Exciting Brazil 2014 World Cup reaches the knockout stage

The FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil has so far got it all!

Attacking football with 36 more goals compared to group stage in South Africa 2010, passionate fans in the Mecca of football Brazil, unpredictability & controversy, and relatively few faking moments!

Goals in the group stages since a 32-team format was introduced
France 1998	Japan and South Korea 2002	Germany 2006	South Africa 2010	Brazil 2014
126	130	117	100	136

And this is all happening despite the tarnished image of FIFA & its slippery President Sepp Blatter, Luis Suarez's ever baffling behaviour & biting controversy, Nigeria & Ghana player payment issues and in Australia's case, less than exciting exclusive SBS coverage!

Whilst as usual, I have been tragically watching most matches live, due to work commitments I have not managed to blog as regularly as I would have liked to. Brazil 2014 has been one of the most exciting in recent memory & here are some of the more notable incidents of the group stage:

• In my opinion, the demise of Spain as a footballing force & the possession based tiki taka are both greatly exaggerated. No doubt del Bosque certainly made sentimental as well as tactical errors by taking his ageing team of champion players to the tournament. However, Spanish football has many young & upcoming stars who are more than capable of stepping up to the difficult task of replacing the likes of Xavi, Inesta, Caillas, Villa, Torres & a few other fading stars. Spain must remain loyal to tiki taka & simply refine the system based on a refreshed squad.

• Biggest flop of the World Cup is a coach! Lack of media focus on the failure of World Cup 2018 hosts Russia &  their pompous, arrogant, overpaid & overrated coach Fabio Capello has been also surprising! Capello failed with England in 2010 & blamed the players. Now he's utterly failed to lift Russia. At reportedly £10m p/a, comparing his results with the likes of Pinto of Costa Rica, Herrera of Mexico & Algeria's Halilhodzic who successfully eliminated Capello's Russia makes great reading & almost a story of a conman who has convinced his employers to part with 10s of millions of pounds for very little return.

• Whilst Russia have been simply awful, Ronaldo & Portugal were embarrassingly out of sorts. Reports of Ronaldo being dismissive of his teammates' capability are typical of self obsessed Ronaldo. Let's make it perfectly clear: Ronaldo's total failure to make any memorable mark on the World stage at any World Cup simply rules him out as one of the all time greatest of the game!  

• Italy on the other hand started well but faded too quickly & paid the price for abandoning their system whilst England, can take very little comfort despite relatively adventurous outings considering their worst ever World Cup result! (in 1958, they finished 3rd in their group, this time around, they finished last!).

• Messi & his adorable fans....Ooops!....I mean Messi & his adoring fans! on other hand must be very encouraged about his "Maradona" like singlehanded leadership of fast improving Argentina. Unlike Ronaldo, the humble Messi has simply compensated for his team's shortcomings but almost single handedly winning all three group matches for Argentina. Those of us who have watched many World Cups know how slow starting teams like Italy & Germany have in the past gone all the way. Argentina led by the incomparable Messi is a real threat to do the same as long as it continues to improve as a team.

• Asia & to a lesser extent Africa have been very poor at this World Cup. Slippery FIFA President may pride himself at nurturing third world footballing nations under his watch, yet the performances suggest otherwise & it appears the beautiful game is regressing in Asia & Africa. Asian teams between the four of them failed to win a single match, drew three (two at 0-0) &  lost nine whilst Africa were saved blushes by the unexpected qualification of a gallant Algeria at the expense of a hapless Russia. Nigeria only qualified after they were helped by refereeing errors.
• Colombia have fully earned their Dark Horse tag & Chile, Algeria & Mexico deserve commendation for their adventurous & daring displays.

• However, Costa Rica's achievement in topping the so called Group of  Death & in doing so eliminating Italy & England must go down as one of the greatest shocks in World Cup history.  Their achievement ranks alongside North Korea's 1-0 defeat of Italy in 1966, Algeria's shock defeat of Germany in 1982, Cameroon's 1986 magic & South Korea & Turkey's semi final appearance in 2002.

• Last but not least, Germany have performed as expected, with the minor hiccup vs Ghana whilst Holland & France have been much more impressive & entertaining than expected

• Finally, to get the white elephant out of the room, SBS coverage of the World Cup has been probably its least dynamic since 1990. SBS in my view, his its peak in 2006 with Simon Hill commentary of the Socceroos match. The football department has never recovered following the departure of Simon Hill & Andrew Orsatti. Whilst SBS are for the first time showing all 64 matches live (thanks to SBS2), the "Full Brazilian" is humourless & the nightly commentary from Rio is at best lacklustre. Les Murray & Craig Foster come across as timid & boring with their unwillingness to critically analyse the shortcomings of their personal favourites, ie the likes of Brazil & Spain. Foster's tactical knowledge aside, he was a poor co-commentator to David Bashir during Socceroos 3 matches. To make matters more obvious, FoxSports & even  ESPN's daily shows have been more entertaining & proving. 

The lethargy is all happening during Brazil 2014, at a time when SBS's exclusive coverage of FIFA World Cup (since 1990) will come to an end & Les Murray has announced his semi retirement. 

It might come as a shock to Les Murray, but he doesn't own football in Australia and whilst fans of the beautiful game appreciate his years of tireless work to promote football, the game itself does not owe Les Murray any favours either.......the timing of Les Murray's retirement is right, and Craig Foster is not the automatic choice to take over because there is no mantle left by Les Murray!

World Cup Update: Astonishing pool of talent means many stars are overlooked in Spain's final 23 man squad!

Following consecutive victories in Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 & Euro 2012, many commentators are suggesting if Spain manage to become the first European team to successfully defend their title (since Italy in 1938) & win the World Cup in South America, they will probably go down as the best football team of all time surpassing the golden generation of Brazil from 1958 to 1970.

And whilst the affable Vicente del Bosque is at pains to reduce the pressure on his squad by avoiding any such speculation, he does have an enviable task with the seemingly never-ending talent pool at his disposal!

Spain's final 23 man squad was announced as follows:

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Napoli), David De Gea (Manchester United).

Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Raul Albiol (Napoli), Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea), Juanfran (Atletico Madrid), Jordi Alba (Barcelona).

Midfielders: Xavi (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona), Santi Cazorla (Arsenal), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Javi Martinez (Bayern Munich).

