Czech Suite

As promised here is my blog on part of our London trip - the bit involving Wembley.

Wembley Stadium is fantastic! Getting in was very straight forward and there are escalators to take you to the top of the stadium where we were sat. The view was excellent, loads of toilets (that's very important to some!) and the atmosphere was great. The last bit being despite it wasn't full, but there were 70,000 there so it wasn't exactly empty either. Plenty of leg room and while the photo may make it look like the pitch was a long way off, it is a trick of the photo as we could clearly see all the "action".

The match itself is best described as "when the Mexico wave started after 60 minutes, it was the high-light of the game!" To be honest it wasn't as bad being there as the press described it. The Czech's are a good team and played some good football on the break. As for England....well they had two Pompey (bottom of the premiership) players in the starting line-up so were always in trouble! The main problem seemed to be the midfield. Lampard - ineffective; Gerrard - played out of position; Barry - got booked early on, not sure why he wasn't substituted in 2nd half; Beckham - delivered good passes and crosses BUT can't run very far and his crosses all sailed over Defoe's head, 'cos Defoe is short and not a target man; Rooney - what does he add to England? Doesn't score goals. runs a lot and either gets injured or booked or both. He was the problem as all play went through him and he tries to pass through defenders, who being human block the pass and play breaks down. It won't happen because he's Wayne Rooney but he needs to be dropped to free up Gerrard to play behind the lone striker. Finally why does Theo not get a run out, when Downing, Jenas and Heskey all get a chance.

The injury time equaliser flattered to deceive, but did make Matt jump around like I've never seen him do at St Mary's! In addition it did make all those who left early look mugs, which is a little added bonus.

Leaving the Stadium was also very easy with wide well divided stairwells and we were outside with no problems. As our hotel was at the end of "Wembley way" we were back in our room before many were even on the Tube home.

Coming next ...."your Mother was a hamster and your Father smelt of elderberries"...we do Spamalot!