Carlos Alberto was fuming at the press conference. [since Alberto called Owen a midget, and his outburst was such bollocks, I am allowing this next bit of stereotyping - Ed] "Thees meejet, he say he gonna score fife gols, but who is he?" Why would a man such as Carlos Alberto come out with this sort of tirade? He claimed Owen had boasted that he would score five goals, but clearly this was not the case. The only thing I can think of is that Owen's fondness for betting comes in somewhere. "He tell me Carlos he say, put ten grands on me for sure to score fife and you will win, and then he miss every theeng".
That's why he's annoyed: Owen's told him to put money on him scoring five. If there's one thing that anybody from the Northern Hemisphere knows, it's don't, whatever you do, gamble on Michael's "tips".
Owen had a bad game by his standards, but that's what happens sometimes in football. If he doesn't play for Real Madrid that often, that's their look out, and it's no indication of his ability or even his form. Real's success has mostly been down to highly paid foreign players and now the rest of Europe has caught up with their ability to pay huge wages, they don't know what to do, plus the Spanish National side have never got anywhere in any tournament. Ever.
So you won the World Cup in 1970, so fucking what. That's what people say to us about 1966. Fair's fair. I want to see a World Cup played in Winter, in Norway or the Ukraine, instead of the height of Summer, at altitude. Their group would be Scotland, Norway and Finland. Then we'll see just how fucking good Brazil really are. I predict they'll come out in gloves, be really, really shit and get absolutely fucking stuffed in every single game.