Scotland Will Be Coming

The explosive noise that was recorded very high on the Richter scale last night was nothing more than a nation qualifying for the World Cup in the USA during 2026.  I say USA, but it is also Canada and Mexico who share the expensive competition these days, no longer can one country afford this.

The rejoicing from 5 million Scots was heard around the world.  Here we see the nation that invented the game, developed it from the beginning into the supreme activity it has become, and yet have failed in every attempt to win this trophy, or indeed any other!

Irony!

With less than 3 minutes on the clock this magnificent overhead kick brought Scotland's first goal.  His time in Italy has not been wasted.  The next 90 minutes, plus add-ons, offered a game that went the way I expected.  Lots of good but wasted skill from Denmark, lots of effort and occasional brilliance from the Scots.  I expected a result along the lines of 3-2, though was unsure who would win.  In the end three outstanding goals, plus a well worked corner saw 4 goals hit the net and Scotland qualify for the first time in 28 years. 

All the players were outstanding, especially Craig Gordon, who remains on the bench for the Heart of Midlothian, yet produced excellent saves at the right time.  Not bad for a man who is 42 years old.

Mr Shankland scored the second goal not long after half time.  Some foolishly thought the game over then, and how can anyone think the Danes were finished?  Two sides who gave everything, two sides who desperately wanted to qualify, two sides with a lot of similarities in the national nature, two sides desperate to win, yet only one goes through.  It may be the Danes will have a play-off against another second placed side, I did not check this, but they do deserve to be in north America next year.  

Many of the players last night would not have been born when Scotland last failed at a world cup.  Even goalkeeper Craig Gordon would only have been 15 or so then.  Of course I myself am only 32...

My first world cup was in 1974, when I worked at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, now of course that is a block of flats.  I recall pretending to clean a table for 45 minutes while Scotland struggled against a country that no longer exists, Yugoslavia!  I stood by that bedside of a man with a broken leg while we watched the distant black and white TV at the far end of the ward.   All was still, bar the occasional groan and utterances, not from physical pain, from the football.  A draw was the result, and none we too happy about that.

Such things do not mean as much now as they did then, I am used to Scotland losing at the big games, but nonetheless when we scored I almost leapt out the window.  I was glad also for the manager Steve Clarke.  He has, in spite of opposition, criticism of tactics, players and his rare smile, taken Scotland to two Euro Tournaments, and now one world cup.  No Scots manager has done this before.  He deserves credit for his man management, his tactics, his team, and his success.  No matter the grumbles, he has been successful, and can now relax for three months.

There are many questions now being asked.  Who will we play?  Where will we play?  And, how many Scots fans will be turned back by the Border Police for slagging off Donald Trump?  Almost all who travel to the USA will have done so, he is not popular in Scotland, nor indeed in any off the other nations represented at this tournament, and I await news of how they will deal with this.

While these questions continue I have only one question, why am I so tired this morning...?

Beware USA, Canada and Mexico, we'll be coming! 

Bank Holiday Baloney

It was warm enough when I went to Tesco at ten this morning and the sun has reached 31/87% at the moment.  
I am inside!
Today is a rest day, not that I intended that, I have just done nothing but shop and eat or sleep since. 
Suits me.
Being a Bank Holiday there is of course no news just pictures of people burning in the sun or getting ready to travel slowly along 'A' roads back from the seaside.  Boris however finds a space by declaring Pork Pies are sold to Thailand but cannot be sold to the USA because of trade restrictions.  Immediately he is proved wrong by the Pie makers who have never sold pies to Thailand and don't bother with the US as it aint not worth it.  Good old Boris getting his facts wrong.  The fake news offered continues when he claims foreign observers ought not to talk to those opposing Brexit because it cannot be stopped, just like all his other promises this is incorrect also.  The more time he spends with Trump, the saviour of the world, the more time he becomes a little Trump.  Maybe it's an Eton thing?

   Amazon

Meanwhile I have been finishing some books.  This one was a bit slow, the author tended to spend to much time on detail better omitted and stick to the flow of the story, though I suspect he was attempting to establish Bonhoeffer's 'Christology by doing so.  He is also American speaking to a generation that emerged long after the war and therefore has to explain thing most people came to know in the 50's and 60's.  
Bonhoeffer grew up in a  wealthy family with legal leanings and for some reason chose early to read theology.  He, like his family, was not a church going type so the reasons for his choice are unclear.
He was then educated at a liberal type theology college and was to spend his life in study rather than normal pastoral roles.  These did come later during the 1930's when Adolf Hitler was making his mark and it is remarkable that this man's learning gave him the desire to oppose the rise of the Nazi Party.
The church in Germany had a close connection to the state and many Christians happily went along with a Nazi ruled church, the minority opposed this and many were not to survive the war, and mostly not from enemy action.  
Bonhoeffer did his best to prepare men for leadership in the church, especially after the war,all the time becoming more and more evangelical in this thought as he did so.  However this was not clear enough and he fell into the trap of associating with men who wished to remove Hitler and spent much time in jail as a reward.  Killing Adolph was not a Christians job, something he failed to appreciate, terrible though such men are they have to wait in God's time not ours.  By 1944 unknown to Bonhoeffer the allies did not wish Adolph killed as he was seen as their best general!  His tactical knowledge, or lack of it, his insistence on standing strong by 'the power of his will' did not reinforce the men at the front as he had hoped.  
Bonhoeffer, like most of the conspirators died before the war ended, Bonhoeffer on the 9th of April 1945 one month before the ceasefire.   His call had been clear for a long time, if you follow Jesus you must do so even if it leads to death.  Death to self is a Christian calling, on occasions it must be taken literally.  It is to Dietrich Bonhoeffer's credit that he took that line seriously.  We are left wondering what would have he produced had he lived?

While fire engulfs the Amazonian forests creating profit for cattle farmers and a variety of national presidents Dunfermline proved they too could manufacture fire for no good reason.  Here a 14 year old proved this by setting for to his school and destroying at least the 'Additional Support Needs Department which I suspect he knows well, and damaged at least a fifth of the school buildings.  There are now 1400 happy pupils (sorry, students) wandering around upsetting locals by not being locked in their classrooms.  Anything right wing South American dictators can do Scotland can do better!