Enjoyed the sport this weekend, although Capello’s boys were dire in the first half.
England eventually won 2-0 against Andorra in Barcelona. But England do not have a striker – that is Capello’s starting point. He has to work without a striker but he hasn’t figured out how to do it yet.
After a decent game against a part-time team, Theo Walcott is being tipped in some quarters to replace Beckham on the right flank.Oddly, they didn’t give Walcott the ball enough. And that’s what’s wrong with England. Your name has to be on the VIP list, or you won’t get a pass.
A great shame. I was at Wembley the night that Chris Waddle took Paulo Maldini apart and that was fun to watch. I talked to Chris about that later on, when I became quite pally with him and we did a few phoners.When the others saw he had the beating of Maldini, they kept giving him the ball.
Skipper John Terry has praised Theo after the game and that is rich, since I’ve heard that JT and Lamps didn’t accept him at the 2006 World Cup, and Sven, a groupie and a pleaser, wasn’t strong enough to stand up to them. The real story of what happened to Walcott in Germany has never been told. And I think I’m right in saying that the real story of exactly how Walcott came to be selected for the squad has never been told either. Until I revealed that in the new edition of The Professor.
Would I play Walcott against Croatia? Maybe. But not on the right wing. If I did play him, I’d use him as a striker with Heskey, and I’d play Rooney in Lampard’s position. If it was 0-0 after 60 or 70, I might bring Lamps on and move Rooney forward.
In general, I really, really, really do NOT fancy England in this game. But I’m sure Capello has been plotting a draw for weeks. He needs a draw and will play for a draw.
On the fight, I realised last year that Amir Khan was two years away from a world title fight.
Anybody who knows anything about boxing knows he is a 21-year old who has a lot to learn. And I was uneasy about the fight all last week, after reading Frank Warren’s interview in The Guardian, where Frank was talking about British lads calling him from the Olympics for advice, and about Nigel Benn and crowd- pleasing fighters, guys who could knock over their opponent but might get knocked over themselves.
I didn’t like the sound of that and kept thinking about the role of matchmaker, about what Mickey Duff had told me when I interviewed him about his autobiography. I was amazed when Mickey said, “I picked Tyson’s first 18 opponents. Everyone he fought in his first 18 fights, either I found the opponent, or somebody found him an opponent and I checked him out and said : Go ahead. So I either found the opponent, or approved the opponent.”
Boxing people are very down-to-earth, on the whole.But Khan drives a flash car and has changed his trainer recently, hiring Cuban Jorge Rubio, who said Breidis Prescott was an ideal opponent for him. Prescott was unbeaten with 17 KOs in 19 fights. In the event, Khan was far too cocky and got knocked out in 54 seconds of the first round by the Colombian.The third punch, the one that just missed him as he fell, might have put him in a wheelchair, like Michael Watson.
I love Andy Murray and think he’s the best UK tennis player ever.
On Saturday he took the first two sets off Rafael Nadal before rain stopped play in the third set. He had never beaten Nadal, the world No.1. On Sunday, Sky advertised the match to start at 10 pm UK time.
But we had a busy Sunday, with two young friends here for lunch, and then we had to go out at 5pm to Shakespeare’s Globe to see a play about the French Revolution. Half an hour after leaving home I said, “Damn, I forgot to SkyPlus the tennis.” As it happened, we enjoyed Liberty, the play, and we were buzzing as we walked over the lit-up Thames to St Paul’s, and got home at 10.15pm to find that Andy Murray had lost the third set but was 1-0 up in the fourth. And Nadal’s first service game in the fourth went to about 8 or 9 ad points to Murray, who was phenomenal. He played the best tennis I’ve ever seen a British man play.
The New York crowd was strongly behind Nadal, but Murray’s service was far better than Nadal’s, his forehand crosscourt was superb, and the two-handed backhand down the line was fantastic, although it let him down three or four times. A colossal victory that might make Nadal scared of playing Murray again. That rivalry will be interesting to follow. And if Murray carries on playing like this, he’ll soon be world No.2
Roger Federer v Andy Murray is at 10pm tonight.
I’m told that Federer was back to his best against Djokovic. The Swiss certainly looked hot in midweek. I’m really looking forward to tonight, not least because we missed the Nadal-Federer Wimbledon final when we were in Croatia. That was five thrilling sets and Nadal won.
Interestingly, Murray has won his last two games against Federer.