Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune paints a tail of two cities in his review of the weekend’s Euro 2008 qualifiers. London and Milan are two of the world’s biggest soccer cities, Wembley and the San Siro two of its temples. Both stadiums have played host to some historic matches; on Saturday, both hosts were in dire need of a win.
But they couldn’t have been more different matches: England thumped Israel, 3-0, while Italy turned in a poor offensive performance to tie France, 0-0. One thing the matches had in common, says Hughes, was the poor behavior of the home sides’ fans. The national anthems of both Israel and France were met with a chorus of boos from the England and Italy’s respective supporters.
On the field, it was quite a different story. Despite the acrimonious circumstances, the second sequel to last year’s World Cup final once again went France’s way, thanks in large part to Italy’s aging and impotent-looking front pairing of Filippo Inzaghi and Alex Del Piero. England, too, had to rely on a pair of veterans who’ve been out of form in recent years, but on Saturday, former Liverpool partners Michael Owen and Emile Heskey drove the Lions to what was arguably the most comprehensive victory of the qualifying round. Of course, Italy faced an opponent that is superior to Israel in every way, although the major difference was that England showed up when it needed to, while the Italians faded away.