
Douglas must be away on international duty because he's usual captaining the side and I don't see him in the squad.
Cheltenham have scored a second!!
No I've still got the Sky Sports up. But it's still bewildering, isn't it? I've got Skype, the LOB, SkySports and the Football365 Leeds vs. Swindon window all up and fortunately my laptop has plenty of power. My desktop would be groaning like an old mule with that kind of activity going on.
Wales have scored against the Republic of Ireland.
Douglas isn't in the Ireland squad either.
Keep it all open
I have them five windows open!!!
The U.S. are definitely taking the foot off the gas in the second half. We started with a defensive line-up and now Bradley has tossed Spector and Califf into the mix, presumably to ride out the one-nil lead?
Maybe he's crocked?
Oh, I forgot our Angolan international - Rui Marques.
Cheltenham now 2-0 up over the Shrimpers. Good stuff. Millwall have consigned Port Vale to the bottom of the table.
Dempsey's off after an ineffective match. He doesn't really know how to lead the line. Altidore on to play a more conventional striking role. I'm really interested to see how he does. He's definitely the future of the U.S. forward line.
YEEEES! Leeds 1-0! Jermaine Beckford with a penalty for his tenth of the season.
That goal puts us up into fourth place on goal difference.
Real Madrid interested in Jozy? Oh, I think that's wishful thinking. Spain might be a good place for the kid, but I see him at a side like Betis or Getafe, not at Real.
That could easily have been called a penalty for McCarthy, even though the flop was a bit theatrical.
Sasha Kljestan coming on for Freddy Adu.
I was just had to go pump up the car tires. I am back
Bretos is having a bit too much fun with "Shabalala."
You are a jack of all trades, mate.
Way to go Leeds
Feilhaber's had a difficult match and he's off for Bornstein. They're basically playing ten defenders and Altidore up front at this point.
Result
Finland 2 Azerbaijan 1
Two goals in the last 11 minutes.
Well, the US win.
THEY WIN THE NELSON MANDELLA CUP
Talksport guys are completely against Scotland to win
Uh oh, one minute into the second half Leeds 1 Swindon 1
Southend 1 Chelt. 2
Not a good start for the Whites
Bulgaria 1 Romania 0
This would mean Holland are in
Okay, I turned away from the footie for a few minutes and that's what happens. I back into it now!
PAY ATTENTION!!
Do you have the footer on with David Coleman?
No, I'm at my desktop away from the telly. I HAVE WORK TO DO!
Cambridge have been pegged back by Northwich Victoria. Northwich have won none of their 18 games and lost all their away games. WHAT IS GOING ON CAMBRIDGE
Work shmurk
If you have a lot work, TURN OFF THE COMPUTER
I didn't see much to be really happy about in this win.
The pluses.
1. We didn't lose to a very poor S.Africa.
2. Nobody got injured.
3. Freddy looked like he's improving.
The minuses
1. We played poorly against a very poor S.Africa.
2. In the second half, S.Africa looked more likely to score and if they had any quality about them, they would have been winners today.
3. We were comic at the back again. Onyewu is Bramble-esque and yet gets the call over and over again. Jimmy Conrad is the guy that they should build around at the back. Boca is always going to be too reckless to be "the Rock" as Bretos kept referring to him as, but we missed him when we brought on Califf, surely one of the more unevolved slack-jawed types seen in a US shirt in many years. I'd forgotten about Bornstein, and when he made his entrance, my reaction was, "Pierce played ahead of a fit Bornstein?" Onyewu, Califf, and Pierce? Bob Bradley, WTF?
Now there's an edgy 45 minutes to go before the big one. C'mon you Israelis!!!
Liechtenstein have scored away to Latvia!! Have they won any games?
Southend have tied it up!!!
LEEDS BACK IN FRONT!!!!!!
Beckford scores his tenth
Agree with Gooner. It was a piss poor performance from the Bafana Bafana. I bit sad really, after the magnanimous speech by the great man Mandela at the top of the broadcast and then the singing and swaying fans in animal skins all through the match. They deserve a better side.
As for the U.S., it was a really unbalanced side, with no strikers from the start and a midfield that struggled with the bobbly surface. Still, they've got to earn a bit of respect by playing the match at all. It's got to be progress that we've got nearly a starting eleven that play in Europe, right?
Way hay! My attention has paid dividends! We're back up into the playoff spots. Good on you, Jermaine!
Wales 1 RoI 2
On talksport, Alan Brazil has no voice and he sounds hammered!!!
Raining in Scotland
Teams for Hampden
Gordon
Hutton
Weir
McManus
Naysmith
Brown
Fletcher
Hartley
Ferguson
McCulloch
McFadden
Italy
Buffon
Panucci
Cannavaro
Barzagli
Zambrotta
Cmaoranesi
Gattuso
Pirlo
Ambrosini
Di Natale
Toni
Cambridge take the lead again
ON FSC, John Wark just scored for Scotland against England
Still 2-1 at Elland Road.
