Kaylyn Kyle is speaking a lot of truth right now
Vlatko needs to stop spreading playing minutes around as an end in itself and play consistent lineups to get results.
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June 18, 2023
By Daniel Taylor
SAN MARINO (The Athletic) — It ends, like it almost always does, in the familiarity of defeat. What else would you really expect when, in the only occupied stand, there is a group of fans named Brigata Mai 1 Gioia? Translation: the “Never One Joy Brigade”.
When you are a supporter of San Marino, officially the worst international team in the world, it can be useful to have a sense of humour.
They came up with this name in 2012. Two years later, when a goalless draw against Estonia ended a decade-long sequence of defeats, the manager, Pierangelo Manzaroli, made Brigata Mai 1 Gioia produce a new banner saying Brigata Mezza Gioia (“Half a Joy”).
Manzaroli’s eyes twinkle when he remembers the euphoria of not losing. “People in other countries don’t understand what it is like,” he says. “It was an incredible moment… the same feeling as when my daughter was born.”
Mostly, though, it is a well-established churn of joylessness.
San Marino, an enclave within central Italy with a population of 33,700, lose football matches. Sometimes they lose football matches spectacularly. In the worst times, they take such a tanking you could be forgiven for wanting to end the game early and give them a good cuddle...
... Since playing their first official games under the recognition of FIFA and UEFA in 1990, this tiny republic has been involved in 195 fixtures. There have been 186 defeats, eight draws and 830 goals shared out — 28 for San Marino, 802 for the opposition.
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On this fine Monday morning, I am thinking about how good Ben Davies was for Wales last night.
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He slips in after midnight and it’s a dick move, yeah, ’cause he knows they’ll be asleep, Keeley’s got meetings in the morning, she’s always got meeting ‘cause she’s a proper super star, and Roy hasn’t got meetings, it’s an off day for the coaches too, but he’s an old grump and he needs his eight hours or he’s a worse fucking grump and Jamie doesn’t need him to be a grump tomorrow.
So, yeah. Should go back to his own place, probably. Kip there, head over in the morning. Only, he’s been gone for a week, and with Keeley’s meetings and Roy being the head coach, they’ve none of them had the chance to come the qualifiers, and it’s been brilliant, of course it has, he has, and there’s been texts and phone calls and video calls, but it’s not the same is it, and he’s missed them, and so.
He unlocks the door quietly and takes his shoes off quietly and pads up the stairs quietly, but when he pushes open the door to the master bedroom – quietly – the bed lights are on and there’s Keeley sat with an Ipad in her lap and her back against the padded headboard. On the other side of the bed Roy’s spread out and out like a light, snoring gently.
“Hey,” Jamie says, lingering in the doorway. “Sorry, I didn’t— I mean, thought you’d be asleep.”
“I was waiting for you,” Keeley says, as easily as if it’s nothing, as she puts the tablet away. “Roy was too, but he’s had Phoebe all day, didn’t last two minutes.” And she pauses, eyeing him like she expects him to crack a joke, Roy’s so fucking old something something no fucking wonder he’s tired, but when he doesn’t speak and he doesn’t move she cocks her head to the side. “Come here?”
And he doesn’t need asking twice, does he. He crosses the floor, shedding his clothes as he sheds everything that isn’t them and here and now, and he slips into the middle of the bed, into the space they’ve made for him, and Keeley settles around him and he around her, and at his back Roy is solid and warm, a constant, and Jamie closes his eyes, presses against him and pulls her closer, and the scent of them both is everywhere and her whispered welcome home is the warmth of her smile is the heat of Roy’s body and if this isn’t home he is homeless.
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Dan James is so annoying, because he’s so close to getting himself sent off and Ukraine are a good team so Wales do not need to be going down to 10 men.
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