The response to last night's result in Holland and Spain is like night and day, Ronnie Whelan isn't Diego Costa's biggest fan and the time has come for our boys to shine.
We’re still trying to come to terms with what happened in Salvador last night when the reigning World Champions were given the mother of all beatings by a devastating Dutch outfit, so we can only imagine what the reaction is like in the respective countries themselves.
As you can imagine, it couldn’t be more different and while the Dutch press are lapping it up as you’d completely expect with front pages like this the ones below proclaiming the feats of Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben…
‘Flying start’ and ‘What a hero’
… Marca strike a rather more morbid note with a front page that is nearly completely black and is adorned with the headline that roughly translates as ‘Sort this’.
Interestingly, a front page from De Telegraaf that many people were circulating on Twitter believing it to be from this morning is actually from before the game yesterday, but it's so good it’s still worth another look. In case you’re wondering, the headline reads something along the lines of ‘Oranje toreadors are ready for revenge on Spain’.
How right they were.
Chelsea signing Costa? Ronnie Whelan tells Mourinho to wake up and smell the coffee
As we know by now, the members of the RTE panel aren’t afraid to come out with opinions that many would deem slightly controversial and that you probably wouldn’t hear in analysis on any other station.
Granted, it’s Eamon Dunphy who’s responsible for those opinions 90 per cent of the time, but Ronnie Whelan emerged as a rather unlikely figure of controversy last night when expressing his belief that Chelsea should not be signing Spanish striker Diego Costa. Here’s what he had to say…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6_Gaa08iZI&feature=youtu.be
As if Costa wasn’t determined to play well at Stamford Bridge next season, now he’ll want to prove Ronnie Whelan wrong. Be afraid Premier League, be very afraid.
And the latest from the JOE-panese camp...
With four ridiculously entertaining games already in the can, some would say that the World Cup has started with a bang, but as far as we’re concerned it won’t start properly until our boys Japan begin their campaign against the Ivory Coast tonight.
But it’s on at two in the bleedin’ mornin’ we hear you cry? With a healthy supply of Wagamama (if you’re reading lads and fancy dropping some take-out over to the office, that would be sound) and smooth Japanese beers, we intend on making a night out of it and celebrating until the rising sun in the morning when Alberto Zaccheroni’s side do the business.
Zaccheroni has expressed doubts about the sharpness of star man Shinji Kagawa on the back of a disappointing season with Manchester United, but we certainly drew heart from the statement of intent issued by his alter ego a couple of days back…
Go JOE-pan!
