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People often talk about missing their football fix in the three months or so between one Football League regular season ending and the next one beginning, but this summer it hardly felt like there even was a break, despite it being a year bereft of a World Cup or a European Championships. We can start with the play-offs, the last one of which being Swansea’s entertaining 4-2 win over Reading that took us to the 30th of May before we’d even started, and then the week after that came England’s limp to a 2-2 draw at home to Switzerland, which probably signalled the end of the 2010-11 season on the 4th of June.
Before the end of the campaign some of the summer tournaments had already begun however as the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship took place in Italy with Germany in the end being the winners as they absolutely thrashed Norway 8-1 in the final, England though being knocked out in the pre-tournament qualification stages. England were however competing in the UEFA European Men's Under-17 Championship in Serbia where they made it as far as the semi-finals before they were defeated 1-0 against the Netherlands, the Dutch then going on to easily defeat Germany 5-2 in the final.
Only a month or so after the end of that tournament the young lads moved on to Mexico for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, some of which was played on an artificial surface at the Omnilife Stadium in Zapopan. The quarter-finals being where England bit the dust this time as they lost 3-2 against Germany, who were then themselves knocked out by eventual winners Mexico, the hosts beating Uruguay 2-1 in the final. The young England lads certainly being kept active too this summer as they are currently in Iceland playing in the Nordic Cup, which features all of the Scandinavian countries plus England.
Another tournament still on the go at present, although it does finish on the evening of writing is the UEFA European Men's Under-19 Championship in Romania, for which England failed to qualify and in which the Republic of Ireland made it all the way to the semi-finals before being hammered 5-0 by Spain, who now face the Czech Republic in the final. Meanwhile over in South America the FIFA Under-20 World Cup is taking place in Colombia at present, with England stuck in a tricky looking group stage of themselves, Argentina, North Korea and Mexico, the host Colombians already looking to be a big danger after they thumped France 4-1 in their first match.
Finally, it’s back to Europe and the female version of the game for the last two major competitions and firstly our old friend penalties yet again as in the FIFA Women’s World Cup, England topped their qualifying group and beat eventual winners Japan before drawing 1-1 with France after extra-time only to then crash out 4-3 on spot-kicks after five apiece, England once more grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory having been level at 3-3 with two left to take themselves against France’s one. An entertaining final then seeing Japan shock the heavily favoured United States 3-1 on penalties, following a 2-2 draw after extra-time, in what was a spot-kick shootout pretty low on quality.
Meanwhile, in the UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship in Switzerland it didn’t take long to decide the winner in a final tournament that consisted of just two semi-finals, a third/fourth place match and the final. England had gone out at the second qualifying stage and so it was left to France, Germany, Iceland and Spain to battle it out. Spain cruising past Iceland 4-0 with the other final four game being much harder fought as France beat Germany 6-5 on penalties following a 2-2 draw over 90 minutes. Germany not being disheartened though as they condemned Iceland to the wooden spoon with a hefty 8-2 win, before it was Spain picking up even more silverware with a 1-0 win against France in the final.
So, with all that in the mind, don’t try telling me that you were desperate for the football season to start again, because it was going on around your ears all the time, and all that without even considering that the first qualifying round of the Europa League began way back on the 30th of June. Still, it’s not Carlisle United and the thrills and spills of League One football is it, but having said that EURO 2012 is only ten months away now. Football, it never stops.
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