MORE THAN A GAME
At 17:00 (BST) today, approximately the time when your daily dose of Fiver Towers football games slides into tens of thousands of spam folders around the world, it will be 173 days and 18 hours before the start of the World Cup of Human Rights in the international football center, which is Qatar. The Fiver counts the seconds, looking sadly at the official countdown clock on the Fifa website, powered by Hublot, the official timekeeper of the Fifa World Cup.
As their extremely sympathetic fans have always had a huge contribution to the several international tournaments their team has qualified for in recent decades, few would usually regret Scotland for a place in this year’s finals. This year, however, the Scots face the daunting prospect of facing Ukraine in the semi-finals of the playoffs tomorrow night.
It is a great honor for Scotland to host the national team of a country that is currently under an illegal invasion from Russia in the first competitive match they can play after the declaration of war. Last but not least, it allows a nation that has historically been harassed by a tyrannical neighbor to show support for its Ukrainian visitors on the world stage. This is also a bit unenviable, as the victory of the Scots will be seen by some as kicking a stick with a blind man or shooting Bambi’s mother.
“We have the greatest respect for their situation, but on Wednesday night for 90 minutes or more, 120, we will do our best to win this match and that’s all that matters,” said the midfielder. Scotland John McGinn, whose official timekeeper is unknown. “I don’t think you can get away with how terrible the situation is and our sympathies go to the players, the staff and everyone involved, but it’s important for us not to get carried away by the emotions of it all. We are there to win a football match and try to make our dreams come true. ”
With an eliminator who wins takes it all against Wales, which will be grabbed for the one who emerged victorious from Hampden Park on Wednesday night, it is important to note that Ukraine’s manager, Alexander Petrakov, and his proud players neither want nor expect special treatment from Scotland. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Petrakov and his wife refused to flee the besieged capital, Kyiv. The 64-year-old even tried to enlist in his country’s territorial defense forces, but was refused. He and his players spent the last weeks training in Slovenia, but arrived in Scotland in desperate lack of proper match training, despite training matches against Borussia Monchengladbach, Empoli and the Croatian team Rijeka.
“We want everyone in Europe to know that we want to be part of the EU family,” Petrakov said. “Ukraine is Europe.” Speaking in March, the weeping Petrakov paid tribute to his compatriots fighting Russia’s illegal invaders, saying, “I am the coach of the national football team and I want to kneel before you and thank you from all our players. God bless you and glory to Ukraine. ” Although it’s not “boys, it’s Tottenham”, one suspects that the team’s talks are in order.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It simply came to our notice then. He told me, “We only had three months to organize this, we killed ourselves to start this game.” I replied, “I’m more worried that people weren’t killed outside.” He said he was being disrespectful. ” Steve Rotherham, the mayor of Liverpool and a Hillsborough survivor, told Andy Hunter about his meeting with UEFA President Alexander Cheferin at the Stade de France on Saturday as the chaotic scenes unfolded outside.
RECOMMENDED LOOK
David Squires took a sad look at a true romance for the Grand Cup in Paris – with guest appearances by Camilla Cabello, Gerald Darmanin and Carlo Ancelotti’s eyebrow.
Pau! Beef! Etc. Illustration: David Squires / Guardian
FIVE LETTERS
“The beautiful south not only predicts three of this year’s European finalists in Rotterdam (letters from Monday), in The Challengers to the Throne they mention both Madrid and Paris [and Hull – Fiver 90s Indie Muso Ed] assuming that they have begun to predict not only the future winners of the Grand Cup, but also the scene of their triumphs. Although their latest single was called Manchester, which suggests that their prophetic abilities dried up at about the same time as the hits. ”- Tim Woods
“It’s good to see that the only thing PSG has learned from this recent period of spending huge sums of Qatari money on a desperate pursuit of the Grand Cup is that they need to give their star players more power,” said Noble Francis.
“Re: KdB moaning (fifth Monday). You’ve been retired for a long time, son. ”- Jim Gregory
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner in our priceless letter of the day is У Tim Woods.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Listen to the latest Football Weekly. And while we’re at it, Max, Barry and the pod team are back on tour. Tickets for live concerts in June and July can be found here.
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
Craig Farrell, the former England youth striker who played for Carlisle and York, among others, has died at the age of 39. “I’m very sorry to hear this news, Craig was such a nice young man,” said Carlisle chairman Andrew Jenkins. “Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones at this very sad time.”
Bad news for the PR team of the World Human Rights Championship: a report by Carbon Market Watch casts serious doubt on Qatar’s 2022 allegations of “carbon neutral” claims.
Liverpool have apologized to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin for doubling the charge of fake tickets to the failure of the Grand Cup in Paris.
Croatia’s winger Ivan Perisic has reunited with Antonio Conte after joining Tottenham on a two-year deal. And the revolving door of the San Siro could continue to spin, with Romelu Lukaku still eager to return to Inter.
Like an overly ambitious couple at Grand Designs, Manchester United are continuing their recovery. Former coach of the academy Andy O’Boyle has been appointed new deputy football director, writes here.
The hard work of the heads of UEFA’s Technical Observer, who searched the staff, broke the numbers and decided that Karim Benzema is the best player in the Grand Cup this season.
Everton manager Frank Lampard Frank Lampard was fined £ 30,000 after gaining the right experience with referee Stuart Atwell for deciding on Anfield’s penalty.
Mick Beale may sound like a newcomer to Albert Square, but he’s actually headed west – QPR wants to hire an Aston Villa assistant as their new manager.
Mick Beale seems ready to turn the W12 into his new mansion. Photo: David Klein / Reuters
And Ste Howson, a well-known podcast who appeared in Rio Ferdinand’s FIVE digital lifestyle magazine, apologized for claiming that Ed Woodward’s tenure was “worse for Manchester United” than the Munich tragedy. “I definitely had to put it better and apologize for any insult I caused,” Houson tweeted.
WANT MORE?
Given how much he’s rolled up when he’s not on the list, we can only hope that Thibaut Courtois is happy with Ben McAllier’s offer of his brilliance in the Grand Cup.
Ben Fisher has inside information on how Steve Cooper managed to transform Nottingham Forest from hopeless from the Championship to winners in the playoffs.
Adam White looks at the border totalitarian power that Killian Mbape now holds at PSG.
And if that’s your thing … you can follow the Big Website in Big Social FaceSpace. AND INSTACHAT TOO!
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