Forwards: David Silva (Manchester City), Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid), Fernando Torres (Chelsea), Pedro (Barcelona), Juan Mata (Manchester United), David Villa (Atletico Madrid)

What is astonishing in this list is the number of starts who missed out on the final 23 due to injuries, not enough playing time or for tactical reasons, just to name a few ( and the clubs they play for)

Isco, Carvajal, Illaramendi & Arveloa (Real Madrid), Negrado & Navas (Manchester City) Llorente (Juventus) Thiago Alcantara (injured, Bayern Munich), Valdez (injured, Barcelona) & Soldado (Spurs)

With the unbelievable talent at his disposal, del Bosque is under pressure to repeat the success of the 2010 World Cup. The only concern is he has decided to stick with Torres & Villa based on their successful international track record for Spain rather than last season's form, and the fact that he has gambled on the fitness of Diego Costa, who lasted a mere 9 minutes in the Champions League final before he had to be substituted. So, if Villa & Torres misfire as they frequently have at club level, & Costa's fitness plays up, del Bosque & Spain may be in trouble for ignoring the likes of Llorente & Negrado.

Brazil are the overwhelming favourites to win the World Cup on home soil.

No matter which way you look at it, Brazil are the overwhelming favourites to win the World Cup for a record sixth time.

They have the talented world class players, tactical quality & the added advantage of home soil in "South America" where no European team has ever succeeded.

As my regular World Cup posts kick in from this week, here I will make some personal observations (rather than tactical) about some of the favourites & dark horses & what can potentially make or break it for them:

Brazil can & will most probably win the World Cup. In the Confederation Cup final, they comfortably beat the defending World & European Champions, potentially their strongest opponent, 3-0.

However, the high expectations as well as home crowd pressures can play against them. The ghost of the defeat in the 1950 tournament in home soil & the widespread discontent with the costs associated with staging the games mean the slightest hick up can turn things against Brazil, both psychologically & in terms of home crowd support.
However, in my personal opinion, Brazil's biggest worry is in fact their coach Scolari. Unlike most fans, I am not a big fan of "Big Phil" & believe if Brazil get in trouble, he may not have the tactical ingenuity to save them. 

Spain, the defending Champions, also have the players, the tactical ability and a brilliant coach in Del Bosue. The fact that they will not meet Brazil unless both teams reach the final is another advantage for them. The only thing against Spain is that their style of play is no longer an unknown factor (as demonstrated by their loss to Brazil, and Barcelona's decline in the last two European season). Also, there are lingering doubts in the quality of Spain's defence & who Del Bosque decides to use as central defenders & full backs.

However, a Brazil vs Spain Final is a the most probable outcome.

Germany are in one of the two very tough groups in the tournament & must be very careful not to get embarrassed at this World Cup by any of their more than capable opponents in the group stage.

They do have an enviable World Cup record to defend after all! They have reached the last 8 in every one of the last 15 World Cups, whilst making it to semi finals in 12 occasions & the final 7 times. However, the psychological barriers are disturbing! Germany lost their semi final matches to the eventual winners Italy & Spain in the last two World Cups in 2006 & 20010 respectively. They also lost out to Spain in the final of Euro 2008 & Italy in the semi final of Euro 2012.
The advantage for Germany is that the core of the players in those tournaments are at their prime in the current side & their experience may take Germany all the way.

Like Spain & Brazil, Germany have both the player quality & tactical capability to win the tournament. However, not only absence due to injuries of the likes of Gomez & Gundegan (and even Scheweinsteiger & Khedira's lack of fitness) will potentially play havoc to Germany's tactical plans, but also, Germany will probably meet Brazil in the semi finals where their suspect central defence and lack of a world class quality left full back can catch up with them & be their undoing. However, if they get through the current psychological barrier of being tagged as losing semifinalists, this time Germany win through to the final, I strongly believe they will win the Cup.

Argentina can only seriously challenge if they have learned from the lessons of World Cup 2010, where despite being entertaining, they relied too heavily on an underwhelming Messi & had major defensive shortcomings which were exploited in the 4-0 thrashing by Germany in the quarter finals. They are tactically better post manic Maradona period & will go a long way if Messi can reproduce his Barcelona magic. However, they cannot succeed if they try to use Messi for Plan B if things go wrong.

Italy, in my opinion, will go far in this year's tournament. Italy were thrashed in the Euro 2012 Final by Spain following their surprise 2-1 semi final win vs Germany in Euro 2012. Following that loss, they have been continuously overlooked by the media as a major contender. Since then however, Prandelli has done a magnificent job of refining the team tactically. They have massive World Cup winning (2006) experience in defence supporting the evergreen Buffon in goal, whilst another evergreen master, Pirlo, is still at the top of his game & can dictate & turn most sticky situations t Italy's favour.This year however, Italy also have a very potent attacking line up in the unpredictable Balotelli but also the likes of hugely dangerous & talented Immobile, Cerci & Insigne. This is why they must be considered one of the favourites.

England & Holland on the other hand, in my opinions will potentially fail to get past the group stage.

Holland are a very inexperienced albeit talented side which as entertaining as they may be, simply do not have the player experience at this level & are in danger of losing their spot to an impressive & dangerous Chile who will undoubtedly cause a headache or two for Spain as well. Whilst Van Gaal is a master of getting the best out of young talent, the experienced players in his squad who are on top of their game are only a handful. With the news this week of Van der Vaart injury blow Holland's prospects have got even worse. Even if Holland make it out of the group stage, they will most probably face Brazil, and unlike 2010 when they beat Brazil, this Holland team is not experienced enough to cause a huge upset this time around against the tournament favourites.

England have also finally started to produce some real quality young talent again. The likes of Shaw, Barcley, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wilshere, Sturridge have the potential to shine at the world stage this year & make an impact.
However, England are in a very tough group (group of death) & must overcome Italy & Uruguay to go further. The British media's unhealthy obsession with their domestic league (EPL) as usual does not help either as it makes the English myopic. At the same time, whilst Roy Hodgeson is an excellent manager & much more suited to the job than Capello ever was, his capacity to guide a team to the world summit must be questioned.
I don't believe England can finish first in their group. However, if they manage to finish second, they will meet a hugely talented Colombia side which will probably beat them in the next round.

France meanwhile, will get through their easy group as well as round of 16th before coming unstuck at the quarter finals when their tournament will end. All that the French public are hoping for is a united team of talented players to make up for the farcical embarrassment of World Cup 2010 group stage elimination.

As for the teams with lower profiles, Colombia, Uruguay & Chile are all capable of causing huge upsets this year. Not only all three teams are tactically superb, their players will find playing in South America easier than most of their European counterparts.

