What with France relying on a Japanese referee to beat South Korea 3-2 and plucky Latvia winning the Eurovision Song Contest, it was a truly controversial weekend.
England tried to revive memories of Bucks Fizz but fell flat with a performance that would guarantee Sven-Goran Eriksson's side approximately null points at the World Cup in a lucky 2-2 draw with Cameroon in Kobe.
This after a 1-1 draw with South Korea in which England looked more like Halifax Town and the latest metatarsal crisis, which saw Danny Murphy hobble home and Trevor Sinclair ordered to the Far East for the second time inside a week.