Jam Today

Germany 2006 has seen The Good, The Bad and The Ugly over the last forty-eight hours. The Good were definitely Spain. Even before the Ukrainians were reduced to ten men, the men from the Iberian peninsular were rampant and away from their opponents. The third, a contentious penalty that should not have been given - the initial tug of Torres shirt was outside the area, the Atletico forward slipped when turning in the area - should not detract from the fourth, a fabulous strike from Torres, fully justifying the hype, following Puyol's pirouette and deft flick on. For once, they have been placed in a straightforward Group, and for once they have come flying out of the blocks with a 4 - 0 victory. If they can do this to their nearest rivals in their Group then Tunisia and Saudi Arabia must be fearful of being on the end of a complete hiding. From an Arsenal perspective, neither Reyes or Fabregas started, the latter getting on for the last ten minutes or so, but it is hard to criticise Aragones selection with this win.

For which we should all be thankful because the French were just complete shite. I am not sure what is wrong with them as technically they are the equal of most teams in the world but they just cannot click at the top level. Following on from their disastrous 2002 campaign, one would have thought that they would have been itching to get off to a flying start. Instead it was more va-va-kaput-splutter-cough than anything else. One thing that puzzles me is Henry's inability to transfer his Arsenal form to internationals, possibly due to defenders being better than those he faces on a weekly basis or maybe due to the speed with which Arsenal play being more suited to his game?

Somewhere in between these two were Brazil, who put in an England type performance - OK in the first half, nonexistent in the second, holding on for a win in the end. The difference between England and Brazil's performance was that Croatia deserved a point and had the chances to have taken it. And it is games like these that I find myself admiring the little flicks and dribbles by Ronaldinho but at that the same time whether all of the showboating is actually productive, raising the issue of whilst there is little doubt that he is the most skilful player but is he the best player in the world in terms of his team? What does he contribute on days like these, other than to make a dull game look prettier? One thing is for certain, he contributed more than Ronaldo who lumbered around the pitch for the best part of an hour or so without actually doing anything other than one shot on the hour mark from twenty yards out. He looked as out of sorts on Tuesday as he did in the final in 1998, back then though he had an excuse of illness beforehand. Now, he looks too big for his game - not necessarily fat as he is labelled - just too bulky. Whether this is a wake-up call remains to be seen but Adriano supported by Kaka, Robinho and Ronaldinho caused more problems for the Croat defence than anything that had gone before.

The hosts meanwhile, laboured to a 1 - 0 victory that marked their passing into Round Two and the Poles probable exit from this competition. The English ought to join them tonight with a victory over Trinidad and Tobago but I'm sure that the Swede's thought they would win on Saturday. Looking at the first round of matches, there is little if anything in their opponents that England should be worried about. The trouble is that England gave their opponents little or nothing to be worried about either.

Todays tunes are more from The Jam, this time from the 100 Club in London, 1977. Both are cover versions, Heatwave and In The Midnight Hour.