Russia Makes England Fake It

Speaking of world soccer and the 2008 European Championships (See below), there is a far more interesting story concerning the qualifying matches than the story I posted below about Scotland practicing in the rain. Boring! On Wednesday, England will face Russia in a qualifier at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, and the match will be played on an artificial surface, a decision made by the home squad. The England side says they're fine with not playing on real grass, but some pundits (Read: England fans looking for excuses in the event their team bellies up.) are wondering aloud about the fake turf giving an advantage to the Russians. Guus Hiddink, manager of the Russian side, argued that an artificial surface was the natural choice after rain, sleet and snow fell on Moscow over the weekend. Hmmm. This could turn out to be very interesting if England loses. Ok, I think that's enough postings today about soccer, although it is sure to increase the number of hits to my blog from 18-34 year-olds in Ukraine, one of most active demographics.