Homeless World Cup: Scotland pay the penalty

The second group stage of the 2012 Homeless World Cup ended with more disappointment for Scotland.

Scotland led for most of a hotly contested game with South Africa before succumbing to a an equaliser in the dying seconds.

With the game tied at 3-3 Homeless World Cup rules mean that the teams go straight into a sudden-death penalty shoot.

Both scored with their first attempts before Scotland missed their second.

That left South Africa to score and pick up the win.

The result left Scotland tied with Ukraine at the bottom of a group won by Brazil, who beat second placed Portugal yesterday to continue their unbeaten run.

At the Homeless World Cup every team competes throughout the tournament so Scotland and Ukraine both progress into the Mexico City Cup.

As do England, raising the possibility of an Auld Enemy clash on Sunday.

Before that though that Scotland play Norway today while England face up to Czech Republic.

Brazil play Austria in the top ranked Homeless World Cup with Mexico, Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Lithuania and Indonesia also still in contention to lift the trophy on Sunday evening.

Wales, defeated by Argentina yesterday, move into the De La Calle A La Cancha Cup and face Peru today.

Ireland, who finished third in Scotland's group, play Haiti in the The Fundación Telmex Cup.

The Scotland game will be live on www.homelessworldcup.org at 6.10 pm this evening.

These people feel like a piece of shit

As I've been saying all week the Homeless World Cup tournament is simply a celebration of the work that goes on for the other 51 weeks of the year.

Work to change lives by using football to empower people.

Work by people like Mexico manager Daniel Copto.

The Homeless World Cup affiliated project in Mexico now involves 7,000 people each week.

Addicts and homeless people from across the country brought together by football and given a belief they might otherwise have lost:

"As far as the authorities are concerned, these people do not exist.

"These people feel like a piece of shit. And you have to tell them they are not a piece of shit, so they can do whatever it takes to get better."

"We must build trust. Empower them."

Read more about Daniel's work in Mexico

Homeless World Cup 2012: Scotland shoot out success

The 2012 Homeless World Cup reaches day six with Scotland in action against Ukraine.

With the teams bottom of Group D after a tough start to the tournament's second stage this always looked like being a tight game.

So it proved.

A high scoring game though.

With the teams locked together at 6-6 at full time it was Scotland who held their nerve to win the sudden death shoot out.

A narrow win but a win. Scotland's first in the second group stage.

With one game left Scotland are two points clear of Ukraine and just one behind tomorrow's opponents South Africa.

At the Homeless World Cup all teams are involved until the end so tomorrow's result could yet decide what trophy Scotland will be contesting over the final days of the tournament.

Brazil still lead the group after four straight wins with Portugal trailing them by a point. Tomorrow's clash between those two could be a cracker.

Ireland, who lost 7-2 against Portugal today, are on five points and will be looking for a win over Ukraine tomorrow to hold off the challenge off the winners of Scotland v South Africa.

With England bottom of Group A, Wales look most likely of the home nations.

They currently trail Argentina by two points in Group E but could yet overhaul them when the two meet in the final game tomorrow.

Wake up, UK

Mel Young, the Homeless World Cup's president and co-founder, has expressed his frustration at the lack of media coverage the tournament receives in Britain:

"The media attention in the UK has been extremely disappointing compared to the rest of the world. And I have to question their understanding of what it's all about.

"Wake up, UK! This is the 10th year we have organised this tournament and on the first weekend alone, we had over 50,000 spectators – more than just about any match in the English Premier League.

"There has been a lot of talk about legacy since the Olympics, and rightly so, and I think it's about time the media played their part in supporting this event, which is not just a fiesta of football but a once-in-a-lifetime experience that transforms the lives of many players – the poorest of the poor around the world."

Hard to disagree.

After a success laden 'summer of sport' the Homeless World Cup would seem to be the perfect way of prolonging the positivity.

But you'll be looking a long time to find much mention of the tournament in our media.

That's maybe stranger still in Scotland where reigning world football champions are somewhat thin on the ground.

And while the tournament is a global event its head office remains in Edinburgh, a social enterprise that continues to deliver results despite the economic woes of the past few years.

Anyway. No need to be starved of the rich tapestry that makes up the Homeless World Cup. Just keep visiting www.homelessworldcup.org

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Update: Between writing and posting this the English FA seem to have announced that a 2013 home international tournament would be a one off to celebrate their 150th anniversary. Ah, well. Still think I'm right.

And so the home internationals might be on the verge of a return thanks to the money of Vauxhall. I'm tempted to run naked down Sauchiehall Street carrying a banner proclaiming this as nothing less than the second coming of British football.

Not because I have a particular emotional attachment to the home internationals. I don't. But the news has once again allowed Henry Winter to unleash the righteous indignation that he so enjoys. And Henry's indignation is a guaranteed way of awakening my inner contrariness.

Henry's argument is that the home internationals will send English football back to the dark ages. He's like the lady of the manor refusing to let her son play with the servant's children lest their bad manners rub off on him.

England won the World Cup when the home internationals were in full flow. English clubs - their team's stuffed full of English players - dominated the European Cup when the home internationals were played.

Indeed England's World Cup record is probably pretty much the same with or without the home internationals, that glorious Wembley day in 19-whatever aside. Whatever problems English footballers have in international competitions, the quality of their friendly opponents is not to blame.

