JUSTIN WALLEY
  • More than a game
  • One Football No Nets
  • Some thoughts from me
  • My travels in sport
    • Copa America 2015 Chile
    • Sierra Leone 2013
    • Euro 2012 Ukraine
    • Copa2011 Argentina
    • Rugby World Cup 2011
    • Africa 2010
  • About me
    • My life in football
    • My life travelling the world
    • My journalism work
    • My first published book
    • My life philosophy
  • Contact
    • My media pages
  • More than a game
  • One Football No Nets
  • Some thoughts from me
  • My travels in sport
    • Copa America 2015 Chile
    • Sierra Leone 2013
    • Euro 2012 Ukraine
    • Copa2011 Argentina
    • Rugby World Cup 2011
    • Africa 2010
  • About me
    • My life in football
    • My life travelling the world
    • My journalism work
    • My first published book
    • My life philosophy
  • Contact
    • My media pages
Search

Euro 2012 Ukraine & Poland

46 years of hurt never stopped me dreaming

1/7/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Sunday, June 24, 2012

Kyiv

I awaken with a serious case of PMT – Pre-Match Tension. England in the quarters tonight, exceeding my expectations already. Somehow, this could be our best opportunity to make it to at least the semi since 1996. Maybe the first final of my lifetime? Doubt it – the vodka must be clouding your vision.

While England’s ‘bwave’ four thousand are preparing for the big match with copious amounts of beer in Khreshchatyk, we are picnicking it forty kilometres away by the banks of the Dniester River with Vita, Oleksa and his sister. It is sun, shashliks, Georgian wine and good company in temperatures topping 30 degrees. All around us locals BBQ below the trees and swim in the river in their speedos and bikinis, some of them the wrong side of drunk to be diving off tree branches into the strong currents below. Zhigulis serve as temporary pantries and mobile discos; lunch time soon becomes 6pm.
Picture
Neil won’t be coming to the match with me. He’s had some tragic news from home and flies back tonight from Kyiv to Luton just as Italy v England kicks off. This isn’t the place to go into the details but the circumstances of the tragedy remind us that we must live life each and every day.

Oleksa drives us into Kyiv and drops me close to the Olympic Stadium, where Neil and I part company. I must say Scotland played a fine tournament and helped make the trip what it’s been. Ukraine has been reminiscent at times of some of the road trips we did together in this part of the world ten or fifteen years ago. I am sad to part company with Neil. He will spend the night on the floor of Luton Airport before flying home to Glasgow tomorrow morning. I don’t envy him what he’s got to go home to.

Dropped off adjacent to the Olympic Stadium, I end up with a panic on my hands after it turns out I cannot exchange my England voucher for an actual ticket here at the matchday stadium as some officials had told me and need to find some way of getting to the Dynamo Kyiv stadium instead. With it mobbed everywhere I jump on the metro to Arsenalna and taxi it, drenched in sweat, from there to the Dynamo Kyiv stadium, a good couple of kilometres away from the Olimpiski. Walking back along Kreshchatyk the atmosphere is good but I can’t be doing with hanging around an ‘English pub’ with a load of England singing ‘You’re shit but your girls are fit.’ I am very selective about the England I hang out with at tournaments and prefer to meet the locals and away support of opposing teams.

In Ukraine, kiosks are open 24 hours per day which means I can bag a 1715 from a kiosk for 7 Hryvnia, instead of the ‘30’ they are charging at some of the pubs on Kreshchatyk, and stroll down to the stadium, beer in hand, with an hour to spare until kick off. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
We haven’t seen a sniff of trouble in Ukraine but in the England end of Kyiv’s national stadium  Aston Villa and Blackburn are rowing with each other while England are threatening some Azerbaijan who have naively placed their flag overlapping an England flag. Close by two gobby female squaddies are turning the air blue with quite possibly the highest number of swear words it is plausible to fit into a single sentence. The two angelic Ukrainian girls adjacent to me have clearly never seen or heard anything like it before and blink in shock. “F##k off, you f##king f##kers!” exclaimed in the midst of the Villa v Blackburn hard talk.

But love or hate England the fans are passionate beyond words. Roy Hodgson’s Barmy Army echoes around the stadium and could be the vocal work of 20,000 not 6,000. I am more than annoyed Rooney is starting. He looked seriously unfit against Ukraine and his touch was poor. He was abysmal for England at the World Cup in South Africa. Quality for Man United, rubbish for his national team for all but a handful of matches since 2004. 