Chile have only built on Bielsa's great work & their unlucky elimination in the last World Cup & if anything are even more entertaining & dangerous this year. I predict they will go through at the expense of Holland this year....and then in the elimination rounds anything is possible.

Uruguay are not doubt sweating on the fitness of their star player Luis Suarez. They have the quality to pip both Italy & England to the post in the Group of Death & have the memories of their famous World Cup triumph of 1950 in Brazil to carry them psychologically.

Columbia, like Uruguay, are also praying to have their undisputed start Falcao fit just in time for the games (although after a lengthy absence due to injury). However, there are several other talented players in the side that can carry them in Falcao's absence. Whilst it appears they may have an easy group on paper, they are in fact in a tough group as matches vs Ivory Coast & Japan will be anything but easy. However, it is in the round of 16 that Columbia's world cup plans may unravel, when they will meet one of the trio of England/Italy/Uruguay from Group D

Amongst the remaining European teams, Belgium offer the best of the rest. They have a young talented side with several stars playing across Europe's top leagues & in Champions League. They are also in a reasonably easy group on paper. However, in the round of 16, they will potentially meet Germany & Portugal. This is where their palyers' lack of World Cup experience can potentially work against them. nevertheless, this Belgium side will be a force for the next few years.

And how about the so called minnows of the game? 

There is no doubt that Australia's Socceroos have been incredibly unlucky in drawing the 2010 World Cup finalists Spain & Holland, as well as one of the dark horses of the tournament Chile. Hopefully, the Socceroos will use Brazil to prepare for Asian Championships which are held in Australia in January 2015.

As for the rest, Japan & Ivory Coast have many talented players but are unfortunately drawn in the same group! Boznia-Hertegovina on the other hand, can potentially overcome Nigeria & Iran & make it to the knockout stage in their first ever World Cup as an independent state.

The most watched event in the history begins on June 13th. All matches are live & exclusive to SBS. No doubt we will witness the full spectrum of sporting drama, good, great, not so good & ugly.......from heartache to bad luck, to time wasting, poor refereeing decisions to player cheating. No matter what THE WORLD GAME will once again entertain, enrage & thrill the fans all over the world!

To paraphrase the words of the legendary Liverpool Manager Bill Shankly: ..."...to the fans......football is not about life & death! It's much more important than that!"

Bring it on!

Euro 2012 Champions Spain take their deserved place in history & find their goal scoring touch in demolishing a gallant Italian side in the final

At last, relief for all purist football fans! WE can all once again love & admire Spain! They deservedly retained their European title by finally showcasing their rampant goal scoring touch against a gallant Italian side which themselves brought so much to the tournament.

Spain can now deservedly be considered one of the greatest teams of all time. The only mild criticism of this Spanish side in Euro 2012 was their lack of goals. They silenced their critics with their rampant 4-0 win in the final. With David Villa coming back from injury & Fernando Torres finding his goal scoring touch again, and new talent such as JORDI ALBA (in my opinion, the player of the tournament) coming through the youth system, this team can continue to win more trophies in the years to come.


And Spain's dominance once again highlighted the fact that Barcelona & Real Madrid can only be dealt with by other clubs in Europe in a 2 leg home & away format). Spain (& Real & Barcelona) can be absolutely ruthless when it counts, as evident by the final of Euro 2012.


The powerhouses of South American football better watch out! No European team has ever won the World Cup when staged in South America. But Euro 2012 proved European football, at least in the mainland, has never had it better & is in great shape.

Spain have been & are a delight to watch. As their tactically difficult passing possession game was about to turn the fans away, they turned their guns on & in a rampant performance reminded the fans what they are capable of by retaining their crown.

Italy & Germany, the professional tournament teams once again went far, but this time both teams entertained & scored delightful goals. Whilst this has been Germany's trademark for a while, Italy surprised most pundits, including me, with their attractive attacking & tactically sophisticated football, spearheaded by the rejuvenated Andrea Pirlo.

The young German side , having reached their 4th consecutive semi final in major tournaments & set a world record 15 consecutive competitive wins, made defensive as well as tactical errors against Italy.
However, their major weakness exposed vs Italy was lack of a true leader that can rally players when the chips are down. Ballack & Kahn were the last true leaders. A role that eg Pirlo perform so effectively for Italy. Both Lahm & Schweinsteiger have proven less than effective as motivating leaders both at Bayern Munich (eg vs Chelsea at CL final) & when playing for Germany. That was the undoing of the side. The legendary come back from behind Germany mentality as a result tends to be missing in the big occasions these days mainly because Germany tend to lack the inspirational leadership to rally them when they fall behind in big games. (although coming back from behind vs Italy or Spain is a tall order for any team)

Portugal were also great to watch & unlucky at times but impressed. France & Holland demonstrated they will be highly competitive & should do well in Brazil in 2014. Even the likes of Greece, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine & Croatia showed plenty of flair & promise.

But Spain, with its star studded side, technical superiority of leaders such as Xavi, Iniesta & Alonso, and with its highly complex tactical approach proved itself to be miles ahead of the rest, and one of the greatest teams in a once in a life time era of football for Spanish football.


As for the player of the tournament, in my view the choice is clear: Jordi Alba (Andreas Iniesta was officially chosen the player of Euro2012 but Iniesta & Xavi are legendary figures & in my view two of the greatest players of all time)


Alba, the Valencia left back had a great game in every match & capped off his tournament by scoring the brilliant second goal in the final, and by signing for Barcelona)

Over all in many ways Euro 2012 will go down as one of the greatest football tournaments of the modern era for a variety of reasons:


Ukraine & Poland organised a great tournament
Tactically the football was great
Only two matches ended scoreless
There were almost no controversial decisions based on play acting/diving etc
The final produced 4 goals (equal highest with the 1976 final) after the last two finals had ended 1-0


And in Spain, the tournament earmarked one, if not the greatest national football team of all time, a team that silenced its critics by showcasing its technical & tactical superiority when it counted the most, in the final!

European powerhouses storm into semi finals....as expected, whilst England flopped badly, also as expected!

Spain, Portugal, Germany & Italy have reached the semi finals of Euro 2012....as expected.
The only surprise flop & potential other team would have been Holland...and there were no surprises in one of the worst every England teams of all time being a major flop vs Italy in the quarter finals!

