Football Daily | All we know is that there will be a new winner of the World Cup

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!

Look, is it coming home or what? The Lionesses have been giving mixed signals throughout the World Cup, and Football Daily can’t decide whether to be adorned by a St George’s flag onesie for Friday night’s sojourn to ‘Spoons. After sluggish 1-0 wins over Haiti and Denmark, England switched to a back three and routed China 6-1, with Lauren James producing a virtuoso performance that was celebrated up and down the land. But then the 3-4-1-2 system was exposed by Nigeria, a frustrated James was sent off for using Michelle Alozie’s back as a hopscotch grid, and England were on the brink of going home. Then, one last twist: England defended defiantly to take the match to a penalty competition, in which – who knew! – Chloe Kelly banged the winner.

Re: Gareth McCann’s letter regarding reflex reactions to a particular player’s name when mentioned in commentary (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). Older readers may recall that, during the 1990s, the plot-lines of TV adverts were ‘a thing’. Renault developed Gallic father and daughter characters, whose relationship seemed limited to addressing each other solely by their title or name, inflected with a range of different innuendos. Here’s an example. Little wonder then that whenever Barry Davies, commentating on a goal by France’s leading striker of the time, would exclaim ‘Papin!’ the entirety of my household would yell at the telly in unison: ‘Nicole!’” – Andy Korman.

Every time Steve Bruce’s name is mentioned on television or radio, I always sing ‘88 to 91 FM … Steve Bruce’ as a tribute to the old Ken Bruce jingle on Radio 2. I don’t think this is annoying to anyone near me, although judging by my wife’s reaction one fateful Sunday when she asked me if I was going to do that every single time I heard his name …” – Steve Pye.

I find it impossible not to shout ‘… and Galloway’ every time I hear the name of Inter and Netherlands defender Denzel Dumfries” – Chris Swift.

I cannot help singing the ‘Mmm, Danone’ jingle in my head whenever I hear Mo Salah’s name” – Marisa Cardoni.

I have two to share. I cannot hear a commentator say ‘Divock Origi’ without following it up with ‘she’s my baby’. And every time Wilfred Ndidi’s name is mentioned I must, must follow it with ‘yes indeedy do’. The long winter evenings fly by in our house, I can tell you” – John Connolly.

This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.

Continue reading…

About Author