World Cup Diary

Germany 2006 is now up and running, the first five games done and dusted with three of the pre-tournament favourites over their first hurdle. The Germans kicked off with 4 - 2 win over Costa Rica, a game they were expected to cruise through only giving them mild discomfort. The one thing that struck me about their performance was that they may not have trouble scoring goals but it looks like they may have problems claiming clean sheets. This may not be too much of an issue in the Group, especially as victory over Poland will send them through to the next round, but once the knockout phase starts, the level of opposition will improve and stretch them more than the Costa Ricans. And what of the other two teams in the Group. Ecuador may have beaten Poland 2 - 0 but after the second half, I am not sure that the Poles understand how they lost. Key moment was their incorrectly disallowed goal but to have hit the bar and post as well showed that they had the right idea. It highlights the paucity of their efforts in the First Half when they could not even muster a shot even vaguely on goal. The Group will either be blown wide open or sealed on Wednesday. Should either of Poland or Costa Rica win then qualification will go down to the wire although the hosts four goal haul in the opening game ought to be enough to see them through in the event of points being tied, especially if the teams win, lose and draw their matches; the head-to-head fixtures method for resolving tied teams would be redundant so Goals Scored is the third method which puts the Germans in pole position to qualify.

Group B started with England beating Paraguay with a third minute own goal. Indeed, the England team followed Sven's gameplan to the letter: (1) Score early goal, check, (2) Do not concede before half-time, check, (3) Defend too deep in the second - half, giving the opposition ample possession to try and snatch the points, check. The tactics were exactly the same as the ones that have failed so badly in 2002 and 2004 showing that whilst this squad could potentially win the World Cup, the manager has the infinite capacity to balls it up. Even more of a concern is that Steve McClaren is there and was unable to prevent the degeneration of the performance. Things that came out of the match that need working on are firstly, sorting out whatever problem Michael Owen has because he played like a man who had the weight of the world on his shoulders. This is urgent because whatever else is said, Peter Crouch is not a forward who can play up front on his own. The continual long ball to him works if he has support but not when the midfield is some forty yards back down the pitch. That said, the midfield played reasonably well yesterday, perhaps some work needed on ball retention but their passing was good, generally hitting the intended target. Much was made beforehand of the eccentricity of the Mexican referee in the English Media but initially he seemed to be spot on with his decisions, Gerrard did his usual diving into a tackle, studs showing and both feet off the ground. He did not heed the warnings from before the tournament so he got booked. Thereafter, the Referees performance lived up to the hype with bizarre interventions that resulted in Paraguay getting every decision for the first twenty minutes of the second half, or so it seemed.

So three points were sealed and given the result in the other match, an England win on Thursday will send them through to the next round. Which is more than can be said of Sweden. Unbelievably, they were held to a goalless draw by a Trinidad & Tobago team reduced to ten men with less than a minute of the second half gone after, shall we be generous and call the two tackles, "over-enthusiastic". Add into the mix a thumping shot that rattled the bar and the Swedes may be relieved to have a point which counteracts the fact that Shaka Hislop played out of his skin to keep T&T in the match.

The final match so far was in the Group of Death. Argentina were cruising to a comfortable victory over the Ivory Coast before a late Drogba goal made it an uncomfortable last ten minutes. Of the three "Big Guns", the Argentinians were the most impressive, straight into their slick passing, unlucky not to be one up when Ayala's header clearly crossed the line. Crespo showed the form that Chelsea could not capture from him, still one of the best forwards in the world despite the best efforts of Mourinho to prove otherwise.

Reports today of a proposed revamp to the World Cup and European Championships. Plans to be presented will include the moving of both competitions to bi-annual events, qualification not through competitive matches but based on FIFA's World Rankings. Hot on the heels of the FIFA mandate to move to eighteen team top flights, it became clear that Uncle Sepp was planning to move Internationals to the forefront of football. Until you read that the proposals are from a study commissioned by the G-14 clubs, directly at odds with the posturing of the Premiership Spokesman who poo-pooed the FIFA idea of reducing the size of Division. What is in it for the clubs, you ask? Well, expansion of the Champions League for starters. Apparently, increasing this to 48 teams from the current 32 will bring in a mindboggling £300m of additional revenues. This would help offset the loss of money from domestic games as you can bet your arse on the fact that the additional twelve teams will be coming from England, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain and the like rather than from the Faroe Islands. Note that the clubs also want to do away with the Qualifying Tournaments, something that neither FIFA or UEFA will go for unless those matches are replaced by International Friendlies. So instead of reducing the number of fixtures, the clubs are proposing to increase them. Or are they actually admitting that reducing the size of the domestic Leagues might not be such a poor idea after all?

Todays Tunes are one remix and one mashup, courtesy of fuTuRo, website here, where there are more to pick from.

What's Going On - fuTuRo Re-Fresh

Long Groovin Summer (The Style Council v The Young Rascals)