As predicted at the time the draw was made, Group A was too light to have any potential semi finalists. On the other hand Group B was deemed the "Group of Death" & 2 teams, Portugal & Germany from this group have rightfully earned their place in the semi finals. Spain were expected to be there & Italy have surprised everyone with their skilful approach & are now the dark horse of the tournament.

Andrea Pirlo, like old wine has had a renaissance year. Having led Juventus undefeated to Serie A title in Italy in a year many predicted his demise into eventual retirement, masterfully is leading Italy's charge towards the Euro 2012 title. Italy may have only won on penalties vs England, but the close result was by no means indicative of the huge gap between the teams.

By the way, if you have not seen Pirlo's silky smooth penalty vs England, watch it on youTube here. It's one of the most skilful penalties of all time, under the intense pressure of a penalty shoot out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcGU_gUH1F0

France on the other hand were never expected to go beyond the quarter finals & like Holland seem to continue to struggle with internal strife due to uncontrolled egos.

And as for those perennial underachievers England, well, potentially had their worst ever team in a tournament in living memory & played one of their worst ever matches vs Italy with unbelievably negative statistics heavily against them in terms of possession, shots on target & completed passes etc.

Hastily appointed coach Roy Hodgson had obviously read too much into the lucky ways of the negative defensive & boring CHELSEA, who totally undeservedly & through shear luck had got past the silky ways of Messi & Barcelona on the way to beating an unlucky Bayern Munich side in the final of the Champions League weeks earlier.

If Chelsea's win was a win for "anti football & money", England's elimination was a positive gain for football. England were once again lamenting their bad luck in penalty shootouts. From memory they have got eliminated on penalties in six major tournaments in 1990, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006 & now in 2012 (don'y quote me on exact years as I may be wrong).

But the question the English press never asks is this: "Why England are incapable of winning matches in normal time in tournaments? Most other teams have been involved in one or two or at most three shoot outs during the last 22 years, England have had in six!!. 


In my view the reason for this is because the English teams are not tournament teams!" In fact I would go as far as saying the Rugby codes culture of friendly "test matches" style is engraved in the England football team as well! Win a match here lose one next playing the same teams over & over & over again as it boringly happens in rugby codes is alien to the world of tournament heavy football where there are 206 national team members & teams like Italy, Germany & Brazil thrive in.

Now to the semi final pairings:

Both matches are simply too close to call and it is even more difficult to predict the scores.

Spain are the more likely winner out of the battle with Portugal.

The problem with Portugal is that they rely too much on Ronaldo as a match winner, and if Ronaldo misfires as he did in the first match vs Germany Spain have enough to pounce & win the match. Spain know the Real Madrid  trio of Ronaldo, Pepe & Coentrao (as the trio do the Spanish players) & how they operate.
Overall, Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta & co are good enough to neutralise Ronaldo & win the match, and we all know the only & only criticism of this highly tactically & technically gifted Spanish team is their overwhelming tendency to win crucial matches 1-0 (as they did in their way to winning the World Cup in 2010). The trick is to stop Ronaldo, and if any team can do that, it's a Spanish side full of players who are used to playing with or against Ronaldo.

On the other hand, amazingly Germany have never managed to eliminate Italy in knockout stages of World Cup or European Championships! Their last such encounter was the WC 2006 semi final in Germany. Italy won 2-0 after extra time, as the match was about to head for penalty shootouts.

The two power houses' encounters have however always been close & tactically fascinating. This time, if this young & exciting German side are to break the jinx, they must mark the amazing Pirlo out of the game. In order to do so, Schweinsteiger must be at his best in the middle of the park. Against Greece, he was clumsy & obviously less than 100% fit. Nevertheless, this time around Germany have the depth in their bench not only to beat Italy, but also to go all out and avenge their Euro 2006 & World Cup 2010 losses to Spain.

As an astute witty friend of mine cheekily said the other day (thanks Tim, with your kind permission):
"It is Germany's duty to continue to cut a swathe through the debt ridden countries of Europe.  Having done away with the wasteful greeks, they can now see off the diving Italianos this week and then the best of the Iberian peninsula". 
(no offence to the suffering masses in those countries whilst the mining boom in Australia enriches the few lucky ones!)


My tip for the final: Spain 1 Germany 2

Euro 2012 firing up as quarter finals get under way & promise potential mouth watering semi final clashes

The best news out of the group round of Euro 2012 was an unusual statistic for football. For the first time in living memory, there were no 0-0 draws in the entire group phase matches!

OK! now that I got rid of the football sceptics reading my blog, let's talk about the flops, dark horses & favourites: :)

Flop of the tournament:

Major: Holland: How long will the Dutch blame clash of egos & lack of team spirit for their frequent tournament failures? They were arrogant, tactically naive, out of form & as usual  divided. There are major question marks over this team & even during their qualifying campaign they produced several questionable narrow wins.

Minor: Poland: For the first time since finishing third, Poland had a talented crop of young players starring in teams such as Dortmund & Arsenal. Whilst they were never favourites to go all the way, many, including me expected them to reach the quarter finals. I believe they paid for their lack of competitive matches (due to hosting rights). However, they will probably qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

Overachievers: Czech Republic & Greece. In Group A, considered the only weak group in the tournament, Russia & Poland were overwhelming favourites to go through. Czech Republic, whilst a force in Euro competitions with a great history, are in transition & started the tournament with a moral sapping 4-1 defeat to Russia. But they ended up topping the group. On the other hand, the Greeks with all their economic problems had to beat Russia in their final match in order to go through & they did.

England have also quietly overachieved. having only installed their coach just before the tournament, and with injuries to Lampard & Cahill & Rooney's suspension for the first two games, one would have expected them to flop yet again. But for once, with no pressure on their shoulders, they have performed well.

The favourites however, are still the defending Champions Spain.

Spain vs France: Spain will have a difficult encounter with France in the quarter finals. France can & probably will cause Spain some grief but not if they repeat their inept display vs Sweden, who by the way in my view were unlucky in all three games overall.

Spain & Germany have a competitive advantage vs the other teams, and that is the depth & quality of their bench. France on the other hand, have just lost their first match in 20 outings & are again displaying the signs of the old powerful team we got to know & admire.

As Chelsea (and Croatia) have proved in recent times, there are nevertheless tactics that can stifle the silky smooth passing games of teams such as Spain, Barcelona & Bayern. However, in doing so, you need opportunistic players of highest calibre who are capable of scoring from the odd chance or mistake they are presented with. Otherwise Spain will make you pay & eventually find a way to score, as they did in their narrow 1-0 final wins in both Euro 2008 & World Cup 2010 vs Germany & Holland respectively.