The match starts at frenetic pace with Italy hitting the post and Glenn Johnson almost scoring from 8 yards out within the first five minutes. Both sides are going for it and the tackling is, on the whole, amazingly clean when you consider the playing styles of the two sides. I am stood with a top lad from London called Christian, who has flown in for the quarters. He’s a forty-something business lad who knows his football and makes more sense than the whole row of muppets stood on their seats for the entire match in front of me.  Parker and Gerrard are playing well as is Italy’s Pirlo, who could well end up being the player of this tournament. Balotelli is also causing England some serious problems with his movement although his finishing looks a bit lacking and Terry, aside from pace, seems to be dealing with him.

The second half is more a case of hanging on for England although with the clock ticking down injury time at the end, a better delivery on the overlap from Cole down the left wing would have left Carol with a free header in the centre after losing his marker. As the ball comes back into the box, there is a collective gasp as Rooney goes for the overhead kick which will win it for England. He always manages it in the TV ads he’s paid a fortune for to endorse but with destiny before his eyes he fails to get a proper connection and puts it miles over the bar. England could have stolen a semi-final place in the very last minute. 
Extra time is a largely dull affair brightened up by England’s vocal efforts behind one of the goals. Roy Hodgson’s Barmy Army don’t pause for breath for the whole thirty minutes. Once Parker is taken off, England are a spent force. What would we give for bringing Lampard on in extra time instead of a totally inexperienced Jordan Henderson?

Somehow Italy are seemingly content to play for penalties. I guess they know how this ends. This time around though I have a sneaking feeling we will do it. Lady luck seems to have been with us in Ukraine and when Ashley Young has the chance to put us 3-2 up after three kicks apiece, you realise that we are potentially three hundred beats away from making it to the semi.

When his shot smacks back off the bar that familiar sinking feeling is back. Buffon seems to double in size and belief. We have been here before: 1990, 1996, 2004, 2006…Cole misses…2012. 46 years of hurt, never stopped me dreaming.

I don’t even bother to stay and applaud off the England players. I have been here too often. I’d rather focus on how the hell I am gonna get back to Brovary as it is already half past midnight when the penalties finish.

I grab another beer from a kiosk and march down Kreshchatyk with the 60,000. At the metro station there are literally hundreds of riot police and militsia, suggesting they expected England to get knocked out and not take it well. They even have militsia riding the metro. I am the only England riding all the way to Lisova where I phone Oleksa and he kindly comes to pick me up.

Yes, Italy were better than England but they have reached finals themselves where they have played negative football and not deserved to progress. We also had our chances tonight: in the final minute of the ninety and leading on penalties. Fortune favours the 'bwave'.

46 years of hurt, never stopped me dreaming. 
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.



    Euro 2012 blog

    News, blogs, photos and videos from the 2012 UEFA European Football Championships in Poland and Ukraine


    Picture
    Picture

      Contact
      ​More Than a Game:

    Submit


    Archives:
    Access all the blogs from Ukraine, Poland & Latvia by clicking on the archived months below:


    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012



    Categories:
    Click on the search term below to be redirected to that page on this website:


