World Cup 2010: Cameroon 1-2 Denmark
A match so good even Peter Drury couldn’t spoil it. “Two nations living just a little on their history,” he notes, as the teams come out. And, as an English football commentator, he should know. The unfashionable games are becoming the ones to watch, after Slovenia v America yesterday, and now this. Expect Slovakia v Paraguay to be a humdinger.
Read MoreWorld Cup 2010: Netherlands 1-0 Japan
Patrick Viera’s role on ITV’s panel is increasingly to give reassurance to the others that France are worse than England, which should be money for old rope but, after the Algeria game, isn’t. Attempts to shoehorn Edgar Davids into a similar role representing the Dutch are foundering, as they are now two wins out of two insipid performances. Davids’ voice sounds like mine does the morning after a heavy, heavy drinking session, but he seems entirely sober
Read MoreWorld Cup 2010: Ghana 1-1 Australia
This game sees us pass the halfway point of the group stages. By the end of Friday, we’ll have lost half of the teams, and we’ll know the shape of the knockout stages. Once we reach the knockout stages, most of the contrasting games (whether in ability, age or experience) will be over, and the main contrasts we’re likely to get between opponents are playing style and location. Ghana and Australia are as big a contrast as you can get.
Read MoreWorld Cup 2010: England 0-0 Algeria
It would appear that Wayne Rooney is of the opinion that the England football team (and, especially upon this evening, his performance in particular) is worthy of the undying support of the English people and, in particular, of those that have given up valuable holiday time and a fistful of cash that they may or may not be able to afford to travel to South Africa to watch their national team.
Read MoreThe Portsmouth CVA Is Proven To Be Completely Above Board
It is a funny election where the returning officer decides who the electorate is. Technically, all administrations throw up this scenario, although it has only seemed important in recent years, purely by chance, at Leeds United in 2007 and Portsmouth almost ever since. But when I saw the “Portsmouth CVA accepted” headlines yesterday, I briefly prayed that I’d be able to read the story beneath without at any stage going “for ****’s sake!”
Read MoreWorld Cup 2010: Slovenia 2-2 United States of America
I’ve seen both of these nations in major competitions. As you may have noticed from the Slovenia-Algeria report, I saw the Slovenians at Euro 2000. The USA however, were one of the teams playing at my first live World Cup match in 2006 – their opponents were Italy, in what was one of the games of the tournament. And that was the point at which my view on American’s playing football changed.
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