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Rob Smyth scoate din sacul de amintiri povestea uitata a unei anume nopti de 17 noiembrie 1993. Ce s-a intamplat atunci? A fost ultima etapa din preliminariile pentru Mondialul american, remarcabila printr-un dramatism care parca s-a pierdut o data cu introducerea barajelor.

Acel meci cu Tara Galilor e primul pe care l-am vazut cap-coada, prima mea amintire leagta de fotbal. Ce n-am stiut pana sa citesc articolul din Guardian e cat de traumatizanta a fost pentru galezi acea calificare ratata.

For most of the Wales team who had their hearts broken by Romania in 1993, this was the game they will remember forever. “I played almost 850 matches as a pro,” said Dean Saunders, “but that Romania match still lives on in my memory.” In 2003, Gary Speed called it “the most painful match of my career. I was devastated by it, to be honest, and I wish I’d handled it better because it affected me for a long time afterwards.

Pesemne ca am fost pentru ei cam ce au fost suedezii pentru noi, cu Prunea pe post de Bodin, si Raducioiu pe post de Brolin.

A curs și încă mai curge multă cerneală despre good old ‘Arry. Într-un articol de-a dreptul superb, Brian Phillips captează ambivalența ipocrită a viitorului selecționer al Angliei:

Liverpool, cheese-and-pickle rolls, grandfathers, Steve McManaman. Harry somehow makes you believe that English soccer, a game whose face-first slide into globalized commercialism is a source of mass anxiety, is really a simple old thing, straight out of “Autumn Almanac,” just men and their snacks down through the generations. Moreover — and this is the real magic trick — he somehow does this while himself serving as the most visible representative of the dark side of commercialization. How can kickbacks and tapping-up and runaway club debt be so bad if Harry’s there to tell you about the Christmas pudding his Aunt Rosie baked for Bill Shankly?