Football shirt collections...

Ok, so a while back, Vanilla Bear did a post about her collection of football shirts, and I promised in the comments I would take pics of my shirts when I get the printing for my Valencia shirt. Well, that arrived yesterday, so here's the post. I have 2 Liverpool shirts (Owen and blank) over at my mum's, as well as my England shirt (yes, you can really tell which NT MY priorities lie with...) but this is the rest of them. I guess I will do this in chronological order, because it's easiest that way.


So, the first one was actually my Owen shirt, but I don't have a pic of that, so you'll have to imagine it and we can move on. Next in line was the Gerrard shirt.

Then after that, it was the England shirt I think. I don't even remember when my dad bought me that. *shrugs* It's the reversible away one. And then there was the Agger shirt...
After Dagger, I think the next shirt I bought was the other Liverpool one that has no name on the back. The one I don't have a pic of. Then I think I went a while without buying any shirts, and for xmas my dad got me this:
I bought a kids Spain shirt online after that, because it was only £9.99 and like hell I'm missing out on that price!
Then one day in Brighton, I went on a major shopping spree for football shirts and bought the following:
I did want to get Masch's name on the back of the Liverpool one and Veeyah's name on the back of the Spain one, but the kids shirts are a little too small to fit Mascherano on the back and they didn't have the right printing for the Spain one. Pfffft. They're all currently blank, but I'm going to get them printed at some point. Honestly, I have a problem.

And then after all of that, I still wasn't happy. I'm a Valencia fan, yet I didn't actually own a Valencia shirt until this season. Mind you, I'm glad I waited until now, because Valencia Experience - BEST. SPONSOR. EVER. (You know, aside from the fact they didn't actually PAY the team anything...) Anyway,I currently have two. Trust me when I say that number WILL grow.


I still NEED a Veeyah shirt. I don't much care whether it's a Spain one or a Valencia one, but I need to buy one. It might possibly be the new Spain one. Or maybe next season's Valencia shirt and I'll get Albiol (or Marchena) on the Spain one. *shrugs* I still don't know. Also, I want to buy a Barca shirt with Xavi's name on the back. I don't support Barca. I'm not even sure how much I like them tbh, but I like Xavi so yeah...

I need to get a Liverpool shirt with Sami's name on the back as well, because he is such a club legend, it would be shocking for me to not own one. No really, I have a problem. I'm going to end up with more football shirts than anything else in my wardrobe at this rate.

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International round up

So it was a game that everyone had been looking forward to for quite some time. Had it not been for my rescheduled exam, I am sure that I would have been there watching it live. As it stands, I had to make do with watching the game on the telly with some quite blatant bias in favour of England, who were quite simply outclassed on the night.

The away team started out brightly enough, they had their share of the possession and they were holding their own against Spain. However, as the game wore on, it became more and more clear that England's makeshift side (enforced by injuries to kepy players such as Steven Gerrard) were not equal to Spain, and the hom team began to dominate possession and the midfield. On 36 minutes, they were 1-0 up. Xabi Alonso threaded a beautiful pass to Dahveed, who turned Jagielka inside out before calmly slotting the ball past David James. Say what you like about him, but for any striker to score in 6 consecutive internationals, that's some achievement. And his footwork for the goal was just out of this world amazing.

He was just all over the pitch, and I am so proud that it was my boys that created that goal. Veeyah would work pretty well at Liverpool. I just really don't want him leaving Valencia. Even though seeing this every week...that would be great.

The two Davids didn't get to play together, Silva came on for Veeyah after 56 minutes. It was kind of upsetting. They didn't even hug properly :(
The other Fernando scored the second after 82 minutes, but it was only adding insult to injury. The game had already been won. The Spaniards were so confident in their own ability, they played the final 5 minutes with 10 men. Ok, so not through choice. They'd made the allowed number of substitutions already and Llorente injured himself. No matter, they dealt just fine, thank you. Marchena even defended. HE DEFENDED!!!!

