How lovely to see England end tonight's Uruguay friendly (Homer, perusing a globe: "Heh, heh - look at this country: U R Gay..."), with no fewer than five Spurs players on the pitch. Robinson, King, Carrick, Jenas, Defoe - emulating those Eighties days when the international collection of Hoddle, Waddle, Hodge, Mabbutt, Allen and Stevens ("Two Gary Stevens, there's only two Gary Stevens...") inspired plenty of approving "England Hotspur"-style headlines...
Yet while Carrick looked as impeccable for England tonight as he has for Spurs all season, man of the match for me was Joe Cole, always buzzing and imaginative and fully-deserving of his last-gasp goal (something the Spurs players may have been surprised by, it going in their favour and not against...)
Cole and second-half sub Shaun Wright-Phillips showed so much enthusiasm and usefulness going forward, especially in comparison to the lethargic David Beckham, whose only burst of energy hurled him into an ugly foul which may well have got him deservedly sent off, had this been a meaningful World Cup match...
Two lessons are to be learnt above all from tonight's exercise, though, I reckon:
One: Please, please, please, Mr BBC, turf John Motson into retirement, or at least A Sunday morning Sky Sports show alongside Jimmy Hill, because he's just become excruciatingly embarrassing these days, endlessly wittering on with not just anorak stats, but really mundane interventions, all delivered with that question-mark-inflected phrasing that suggests he's just stumbled across some staggering new insight - and punctuated by that infuriating little chuckle.
The longest ever haircut I had to endure was at a place by Finchley Central station, where I quickly realised the chunterer in the next seat was ver man 'Motty' himself, sounding and spouting forth as needlessly narking as on the telly...
Oh, and get rid of Graeme "Certainly Is" Le Saux, please, as well...
But, perhaps more importantly for our World Cup hopes, the second lesson - following first Michael Owen, now Wayne Bridge - is: keep our stars well away from any collisions, accidental or otherwise, with the mighty Robbo...
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