AS A life-time meber of Scottish Goalkeeping Lodge Number One, I am absolutely delighted to see big Craig Gordon back in the game, with Celtic. There are suggestons that his signing clears the way for Fraser Forster's return to England, to a Premiership club and hopefully to more-regular games for England.
If that happens, on the basis that class is permanent, a fit-again Gordon will be an asset to Celtic and to Scotland. Assuming Gordon gets regular games and returns to his former peak, the what a choice WGS will have - where once Scottish goalkeepers were a joke (Jimmy Greaves's gift to we neighbours) - with Gordon, McGregor and Marshall vying for the number one jersey, we have an embarrassemtn of riches we have not enjoyed in a single position since the 1960s, when we had Willie Henderson, Jimmy Johnstone, Alex Scott and Charlie Cooke all available for the number seven shirt (and I might have missed-out a couple of other candidates there).
WHAT a good start Aberdeen has made to their Europa League campaign. In recent years we have become accustomed to our provincial teams crashing and burning in Europe. Drawing Latvian opposition was always a potential banana-skin for the Dons. We expect diddy teams from diddy countries to be despatched, with goals to spare. Even past Aberdeen teams have tripped over that assumption, so, a nap hand of goals has already put the Dons through.
Things will get a lot tougher henceforth, but, great start guys, keep it up.
THE World Cup resumes today, with France v Germany. This should be a cracker. There are suggestions of a virus sweeping through the German squad, but, I can barely remember a poor German squad, which does not fight all the way for Der Vaterland.
The midfield battle will be crucial: Pogba v Schweinsteigger should be worth the admission money alone.
Of course, in Brazil itself, this clash of the European heavyweights is merely the starter, the main course will feature Brazil v Columbia, and, this might be explosive.
The Columbians, particularly young James Rodriguez, have been impressive. I've got a mate who, after years of being "Jimmy" is enjoying being re-branded as "Haimes" (is it me, or is that a Latin-American take on Hamish? Did one of the Darien Scheme pioneers maybe make it to Columbia?)
On past reputation, you have to favour Brazil, however, I still feel this current Brazil squad is mentally fragile, and, should Columbia score first and take even temporary control, it might all go pear-shaped and plunge Brazil into the pits of despair.
I am, however, fairly certain that one or maybe both of tonight's games, will go all the way to penalties.
GOOD luck to young Ryan Gauld on his move to Sporting Lisbon. It is a huge chance for the kid, who is definitely one for the future.
The history of Scottish football is littered with wunderkinder who never trained-on to greatness. Gauld is going to a new country, to a different football culture, I wish him well and hope he makes it.
After all, there is a lot of evidence of potentially-great Scots, in many fields, having to move overseas to make good - let's hope Gauld is another one.
No comments:
Post a Comment