Portugal vs Czech Republic: A once again confident & free scoring Ronaldo will lead his resurgent Portugal side over the overachieving Czech side.

Semi Final tip: Spain vs Portugal

Germany vs Greece: Germany, the only team to go through to quarter finals on maximum points must improve if they are to beat the likes of Italy, England, France or Spain to win their first major tournament since Euro 1996.

They will have 7 or 8 Bayern players in their starting line up again. And Greece can make Germany suffer if the encounter turns out to be like Bayern vs Chelsea or Barcelona vs Chelsea, ie passing possession patient game of Germany vs all out defending & counter attacks of Greece. The Greeks have proven themselves to be hard to score against, & Germany (and Bayern for that mater) have at times found it difficult to break down the type of defensive walls which even Messi found hard to break down vs Chelsea.

Therefore, in order to beat Greece, Germany need a much faster attacking & less cautious approach than they have displayed so far. ie more of the first half vs Holland.

And on a minor political point, it's just been announced the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the most disliked European politician in Greece for her hard stance on financial bail out of Greece, will be attending to watch the match!

Italy vs England: I was confident before the tournament these two giants of world football were both destined to fail at Euro 2012. Both, in particular Italy have surprised many with their results & displays to the point that I now consider Italy the dark horse of the tournament.


On the other hand, I am yet to be impressed by England & can't see them getting past the likes of Italy, Germany or Spain. I think whilst Gerard has stabilised the midfield, England's defensive vulnerabilities have yet to be tested & whilst Rooney is back & has already scored, their forwards will find it extremely hard to break down the up to now impressive Italian defence, even though Italy currently have major injury worries.

Semi Final tip: Italy vs Germany

And the verdict for the final? It is too early to predict the semi final pairing as both luck & tactics will play a major role in the outcome of the quarter as well as semi finals.

And then there's the boggy team phenomenon! And in case of Germany, their boggy team is & will always be Italy! Just to name a few matches, Italy have always seem to outdo Germany where it counts! Just to name a few:

Italy famously beat Germany 4-3 in extra time in one of the greatest WC games of all time, in the 1970 WC semi final. They beat Germany convincingly in the 1982 WC final and most recently, Italy beat Germany in the WC 2006 semi final on the way to winning the World Cup!

Having shared with you that little piece of trivia, a Germany vs Spain, in my view will once again pair the two best & most exciting football nations in Europe against each other & in their respective top club sides representing the majority of the starting 11 in both sides, ie Barcelona & Real Madrid in Spain & Bayern Munich in Germany, they have the most attacking & free scoring club sides in Europe.

And surely after losing the Euro 2008 final & the WC 2010 semi final to Spain, both 1-0, Germany's time has arrived?

The opening day of Euro 2012 full of drama, excitement & goals...and thankfully no racism!

As expected, Poland put up a great show to open Euro 2012, both in the Opening Ceremony & the opening match of the tournament against Greece.

For the information of the more casual football fans, after the Football World Cup & the Olympics, European Championships reportedly attract the third highest overall sports viewing audience around the world. (although the Indian Cricket League IPL is also very popular these days)

Group A, dubbed the real Group of Death, not for its tough competition but for lack of excitement compared, produced two drama filled matches in the opening day:

Poland controlled Greece in the first half & a Greek defender was harshly sent off. Then in the second half, Greece demonstrated their resilience & if it was not for a penalty miss they could have won the game.
In the other match, as expected Russia crushed a young & transitional Czech Republic side 4-1. The scoreline could have been much worse if not for Russia's wastefulness.

The two matches only confirm my belief further that Russia & Poland are favourites to go through to the quarter finals from Group A

And most importantly there were no sign of the ugly "Football Racism" around. Let's hope that trend continues.

Tomorrow morning the opening matches in arguably the toughest Group in the tournament will be played. Three of the four teams in the group are former winners & Portugal were finalists in 2004.

The problem with this group is that each team needs to get a draw or a win from every match as there are no so called easy matches in this group.

Holland in my view are favourites to top the group & should win their opening match against Denmark reasonably comfortably. With impressive goal scorers such as Huntelaar, Van Persie, Robben & Snjeider at their disposal, Holland are a better team than they were in the World Cup in 2010 when they narrowly lost to Spain.

Germany on the other hand have surprisingly misfired in the last few weeks having conceded 5 goals to Switzerland albeit fielding a much weakened side. Then there is also the daily question in the media & press conferences about whether their 8 Bayern stars have psychologically recovered from their heartbreaking loss to Chelsea in the Champions League final.(all of whom could potentially start against Portugal)

Having said that, I have followed Germany through every single World Cup & European Championship since 1974. They are the tournament team! Die Mannschaft get better & do not hit form too early (Italy are another great example of this, whilst some of the best Brazilian teams of all time were the opposite)

I believe whilst Germany continue to have difficulty with their two central defence positions, they now, for the first time since 1996 possess enough quality players to be considered potential winners. They also have for the first time since they won the 1990 World Cup have enough talent on the bench to change tactics & salvage matches if they fall behind & in players such as Neuer, Lahm, Ozil, Kroos, Schweinsteiger, Goetze, Klose, Podolski & co Germany are once again belong to the cream of world football but need to crown the potential by winning the tournament. (they have reached the semi finals of the last two world Cups & were the finalist in Euro 2008 losing to Spain)

Portugal on the other hand will have to rely too heavily on Ronaldo especially if as reported Nani does not start against Germany. Ronaldo, like Messi is yet to reproduce his club form on the world stage. Their achilles tendon which Germany will target will be Fabio Coentrao who had an awful time playing against Bayern this year for his Club side Real Madrid.

On Monday, the defending Champions & favourites Spain will open their account vs Ireland in a tough Group C contest. I believe Chelsea's tactics vs Barcelona & Bayern Munchen in the Champions League have exposed Spain's weaknesses. With Torres's form still in question & David Villa's long term injury, Spain's attack may be too blunt to deal with a defensive Irish approach. And absence of the ever reliable Carlos Puyol adds to Spain's defensive worries.
Nevertheless, Spain should ultimately account for the Irish & also top the group.

I rate this Italian side as lowly as many including myself rated the woeful French side in the World Cup 2010. To top it all, Italian football is once again (surprise surprise) in the midst of yet another match fixing scandal. Croatia on the other hand, are & have always been a football production line! Whilst they are also going through a mini transitional period, their coach in my view is still one of the most tactically gifted coaches in Europe. Despite the huge loss of Olic to injury last week, I predict Crotia will beat Italy & will go through to the QF alongside Spain.

