Freedom Calls: 13/7/26, "(Probably) the only thing that matters this week… is football"

From the team at Freedom Asset Management

The World Cup gets serious

In Europe, there is nothing more important than football (or “soccer" as our American friends might say).  Football brings countries together, where religion, race and gender simply don't matter.  It is said that football is a cure for loneliness, because if you get yourself down to a pub, when there's a good game on, with a pint in your hand, (non alcoholic versions are also available,) you can talk to pretty much anybody on equal terms.    

After the Second World War, Western Europe gave up fighting each other on the battlefield and instead chose the football field.  Few things inspire as much hope, fear, anticipation and emotion as the national team going up against a longtime foe.  My Dutch friends tell me that any fixture where the Netherlands plays Germany is "a particularly special game".  It is a very satisfying way of settling scores long after the big event.

In England, the game is so revered that there is an eerie silence on the streets of every city, town and village whenever England plays.  Even in the most remote of countryside locations, if you keep your windows open, you will hear the roar every time England scores.  Forget trying to hail a taxi, or take public transport - there are a mysterious number of sick days taken on, or around, key football games.  

The World Cup started about month ago, but now it has become serious…. because against the odds, England have made it to the World Cup semi-final.  And England's path to glory (last seen in 1966 - so it's been a while) is strewn with former military victories.  

First up, is Argentina in the semi-final.   Most readers will be old enough to remember the Falklands War in 1982, when the heavily armed Argentinian navy and army invaded the British Overseas Territory with a population of just c. 2,000 defenceless people and c. 1 million defenceless penguins.    That was probably the last time Britain carried military clout.  The 10-week war was a glorious success if you were British, and a bit less so if you were Argentinian.

Football is the great leveller (as Mr Trump found out last week), because you can have the finest army with the best, shiny, new weapons, but on this football field, there are just 11 men against 11 men.  Back in 1982, it seems those Argentinians had spent a bit too much time playing football as they were growing up, and a little less time studying economics, or the strategy of war.  That was lucky for us then, but a bit less so ever since - at least when it comes to the World Cup.    

England has only beaten Argentina once in a World Cup game since 1966, and that was in 2002.  David Beckham (who is now practically royalty) scored a first half penalty - but only in the group stages.  Yes, the stats are that bad.  And it gets worse than that, because in 1986, Diego Maradona's opening goal in the quarter finals, since dubbed "the hand of God", mislead the referee and set the stage for England to lose that key match (see the damning evidence below) robbing us of World Cup victory.  That goal has never been forgotten, or forgiven by the British press.

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