The aesthetics of Ghana might appeal to Henry Winter, as if by some miracle of footballing osmosis the skill of the opposition will rub off on England, but does it thrill the fan? With Vauxhall leading the marketing charge, with Sky on board, I would imagine a home international tournament in 2013 sparking quite a bit of interest. When money talks, the FA listen.

Still, if the tournament is to be resurrected the arrogance of people like Henry will at least crank up the atmosphere.

And how should we Scots feel about these developments?

Can I admit to a certain ambivalence? I'm too young to remember the home internationals. What I think I have is a collective memory, a shared nostalgia, that we all have about a time when our football was, simply, better. The black and white footage, moving to colour in the age of Dalglish, of Scotland beating England fuels that memory.

It might also be misleading. Scottish football's miraculous purple patch in international football, five tournaments in 12 years from 1986, came after the home internationals had fallen by the wayside. If we are to accept Henry Winter's spurious argument then Vauxhall's idea is likely to harm Scotland more than our illustrious neighbours down south.

And maybe that is the case. Our habit, our curse perhaps, is to define ourselves too often not by our own achievements but by how we compare to our neighbours. A ruinous attitude, as many a little brother will tell you. Will the return of the home internationals not simply pander to that insularity, give rise to the feeling that it's alright to lose in the Czech Republic without playing a striker as long as we beat England at Hampden?

I don't think so. Football has changed. The home internationals will not return as an annual slogfest, I would imagine they will be played every two years at most. They'll offer the fans something that normal friendlies don't. Crucially, and this point seems to have not been lost on the English FA even as it sailed over Henry Winter's beautifully coiffured head, they will offer a decent simulation of a competitive tournament.

What have England got to gain from playing against Wales? Let's accept the snobbish premise of that question and look at how England often huff and puff against "lesser" nations in competitive internationals. Will they not learn more about coping with those situations against Wales in Cardiff than they would in a friendly against Ghana where a half empty Wembley is treated to the farcial sight of both managers making half a dozen changes?

I was at Hampden in 1999 when Paul Scholes proved too much for Scotland in the first-leg of the Euro 2000 qualifier play-off. The result was a disappointment but the day, from standing outside an off-licence drinking a can of lager and realising that the besuited man with the carry out next to me was Alex Totten to the atmosphere in the stadium, was memorable. There was a tangible reward at stake that day but I'm guessing these are games that don't need much to give them an edge.

Let's not kid ourselves that the reawakening of the home internationals is about anything other than money, cooked up in a marketing department and likely to make the already well-healed even richer.

But I can see benefits for all four home nations and their players that go beyond the spoils of a lucrative TV deal. A semi-regular home international tournament could also help kindle more interest in international football in Britain, something we badly need. Reimagined for the modern era this most traditional of football tournaments might just be a force for good in our game. Bring it on.

The Scottish Football Blog News Feed

Britons unite

A really bizarre article on the New Statesman blog the other day.

James Macintyre offering his arguments in favour of a British football team:

The reason I do not support England has nothing to do with its abilities, dire though they are (I will be very surprised indeed if it gets any further than the quarter final in Africa). No, it is because there is no logic at all in its existence.

We all belong -- for now at least -- to the United Kingdom. There is a "Team GB" British side in the Olympics. So why not in international football?

Englishness is ultimately, alas, a racial brand. Britishness, on the other hand, is cultural. Most first -- or even, dare it be said, second -- generation foreigners who live here can comfortably consider themselves British, but less so English. I, for example, am roughly three-quarter Canadian and a quarter Scottish.

My Scottish descent but London up-bringing makes me Anglo-Scottish, and therefore British, not English.

Which is why I feel like a stranger in my own land amid the creepy mass influx of St. George's flags -- by definition exclusive emblems -- that are now prevalent in cars and house windows. And why I felt so queesy at the Prime Minister, David Cameron's populist decision to fly the red and white flag over Downing Street during England's -- albeit limited -- "campaign". That the Union is under much more threat under the Conservatives (increasingly the English party) is another story, and I won't go into it here.

But it is because of a growing fear for the future of the Scottish-English Union -- one that represents 300 years of rich social, cultural and political integration -- that I hope one day to be able to cheer on British goals in the World Cup. And do so with great pride and patriotism.

(Doubtless, some of the many attacks such a view would provoke, will be that such a side would only be Englandm players plus Ryan Giggs of Wales. And it is true that -- apart from, say Colin Hendry and Ally McCoist -- it isn't easy for someone whose close interest in football has tragically waned over the years, to think of a British squad today that would be that much better than England's. But that is not the point.)

It's time to replace English aggression with open, generous British unity, before it's too late.

Easy of course to write such pieces during a World Cup hoping for a reaction – we’ve seen a few them this side of the border as well.

And always nice for a political hack to get his teeth into something else and play devil’s advocate.

But it does tend to work slightly better if the author has some knowledge of football. As it does this doesn't even come across well as the tongue-in-cheek piece I suspect was intended.

And it takes a certain arrogance – however Anglo-Scottish the author – to argue for the abolition of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish footballing identities because you’re not comfortable with English aggression.

Sorry James, but leave the football to Hunter Davies from now on.