Here's my predictions

A rather predictable Brazil - Spain final with Brazil winning
England getting to the semis
Uruguay as my surprise team to go late in the tournament
Holland to look like world beaters early on, scoring goals for fun, but losing to Brazil in the quarters...

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I am numb

The England match left me numbed. Unimpressive, uninspired, lacklustre – however the bottle of champagne I enjoyed with the game certainly took the edge off things. It seems that we, along with France and Italy are suffering some horrendous ‘anti-football’ affliction. If the game was less global then we could put it down to ‘a long hard season in the Premier league’ or ‘the difficulty of being motivated for national team games when the premier league pays so well’; but neither is valid. Neither is this jibulabulani ball business. The teams who pass to each other seem not to suffer. Poor selections and poor play has blighted us, and whilst lots of vitriol heads in the direction of Heskey, we’d do well to remember that the main culprits on Friday were Gerrard and Rooney for having zero patience on the ball and terrible control. Lampard wasn’t much better. At least Barry gave us some sort of stable platform to build from. I expect the introductions of Joe Cole and Jermain Defoe or Peter...

Arriving late at the far post...........

Well, out from behind a rock I come. Like Batman responding to the spotlight over Gotham, the sight of Alexi Lalas relaxing on ESPN's swanky new World Cup set spouting 'knowledge' of the beautiful game immediately triggered me into action. A personal excitement for me is the returning punditry on this side of the pond of one Roberto Martinez. 4 years ago, I listened to this polite young man with light enthusiasm....now I find myself hanging onto every word from Bobby Brown Shoes. A supremely classy guy, just hoping for the "and Neymar is close to signing, which is phenonemal (Bobby's most used word - quite impressive for a Spanish native) " Sooo, what have I missed so far (Brazil own goal aside).... - Roy Hodgson in old man sunglasses - An amazing lack of planning from team England organizing a friendly in Florida at 5pm in June and being surprised as a thunderstorm - Scapegoating of a key England player (Rooney) before a ball is kicked in anger - Overplay...

Kuddelmuddel

I was convinced the German team would recover emphatically. Their opening game was an aberration, and whilst they were poor defensively, they created enough chances to win a handful of games. So against a threat-less Sweden, I was sure normality would return. Yet Saturday night’s game so nearly turned the footballing world on its head. I think the only surprise when the ball tore into the net in the 95th minute was that it wasn’t an England keeper disconsolately picking the ball out of the net. Kudos to Germany, back from the brink. If they solve their defensive Kuddelmuddel (one of their great words that means a phrase “unstructured mess, chaos or hodgepodge”) then they will yet again be a force to be reckoned with. Speaking of forces; er, England?! None of this cagey group stage malarkey going on. Boom, into the last 16 with the tournament just 9 days old. Kane is off down to Timpsons for some golden coloured shoe polish. What a result and what a great performance, admittedly...

The Three Dads World Cup Wonderland

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