I like the idea that a man who a whole owns a stable of racehorses, a stud farm and range of properties around Cheshire is likely to be tempted by a little media cash to mess up his reputation in football ......... I think Michael Owen's lifestyle proves he has a little more oil in his lamp than that.
Everything I think about this World Cup turns out daily to be wrong. For instance I thought Egypt with a fit Salah and an organised defence would trouble Russia - in fact Salah was present in name only and the organised, committed defence that held out Uruguay appeared to have neither the stomach, nor the brains for last night's battle.
As for England, had Harry Kane not scored two I think the headline writers would have been castigating him as uncreative, immobile and slow-off-the-mark, but he did score two and was a hero. On the other hand Raheem Sterling missed an early chance and played the goat for the rest of the game. Harry Maguire bringing the ball out of defence lumbered forward like a tank, but did finally win a header. Ashley Young ruined most deadball situations, several attacks and looked dodgy when defending. Kyle Walker defended like a full back caught unawares where a centre half should be. The team missed Eric Dier, Marcus Rashford and Ruben Loftus-Cheek .... and Jesse Lingard uncharacteristically missed every chance he got. BUT despite this list of negatives we not only won, but a times we played very nicely against a team Spain and other European teams have struggled against. Even Scots can be infected by our colonialist impulses and underestimate African teams - this Tunisian team hadn't just hiked bedraggled from the Sahel you know. They've got a good background and are organised, well-coached and recognised the opportunities being offered to them by a lenient referee and an apparently permanently unsighted VAR system, which operated like tennis's Hawkeye, holding up both hands and shrugging its shoulders.
Win the World Cup? Naah, don't think so, but look at Germany, not only did they lose, but their defensive midfield man Khedira looked like a dead man barely walking, which largely banjaxed Kroos alongside him, Kimmich was permanently upfield leaving a hole the size of the ozone layer in their defence, Thomas Muller seemed to be saying what am I doing playing out here, Werner looked to be on the verge of a panic attack, Gomez would make the Angel of the North look mobile, Sane was apparently too quick to make this squad at all, from the first minute Hummels seemed to be very angry indeed and Neuer seemed determined to cover his lack of match practice with sheer arrogance. Look at the Mexican goal, just at the moment the near-post shot is loosed off Neuer takes a little half shuffle towards the centre of the goal. Whatever miniscule chance he had of getting down to stop the shot was lost in that instant, but because it was Neuer no one gives it a second glance. Does this mean Germany are as good as out or will they as usual turn it round? Does Messi fluffing every line so far condemn Argentina to be mere extras? Does the Swiss parking their Reliant Robin to clamp the Brazilian Jaguar finish off the beautiful game for another World Cup?
Maybe it's as early to go in heavily on the Andy Murray anti-England line as it is to go in with the predictions. It's like all those times you got caught offside Michael, you were really fast enough to hold your run a wee bit, weren't you?
Everything I think about this World Cup turns out daily to be wrong. For instance I thought Egypt with a fit Salah and an organised defence would trouble Russia - in fact Salah was present in name only and the organised, committed defence that held out Uruguay appeared to have neither the stomach, nor the brains for last night's battle.
As for England, had Harry Kane not scored two I think the headline writers would have been castigating him as uncreative, immobile and slow-off-the-mark, but he did score two and was a hero. On the other hand Raheem Sterling missed an early chance and played the goat for the rest of the game. Harry Maguire bringing the ball out of defence lumbered forward like a tank, but did finally win a header. Ashley Young ruined most deadball situations, several attacks and looked dodgy when defending. Kyle Walker defended like a full back caught unawares where a centre half should be. The team missed Eric Dier, Marcus Rashford and Ruben Loftus-Cheek .... and Jesse Lingard uncharacteristically missed every chance he got. BUT despite this list of negatives we not only won, but a times we played very nicely against a team Spain and other European teams have struggled against. Even Scots can be infected by our colonialist impulses and underestimate African teams - this Tunisian team hadn't just hiked bedraggled from the Sahel you know. They've got a good background and are organised, well-coached and recognised the opportunities being offered to them by a lenient referee and an apparently permanently unsighted VAR system, which operated like tennis's Hawkeye, holding up both hands and shrugging its shoulders.
Win the World Cup? Naah, don't think so, but look at Germany, not only did they lose, but their defensive midfield man Khedira looked like a dead man barely walking, which largely banjaxed Kroos alongside him, Kimmich was permanently upfield leaving a hole the size of the ozone layer in their defence, Thomas Muller seemed to be saying what am I doing playing out here, Werner looked to be on the verge of a panic attack, Gomez would make the Angel of the North look mobile, Sane was apparently too quick to make this squad at all, from the first minute Hummels seemed to be very angry indeed and Neuer seemed determined to cover his lack of match practice with sheer arrogance. Look at the Mexican goal, just at the moment the near-post shot is loosed off Neuer takes a little half shuffle towards the centre of the goal. Whatever miniscule chance he had of getting down to stop the shot was lost in that instant, but because it was Neuer no one gives it a second glance. Does this mean Germany are as good as out or will they as usual turn it round? Does Messi fluffing every line so far condemn Argentina to be mere extras? Does the Swiss parking their Reliant Robin to clamp the Brazilian Jaguar finish off the beautiful game for another World Cup?
Maybe it's as early to go in heavily on the Andy Murray anti-England line as it is to go in with the predictions. It's like all those times you got caught offside Michael, you were really fast enough to hold your run a wee bit, weren't you?