Back from international duty
Apologies to any Irish readers who probably haven't enjoyed this footballing week too much, but the rest of us return to following our clubs this weekend buoyed by some fine international results.
Wales won't qualify for , but a suggested better times ahead. England performed well twice at Wembley and may just have hit upon a winning formula through injury and suspension. Those of us old enough to remember the , and the enforced changes which eventually produced a balanced side, have been busy drawing parallels. Some older hands have even been suggesting that Wayne Rooney may be the Jimmy Greaves of 2008 - any opportunity to drag '66 into everything it seems! And, in any case, qualifying is still going to be difficult enough without debating team selection for next summer just yet.
Meanwhile, live on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ TWO earlier today, and are now in with a good chance of progressing to the World Cup quarter-finals in China. My colleague, Lance Hardy, will be blogging about that in due course.
But pride of place this week rightly goes to . I've spoken to Scottish colleagues of mine both in London and Glasgow, and there is a consensus that it may have been Scotland's finest international performance of all time. It certainly will be if they can now make it to the finals. The two great displays I remember best - at Wembley in the , and the at the - ultimately did not result in qualification.
The one I don't remember - the Jim Baxter-inspired 1967 victory at Wembley over the then-world champions - was clearly very special but, bizarrely, was also a European Championship qualifier. In those days, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all played each other once a season in the . Because each fixture was held home and away in alternate years, Uefa decided to make the 1967 and 1968 home internationals a qualifying group for the . And despite winning 3-2 at Wembley and winning that year's Home International Championships, defeat in Belfast the following season meant Scotland still didn't qualify for the Euro finals.
They've given themselves a great chance of qualifying this time, though, and everyone here sincerely hopes they do, not least because if they make it and England are there too, it will make covering the finals next summer all the more pleasurable professionally. I appreciate and understand that many people in Scotland won't be sending reciprocal best wishes to England any time soon, though! Many of us here at ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Sport are also very pleased for , having worked with him at various times - indeed, he'll be a welcome returning guest on in a couple of weeks' time.
Anyway, it's back to domestic matters this weekend, and a potentially terrific MOTD tomorrow. choosing for lunchtime transmission, and the need for teams playing in the Champions League to avoid playing on Sunday, has left us able to cover two huge matches - and - on . Setanta may well have been interested in one of those games for their teatime slot, but the police generally don't like late kick-offs for games between near neighbours, so is being played at 5.15pm.
With those four games among an unusually high total (these days) of eight Saturday Premier League games, MOTD is going to be a tight squeeze but should be a good watch.