Swindon just had a goal disallowed. Good decision. Swindon have been dominating
Four minutes to go
Pen for Wales
Latvia have taken the lead against Liechtenstein.
Wales have scored the pen.
Koumas scores his second in the 89th minute
Down to the final moments at Elland Road - Come on you Whites!
Southend can't get the winner. Game over at Roots End.
Good news for the Whites
Yeah, we still stay above them.
Some drunken Scot running on the Wembley pitch. The Cops can't catch him. CLASSIC
Got to be close to over now. Into stoppage time.
All even at the Millennium.
Game over
Bristol Rovers score the winner against Millwall in the 94th minute
LEEDS HAVE WON!!!
Remember, I said Leeds and ISRAEL will both win.
Full time at Elland Road and we've got our 12th win of the season. Beat that, Manchester United! We're in fourth!
I'm moving into the living room for the big match.
talksport have the national anthems at Hampden. ALAN BRAZIL IS PLASTERED!!!
Still got another hour.
Watch England beat the Scots
According to the radio,
LUCKY LEEDS!!!
Every decision was against Swindon.
What a save by Clemence off of Dave Watson!!!
Game has started at Hampden!!!
ITALY SCORE IN THE FIRST MINUTE!!!!!
Luca Toni
Make that 70 seconds!!!
They could have been two down. The Italians miss a shot from 8 yards.
1703: Scotland boss Alex McLeish is absolutely steaming on the touchline. His defence is all over the place.
Scotland coming back into the game somewhat after a dreadful start.
Where are you Robert?
Moldova are beating Hungary.
What ever happened to Hungary.
Scotland have had a few chances. Six inches from a header in the corner
Sorry, mate. I was in the shower. I was finishing up two job applications. I am relentless. I've got nearly thirty off. There must be a job or two in there for me.
I believe the "Lucky Leeds" tag, btw. I don't think we've played very well this season, particularly in the last month. But, like me and the job apps., LUFC is relentless. We have a destiny to spite the Football League for their fifteen point deduction travesty. The number fifteen doesn't even exist in Leeds these days. Doesn't exist!
Come on the Jocks!
Moldova have scored against.
They think it's Moldova... it is now
McFadden sounds as if he's having a shocker. Wasted another free kick. I reckon he's more effective as a supersub.
I agree
That Finland win over Azerbaijan puts a bit of pressure on Portugal later today. I would luv it, luv it, luv it, if the Portugeezers crashed out of this tournament.
"Finland, Finland, Finland, the place where I want to be pony trekking and hiking and watching tv." La la la.
Just to make Russia worry,
Andorra are losing to Estonia at home!!!
28,000 at Elland Road.
Higher than most of the Prem.
Very impressive.
We are relentless, mate. They've cut the prices of season tickets IN HALF for this season and it's paying off for us in good will among the punters.
Gordon makes a brilliant save but the rebound was put in but called back.
Can you believe if England don't make the Euros? The last time they didn't make it was when they lost to Denmark at Wembley to come second in the group. Of course, only 8 teams made that tourney. Now it is SIXTEEN!!!
COME ON ISRAEL!!
Hey, have you ever heard of a service called "Sporting Glory?" Go to:
http://sportinggloryusa.com/
What they do for you for $40 is to do an English footie commentary where they stick your name in as the player who scores the winning goal/saves a penalty for your favorite team. It sounds really good. Check it out. Christmas idea for the kiddies?
Will check it out!!!
Keep hope alive, mate!
BTW, that player I couldn't think about was Mickey Quinn
1743: "But for a few lapses in concentration, Scotland have been on top. The Fletcher-Ferguson-Hartley triangle is working superbly and they are running this game. We need a stroke of good fortune for a goal - just keep pressurising...AND LISTEN TO THAT CROWD!"
jpalongo on 606
Latvia 4 Liechtenstein 1
I guess they still can't play
They'll need that crowd to lift them in the second half. You know that the Italians will go into catenaccio mode and could still bottle it.
Half time at Hampden.
I wonder Alan Brazil will say at half.
The Jocks had a header cleared off the line
Brazil is confident. He just another striker up front to cause them problems
They need two goals - can they do it against the most organized defense in world footie?
1750: Russia kick off in Israel in 10 minutes time, with England praying for a miracle. "Yalla Yisrael".
HERE WE GO!!!!!!!
Yes, indeedy! Alright, the U.S. has won, Leeds has won, now it's Israel's turn. Would it be politically incorrect for me to say - "Come on you Yiddos!"
Bloody hell, it is Max Bretos on the commentating
Who cares about PI
4-3-3 for Israel
No team should win wearing a red shirt and BLUE shorts.
Leeds WHITE, SWINDON RED.
