Double International Win for Wales

We sit quite light to the nation's sporting successes but on a day when both the Association and Rugby football teams have won it is worth noting. We beat Japan by one point with the last kick of the game in the rugby, which I watched most of, and Liechtenstein 1-0 in the soccer, too. Hopes of world cu[ qualification remain alive.

Chelsea Bayerleverkusen

Somehow I failed to blog on this at the time. I suppose it was heading to Aber the next day. Anyway my son Gwion and his nephew, my grandson, Gwilym, came down to London to see Chelsea play a friendly against Bayer Leverkusen at Stamford Bridge. We mad eour way down there in good time and were able to bus all the way back on the 328. Great time. Chesea were on good form and won 2-0.

Rugby World Cup 2023 Week 1

So the rugby world cup is off to a flying start. For various reasosn I haven't seen much of ot. However, hats off to England for a perfectly handled opening match against Argentina and well done Wales for beating Fiji, currently ranked above us. It looks unlikely that Wales will prgress beyond the quarters but with strength in depth who knows. Good to hear that the soccer team is back to winning ways too with a 2-0 victory over Latvia.

Day Off Week 48 2022

I try and do a walk at least once a week. As I was planning to be out all day the next day, I decided lat Tuesday to do a walk on my day off, which I should be doing every time I guess. Anyway, I was up a little late but got a good walk in. Also made some phone calls. When I got to Golders Green Caffe Nero's coffee machine was broken so I had to go to Costa. First world problems, eh? Through the day I read all the essays in Christmas Lore and Legend by Llewelyn Powys. I've read some of them before but it was nice to read them all consecutively. Powys died in 1939 and his style is very much of its age. He is no Christian but he is sympathetic to many aspect of Christmas. Quite stimulating little collection.

Of course, Wales played England in the evening and that was fairly painful. Wales did well to hold them to 0-0 in the first half. Once Rashford scored, however, it was a blessing that we only conceded three. It has been good that Wales made the finals. At the very least people now know we exist. It is very interesting how Yma o hyd has taken off with the fans. I think there is probably greater cohesion between Welsh speakers and monoglots than ever. We all agree that the language is ours even though most of us don't speak it. We are more one nation than we have been in a long time and things like the football help. Having said that, Welsh society is as rotten through and through as English society and sport will never satisfy the spiritual hunger and thirst that is destroying is.

The World Cup

The World Cup is well underway and I have been enjoying it where I can. Weird it being in Winter and coming up to Christmas. It has been interesting all the comment and controversy surrounding the holding of it in Qatar. In all the discussion I've heard no-one refer to the fact that it is not easy to be a Christian there if you are native born and it is getting worse. It is one of the countries that most commonly closes churches. FIFA and the World cup are ultimately Anti-Christ movements that seek to create an alternative united world organisation. By that I don't mean it's wrong to watch but I do think we need to be careful and restrained, as with all these things (the Olympics, Eurovision Song Contest, etc). It is understandable that they want a world cup in the Middle East and one sees how attractive the whole idea is. Inevitably, there are going to be difficulties, however. For more on being a Christian in Qatar see here.

Wales and ball games

It has not been a great seven days for Wales in rugby or soccer. In the rugby, we did beat Argentina the other week but losing last Saturday to Georgia by one point was a real humiliation. We lost to New Zealand too. On Saturday we face Australia.

The soccer looked more hopeful (first world cup finals since the year before I was born) but after a passable draw against USA and the 2-0 loss to Iran, it looks likely that the team will soon be back home again. The song "As long as we beat the English" is going through my mind.

I suppose that for a country as small as Wales is, we do not do too badly. We rank ninth in the world in rugby and nineteenth in soccer. (England is fifth in both codes).

Wales in the Last 16

Wales have been doing pretty well at the Euros with a draw and a win so far against Switzerland and Turkey. They play Italy tomorrow but I won't be watching. Thankfully the score is not so important. As I understand it, Wales are definitely through to the last 16 again and will probably face Russia or Finland. A win at that point and the quarter finals beckon once again but let's be patient and see what happens. It's been great to see so far though far from perfect. Bale and Ramsey have shone but goals have come from Moore, Roberts and Ramsey.