Archive for July, 2021
Masks remain compulsory on public transport in London
This is a reasonable decision made by London mayor Sadiq Khan and Transport for London:
The mayor has asked Transport for London to retain the requirement for passengers to wear a face covering on all TfL services when the national regulations change in England by 19 July 2021.
“By keeping face masks mandatory we will give Londoners and visitors the reassurance and confidence to make the most of what our city has to offer, while also protecting our heroic transport workers and those who may be vulnerable and rely on the network to get around our city,” the London mayor said.
Officials said TfL enforcement officers patrolling London’s transport network, under the conditions of carriage requirement, will be able to refuse entry to people not wearing masks and who are not exempt, and would also be able to ask people to leave services for failure to comply with the requirement.
—Read more: www.lbc.co.uk/news/london-to-keep-face-masks-compulsory-on-public-transport-after-sadiq-khan-interv/
We‘ll be back stronger
Marcus Rashford on Twitter:
Bukayo Saka‘s Christian faith will give him strength to recover from penalty miss. (Article from The Telegraph)
According to Premier Christianity website, Saka wrote to his old junior school, Edward Betham Church of England Primary School, about the role faith plays in his life.
In his letter, Saka said he prays to God before every game and understands how his faith is tested each match.
Saka said: “My faith is constantly being exercised when I’m put in different situations or I play in big football matches such as my England debut.”
Football Was Almost Home
“Football was almost home,” The Telegraph put it after England’s defeat in the European final. With 23 minutes to go in normal time, it was almost home. In extra-time when Raheem Sterling appeared to be through on goal only to be halted by the wall that is Giorgio Chiellini, it was almost home. In the penalty shoot-out when Jordan Pickford saved from Andrea Belotti, it was almost home. And then it was gone. It was taken away.
Mistakes were made. Unfortunately and undoubtedly that was true. As against Croatia in that semi-final three years ago England scored early, scored the quickest goal every scored in a European Championship Final, but ceded control and were eventually pushed back and overpowered as Italy claimed a deserved equalising goal.
England has emphatically won the first-half, catching Italy out with a three-man back-line and wing-backs, but afterwards Southgate was out-manoeuvred by Roberto Mancini in the second.
The boys of 66 remain on their own. The boys of 21 – and some such as Saka and Sancho are no older than that number – were so close to joining them and must go again. It wasn’t to be this time. Football was only almost home.
But next year this young team will get an other chance at the World Cup. Now is not the time to stop believing.
I remember Bayern Munich under the tenure of Jupp Heynckes, 2011/12 and 2012/13: They lost their “Finale dahoam” on penalties, but were even stronger the next season and won the Champions League Final 2013 at Wembley!
Now is not the time to stop believing.
Read more: www.telegraph.co.uk/euro-2021/2021/07/11/england-vs-italy-euro-final-live-2020-score-result-wembley/
Ver-coacht!
Obwohl schon in der 2. Minute in Führung gegangen und in der ersten Hälfte sehr stark und selbstbewusst, verliert England zwei Stunden später im Elferschießen.
Als der bis dahin groß aufspielende Declan Rice (unten) aus unerfindlichen Gründen von Manager Gareth Southgate in der zweiten Hälfte beim Stand von 1:1 ausgewechselt wird, habe ich ein schlechtes Gefühl … ebenso wie 2016, als im EM-Finale von Paris WHU-Spieler Dimitri Payet ungefähr in derselben Phase des Spiels, als es ebenfalls Unentschieden steht, ausgetauscht wurde.
Und leider täusche ich mich nicht.
Sogar im Elferschießen fängt es sehr gut an für die Three Lions, Pickford hält den ersten Penalty, England führt bald 2:1 durch Harry Kane und Maguire – und später hält Pickford sogar noch einen Elfer!
Aber drei Penalties hintereinander werden dann von den Jungen Saka, Rashford und Sancho – die beiden Letzten nur kurz vor dem Schlusspfiff der Verlängerung fürs Elferschießen eingewechselt – vergeben.
Während der zweiten Hälfte war England viel zu passiv, die Auswahl der Elferschützen war alles andere als glücklich, und Italien und seinem Coach Roberto Mancini konnte Gareth Southgate einfach nicht Paroli bieten.
