Ramblings from the week-end

Sitting pretty on Ireland and the Czechs as they are virtually through to the Finals after convincing wins in the first leg. Portugal was unable to strike in Bosnia, and although they are still the favourites, there is a risk that they could be outdone on away goals. Imagine Bosnia scoring the first goal and parking the bus... My opinion is that Portugal have enough quality and firepower to score a few against the Bosnians at home and are still the more likely to go through. It wouldn't hurt however to cover your positions if you're already loaded on them to qualify in case the visitors play for the away goals. After all, returns from the Ireland and Czechs qualifying should be more than enough to take a small cover on Portugal-Bosnia match.

A few tidbits from the sporting world over this past week-end. I was looking much forward to the return to the track of Overdose, the Budapest Bullet, in Italy. He duly won and beat Italy's best sprinter by half-a-length. Considering that he won this race by 10 lengths a couple of years back, before his feet problems, it can be strongly argued whether he's still at the peak of his powers. Being a 6-year old now definitely does not help. My assessment is that he's still a good sprinter and can win in lesser fields of Italy and Germany, but will find it very hard against proven sprinters in France, England and Hong Kong, where the connections are planning to race him next. We'll see if he can be better than what he showed on Sunday.

In football, England beat Spain in the international friendly. Whether they were dominated or not, a Win is a win, and a great moral boost for the hosts. No nation will beat Spain at the moment by matching their football. Even a great footballing side like the Netherlands had to resort to negative tactics in the World Cup final to try to break the rhythm of the Spanish team. It nearly worked for them. I think Saturday's win will have given the team belief that they can get a result against any team but they have to build on that result, or else they are bound to regress to the doldrums and remain a perennial disappointment.

In golf, could Tiger be on his way back? It certainly looks so after an encouraging third in the Australian Open. The guy's trying new things with a new caddie; it will take time for him to get back to his winning ways and dominance, but he'll win again for sure. Next year is definitely the year to start following him like at the start of this century.