THERE will be no one sticking a flare up their jacksie when England and Italy meet again tomorrow night.
In fact, there will be no paying supporters at all as a consequence of those chaotic Wembley scenes at last summer’s Euros final.
For all of Uefa’s – and even Gareth Southgate’s – spiel about the Nations League being important, we all know the truth.. it’s meaninglessCredit: Rex
Yet even if England hadn’t been ordered to play tomorrow’s game at Molineux behind closed doors, the mood would still be very different to this time 11 months ago.
Because as much as Uefa might try to dress up the Nations League as a prestigious international tournament, we all know the reality.
So just try telling the exhausted players that four games in ten days at the end of a gruelling season really means something.
And try telling the general public that watching two reserve teams going through the motions is the best way to spend a Saturday night.
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No one is going to have an open-top bus parade if they win the Nations League.
And no one is going to get sacked if they don’t get to the finals — as Gareth Southgate discovered when failure to qualify against Iceland, Denmark and Belgium last time was greeted by a national shrug of the shoulders.
I’m guessing that the players who won a penalty shootout against Switzerland in the 2019 third-placed play-offs don’t even know where their bronze medals are.
And hands up who can remember which team won the competition last October.*
This afternoon, Southgate and one of his players will sit down and tell us how important these forthcoming home games against Italy and Hungary are.
The player will repeat the old mantra of “it’s always an honour to play for my country” while counting down the days until his holiday.
But there should be no disgrace in admitting this is a set of fixtures which we can all do without.
Southgate insists they are crucial to his World Cup preparations as they give him the chance to look at new players, formations and tactics.
However, he already knows his strongest line-up — and it doesn’t include James Justin, Jarrod Bowen or Marc Guehi.
It was hard not to feel sympathy for Justin as he struggled to make an impression on his international debut, while so many of his team-mates didn’t get out of second gear during last week’s lethargic 1-0 defeat in Hungary.
Southgate actually admitted that some of his players could barely walk following Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Germany.
Tomorrow’s pick ’n mix team selection will be dictated by the promises he has made to anxious Premier League managers to protect their players.
He will probably need a pitch-side calculator to work out how many minutes each of his Three Lions players has left in the tank before they completely run out of gas.
And Italy boss Roberto Mancini will be operating under the same restrictions, despite his team not even qualifying for November’s World Cup finals in Qatar.
So win, lose or draw tomorrow, it will be virtually impossible to draw any concrete conclusions from the game.
Which begs the question, why are we bothering?
* It was France, who beat Spain in the final. Or was it the other way round? I can’t recall.
WALES COURT OUT
THE £10million windfall from World Cup qualification will come in handy for the Welsh FA, who were too stingy to fork out for goal-line technology for their play-off final against Ukraine.
But they still don’t know who will be leading their team to Qatar as they await the verdict of Ryan Giggs’ forthcoming court case.
Giggs has been suspended as head coach since he was arrested and charged with assault and coercive behaviour against his ex-girlfriend last year, with a trial date now set for August.
In his absence, Rob Page has stepped up to the plate and done a magnificent job in securing a first World Cup appearance since 1958.
Should Giggs be acquitted, he will expect to return to his job and his employers will be legally obliged to take him back. Which could be quite awkward for all concerned.
Not that it will worry some of the more hysterical Wales correspondents in danger of replacing their Scottish counterparts as fans with laptops.
EM IN THE SPOTLIGHT
EMMA RADUCANU’S fitness battle is going to be the sporting saga of the summer after she was injured again the other day.
The US Open champion has now retired from three of her 11 tournaments in 2022 — and she did not go beyond the third round in any of them.
Now we get daily updates on her recovery from the various back, hip and rib problems she has suffered in recent months.
With Wimbledon a little more than two weeks away, there are growing fears that the golden girl of British sport might not make it to Centre Court.
Yet it is hard to believe that Raducanu’s small army of sponsors and commercial partners won’t be leaning on the fragile 19-year-old to put in an appearance at tennis’ blue riband event.
And how will the BBC cope without their precious Sports Personality of the Year?
No wonder she is struggling to carry all that weight of expectation.
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EARNIN’ & SQUIRMIN’
I’M NOT usually that bothered about golf because it’s the world’s most tedious sport.
But I have to say that I am looking forward to the women’s version of the new Saudi-backed event.
And I really enjoyed watching the breakaway rebels squirming to justify their participation in the LIV Invitational Series.
Prior to Wednesday’s press conference, the toughest question Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood had ever had to face concerned their choice of club on the fifth fairway.
But suddenly they were being asked whether there was any country in the world where they wouldn’t play if the money was good enough. And they couldn’t come up with an answer.
Excellent work by the intrepid inquisitor. I’m sure he’s looking forward to his invitation to the Jamal Khashoggi Classic at a Saudi embassy of his choosing.
