The Warm-Up: Swistanbul and the greatest act of sportsmanship
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Updated 27/03/2019 at 09:48 GMT
The Warm-Up salutes the efforts of Scandinavia after the greatest night in Euro 2020 qualification history – which, admittedly, is only six days old.
goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel of Denmark celebrates after the 2020 UEFA European Championships group D qualifying match between Switerland and Denmark at St. Jakob-Park on March 26, 2019 in Basel, Switzerland
Image credit: Getty Images
WEDNESDAY’S BIG STORIES
Swistanbul
Take a bow, Scandinavia. The region produced the most compelling 10 minutes of international football since 2010, when a student incorrectly gambled his entire £4,400 loan on Angola seeing out a 4-0 lead against Mali. All to win £44.
Denmark scored three times in the last six minutes to wrestle a 3-3 draw from Switzerland – excellently dubbed Swistanbul by, erm, the Warm-Up despite zero Liverpool players featuring – before there was late, late drama in the clash between Norway and not-remotely-noisy neighbours Sweden.
Remember Martin Odegaard, the youngster who flirted with every top European club before anyone ascertained whether he was any good? Well, he’s finally done something.
Fresh from seeing his beloved Norway squander a two-goal lead, and then fall behind in injury time, the forgotten Real Madrid man took a corner in the 96th minute… arching it into the penalty area... and onto the head of Ola Kamara, who nodded home to join the Danes in 3-3 thriller land.
Finland wanted to join the party too, destroying Armenia 2-0, while even the Faroe Islands managed to get on the scoresheet (although it's advisable not to search for their final score, Scandi fans).
The four nations – sorry Faroes, you don't count – are now considering axing Iceland from their ranks, following their frankly shocking 4-0 defeat against France on Monday night.
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Norway celebrate
Image credit: Getty Images
Louis van Gaal hates everyone
If you were in any way involved in Louis van Gaal’s tenure at Manchester United, it’s time to click back on your browser and forget you ever came here. Let’s just say he’s not best pleased…
LVG on Di Maria: "I played him in every attacking position. You can check that. He never convinced me in any of those positions."
LVG on Schweinsteiger: "I brought Schweinsteiger in because we needed a captain on the pitch. He didn't do it."
LVG on Falcao: "I wanted a first-class striker. I don't want to go through all the names but when you can't have the first or second choice, you have to be happy with the fourth or fifth."
LVG on Woodward: "What I don't like is him contacting my successor, knowing in his mind he will replace me and he keeps his mouth shut for six months."
LVG on Solskjaer: "The coach after me [Mourinho] changed to park-the-bus tactics and played on the counter. Now there is another coach who parks the bus and plays on the counter."
All these excerpts, and much more, are available to peruse in full in Simon Stone’s BBC Sport article on the Dutchman. And it’s not all misery, LVG is actually a top bloke.
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The optimism that died: Manchester United's Angel Di Maria laughs with manager Louis van Gaal. But those smiles did not last.
Image credit: Reuters
A message for UEFA
Oi, UEFA. Don’t think a couple of 3-3 draws will distract us from the embarrassment of this international break.
From John Barnes to Ian Wright, Danny Gabbidon to our very own Paul Parker, yesterday’s sports pages were awash with important testimonies on racism. While arguments varied, one message was abundantly clear: football's authorities are not doing enough.
Talking about Parks, check out his column reflecting on his own experiences. It makes for grim but important reading. Read it here.
Any time a black England player got the ball, the fans around us abused them and made Nazi salutes. They would swivel round to look at us, almost asking 'what are you going to do about it?'
HEROES AND ZEROES
Hero: Chap who misses penalty on purpose
And not in the 'threatening to score own goals' mould of William Gallas*. Nope. The below video will inevitably spark a deluge of ‘restoring faith in humanity’ posts. But despite that overinflated guff, this story about a Galatasaray youngster intentionally missing a penalty really is wonderful.
The Corinthian Spirit lives on.
*according to Chelsea in 2006. Please don’t prosecute us, William, we don’t actually believe it’s true…
Zero: The brave on social media
'Even as a United fan, I condemn the racism towards Sterling.'
Scroll through social media and the 'even as a fan of ---' caveat is thrown around whenever a major issue is debated. Wow, you brave souls. Have a retweet for recognising evil despite supporting a rival football team.
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Raheem Sterling celebrates v Montenegro
Image credit: Getty Images
RETRO CORNER
You’ll have to imagine a glorious clip here while the Warm-Up consults the EU’s Article 13 ruling in more detail.
HAT TIP
And for those still wanting to bash: too much coverage? Turn off. Offended by the presence of an article? Don’t read it. Can’t cope with the word women being omitted from the team name in a headline above a big photo of women playing football? Ignore it. Want more coverage of non-league or minority sports? Campaign for it, but don’t do so at the expense of other sports on the assumption that only you, and what you want to watch, read or listen to, are the only thing that matters.
The words of Suzanne Wrack, who bemoans Tottenham for snubbing the women’s side for the new stadium test event. It’s a pretty fair point.
COMING UP…
The Women’s Champions League continues with the quarter-final second legs, while there’s a mouth-watering clash in the Scottish Premiership: ninth against 12th as St Johnstone host St Mirren.
Even as a fan of lie-ins, Jack Lang will be here bright and early tomorrow to bring you all the fall-out from that tasty encounter.
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