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Spain vs England!

So, big game on tonight, as I'm sure you all knew anyway. I'm going to be totally torn. My head tells me I should cheer for England, but my heart tells me to go for Spain. It totally sucks, because really, I don't want either team to lose. If possible, I'd have liked both teams to win. Obviously, the Liverpool and Valencia contingent in the Spain NT makes my decision a little easier. Everybody knows I am club over country. I just hope all of my boys make it back home in one piece. Any injuries and there will be hell to pay. I'm sick and tired of seeing these 'international friendlies' leading to weeks on end with key players missing. I'm especially worried about both strikers, seeing as Liverpool basically don't function without Nando and Valencia don't function without Veeyah. And the entire England defence is made up of Man U and Chelsea players. We all know who the title fight is between. Torres gets injured, give the Prem to Liverpool because if that's not sabotage, I don't know what is.

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International round up

The England-Germany game, I'm not even going to bother doing a detailed report on. It was basically the England reserves, because all the first teamers were 'injured' so I couldn't be bothered to watch really. Not that I would have done anyway. England bore me lately, and I don't like their attitude. Who the hell would say 'nah, sorry, I can't play for my country, I'm injured'?? Fair enough, it's only a friendly, and I am club over country every time, but have a bit of national pride FFS. If you're deemed good enough to play, then effing well play unless there's a legit reason you can't. I wouldn't care so much if it was a friendly against Kazakhstan or Andorra or someone equally 'not good' but it's Germany, you should be falling over yourselves to play. Overpaid twats. I'm sorry if that offends England fans (and technically, I am one) but the press is just too obsessed with them and how they perform, and it's just too much pressure. Please get them back to the glory of '66 soon, before I lose faith in them completely. Oh and they finished 2-1 to England. Oh yay, oh yay.

Spain were playing against Chile, and they went in at half time 1-0 up. I don't even need to tell you who scored, do I? Yeah, that's right, Dahveed again. Riera got fouled (see, it was my boys that made that goal, how proud am I? Though considering that almost half of the Spain squad is made up of my boys, it's not really that difficult to have them involved in some way.) The first half wasn't the best I've ever seen Spain play, and Nando was on the bench as he recovers from the injury he picked the last time he was on international duty.

Pepe played the second half and kept a clean sheet because he is awesome like that. Nando came on for Dahveed, and then scored Spain's second of the night. And then to top off a great evening, Santi scored the third to put the game well beyond Chile's reach. The only thing that was bad about today...baby Mata didn't get a chance to play. At least, I don't think he did, my stream cut off 5 mins before the end, and I don't think he'd come on yet. Poor kid, so near...

But all in all, a good evening for football. *is purposely ignoring the Serbia-Bulgaria result*

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Team loyalties?

Ok, so we did talk about this a few days ago, and then Lucy did a blog post on it. I thought I'd do one too, because we all have this dilemma at some point in our lives really. It only really happens to me sometimes, because I have a loyalty to one team and one team alone. It doesn't matter who they're playing, how they're playing or where, I will ALWAYS want Liverpool to win every game they play. That includes European games (if it ever happens) against Valencia. While I love Valencia with all my heart, Liverpool were the first team I ever supported. The current promotion of the team says 'it's not a badge, it's a family crest' and I couldn't agree more. It doesn't matter if they're winning or losing, I am behind them 110%. I couldn't turn my back on them, just like I'd never turn my back on family.