Im Prinzip hat England nur eine Halbzeit lang Fussball gespielt. Die drei jungen Engländer die entscheidenden Elfer schießen zu lassen, war ein zu großes Risiko, eine zu große Last auf ihren Schultern, man hat in ihren Gesichtern schon gesehen, dass das nix wird.
Bonucci: „It‘s coming to Rome…“ 😒
Das englische Publikum hat’s nicht verdient, sagen nun viele nach Ausschreitungen am Rande des Finales.
Tja, leider ist der IQ des durchschnittlichen Fans der englischen Nationalmannschaft bekanntlich unterdurchschnittlich*).
Auf der “österreichischen Habenseite“ können wir nun immerhin verbuchen, dass Österreich schlussendlich gegen den Europameister ausgeschieden ist.
*) The Times: “England really have the best of fans and the worst, boors with beers.”
Final
“This England team has achieved so much and are the match of any team in the world. Watching them feels like watching a German team of old. Strong in defence, and creative in attack, with a midfield which is staunch and capable of breaking up any attack. Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips have been superb in protecting the defence. I don’t think this team has a weak link, and as one of the Italian players said, the England bench could beat any team in the world at the moment.
(Iain Dale)
Hope you enjoy the game!”
Brasil v Argentina 0-1
Argentina wins Copa America, RapidHammer wins 13 €.
Update: This was all lost with my bets on England on the Sunday evening!
Good luck message from Her Majesty
Two In Claret And Blue
Jack Grealish (Aston Villa) and Declan Rice (West Ham) preparing for the Euro 2020 final on Sunday
First Brexit, Now This
Gareth Southgate’s side has marched through to the final, where Italy await, and created shockwaves across the continent in the process. For decades England have always been seen as the team who fail to deliver at the big moments. But this time it’s different.
Among journalists from various European countries, French author Pierre-Etienne Minonzio (above), wrote what he feels about this English team in The Telegraph:
“Personally, I’m completely amazed by England. I love English football culture. I’ve covered England since 2015 and I’m fascinated by the weight of history that England feel. There’s a line in the Great Gatsby – the last sentence – that says: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” It always felt like that with England – being thrown ceaselessly back into the past.
“I reported on the Iceland game at the EURO 2016 in France and I saw it there – when they went 2-1 down, England knew it was over, even though there was still an hour to go. You could see the players thinking ‘it’s happening again’; the curse had struck.
“But now this England side have overthrown the weight of history. Huge credit to Gareth Southgate, the man responsible for this, he has changed the state of mind for the players. It was obvious in 2016 that it was over but against Denmark they stayed calm, said ‘OK, that’s fine’ and they won. Incredible. So impressive.
“I’m totally fascinated by their coach, it’s so impressive. And I ’m quite in love with these players too.
“At the end of the day, football is for the kids, and now they have these role models to look up to. It’s wonderful. If you are a young English player you know you can make a difference now.
“It’s such a diverse team. It’s the same as France in 1998. When we won the World Cup it was exactly the same, everyone came together, all races, all people. I mean, don’t get too carried away; three years later, Jean-Marie Le Pen reached the second round of the Presidential election – but it planted a seed and had a huge influence on the next generation.
“One thing to remember is: you’re in a final. Enjoy this. It doesn’t last forever. Things change so quickly in football, you have to savour moments like these when they come round.”
‘Freedom Day’ ahead, but scientists condemn UK Covid policy
In a letter to The Lancet published late on Wednesday, 122 scientists and doctors condemned the UK Government’s strategy as a “dangerous and unethical experiment” and urged Ministers to pause plans to abandon all restrictions in a couple of weeks. The withering comments come amid a mounting backlash against plans to ease nearly all coronavirus restrictions in Britain on July 19 – dubbed “Freedom day”.
In the Lancet ‘memorandum’, scientists outline five key concerns about plans to lift nearly all restrictions, which it describes as “dangerous and premature”.
Chief among them are fears that vaccination rates are not high enough to confer population immunity. Currently, just over half of the UK population has two doses of a coronavirus jab, while almost 70 per cent have had one.
“Even assuming that approximately 20 per cent of unvaccinated people are protected by previous Sars-CoV-2 infection, this still leaves more than 17 million people with no protection against Covid-19,” the letter says.
— Read more: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/moral-emptiness-epidemiological-stupidity-condemns-uk-covid/
EXTRA TIME 
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