International round up

Belarus vs England:
This game started much better than the last England game against Kazakhstan. Within 11 minutes, they were 1-0 up courtesy of a great Gerrard strike. Words cannot express how much I love that man, serious. To me, he is one of the best midefielders in the world, and easily better than Frank Lampard. I'll do a post on that some other day though. Back to the report. After going ahead, England had a shaky 10 minutes or so, where Belarus had several attempts on goal, all of which came to nothing thankfully. The defence was very much makeshift though, with 2 out of 4 regulars out injured. The luck wasn't to last though. Just before the half hour mark, Belarus were level, some dazzling skill leaving the England defence for dead. England's troubles weren't to end there though. At half time, the scores level, they had a lot to do in the second half.

Shreky answered fans prayers just 5 minutes after the restart, putting England ahead again. On first glance, he looked slightly offside, but he was given the benefit of the doubt and the goal stood. With minutes to go, Rooney scored his second and England's third. From then on, England were happy to sit back and keep hold of the ball. Gerrard went close just minutes before the end, but his second goal was not meant to be, the shot hitting the post and rebounding out, but nobody was there to put it in. It didn't matter though, England were worthy winners, 3-1 on a cold night in Minsk. Ok, so it may not have been their most convincing performance, but it brought them another 3 points, so really, who cares? As long as the lions are roaring, the boo boys get drowned out.

Belgium vs Spain:
Having broken the record for the longest period of time without conceding a goal, Spain made a bad start to this game. They were a goal down inside 10 minutes, courtesy of a combination of bad defending and erm - bad defending. It was almost a competition of the ugly kits, which Belgium just edged out for me. Thankfully, matters on the pitch were not to be influenced by the kits, the game was free flowing and fast moving, with Spain playing their usual one touch passing football.

Amongst the bad news of ugly kits and going a goal down, there was a silver lining. Well, for me anyway. Dahveed's hair is looking much better now, and he played much better too. He was an attacking threat right from the off, making some good runs. Cesc's hair however...I'll refrain from comment. It just really is THAT bad. Not quite Iniesta bad, but then, that was for a lost bet, right? Anyway, no matter about that, I can overlook the hair if he carries on scoring goals like the one that got Spain level on 36 minutes. Cue Iker celebrations that would probably prompt you to lock up any regular person in the loony bin. He screamed and did that 'I'm so happy, I could cry' thing he does, it was good entertainment. Just minutes before that, The Ramos took a hit on the nose, prompting us all to go into a blind panic about what could happen, but he was ok.

Dahveed carried on being his brilliant self, having shot after shot, and it was only a matter of time until he found the back of the net, right? Well, of course. He never disappoints. He got booked for what I guess was an over enthusiastic celebration, but come on, he scored the winner!! In the 88th minute, which is the year I was born. See, totally MFEO. And Iker did the funny dance again. I'll have to see if I can get Ali to find a video because it was just THAT good.

The highlight of the game for me came on 75 mins. The frustration spilling over, there was a slight scuffle on the pitch between Dahveed and one of the Belgian players. I wanted to see him bitchslap someone, but seeing him getting all worked up over it was just as good. *sighs*