Scotland v England News

First off, though I sometimes like to forget it, there are other sports than football, and congratulations to the national rugby side on their 15-9 win over England today. There hasn’t been a lot to cheer about for Scotland in this year’s Six Nations, but beating England is meaningful regardless of the context, and hopefully the boys can do the same against Italy next weekend and at least stay off the bottom. Great win today.

As happy as I am about the rugby win, I wouldn’t have strayed away from football unless there was a decent way back. England coach Fabio Capello has stated today that he wants to go ahead with a friendly between the ‘auld enemies’ England and Scotland at some point. When neither side made it into Euro 2008, there was widespread speculation that a summer friendly would be in the works. The two haven’t met since November 1999, when England won 2-1 on aggregate over two legs to progress to Euro 2000. The most likely date for a rematch seemed to be May 28th, but George Burley saw that as a bit early for his new squad to take on such an important match, especially given its proximity to the Scottish Cup final. Now it looks like Scotland may be headed to Iran that day, and England playing host to the United States.

But it’s good to see some mention of the friendly, even if it won’t be for a while yet. August 20th may be the next open international date when neither side has a commitment. Obviously, I wish this match was tomorrow, but after eight years of waiting for the rivalry to return, I suppose I can wait another six months.