A day of football

Wednesday was a day of total football. We picked the Juniorette up straight from school and then headed down to Frankfurt to catch the second half of 1.FFC Frankfurt v WFC Rossiyanka in the quarter final of the women’s UEFA cup. Frankfurt won the tie 2-1 against their Russian counterparts and now advance to the semi final. After the game the Juniorette went autograph hunting and I managed to get a couple of photos of her and some of the players.

In the top photo she is with Steffi Jones who has recently been made President of the organising committee for the next women’s world cup which will be held in Germany in 2011. The middle photo shows the Juniorette with 1.FFC and German national team player Kerstin Garefrekes.

Later we went to an Italian restaurant to eat and warm up, and then drove out to the Commerzbank Arena to watch Germany play out a rather dull goalless draw with Wales in a Euro 2008 qualifying game. The stadium was sold out, and reality of the situation was that Germany had already qualified for the finals next summer. They didn’t play bad, but they didn’t play good either. This resulted in a lot whistling in the second half to signal the crowd’s dissatisfaction. The Welsh fought hard and fully deserved the point. But as I explained to the Juniorette later, to truly appreciate a very good game you have to occasionally experience mediocre ones.

The Welsh fans cheered when they heard the result of the England game. England lost against Croatia and therefore have failed to qualify for next summers European Championship. I think with hindsight this will prove to be a good thing. England have good players but consistently crap management. It’s not just the coaching staff, but the Football Association committee as well. It’s time for some sweeping changes. I just hope someone has got the balls to make them.