Robbie

@liampie @Wheelbarrow repair man I agree with you liampie to a certain extent regarding Southgate and his involvement with the under 21s. However, Peter Taylor has a good record as England under 21 Manager too. Over two periods & one match as caretaker he only had 3 defeats in 31 games as manager. He knew lots of young players who went on to play for the senior England side, but Peter Taylor was continually overlooked for the Senior England Manager role. Stuart Pearce had a great record as England under 21 Manager too, just 5 defeats in 41 matches. That's why I wouldn't say that Southgate's experience as an under 21 Manager was a factor in him getting the senior role. To be honest, I think Peter Taylor was a better Manager than Southgate, but again, I think politics was involved again why Taylor wasn't considered for England Manager.

When the Olympic games come around, there are always many people who ask the Question. Why isn't there an Olympic GB Football team. The answer to that is very simple. The Home FAs can never come to an agreement regarding a GB team, and the other big reason is this. Unlike the World Cup & Euros, the Olympics are run by the I.O.C & if GB entered a team, there would be a concern that it would damage the Home FAs image with FIFA & UEFA, & there would be a push to have a UK team rather than allow four UK teams to compete separately. It is down to football politics. Would I like to see a GB football team in the Olympics? Yes I would. Will it ever happen? No it won't.

You make as good point there @Wheelbarrow repair man just a matter of convincing the home FAs. I suspect that the friendlies are more than just friendlies. I suspect lots of footballing politics between the different Countries FAs are going off like smaller FAs getting a slice of the match revenue and also publicity for their Country. There is always an angle involved somewhere to be seen in football politics.

@Wheelbarrow repair man If the Football associations of the four Countries agreed to reinstate the home internationals of course I would watch them, so would any other home football fan. For the Scotland game they would fill Wembley, but if they did reinstate the Scottish & England teams would probably be from the B or C squads. I think doing it that way would be probably the only way the English and Scottish FAs would agree to their reinstatement. The Football calendar is far too congested nowadays to what it was when the Home internationals reigned supreme.

@allardyces tash That's the point. "What happens if the hand contact is accidental"? The FA and UEFA interpret handball rules differently. The Belgian player was running and his arm came up naturally to keep him in balance like we all do when we are running. The pundits after the match thought it was accidental handball. But they were following FA rules not UEFA rules

Just two matches scheduled for today 18th June. F: Türkiye vs Georgia (Dortmund, 17:00) F: Portugal vs Czechia (Leipzig, 20:00)

@Wheelbarrow repair man So the ball just brushed the Belgians player's hand and the ball just moved direction a smigeon. VAR determined that smigeon gave the player an unfair advantage so they disallowed the goal Without VAR the goal would have stood because the Ref didn't see it If the handball had been in the PL the goal would have stood because UEFA interpret handball different to the FA. The footballing authorities can't even decide which is a handball, never mind VAR getting involved. The Belgian fans were ecstatic when the goal was scored but, again VAR changed all that. I knew it wouldn't be long before VAR raised it's ugly head in Euro 24. Belgium are good enough to qualify from the group stages but because of this intervention they might just not.

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