International games though. They're trickier. The only one I have an actual reason for supporting is Bulgaria, they are my national team. However, I don't care much for them. Having lived in England since I was 2, this is my home. But that doesn't qualify England as my #1 team either. I know it should, and I do support England. No matter how much I whinge about them, when they lose, it hurts. I get so caught up in the excitement, I can't help it. The only thing I dislike about the England NT - the constant hype and media circus that follows them around. It should be about what they say ON the pitch, not what they say off it. Talk 'til you're blue in the face boys, if you're not putting out the performances where it matters, all your talk is useless. Well, that and the obscene amount of Chelsea and Man U players in the team. I don't like either Premiership team and I can't stand their players. They're overpaid, underperforming twats for the most part and it baffles me how Terry and Ferdinand can be named captain and vice captain. We're talking about a man who 'forgot' to turn up to a drugs test and a man who hurls abuse like no other on the pitch. I don't see either as a particularly inspiring leader, and think that the captaincy needs to be rethought in order for England to have a realistic chance of winning anything. Oh, and please bench either Lampard or Gerrard. They could not, cannot and will never be able to play together. Deal with it and change things around.

The Spain NT hold a place in my heart for several reasons. They're largely Liverpool based, and I've already explained the team loyalty thing. I know I should overlook the clubs when it comes to NT's, but I just can't. They play as a unit, not as individual players. Yes, you can have 11 world class players on the pitch, but unless they have an understanding and play well together, you're pretty much screwed. They're exciting to watch, they're #1 in the world right now, they have a whole lot of good looking guys to watch. The list goes on. And the final reason...they won me money when they won the Euros. Yeah, it's selfish, I know. But do I care? Do I hell.

I guess my real dilemma would be when Spain play England. The proud Brit in me wants England to win everything, to prove the critics wrong. But the football fan in me - that's all for Spain. I guess I'll know who to cheer for when the time comes. But at least I know know that no matter which team wins, I won't be disappointed.

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Gerrard vs Lampard

After watching the England game last night, it only went to further cement my belief that Lampard and Gerrard simply cannot play in the same midfield. They are both world class footballers, but together, they just don't gel. They're too similar. In the Kazakhstan game, Lampard was the better of the two. In the Belarus game, he was anonymous, Gerrard taking the central role and making it his own. He scored one, and made an assist for the other, yet the debate rages on. Can they play together? I personally think not. The question then becomes, which one do you leave out?

Lampard is a player who likes to get forward, has many shots on goal, and has more England goals to his name. However, his defensive duties are lacking and he is not versatile enough to play out of position should it be required. Gerrard is Liverpool's saviour on many occasions, but he's not always able to reproduce his Liverpool form in an England shirt. Yet still, he remains my first choice for the England midfield. If you ignore the statistics and simply watch a game with your own eyes, you will realise for yourself that Lampard has been far from his best for England for many years now. The few games he missed through injury in which Barry partnered Stevie were a vast improvement, but once Lampard regained match fitness, he was back in the squad. It worries me that the managers have not yet been able to see what the fans see, and if this carries on, England will never be able to mount a serious challenge for any competition they play in.

Of course, my opinion on this is totally biased on the basis that I am a Liverpool fan and will always think Gerrard is the better player. His goals come from open play, rather than penalty kicks and deflections, he is better at defensive duties and is overall the better of the two in my opinion. I'll leave it down to you to decide which you'd rather have in your England midfield.

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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*

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International round up

England vs Kazakhstan:

It wasn't the performance many fans expected, but the result was a welcome one. Playing a Kazakhstan team that they were widely expected to spank silly, the England boys did themselves no favours for a large part of the game. They dominated posession, but come half time, nothing to show for it. It wasn't until Rio Ferdinand nodded in the first on 52 minutes that England seemed to come alive. From that point on, it was a different England team. They seemed to believe, the fans got behind them and all was well. By the time the second went in - an own goal - Kazakhstan were showing signs of tiredness, and now was the time for England to seal the game. They conceded a goal merely 4 minutes after scoring their second, a terrible defensive error from Ashley Cole gifting the ball to Kukeyev who slotted the ball past a stationary David James. England soon restored their 2 goal lead though. With the game already beyond Kazakhstan, it was only a question of how many more England could score. The final score, 5-1. The fans happy, the team lifted. The lions roar.

