Epic Failure

No sane English person is looking past Slovakia. Those newspaper headlines are from tabloid newspapers, who will be the first to turn on the England team when they lose. They are trash. As for the "Football's Coming Home" thing, it was partially a play on words because Euro 96 was held in England (the "home" of the game). And it is a song about hope in the face of defeat, not an arrogant assumption that we'll win. It's weird that it's become part of the idea that the English are more arrogant than everyone else.

England have won 2 out of their last 8 games. I don't think anyone should be accusing us of not trying. We're just not very good at the moment. The draw looks very lopsided. Top half seems much stronger. Any of the teams in the bottom half should fancy their chances of getting the final.

In related news, Phoebe has been selected for the Euro U18 Champs. I'm guessing (with absolutely *zero* special knowledge) that she will withdraw from that if she were to make Paris, as it is the week before the Olympics.

If it was cramp for Azu, it probably wouldn't have pushed him out of Rome as well. Still, he's had a month to get over whatever it was, so hopefully should be fine. Giles is down for the 800m, not the 1500m. Mills wouldn't surprise me if he is doing the 1500m more for speed training (or to double I suppose). He's got a solid chance of the 5000m discretionary spot given Rome and that's probably his better chance of a medal. Burgin getting a spot would be disaster for me. Because, god love him, he can't keep his body fit even for a month. He needs to work out a way of getting fit for longer, rather than a one off race. Muir is still 4 seconds clear of the field in the 1500m, so it is hers to lose. Although she's on the plane whatever, so she might not even be completely fresh for this.

Mills has dropped the 5k for just the 1500m here. Pozzi out of the hurdles, which is a shame, although if they did want to select him I guess there's nothing stopping them. No Aimee Pratt either. For what it is worth (not much), here's my thoughts: 100m - (M) Azu, Hinchliffe, Glave ; (W) Neita, Hunt, Wedderurn-Goodison 200m - (M) MHS, Quainoo, Efoloko ; (W) DAS, Neita, Agyapong 400m - (M) Dobson, Carvell, Smith ; (W) Anning, Nielsen, Ohuruogo 800m - (M) Pattison, Giles, Sharman-Newell ; (W) Reekie, Gill, Baker 1500m - (M) Wightman, Gourley, Mills ; (W) Muir, Bell, Walcott-Nolan 5000m - (M) Dever, Atkin, Rowe ; (W) Fry, Nuttall, Fitzgerald 3000m SC - (M) Norman, Seddon, Pierce ; (W) Bird, Thorner, Tank 110m H - (M) Bennett, Ojora, King, : (W) Sember, Pawlett, Wakefield 400m H - (M) Chalmers, Faulds, Derbyshire ; (W) Nielsen, Knight, Newnham HJ - (M) JCK, Grimsey, Jack (W) Lake, KJT, Ferguson PV - (M) Heard, Hague, Coppell ; (W) Caudrey, Bradshaw, Ashurst LJ - (M) JFD, Farquhson, Fortheringham ; (W) Hopkins, Irozuru, Olajide TJ - (M) Falode, Ajala, Bright-Davies ; (W) Ojora, Metzger, Omitowoju SP - (M) Lincoln, Cameron, Swan ; (W) Vincent, Omoregie, Campbell Discus - (M) Okoye, Percy, Thompson ; (W) Lally, Law, Oladipo Hammer - (M) Norris, Ikeji, T Campbell; (W) Purchase, Payne, Mayho Javelin - (M) East, Evans, Bainbridge ; (W) Walton, F Jones, A Jones

If I'm talking about who I would like to get the spots, Azu and Hinchliffe. I'm intrigued for the 400s as well. Relay implications there. The middle distances are where the real action is at though.

It wouldn't be a problem if they had the policy written out in advance. They just can't change it midway through the competition! It would be the same in the UK if both Keely and Jemma fell and the top 2 had the Q. Only one of them would make it.

Sekgodiso is definitely in the medal hunt, especially now. But there's just more unknowns about her right now than Moraa or Hodgkinson to make her anything more than a strong contender for bronze, at least for me. Doesn't mean she can't win obviously, but it would still be a relatively big shock, even with her PB earlier this year.

Funny, I could have sworn that the current T20 World Champs are still in the tournament anyway.

Technically not a WL as it had a +2.3 wind.

Understanding it is one thing. Being able to execute every time to beat it is another. And then there is the issue of fitness/health. Keely's chances just went up but we shouldn't be hanging the gold around her neck just yet.

Not sure that Keely is necessarily clear favourite, considering you have the reigning world champ in there with her. But there's a medal up for grabs that probably wasn't expected to be now. Which will make for an interesting race in itself.

I wouldn't completely rule out . A certain someone split 49.7 in the World Relays in what is her only outing this season. Obviously, this would be reliant on her getting a time before the Q period closes but I believe that the Bahamas National Champs are this week...

All I'll say is be glad that you don't have to deal with the US coverage. It's...not great.

Barring the obvious calamity that can happen with a crash/technical etc, I've got Pidcock as my #1 gold prediction, in any sport this summer. He's just that good. The rides at the weekend were just astonishing.

Lebanon don't need to be in there, we don't need an Aussie B team. would be the obvious replacement, it's their national sport. Also, replace the US with Fiji. Job done.

Fiji are the double Olympic champs and current 7s World Cup champs on the men's side. They deserve as much respect as anyone! Australia, I grant you, are not much better than us.

Watching the Belgian men fight is only matched by watching the Dutch women do the same.

As someone who loves both League and Union equally, there's not a chance in hell of an Olympic 9s tournament happening unless Australia forced it in 2032 and then it would promptly be dropped as soon as 2036 comes around. There's more chance of flag football establishing a long term hold than 9s. 7s has its issues with marketing etc but it is a growing competitive sport in a code of rugby which is itself growing. As much as it depresses me, League is essentially dying outside of the NRL. Also, international RL matches might have better attendance than 7s, but that doesn't mean 9s would. It's not like the XV-a-side game struggles for crowds internationally!

MvdP has never been that big on MTB, he's more into cyclo-cross. My personal theory is that he and TP have sat down in recent years and agreed that they won't really cross each other too much - TP dabbles in CC but only slightly. Whereas MvdP takes the opposite approach. Works for both of them in that they get to dominate a discipline more easily. Tarling finished 6th in Dwars door Vlaanderen earlier this year, so it is possible that they believes he has a realistic shot in this as well and isn't just there to work for the team. At his age, you just never know.

No matter what one's political leanings, even a brief google search shows that the political situation in New Caledonia is more complicated than simply them requesting independence and France refusing (they have a deeply divided electorate, much akin to Northern Ireland). It's not remotely similar to what is happening in Ukraine or Israel/Palestine.

I mention the rugby simply because 1) it was the same weekend as Budapest anyway and 2) the attendance in Monaco was, frankly, pretty pathetic. The players deserved more. There must have been a football stadium somewhere in Budapest they could have stuck a couple of sets of posts up in!

Cav was never likely to be in there with the course being what it is, sadly. G is a bit more surprising, although perhaps not at his age. It's a show of faith in his compatriot Williams though. In related news, no Ganna in the Ineos Tour team, which presumably means he'll be nice and rested for the TT in Paris. Boooo.

I think that it definitely works better in some sports than others. The urban nature and ability to have the sports close together worked very well. They missed a bit of a trick not including the rugby in it, in my opinion.

Zharnel Hughes has received a medical exemption for the trials, after the injury he got in Jamaica last month. Good that he has that but not a promising sign that he's going to be relatively untested if he makes it to Paris at all.