Football and the economy

On the eve of the UEFA European Football Championship, a BBC reporter asked an English football fan which side he expected to win.

The reporter prefaced his question by saying that “I know predictions are meaningless today, but I’m going to ask you anyway.” The fan then predicted that the English team would win because it was playing on home turf, had the better line-up, and had performed better than its rival. It was the “team of hope” that the English had been looking forward to for over half a century, and it would crown them with victory, he said.

He went on to say that he and his friends planned to celebrate the following day, which the government had made a public holiday. Of course, as we know, when the match was played last Sunday England and Italy tied on goals, and then the latter won on penalties. So, it was Rome that celebrated while London mourned, and the English fan and his friends probably spent their day off debating whether their team’s loss was due to rotten luck or a fault by this or that player.

Read the full article on AhramOnline here

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