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Tabloid balls: brave England players laugh at ISIS as wimpy Germans cower

daily star england germansThe Daily Star’s scoop on “brave “England footballers at Euro 2016 and German “wimps” is total balls. First we hear from Manchester United and England’s Chris Smalling:

“We have a fantastic security team and we have been informed of all the French security as well. So from our point of view we have nothing to worry about. We are able to focus on what we are here for – and that’s the football.”

And the German “Wimps”?

But nervous German star Jerome Boateng has ordered his wife and children to stay at home during the championships because of terror fears. Bayern Munich defender Boateng, 27, was playing for Germany at the Stade de France the night three suicide bombers blew themselves up outside. He said: “My family and children will not be coming to the stadium. The risk is simply too big.”

What a wimp, eh.

Having shamed Germans for one man’s entirely sane decision not to invite his loved ones to watch the football in a country where last time he was in town Islamists murdered scores of people, the Star tells its readers one day later:

Ex-SAS gunners guard Roy’s Boys from ISIS

ENGLAND’S stars have been assured a crack squad of ex-SAS troops is standing by to whisk them to safety if terrorists strike at Euro 2016.

Brave. That’s the only word for it.

Posted: 10th, June 2016 | In: Reviews, Sports, Tabloids | Comment


Spurs balls: Harry Kane takes corners because he’s England’s best finisher

Why does Tottenham’s Harry Kane, the Premier League’s top goalscorer, take corners for England? Is the plan to have him bend one into the far corner? It seems utterly bizarre to have the side’s best finisher at the start of the move, marooned near the corner flag as the balls sails into the danger area.

Barney Ronay tells Guardian readers Kane taking corners makes “no sense”. Which of England’s opponents won’t be delighted to see Kane stuck out wide, preferring, surely, to battle in the box Wayne Rooney’s waning talents.

Kane has yet to score direct from a corner. Moreover, against Portugal this week he managed to pass directly to an opposition player. David Beckham he ain’t. Yet England manager Roy Hodgson says Kane is the “best man for delivery”. What does that say about the rest of the team’s aptitude with the dead ball? Says Roy: “I don’t need to apologise for Kane taking a corner, especially if you’ve got a player with his quality striking a ball and no one else in the team who comes up to that level of striking a ball.” It’s the same skill that makes Kane’s England’s best finisher.

What of the alternatives? James Milner took 116 corners for Liverpool last season. A big number. Most of them were functional or, as against Borussia Dortmund, weak. Everton’s Ross Barkley took 70 corners. Southampton’s Ryan Bertrand took 52. Kane took 7 for Spurs – and you can only envy Spurs for having Christian Eriksen, who hits the ball so sweetly. Rooney took five for Man United, the same number Raheem Sterling took for Man City.

Surely dropping Rooney for Sterling and honing the winger’s deadball abilities is one sensible move? But Hodgson sticks with his captain, which means Kane really is the best England man for the job – more’s the pity. 

 

Posted: 4th, June 2016 | In: Sports, Spurs | Comments (2)