God Save the Queen

The Scotland-England rivalry is certainly not new, but it still leads to minor amusement. Of course I've got a more Scottish perspective than English, and I do understand the whole "EBC, not BBC" thing (i.e. Andy Murray is British when he's winning, Scottish when he's losing; all Six Nations commentary), but part of me wanted to see an England v Argentina match later this week. No such luck.

I watched it with English friends (and a Scot and an Irishman - sounds like a joke)...it's always - ahem - interesting to see how people react to England losing. During Euro 2004, when France beat England, a bar stool flew past my head and out a window. During the World Cup 2002, after England lost, my friend Tracey and I were calmly walking the streets of Prague, talking about the US v Germany match later that day, only to be called every name under the sun by England fans. You've never been insulted 'til you've been insulted by a drunken Englishman.

Yesterday, it was merely head-in-the-hands embarrassment.

The team makes something like £6M a week collectively. One would think they could play nice.

But all is not lost; Spain v Portugal tomorrow night, a cracking semifinal with Germany and Argentina, and what will probably be a Brazil-Netherlands match. The final? Brazil v Argentina, with Argentina winning 3-2.