The range of emotions I've gone through today was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. At least from a sporting perspective, I haven't felt so alive since that goal from Dickov v Gillingham at Wembley, but the difference is that while the Gillingham game was my sort of no-turning-back-now moment as a City fan of just about two years at that time, this feels like a more personal moment because our national team feels a little bit more mine than City does. Frank, Steven etc may not agree with me there, but I personally think that, as such a far-flung Blue - of 13 years, for what that's worth - it's easier to take emotional ownership of your own national team than it is to do the same with a club 3,600 miles away.
That said, as the group ended up being much more difficult than those fuckstains at The Sun etc. wanted us to believe, I'm pleased that both the U.S. and England - my sort of 'second' national team that I'll support whenever the U.S. isn't involved - are through to the knockout rounds. I do think that we're worthy group winners (should've finished with 7 points, possibly 9 if not for a great save from Green in the second half of the US-ENG game), and England got what it deserved after how awful it was against Algeria, but the important thing is that we're both through, and since there's next to no chance that we'll meet each other again in this tournament, we should all be pulling for each other from here on in. From where I'm sitting, the further both the U.S. and England go in this competition, the better: England winning helps keep U.S. television ratings up, hence more people keeping glued to the game, and U.S. football success brings even more new people into the game, some of which inevitably picking up City as their club team. What's not to like there?
