England in Germany

Not being a huge football fan and being largely indifferent to the jingoistic pressures it poses, I decided to support the underdog in the World Cup, in so far as I intended to support anyone. I would therefore have supported Trinidad and Tobago today had my mind not been changed first by the Scots and then the Irish. First I learnt that a favourite bet in Scotland was that England wouldn't get beyond the first round. Then I saw in today's Evening Herald, an exceedingly grotty Dublin newspaper, that half of one page was a flag of Trinidad and Tobago in full colour that readers were invited to place on top of their TVs during the match. That was enough for me. This tedious, mediocre, knee-jerk anti-English sentiment reflects more on the sad inadequacy of the perpetrators than on England. Well, here's my response: England 2, Trinidad and Tobago 0. Scotland and Ireland? Not even in the competition. Long may it remain so.