On Tuesday, the ever disappointing England open their account in Group D. France have now remained unbeaten in 18 matches under the likable former Captain Blanc & should be considered one of the dark horses of the tournament.

This is perhaps the hardest group to predict. I still believe Frank Lampard is the heart & soul of the England team. In his absence, and with Rooney being suspended for the first two group matches, alongside the foolish decision by Hodgson not to recall Rio Ferdinand after Gary Cahill was forced to pull out, England have problems in both defence & attack & the Swede attack led by an in form Zaltan Ibrahimovic can potentially signal the end of England's campaign after the first round.

I predict France & Sweden (or Ukraine with home support) to go through to the quarter finals.

I will be posting regular blogs during the tournament.

Spain are favourites to retain their crown at Euro 2012

Euro 2012 is only a week away. Considering the economic & political upheaval in Europe, this tournament & the London 2012 Olympics are necessary distractions for those millions of people affected by the financial crisis in Europe.

Most teams are fine tuning their tactics in friendlies at the moment in anticipation of the opening match On Saturday 9th June.

It is generally acknowledged that the European Championships are the most competitive & difficult football tournament in the World. In fact outside Brazil & Argentina, the tournament usually features the best footballing nations in the world. For example, six of the seven teams reaching the final four of the last two World Cups feature in Euro 2012 (the 7th being Uruguay with Germany featuring in both semi finals). sadly however, the next European Championships in France in 2016 will be extended to 24 teams. This is a purely commercial decision & will undoubtedly reduce the quality of the event as a whole.


In my view, and most other commentators & fans, Spain, the defending European & World Cup winners are again the clear favourites this year. With the exception of the absence of the injured David Villa & the influential Barcelona Captain Puyol, Spain have a near full strength team based on the stars of Barcelona & Real Madrid & supplemented by the talents from Atletico Madrid, Valencia & Athletic Bilbao. If Fernando Torres continues to improve his form as he has during May, Spain may very well will the title again. However, if Torres misfires as he has for most of the past two years, then, in the absence of the free scoring David Villa, Spain will struggle.

After Spain, the young, attacking & skillful Germany & the ever scoring Holland are the other favourites with the 19 game undefeated France as an outside chance. Two major issues for favourites Germany are:
a) Poor recent form of their only two out & out strikers Gomez & Klose
b) Whether the shattering psychological impact of Bayern's loss to Chelsea has a lasting effect in the minds of the 8 Bayern players in the squad, considering that as many as all 8 are potential starters in any of the three group stage matches.

I believe England, without the injured Lampard & the suspended Rooney (for the first two group matches) & their newly assigned coach will once again disappoint whilst Italy are still in transition & the latest corruption allegations will not help them. Both Italy & England will have problems scoring goals

And the likes of Portugal, Croatia, Russia will be the usual difficult opponents for the so called favourites whilst out of the two co-hosts Poland have more potential to reach the quarter or semi finals.

My predictions for the quarter finals, not in any particular order:

Group A: Russia & Poland
Group B: Germany & Holland
Group C: Spain & Croatia
Group D: France & Sweden (or Ukraine with home support)

Euro 2012 Finals promise plenty of drama & thrills!

The draw for the next European Championships which will be held in mid 2012 in Poland & Ukraine was made in late 2011. The competition remains very popular & is widely acknowledged as the third most watched event in the world (after FIFA World Cup & the Olympics). As a result it will be expanded to 24 teams from 2016. In my view this is a silly money grabbing idea even though UEFA currently has 53 members!

Due to the fact that both co hosts were seeded, the group stage draw produced very uneven groupings with two groups being as groups of death. Poland & Ukraine would have both been in pot 3 (or even 4) normally, but due to hosting rights were elevated to the seeded pot 1 condemning many more competitive teams to pots 2 & 3 as a result!

Here are my predictions for the tournament: Spain & Germany are clear favourites to win the tournament, and they were the finalists in the 2008 competition. Holland & England are also strong & Italy may also pose a threat.

Spain will face Italy in the group stage & in Ireland & Croatia have very difficult opponents. I do believe both Croatia & Ireland are capable of surprising Italy into second place. In case of Ireland their wily Italian coach Trapattoni, knows all about Italian football & how to beat them!

Germany are once again drawn in arguably the toughest group in the tournament & in drawing Holland, Denmark & Portugal will have a tough task to qualify. But if Germany manage to continue to perform at the level they have been performing since the 2010 World Cup, they have the potential to win both Euro 2012 and World Cup 2014. On the other hand, I believe Holland will be too strong for Portugal & Denmark to qualify ahead of them.

Neither England nor France impress me! I find England's coach Capello pompous & out of touch & hope Sweden or Ukraine can at least knock one of these two teams out! England will be in trouble if they do not get a central defence pairing right, with injuries & aging legs of the likes of King, Terry & Ferdinand making them questionable defensively, AND will not be able to use Wayne Rooney for the first two matches in the tournament due to suspension, which was reduced from 3 to 2. On the other hand, France continue to show any sign of life & remain uninspiring.

In the easiest group of the tournament Poland & Russia are favourites to qualify for the knockout quarter final round but I can not see either team go beyond that!

I will be writing regular blogs during the tournament & will continue my predictions as the competition progresses! So please visit my page regularly!

South Africa should be very proud of hosting a wonderful tournament & Spain are worthy World Champions

Spain have cemented their place as the best as well as most entertaining footballing nation in the world.

They are the new football kings of the world & their team sheet reads like the "who is who" of the football world, a team of champion players playing beautiful football in a champion team

They won a spiteful final match this morning against a Dutch team which played very ugly at times but should nevertheless be commanded for trying to neutralise Spain's attractive & attacking style.

South Africa & her people should also be very proud of staging such a wonderful tournament & largely the sceptics (including myself) wrong.

Other accolades go to New Zealand for its gutsy & impressive effort, & to Germany & Argentina for playing the game in its right spirit & scoring plenty of goals (as opposed to Spain who played beautifully but were unable to capitalise on their superiority most of the time & scored a mere 8 goals, one of the lowest for a World Cup winning side).

Whilst many expected France to disappoint, having only qualified by "the hand of Henry", & considered the defending Champions Italy over the hill & out of sorts, most were surprised by the poor results of England in particular, and Portugal & Brazil to a lesser extent.

