Day 8: LFC TV at the Euros
LFC TV's Matt Critchley is in Poland and Ukraine to bring us daily updates as 16 nations compete for the European Championships crown. And yesterday he spent time with some Liverpool legends at a special 5-a-side tournament.
England v Sweden today then with reports that Andy Carroll is set to start alongside Danny Welbeck up front, if true that looks a pretty good move to me...and Patrick Berger, Bolo Zenden and Jason McAteer.
Those were the three former Reds midfielders I spent time with yesterday, all agree that Carroll could be a big threat tonight but by the end of the day the three of them were in quite contrasting moods
I met up with Zenden and Berger at a Carlsberg Fan Zone event in Warsaw with a Euro 5-a-side Legends team assembled to take on the winners of a nationwide pub 5-a-side competition. International FC from South London had beaten teams for the past two years to get to this point but here they came up against their strongest opposition yet.
The former Portugal goalkeeper Vitor Baia was between the sticks, his international teammate Nuno Valente (once of Everton of course) played alongside Michel Salgado at the back, with Zenden and Berger providing the attacking flair. And let me tell you, these two boys have still got it!
The Legends ran out 3-1 winners with the former Reds grabbing a goal a piece but the desire to win was as strong as ever - amazing really for what could have just been a kick about for them.
Zenden told me after the game that he hopes to find another Premier League team for next year (he was released from Sunderland at the end of last season) whilst Paddy Berger is happily retired but certainly enjoying his trips away with the Liverpool Legends. The recent victorious stint in Brunei his favourite, apparently.
The two of them both keep a look out for Liverpool's results and said how pleased they were with the appointment of Brendan Rodgers. I asked Zenden if LFC would soon be playing the 'Barca way' (Bolo played at Barcelona for 3 years.) His reply: "Err, this may take some time!"
After a couple of hours spent in the San Lorenzo restaurant watching a group of wildly demonstrative Italians shout obscenities at the screen during their game with Croatia, I headed to another eatery in town where Jason McAteer and others were taking in the Spain v Ireland game.
Arriving late wasn't a good start, especially as it was already 1-0 by the time I got there. And it turned into a bit of a rout didn't it? Statistically one of the most one-sides games in the history of the Euro's but even though Jason was hugely disappointed; he was also philosophical at the final whistle.
As he said, this is the golden generation of Spanish football, a team going for their third major title in six years. In all honesty Ireland exceeded some expectations by reaching the finals...what did people expect?
Hopefully England will fare a little better tonight.