Wednesday 2 England surprise many by playing Wayne Rooney from the start and go on to beat Turkey 2-0 at the Stadium of Light, with late goals from Darius Vassell and a penalty by David Beckham, who says: “It wasn’t a bad display for a team of no-hopers, was it?” Around 100 England supporters are arrested before the match after trouble in Sunderland city centre and at the ground and there is a pitch invasion after the second goal during which a spectator appears to strike Turkey defender Alpay. There is also allegedly a punch-up in the players’ tunnel. UEFA are to investigate. Scotland concede a dubious penalty to lose 1-0 in Lithuania. Northern Ireland have two sent off in a 2-0 home defeat by Greece (“There is not a thought in my head about not carrying on,” says Sammy McIlroy), while the Republic draw 0-0 in Albania. Fulham announce that they are considering a “revised plan” to move back to Craven Cottage.
Simon Edwards looks at Lincoln City
What were your best and worst moments as a Lincoln fan?
The very worst moments occurred last summer. We genuinely believed we would not have a club. Despite all the hard work of supporters (not just from Lincoln either I might add), the board, club staff and administrator, the executive decision still lay in the hands of a High Court judge. Luckily he was a sympathetic man. Best moment was kicking off this season clear of administration, just glad to be able to go to Kidderminster again.
Dear WSC
The Bristol City player captioned in the picture on page 32 of WSC 194 is Danny Coles and not Louis Carey as stated. Should you be inundated with correspondence from City fans claiming you should take note of his face as you’ll be seeing it playing for some Premiership outfit in the near future, fear not. He’s the usual average journeyman the academy turns out.
Tony Rogers, via email
Despite the national side’s impressive displays at last year’s World Cup, America’s domestic league desperately needs to expand, says Mike Woitalla
US manager Bruce Arena allowed cameras into his 2002 World Cup dressing room to film the documentary Our Way. Before sending his men out, he reminded them that they were representing “the greatest country in the world”. Perhaps the phrase provided the extra inspiration needed for his team to reach the quarter-finals. Or maybe Arena was trying to prevent post-tournament defections to Norway, No 1 according to the UN Human Development Index of “most livable” nations. As for the veracity of the “greatest” claim – one heard commonly in a nation where just ten per cent of the population holds a passport – let’s just consider it too subjective to squabble over. But clearly the USA isn’t the greatest place for a professional soccer player.
Dave Espley describes how quirks of geography and fluctuating fortunes on the field have left Stockport fans struggling to find a long-lasting rivalry of note
Oh, to have a natural rival. You followers of teams which share their town or city with another club don’t know you’re born. Despite a population approaching 300,000, the Stockport public can hardly find it in themselves to support one team, let alone two, with the result that County fans, over the years, have had a number of rivalries, based on various esoteric reasons.