And then there was the one & only worldwide superstar of the World Cup,"Paul the Octopus"! He managed to correctly pick all of Germany's 5 wins & 2 defeats plus Spain's win in the final & in the process became a superstar. How I wish he had picked Germany to beat Spain in the semi finals!
As for me personally, this has been a great World Cup despite my beloved Socceroos poor start to the tournament & their subsequent early elimination & my life long idols Germany not reaching the final.

I thoroughly enjoyed all the kind remarks & show of support & encouragement from all of you who were following my blog. A special mention also goes to Deborah Cameron & Jennifer Lacey at ABC 702 Sydney morning show (radio station) for their enthusiasm & support.

To top it all, I even managed to inadvertently get under the skin of a rather cranky Les Murray of SBS TV, who this morning sent me a less than complimentary email belittling me for merely suggesting that despite Spain's attractive way of playing, their multiple 1-0 victories & lack of goals were not a great way to promote the beautiful game to the casual non core supporters! I hope most of you agree with my point.

I must however emphasise that SBS once again provided Australia with a world class presentation & in fact managed to show all 64 games live. We are very lucky in Australia to have such a dedicated team at SBS.

On a final note, as exciting as the annual club competitions such as the Champions League & some of the European and other leagues are, they will never be able to fully replace the World Cup as the premier football (& indeed sporting) event in the world stage. Only European Championships come close & that is because it is similar to a mini world cup!

My blog will recommence at the beginning of the European season in late August. I hope you can join me from time to time!

Viva Espana! Congratulations to Spain & its supporters for playing wonderfully entertaining football on their way to winning the World Cup. They are worthy winners & will be hard to catch in the coming years.

Spain are the best team in the world of football but will they be crowned the World Champions?

The World Cup final on Sunday will feature some of the greatest footballers around the world. Footballers whose records outshine superstars such as Ronaldo, Rooney & the stars of France & Italy who usually get all the media attention but who faded away in this World Cup.

It is broadly acknowledged that the pillars of the success of the great Barcelona side of the last few years led by Lionel Messi are in fact Inesta, Xavi (above first & second from right) & their inspirational Captain Carlos Puyol ,whose goal took Spain to the final of the World Cup.
In Casillas Spain arguably have the best goalkeeper in the world & in David Villa (no 7 above) the striker with the best average goal scoring record in the world. Add to this players such as Piquet & Sergio Ramos, & Pedro who replaced the out of form Torres against Germany & it is easy to see why Spain are such a great side. Even their lesser known players like the no 11 (above) Capdevila of Villarreal have ended up being amongst the stars of the tournament.

It is difficult not to admire Spain & the way they play. They are simply irresistible to watch & play football they way the beautiful game is meant to be played. Commentators, players, coaches, journalists & past great players are all tipping Spain to win the final on Sunday. Even Johan Cruyff, the Captain of the legendary 1974 Holland team credited for creating the concept of total football believes this great Spanish side (& no doubt they are great to watch) will be crowned World Champions on Sunday.

Nevertheless, despite all the well deserved accolades & all the media hype I believe Holland will be crowned Champions on Sunday!

Whilst Spain are superior in tactical & technical terms & have better individual players overall, most media commentators are ignoring the main worrying signs in the Spanish side & idealistically concentrating on the attractive way they play. Yes! Spain have been one of the more attractive teams of the tournament to watch, but they can not be given so much compliment when they have only crawled their way into the final by three hard fought 1-0 results, a 1-0 loss to Switzerland & only above average performances against Chile & Honduras! This is despite the fact that Germany & in particular Italy have in the past won the World Cup despite mediocre performances on the way to winning the Cup.

Nevertheless, my main reason for suggesting that Netherlands will win the final lies in the great performances of the players in the above photo (photo from Euro 2008). Wesley Sneijder & the fit again Arjen Robben have been underestimated by everyone to their benefit!

For the first time in many years (including Gus Hiddink's Holland side of the 1998 World Cup) Bert Marwijk has managed to instill a great team spirit in the notoriously fickle & egotistic Dutch camp, and a team which achieves much more than the sum of its individual players suggests on paper. ie Here's my point:

Spain as a team have produced much less than the sum of their brilliant players on paper would suggest whilst Holland, led by the magnificent four ie Sneijder, Robben, Van Bommel & Van Bronkhorst have prodced much more than their individual players would suggest.

My other reason to believe Holland can win the final is the fact that 7 of their players have scored in this World Cup whilst Spain have been wasteful, missed many goal scoring opportunities & only 3 of their star studded players have scored their miserly 7 goals in six matches. Whilst many commentators have pointed to at times some less than impressive periods by Holland against Uruguay, they have ignored the fact that they have proven they can score goals & come back from behind, whilst Spain have been struggling to score & lost the one match they fell behind as a result of their inability to score.

So my prediction is we can expect an exciting & tactically enticing world class final, perhaps the best since the 1986 final between Germany & Madonna & Argentina, with Holland to win 2-1.

As for the third place play off which is becoming more & more of a prestigious match, I would like to see Germany to cap off a great World Cup with a big margin win, and for Klose to become World Cup's all time highest goal scorer! That's the least Bastina Schweinsteiger, Philip Lahm (above) & the exciting brave German side deserve after their great displays in becoming the first team since the legendary Brazil side of 1970 to score 4 goals in three World Cup matches.

World Cup semi finals: a showcase of contrasting styles & football cultures & a historic opportunity for European teams to shine

The World Cup's knockout phase has provided plenty of drama, excitement, goals & classic footballing moments & now we are in the final phase of the tournament with only 3 crucial matches plus the third place playoff left to consider.

Having started with correctly predicting only 12 of the 16 teams which qualified for the knockout stage, I managed to predict 7 of the 8 winners & all 4 of the quarter final winners correctly.

A special mention at this stage of the tournament must go to the black stars of Ghana. They preserved the pride of African football with their entertaining displays & in the process proved me wrong in the first knockout phase & were then desperately unlucky not to qualify for the semi finals.

Many of my "non football" friends have commented on Uruguay's Suarez & his handball which earned him a red card but ultimately resulted in the heartbreaking elimination of Ghana. What Suarez did was simple: a heroic sacrifice for his country & an awful act in the eyes of his opponents & many fans. It must however not be judged as a cynical act as he did it as a mixture of reflex reaction, instinct & desperation.

