England's World Cup "own goal"

Remember how everyone was supposed to boycott the World Cup because of Putin?
There was even an attempt to shame England into having it's football players walk out of the World Cup.

Well, a funny thing happened yesterday.

Russia has sent out a fresh invitation to Theresa May to lift her ministerial boycott of the World Cup after England beat Colombia to reach the quarter-finals.
Speculation as to what May might do if England reached the final was classified as premature. Extending her cagey Brexit negotiating tactics to a wider field, a Downing Street source said she was taking each game as it comes.

It turns out that success is the worse possible scenario for those who want to boycott Russia.

Sweden, whom England are due to meet in Samara on Saturday, have proved less resolute. The British government had believed Sweden’s prime minister, Stefan Löfven, had given a commitment that no Swedish ministers would attend any of their team’s games for the duration of the tournament.

But the excitement at Sweden’s progress out of the group stages, and now a hot ticket to the Sweden-England quarter-final on Saturday, appear to have proved too much for Löfven. Some things – beating England to win a place in a World Cup semi-final, for example – are more important than politics, it emerged.

May’s interest in football is passing, unsurprisingly since her local team Maidenhead United plays in the lowly Vanarama National League.

The Swedes cracked under the pressure of football success.
So far Britain has refused to break, but that could be an even bigger problem for Theresa May.
If England doesn't lose soon, she could end up in a nightmare scenario.

The pressure on her is mounting as the team made it to the quarter-finals. In what would be a particularly cruel twist of fate, England could even cross paths with Russia on July 11 in the semi-finals. It’s not as if May doesn’t have enough to worry about next week: a testy NATO summit, hosting Donald Trump and the perennial headache that is Brexit.

Imagine the coup of Putin having to publicly offer his congratulations if the game were to happen and England were to win.

Imagine the irony of Theresa May having to privately root against the English team in order to avoid a political embarrassment that she created.
There has already been a PR price to pay for the Boycott Russia play that the Tories pushed.

The U.K.’s ambivalence over the tournament also extended to discouraging fans from traveling to Russia, meaning that at Tuesday’s game against Colombia -- which ended with England’s first ever victory in a penalty shoot-out -- they were massively outnumbered by their opponents. The image was of England as a bit-part player, not the major global power it would like to be.

Most fans have been left at home listening to BBC radio pundits extolling the delights of Russian hospitality and the carnival atmosphere in the host cities. Not quite in keeping with the warnings over hooliganism and “anti-British sentiment or harassment” issued before the tournament.

To add to May’s discomfort, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman said on Wednesday that there’s no ban on his senior team traveling to Russia to watch England.

Corbyn, a little late, could tell which way the political wind was blowing.
May has put herself in a position where she has to deny the wind.

Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

business rejects Brexit

British businesses have overwhelmingly rejected the post-Brexit customs solution favoured Boris Johnson and David Davis, according to a landmark survey of 800 business leaders,

As British ministers prepare for high-stakes Brexit crunch talks on Friday, more than twice as many members (54%) of the Institute of Directors said they would opt to maintain "near-frictionless" trade with just 24% saying they would be happy to rely on the untested technological-based solutions known as "max-fac" proposal.

Tories reject soft Brexit

More than 40 backbench Conservative MPs have summoned Theresa May’s chief whip and warned against any attempt to push parliament into a soft Brexit.

As the prime minister prepared to gather her divided cabinet for an awayday at her country retreat of Chequers on Friday, members of the European Research Group (ERG), which is chaired by Jacob Rees-Mogg, demanded a meeting with Julian Smith.

up
0 users have voted.
Azazello's picture

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYMQwDxbo6s width:500 height:300]

up
0 users have voted.

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

here are some from this morning

U.K. Businesses at ‘Breaking Point’ Over Lack of Brexit Clarity

Court to hear Brexit challenge by 97-year-old WW2 veteran Expatriate Britons claim they were unfairly deprived of their right to vote in EU referendum

Harry Shindler, who lives in Italy, and 12 other Britons who live in various member states, will argue that the 2016 referendum was discriminatory and illegal because they – and more than 1 million other British expatriates – were denied a vote.

UK's latest Brexit proposal is unrealistic, say EU officials EU sources who have seen drafts of white paper say proposals would never be accepted

pulled a fast one

but not fast enough

maybe half fast

or half assed (line above can be pronounced almost like this)

up
0 users have voted.

Not for the Russians but the anti-Russian West. I have been loosely tracking stories on World Cup fan and none have reported the evil Russians are actually nice people. The English media tried to elicit stories of attacks on fans, and could not find any--in fact, the opposite. There seems to be a growing consensus of English fans who went that they are really enjoying the experience, and, the media warnings were bullshit.

Man, if England makes it to the finals, I fully expect a shit storm against UK media over their "fear Russian travel stories".

But never fear, a new story on super duper evil nerve gas agent attack on English couple. Looks like they will survive the worst deadly fatal nerve agent in the world. This will give May an excuse not to attend.

up
0 users have voted.
Bollox Ref's picture

is the US failure to reach the finals.

up
0 users have voted.

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

@Bollox Ref
plays football with special rules.

up
0 users have voted.

bygorry

TheOtherMaven's picture

@bygorry

and call it "football".

There's less difference between an American football match and a SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) heavy-list melee than there is between baseball and cricket.

up
0 users have voted.

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

detroitmechworks's picture

@TheOtherMaven calls hold if somebody gets badly injured.

Football calls that a "Highlight Reel".

up
0 users have voted.

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

They are now flocking to Russia. They will pay scalper's prices for tickets, expensive remaining lodging and last minute airfare. A strong fan-base in the stadium is considered as an extra man on the field. In other words English fans will now pay millions of dollars extra because of the russophobia of Theresa May and the British press. Justice?

up
0 users have voted.

Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.