Football

Gorse Fox cannot let the events of the past couple of days pass without comment. It was a great shame to see the Scots eliminated from the Euro 2008 competition as a result of an astonishing refereeing decision. It reminds GF of the case of a man attacked by a mugger and then getting prosecuted for defending himself and having to pay compensation to the mugger. Anyway, the Italians got through, so we can look forward to their histrionics next summer.

Then there's the England game on Friday. Competent first half aided by the some superb passes from Beckham... but as the second half progressed and substitutions were made the team changed to 4-5-1 and nearly blew-it, again. When (if ever) will McLaren learn that the best form of defense is attack and that if you must defend, do so on the half-way line not the goal line. With Israel's result against Russia, England live to fight another day and Wednesday will see the crunch match against Croatia. A draw is all that is needed - but GF does hope that more positive tactics are employed. Croatia are a more formidable opponent that Austria.