It was always going to be a strange sort of game with three central midfielders starting. Lampard and Gerrard have never and will never be able to play together. As an England fan, I plead for them never to be on the pitch together at the same time again. No, I don't particularly care if one of them has to be benched. Their egos need to take a blow for the sake of their country. Matthew Upson had a quiet game. Ashley Cole was useless at best. Theo Walcott showed no sign of the match winning performance he put in against Croatia (sorry Venice). Emile Heskey - there's a reason he hasn't played for England for a while. He's just not good enough any more. But enough complaining, England are winning games, and that's all the fans really want to see. The pain of not qualifying for Euro 2008 seemingly fresh on their minds, the England boys are working hard to ensure that history does not repeat itself. They simply must qualify for the WC 2010, and today was a big step towards that.

Bulgaria vs Italy:

The Bulgaria-Italy game only made it onto my 'to watch' list because my dad wanted to watch them, what with it being our original NT and all. Even though I gave up on it halfway through. I'm clearly not all that patriotic. However, thanks to Steph, I can report that the final score was 0-0. Many Bulgaria fans had put 1000 levs on Dimitar Berbatov being first to score tonight. They were left disappointed as their captain failed to produce the goods when it mattered.

Because I'm such a rubbish and unpatriotic fan, I got Steph to write a short summary of the game for me, so here it is (thank you for doing my work for me Steph): This was a game that the Italian fans were assuming Italy would win. Everything was in their favour and it seemed a certainty. 0-0 was not the result either team hoped for, but it isn’t the worst either. Overall, both teams were decent. Italy were not at their best, but they played well enough and same for Bulgaria. Italy weren’t really as attacking as they should have been but retained most of the possession. The first half went by without any real threats. The closest was when Chiellini got booked and Bulgaria were given a free kick that went well over the goal. The start of the second half seemed like a continuation of the first. No real changes. Italy were holding and most of the game was played in the midfield and possession went back and forth. Italy became more attacking with the introduction of Guiseppe Rossi with his debut game for the Azzurri. About 5 minutes later Luca Toni was introduced on and the game picked up more. De Rossi had a pretty good chance, but missed. A few yellow cards were handed out, all to Italian players. Overall Italy dominated but couldn’t capitalize on their chances. Bulgaria played a good defensive game and only challenged Amelia once in the 88th minute. Italy should have won, but with their lack of offense and attacking a draw was fair.

Estonia vs Spain:

Spain were 3 -0 winners in Estonia. A Juanito header and Veeyah penalty put them 2-0 up at the break. Puyol scored in the second half to wrap the game up. Dahveed got subbed mid way through the second half. He's not been too fab in recent games, I dunno what's up with him. Maybe I'm just expecting too much. I'm still not entirely happy with him. The hair is just...ugh. I can't even bring myself to talk about it. He was wearing long sleeves and those bloody base layers he seems to worship. I despair sometimes. However, Xabi was looking uber sexyful with his stubble. It's a good look for him. And Nando's hair looks so much better right now. I mean, these things aren't the most important things in the world, but they're still important to me.

Anyway, back to the football. Spain were not planning on letting this game go, stretching their unbeaten run to 26 games. They were expected to win from the outset, and did not disappoint. Their status as the #1 team in the FIFA rankings seems secure enough for now, the wins coming easily enough. Iker was sporting his lovely polo neck, and had a couple of shaky moments in goal. I don't know quite what's going on with him lately, but as long as Spain keep winning games, I won't hold it against him. I suppose a clean sheet is a clean sheet, so yeah, I'm not going to dwell on it. It probably wasn't the strongest of performances, Veeyah in particular had a very quiet game today. I've gotten so used to seeing him run defences ragged, that when he doesn't, I feel like he's had a terrible game. They're all entitled to their off days though. Today was clearly his...must be all that free beer he's drinking right now. Here's to more results going Spain's way.

In other news, the Spain U21's lost 2-1 to Switzerland U21's. Sad days :(
I didn't watch the game though, so I can't give any more info on it.

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