LEEDS WIN
Same again please
Max Bretos and Chris Sullivan, fresh from their trip to South Africa this morning. (sigh)
Free kick chance.
Over the bar please.
Thank you
Hear hear!
Only 87 minutes away
We'll take a few more of those useless shots from the Russians.
Oh, that was a close offside decision. I thought he was away!
Shut it, Bretos!
I second that emotion
The Scots have forty minutes to salvage their campaign. They need two goals.
That was a bit loose from the Israeli back four.
What the hell was the keeper doing there??
David James the Second
BLOODY HELL
Get the shot off!!!
Oh, first time mate! First time!
YESSSSSSSS!
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The dream is still on. I take back my curses against that bloke. He stuck his second chance away nicely.
AND UP YOUR LEFT NOSTRIL
Desperate defending there from Israel. I can tell that this match will take years off my life.
I was thinking the same thing
The Scots have half an hour to score two goals against the World Champions. Bloody hell!
Just get the draw from this point
Don't let down Israel
If the Scots were to win, it would be their finest moment since beating World Champions England back in 1967 at Wembley.
Come on Israel, get another
SEND HIM OFF
That was never offside, ref! Should have been a red card, surely.
Bloody Hell offside
THE SCOTS HAVE SCORED!!!
WHAT ANOTHER CHANCE!!
Ooh, that was nearly the second. This Israeli team is playing much better than I'd expected.
Russia are giving a lot of spaces in the back. Israel could score every time they go forward
Barry Ferguson with the goal
Well done, the Scots! With a draw, they need Ukraine to beat France, right?
1825: Alex McLeish turns and askes Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller to warm up. Juventus striker Vincenzo Iaquinta is on to replace Antonio Di Natale. As it stands, Scotland will qualify if Ukraine beat France on Wednesday - or Italy slip up against the Faroe Islands
Russia are getting some long distance shots but that's it
Sounds like a classic Scots goal:
"McFadden's free-kick is deflected into the path of McCulloch whose effort from six yards is parried by Buffon. The ball rebounds to Ferguson who fires into an empty net to pull Scotland level and keep the dream alive."
Hey, lads, tuned in just in time to see Israel score . . . they should be up by 2 and Russia down to ten . . . bloody assistant referee . . . was the Israeli really offside . . . what's the result we need, a draw or an Israeli win?
The Scots really need another goal.
Hey Sir Trev.
Never offside.
20 minutes left in Glasgow
Hey, Trev! Definitely an Israeli win. They're out of it at this point and can only damage Russian hopes. If they were to keep this result, we'd only need a draw against Croatia on Wednesday.
That's SIR Trev
The Israeli's are good with back flicking the ball with their head in the middle of the pitch . . . wish they could you their forehead in front of goal.
Kenny Miller to come on for the Scots. He's a bit of a giantkiller, right Davey?
You bet
Russia already with a change.
THEY'RE GETTING WORRIED!!!
An early Russian change here. Torbinskiy on for the defender Semshov. Attacking move.
Israel are poor in the back . . . when's the last time they've shut out an opponent?
Nice meg, there from 10
I'm liking this Itzaghi, guy. I think the last shut out for Israel was unfortunately the home game for them against England. We were rubbish that night.
Fifteen minutes left for the Jocks. 1-1 would be quite a result but they could really use a miraculous late winner.
They shut out Estonia twice and ENGLAND!!!
Nice on the ball from the Israelis, it's like playing against 10 Benyouen
Oh, England, I shouldn't be surprised.
The pitch look enormous, no?
Free kick chance for cross.
Get those foreheads ready
Here comes a goal
Foreheads didn't work
Scotland have dominated Italy. They have just had some great chances.
oooh, side netting. PHEW
Oh, side netting for Russia. That was a bit too close.
Side-netting, nice
Probably should've gone for a patented Ricky Roberts "cross-shot."
1838: Incredible. Absolutely incredible. If Scotland don't win this, this is the moment they will look back on. A low cross evades everyone and lands with James McFadden, but with the goal gaping, the striker can't get the angle right and fires wide. He lies on the turf, his head in his hands.
Hiddink doesn't look so confident now.
6 minutes to go at Hampden
Israel are sitting too deep for me
I agree, Dave. The Russians are playing it about in midfield for fun, as Big Ron would say.
1843: Italy are clearly worried. They are time-wasting and trying all the tricks in the book. But then they do only need a draw to qualify.
Catenaccio time for the Azurri.
Come on Israel, hold out to half
Shut it, Sullivan!
Of course, England were winning at half in Russia
Bloody hell, what was Ben Haim playing at there. Clear it!
BLOODY HELL
What was that inside the six yard box
I don't like how this half has ended
Yeah, but Paul Robinson isn't in goal for the Israelis.
Free kick chance.
Over the bar please.
THANK YOU
High, wide and 'orrible. Love it!
Scotland 1 Italy 2
Stoppage time.
BUGGER
They're out
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