    All
    1982 World Cup
    1998 World Cup Finals
    2002 Japan
    2006 Fifa World Cup Germany
    2010 South Africa
    2011 England Homeless World Cup Trials
    2012
    2012 Euros
    2012 Homeless World Cup
    2012 London Olympics
    2022 World Cup
    Accommodation Ukraine
    A C T A
    Aeroflot
    African Cup Of Nations
    Alan Shearer
    Alex Ferguson
    Andriy Shevchenko
    Andriy Voronin
    Anonymous
    Anton Ferdinand
    Argentine Football Federation
    Arjen Robben
    Arsenal
    Aston Villa
    Bastian Schweinsteiger
    Bbc
    B B C
    Best Goals Euro '96
    Big Brother
    Bjorn Heidenstrom
    Black Market Tickets
    Bloomberg
    Bookies' Favourite
    Boris Johnson
    Bosnia Football Team
    Brazil 2014
    Bremen
    Brendan And The Blacksticks
    British Press
    Camper Van Nick
    Camping In Ukraine
    Canine Euro Football Fun
    Carlsberg
    Category 3 Tickets
    Cesare Prandelli
    China Cctv
    Clarence The Clown
    Clint Dempsey
    Columbian Rich
    Copa America
    Craig Bellamy Foundation
    Craig Thomson
    Crimean Beaches
    Croatia
    Croatia 1 Sweden 3
    Croatia Football Team
    Croatia National Team
    Croatia V Sweden
    Cyrillic
    Czech Football Team
    Czech Republic
    Daily Telegraph
    Darren Bent
    Dave Richards
    David Beackham
    David Duke
    Davor Suker
    Death Match
    Del Bosque
    Denmark V Germany
    Denmark V Portugal
    Denmark V Russia
    Denmark V Russia Friendly
    Didier Drogba
    Dmytry Chygrynskiy
    Dnipropetrovsk
    Do I Not Like That
    Donetsk
    Dozens Dead In Poland And Ukraine
    Dutch Tv Ad 'keep Him Home'
    Dynamo Kyiv
    Dynamo Moscow
    Dziesieciolecia Stadium
    England
    England 2 Holland 3
    England Captain
    England Euro 2012 Squad List
    England Manager
    England Members Club
    England National Football Team
    England Training Camp
    England V Holland Friendly
    England V Netherlands
    England V Ukraine
    English Banned From Ukraine
    English F A
    English F A Flip Flops
    English Fans
    English F A To Announce New Head Coach
    English Football Association
    English National Football Team
    English Presstitutes
    English Riots
    Eric Cantona
    Euro
    Euro 2008 Switzerland And Austria
    Euro 2012
    Euro 2012 Fan Zones
    Euro 2012 Final
    Euro 2012 Group D
    Euro 2012 News
    Euro 2012 Poland
    Euro 2012 Sponsors
    Euro 2012 Ticket Allocation
    Euro 2012 Tickets
    Euro 2012 Top Scorer
    Euro 2012 Training Camps
    Euro 2012 Ukraine
    Euro 2016 France
    Euro 2020 Turkey
    Euro 92
    Euro '96
    Euro Tipping
    Eurovision
    Ex Da Bass
    Fabio Capello
    Fabio Capello Resigns
    Fabrice Muamba
    F A I
    Fifa 2002 Japan
    F I F A Rankings 2012
    Football
    Football Clowns
    Foreign Holligans
    France Football Team
    Francesco Totti
    France V England
    Free Flights
    Friendlies
    Gary Lineker
    Gary Speed Remembrance Match
    Gdansk
    Geordie Robin
    Germany 1 France 2
    Germany Football Team
    Germany Training Camp
    Germany V France
    Germany V France Friendly
    Germany V Holland
    Germany V Israel Friendly
    Germany V Portugal
    Gianni Infantino
    Giovanni Trapattoni
    Giuseppe Rossi
    Glenn Hoddle
    Graham Taylor
    Greece V Belgium
    Guardian Newspaper
    Harry Redknapp
    Hloba Park
    Holland
    Holland Training Camp
    Homeless World Cup
    Hooliganism
    Hotel Rip Offs
    Hungary Football Team
    Ian Brearley
    Ian Tomlinson
    Independent Newspaper
    Information Centre Ukraine 2012
    Interfax
    International Football Friendlies
    International Friendlies
    International Friendly
    Internet Freedom
    Interpol
    Interpol Major Events Sports Teams
    Ireland V Bosnia
    Ireland V Czech Republic Friendly
    Irish Daily Star
    Irish Football Fans
    Israel V Ukraine
    Italian Goal Scoring Record
    Italian National Football Team
    Italy 0 U S A 1
    Italy V United States
    Ivano Frankivsk
    Ivory Coast Football Team
    Jack Wilshire
    Jarmark Europa
    Jean Charles De Menezes
    Jedward
    Jermain Defoe
    Joachim Loew
    Joachim Low
    Joanna Mucha