Now to my prediction for the semi finals:

Uruguay vs Netherlands: Whilst my dream final is the repeat of the 1974 final between Germany & Holland, if Suarez was not suspended & the fitness of Uruguay's influential Captain Diego Lugano (familiar to the die hard Socceroos fans) was not in question, I would have tipped Uruguay to potentially beat Netherlands. However, like Argentina & Brazil in the last round, Uruguay have had reasonably easy run thus far & are yet to prove themselves against a world class opponent. On the other hand, holland have won all their games so far & have not lost for more than 24 internationals. All of these factors, & taking into account the magical display of Arjen Robben against Brazil, I tip Holland to narrowly beat Uruguay & make it to their third World Cup final.

Germany vs Spain: The ever insightful SBS football commentator Craig Foster summed it up about Germany when he said "Germany have become lovable & are great to watch!"

As the sign above suggests, Germany are the first team since the legendary World Cup winning Brazil team of 1970 that have managed to score 4 goals in at least 3 World Cup matches. Their young guns are fearless & energetic & in Bastian Schweinsteiger have the "Player of the Tournament" so far. Although both sides are playing down the comparisons to Spain's 1-0 win in the final of Euro 2008, Germany will avenge that defeat & make it to the final.

If Holland win their match & the final becomes an all European affair, a European team will win the World Cup for the first time in Southern Hemisphere/Central America. Regardless of the final outcome of the two semi finals, we are set for two exciting & thrilling football matches with 4 teams with different styles & tactical approaches. The first semi final will be a matter of trying not to lose, whilst Spain & Germany will be aiming to win in their clash.

An overview of the group matches in South Africa 2010 & the knockout stage. Let's hope for more excitement & goals than we have got so far!

Thank you Argentina, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain & co. Not just because of your fans! But also for keeping the faint flame of exciting football in the group stages alive & for playing attacking football & trying hard to score lots of goals! Argentina's 7 goals & 30 shots on target made them the only team that averaged more than 2 goals per game & scored in all three group matches (Portugal also scored 7 goals but had two 0-0 draws & a 7-0 win against the hapless North Korea)

Only a handful of other so called footballing giants managed to show glimpses of brilliance in their group stage matches. Brazil, Portugal, Germany (against Australia), Spain, Holland & Uruguay played exciting attacking football at times but not with the consistency of Argentina. On the other hand, the 2006 finalists France & Italy were bitterly disappointing & England have looked lethargic & at times tactically lost!

This has made this World Cup, the tournament for the underdogs to a great extent. Whilst African teams largely disappointed by underachieving overall & only Ghana qualifying, the so called minnows of the rest of the world put up a brave fight & at times even thrilled with their overachievement.

Special mention should go to New Zealand for their brave unbeaten effort & Slovakia for defeating Italy & earning qualification in the process. Their group was meant to be a walk in the park for the reigning champions Italy. Instead the brave effort of New Zealand & Slovakia earned Italy the embarrassing wooden spoon in the group.

Some of the more seasoned but lower ranked World Cup campaigners such as USA, Japan, South Korea, Chile, Mexico & Paraguay also qualified with distinction whilst the likes of Australia's Socceroos, South Africa & Ivory Coast left the tournament with their heads high

As a result, so far South Africa 2010 a group stage that has produced the lowest average goals per match & many defensive & rather dull matches as weaker teams attempt to counter the "in Vogue" 4-2-3-1 style of most attacking teams.

Whilst this system can producing exciting attacking football, it is also very effective in protecting a lead once a team scores & can therefore produce overly defensive matches.

regardless of tactics, a major feature of South Africa 2010 was the European teams' poor 7 at times lethargic displays. The South Americans meanwhile have been comfortably impressive. 7 of the 13 European qualifiers, including Italy & France got eliminated.
This will undoubtedly raise calls for a reduction in Europe's quota again, specially as 4 of the 5 South American teams topped their groups & the Oceania Champions New Zealand finished ahead of the World Champions Italy.

It is well known that European teams have never won the World Cup when it has been held in the Southern Hemisphere or Central America & this year has so far been no exception. The knockout stage has produced more difficult passage for the qualifiers in the bottom half of the draw with heavyweights Germany, England, Spain, Portugal & the favourites Argentina all in that section of the draw. Europe's misery is compounded by the fact that its remaining 6 teams have been paired against each other guaranteeing Europe a mere 3 teams in the quarter finals as opposed to 6 in Germany 2006.

Here are my predictions:

Uruguay will get the better of the brave South Korea. This is the first time in many years that Uruguay have produced attractive & attacking football.

USA have been very entertaining & their die hard attitude should eliminate Africa's last remaining representative Ghana. Ghana, whilst fast on the wings, are careless in front of the goal & were lucky to draw with the 10 man Socceroos & only qualified on goal difference.

Holland will have Robben back & will account for Slovakia. Slovakia, in their first World Cup as an independent nation rewrote the history books by gallantly eliminating the reigning champions Italy & should therefore be very proud of their achievement.

Brazil would undoubtedly have preferred to face a non South American team & must be worried about the fearless Chilean side. Chile is coached by the Argentine Marcelo Bielsa, one of the most attack minded coaches in the World. He has instilled self confidence in his young side & as they proved against Spain with 10 men, they are capable of beating any team on their day. The only thing that could get Brazil over the mark is their vast experience at this level

Argentina & Maradona have proven all pundits & commentators wrong. Messi & co have produced disciplined attacking performances & are now favourites to beat Mexico & even go all the way to winning the Cup.

England vs Germany penalty shootout in the semi finals of World Cup 1990 won by Germany

• Germany have overall been more solid than an out of sorts England teams with Rooney struggling to find form. However this ultimate World Cup classic will see players on both side shift up a gear for supremacy in a footballing rivalry which goes back to many decades & has previously produced the 1966 World Cup final, 1970 quarter final & 1990 semi final. This match will be no exception & I am merely picking Germany because I am a life long hard core fan of the Nationalmannschat!

• Paraguay have been solid in defence & disciplined in their attack in topping their group whilst Japan scored two world class free kicks on their way to qualification at the expense of Denmark. This is the battle of equals but the South Americans tactical superiority should prevail.

• Spain & Portugal are both capable of winning this tussle but the fact that Portugal failed to attack or score against Brazil (& Ivory Coast) is a major concern & slightly tips the match in favour of Spain & the free scoring & impressive David Villa.

Whatever the out come of the above matches, let's hope they are all free flowing with an abundance of attacking football & lots of goals! Otherwise South Africa 2010 will go down as the dullest World Cup in history with the lowest average goal per match!