My Blog (Eugene Ward)

So here it is, the World Cup Final, is football coming home? Will La Roja clinch it? We will see on Sunday morning. England It's not normal for Irish people to support England but my feelings towards them are neutral. Bar the Nigeria game their path to the final has been smooth. I see from social media that the English have been getting behind their team. Some have called for the women's coach to coach the men's team and some have called for a Bank Holiday if England win. Spain Spain, on the other hand have already lost in the tournament, going down 4-0 to Japan. I watched their game with The Netherlands and they played well, it was a good game. Too close to call The bookies have made Spain slight favourites    I'm not going to support either team but looking forward to what should be a good game. I've watched a fair bit of the tournament and it has been of a decent standard.

  So Derry lose on penalties. Gutted for the Candystripes. Grateful to LOITV who, at the last minute, gave fans around the world access to the game. Grateful to my daughter too who slept through most of it. They had chances. It's stating the obvious but if they had got a 2nd goal in the first half they would have progressed.    Derry City v Tobol Kostanay     The team played well and were unlucky. There were many great performances. Duffy and Connolly did really well. Brian Maher has had such a good season, it's a shame he is the one that missed the decisive spot-kick, Ben Doherty didn't convert either of course so he is not alone.     A lot has already been said and written about having to play the game in Dublin. Tallaght Stadium looked rather empty. I wonder what the attendence was. The cost of tickets and travel on a Thursday night I'm sure put people off. Had it been played in Derry, with a full Brandywell roaring the team on, in my opinion t...

 1 5th August 1998. Omagh. 25 years ago. Rem ember the day well and hearing news of the bomb on that Saturday afternoon as I was having a cup of tea. It was the year of the Good Friday Agreement and we thought bombs were a thing of the past. The Manic Street Preachers had a sort out at the time, If you tolerate this your children will be next.   Hard to belive its 25 years, where does the time go? I wasn't in Omagh much in those days but in 1999 and from 2001 to 2005 I worked there. Great people, great town, great community. Thinking of all those affected by that dreadful day,

  Good luck to Derry City in Kazakstan as they try and get through another round of the UEFA Conference League. Derry have faced such a long trip and will be hoping to get a positive result to take back to Ireland next week   . It was disappointing that they were not allowed to play the second leg in Belfast, the IFA said yes, Linfield said yes, it was UEFA that said no. Playing the 2nd leg at Windsor Park would have been interesting given the history Derry has with Linfield and the IFA, but UEFA rules wouldn't allow it https://www.rte.ie/.../1398991-uefa-turn-down-derry.../   The idea of playing at Windsor Park make me think..What if Derry rejoined the Irish League? Wouldn't an All-Ireland football league be better than the current situation? Is a summer season or Friday night games really best for football in Ireland?   Playing the second leg in Dublin puts Derry at a major disadvantage in the tie and it takes away from the enjoyment of reaching this stage of the...

Another day of shame for the police here in Peru as students are attacked in their university campus  Students attacked at San Marcos University There has been protests against the president Dina Boularte who came to power last month after former president Pedro Castillo was impeeched. Protests across Peru which have been going on since early December have claimed close to 50 lives. Protests in Peru The presidential election of 2021 saw Castillo, who is popular in much of Peru but not in Lima finish ahead of right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori. Her supporters, similar to Donald Trump and Brazils's Jair Bolsonaro, have always contested the outcome of the election despite international observers agreeing that it was free and fair. Peru Elections 2021 Castillo's time in office was turbulant. He had his enemies in parliament who have tried to oust him several times, finally succeeding on 7th December 2022 after he tried to close the parliament in a failed self-coup.  F...

France v Argentina. World Cup Final 🇫🇷🇦🇷 FIFA say it has been the best World Cup ever. Everyone has a favourite World Cup dependent on whether their team is in it, how they did, and memories of watching the games. My favourite World Cup was Italia'90. I know it wasn't the best tournament in terms of the games but Ireland qualified for the first time and got to the Quarter Finals, although  the team only scored 2 goals in 480 minutes of football. 1990 was the first World Cup I was truely excited about. I remember Mexico'86, I have vague memories of Northern Ireland v Brazil and the final but 1990 was the first I watched with interest. 2002 also stands out, the early morning games.  In the Fir Trees Hotel at 0730h to watch Ireland-Cameroon. Celebrating Robbie Keane's equaliser against Germany. The heartache of a defeat to Spain on penalties. There has been a few shocks this year but the final pits the current World Champions against the winners of the Finalissima; the...

 A little bit on the February we had. It was an action-packed month with birthdays, anniversaries and various trips to the beach. The height of summer here in Peru.  There was the historic moment on 14th when Liam lost his first tooth. There was no need to search outside McGarrigle's shoe shop in Strabane for this one.  I had my 22x2 birthday and our 2x2x2 wedding anniversary on 22/2 And March started with one of the greatest days of the year, Pancake Tuesday The world news is dominated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and what it means for the future. There have been scenes of great suffering in Ukraine which of course is terrible. Of course the Ukranian people need the help of Western governments, and the show of solidarity with them is to be welcomed. The Palestinian people however, have been suffering in a similar way for decades and the world has turned a blind eye. Many even criticise those who try and help the Palestinian people or show empathy with them. Indeed,...

 January is the month when the contrast between the Northern and Southern hemisphere is greatest. Back in Europe, it's cold, wet and dark but in the Southern Hemisphere it's the middle of summer. Sitting in the heat of Lima watching Gaelic games played in winds and rain brought home the contrast.  The first month of the year, it was a month of new beginnings and with a few problems. Swimming lessons and a new class for Liam, a new morning summer school; but on the downside there was illness and there were power cuts. Managed to walk over 50km during the month and we had a few trips to Starbucks  Liam enjoyed the swimming even though he ought to pay more attention to the teachers. So that's the first month of the year chalked off, a month of ups and downs. On to February