{"id":7355,"date":"2022-12-04T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-04T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=7355"},"modified":"2024-02-08T10:07:39","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T10:07:39","slug":"sport-thats-more-like-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=7355","title":{"rendered":"SPORT: Football, World Cup \u201822 – That\u2019s More Like It!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
What a great picture. What a great moment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

England 3, Senegal 0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I used to actively dislike football. Or at least I tried to, for a spell. What I really<\/em> disliked (and still do) are: yobbism, the tribalism of some supporters, and the grotesque capitalism that has colonised and dominates the sport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, mini-rant over, back to the footy. And tonight it was, mercifully, enjoyable. Well, at least it was if you\u2019re rooting for England. And (I\u2019ll forego my rant about patriotism and jingoism!) And I was\/am<\/em> rooting for England. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Bellingham and Henderson celebrate goal #1.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I won\u2019t pretend I know much about the beautiful game. But I do know that I like Gareth Southgate\u2019s managerial style, and the crop of players he has at his disposal. One of the ITV pundits – Gary Neville? – put it well, saying Southgate was \u2018compassionate\u2019, and that his team believed in him as a leader. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also liked the sound of the cultivation of a team spirit by watching matches together, as opposed to players disappearing into solipsistic isolation in social media and gaming consoles, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kane hoofs in goal #2.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But to the match: Senegal started strongly, getting the first two best chances. But then England gradually warmed up. And in the last ten minutes of the first half, first Henderson and then Kane (finally!) scored superbly emphatic goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have to admit my attention wandered in the second half. But then I\u2019m not the worlds most ardent footy fan. And I often tend to be doing other stuff whilst watching matches. But when Saka scored goal number three – another real peach – it brought my attention back with a bang. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Saka enjoys the glory of goal #3.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I rarely bother with the pre or post match punditry. And tonight was, in that respect, business as usual, for me; hopped into a piping hot bath, and then off to bed! But it\u2019s nice to have been able to enjoy watching England compete internationally and acquit themselves so admirably. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great work, lads!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

England 3, Senegal 0 I used to actively dislike football. Or at least I tried to, for a spell. What I really disliked (and still do) are: yobbism, the tribalism of some supporters, and the grotesque capitalism that has colonised and dominates the sport. Anyway, mini-rant over, back to the footy. And tonight it was, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “SPORT: Football, World Cup \u201822 – That\u2019s More Like It!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[89,150,77,149,117,147],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-1UD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7355"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7355"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11597,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7355\/revisions\/11597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}