    Joe Coggins
    John Terry
    Justin Walley
    Karel Poborsky
    K B P
    Ket Felido A Pokolban
    Kharkiv
    Kiev
    Kiev Airport Transfers
    Kiev Boryspil
    Kiev Central Station
    Krakow
    Kyiv
    Kyiv Football Fan Zone
    Kyiv National Circus
    Kyiv Post
    Kyiv Post Newspaper
    Latvia
    Laurent Blanc
    Leicester
    Les Bleus
    L E T A
    Libreville Plane Crash
    Lithuania
    Livingstone
    London 2012 Olympics
    Lukas Podolski
    Lusaka
    Lviv
    Lvov
    Manchester
    Manchester United
    Mario Goetze
    Measles
    Media Accreditation
    Michel Platini
    Milan Mandaric
    More Than A Game
    Morethanagame.info
    Ndaa
    New England Manager
    News
    Nottingham Forest
    Odessa
    Official Irish Football Song
    Oleh Bokhin
    Olympiysky Stadium
    Paul Gascoigne
    Paul Ince
    Penalty Shoot Outs
    Per Mertesacker
    Petach-tivka
    Peter Crouch Wonder Goal
    Peter Schmeichel
    Pipa
    Poland
    Poland Euro 2012
    Poland National Football Team
    Poland Trains
    Poland V Portugal
    Poland V Portugal Friendly
    Polish Economy
    Polish Hooligans
    Polish National Sports Centre
    Polish National Stadium
    Polish Office Of Competition And Consumer Protection
    Polish Sports Minister
    Polish Super Cup Final
    Polish Train Accident
    Polish Transport Minister
    Portugal Euro 2004
    Poznan
    Press Accreditation
    Price Gouging
    Public Urination
    Qatar
    Q P R
    Racism Charge
    Rafal Kapler
    Rai Novosti
    R A I Television Italy
    Rai Tv
    Record Cold Temperatures
    Republic Of Ireland Football Team
    Republic Of Ireland V Czech Republic
    Riga
    Riga Nights
    Roma Football Club
    Roman Abramovich
    Roy Hodgson
    Roy Hodgson Speech Impediment
    Rubella
    Russian Football Fans
    Russian National Football Team
    Russia Today
    Russia V Poland
    Rzeszow
    Samoa
    Scotland Homeless Football Team
    Scottish Referees
    Serie A
    Shakhtar Donetsk
    Shay Given
    Sheffield
    Slaven Bilic
    Slawomir Nowak
    Smoke-free European Championships
    Sopa
    S O P A
    South Africa
    Spain 5 Venezuela 0
    Spain Football Team
    Spain V Venezuela
    Sportfive
    Steve Mcclaren
    Stewardesses
    Stewards
    Stuart Pearce
    Sturridge
    Svetlana Tikhonenko
    Swiss Fabio
    Switch On Ukraine
    Team Gb
    Tented Cities
    Terry Butcher
    The B N P
    The Collective Sierra Leone
    The Daily Mail Newspaper
    Theo Walcott
    Theshirt2010
    The Sun Newspaper
    The World Health Organization
    Tournament Odds
    Transaero
    Trolleybus
    Tuberculosis
    T U I
    Uefa
    U E F A
    Uefa 2000
    U E F A 2012
    Uefa 2012
    Uefa 2012 Teams
    Uefa 2012 Tickets
    Uefa.com
    Uefa Euro 2012
    Uefa General Secretary
    Uefa President
    Uefa Representatives
    Uefa Ticket Portal
    Uefa Ticket Resale Platform
    Ukarine
    Ukraine
    Ukraine 2012
    Ukraine Bombs
    Ukraine Dog Killings
    Ukraine Dog Massacre
    Ukraine Euro 2012
    Ukraine Football Team
    Ukraine Tourism
    Ukraine Trains
    Ukraine V Israel
    Ukrainian Bunk Beds
    Ukrainian Defense Ministry Hospital
    Ukrainian Health Authority
    Ukrainian Stereotypes
    Ukrainian Women
    Us Congress
    Valentine's Day
    Viktor Yanukovych
    Visually-impaired Football Fans
    Vladimir Putin
    Wales V Costa Rica Friendly
    Wally With The Brolly
    Warsaw Stadium
    Wayne Rooney
    Welbeck
    Westminster Magistrate
    West Ukraine
    Who Will Win U E F A Euro 2012?
    Wigan Football Club
    Wikipedia
    Wlodzimierz Smolarek
    World Homeless Champions
    Yalta
    Yevgen Adamenko
    Yulia Tymoshenko
    Zambia Football Team

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • More than a game
  • One Football No Nets
  • Some thoughts from me
  • My travels in sport
    • Copa America 2015 Chile
    • Sierra Leone 2013
    • Euro 2012 Ukraine
    • Copa2011 Argentina
    • Rugby World Cup 2011
    • Africa 2010
  • About me
    • My life in football
    • My life travelling the world
    • My journalism work
    • My first published book
    • My life philosophy
  • Contact
    • My media pages