Only two votes cast in favour as England crash out in the first round. Russia topped the first round voting with 9 votes and then runs away with 13 votes in the second.
This comes on the heels of Wikileaks fingering Vladimir Putin as having prior knowledge of Alexander Litvinenko's assassination.
This is bound to leave a bitter taste (easy on those polonium jokes!) between the two countries.
This coupled with the riot following the Carling Cup encounter between Birmingham and Aston Villa fans and it's not hard to imagine English football raising the ghost of an unseemly past.
Leave a comment