World Cup Blog

No, really.

Read more at football.guardian.co.uk...

So, over on the World Cup Blog, there's a story about Mexico's 'Grand Warlock' who's predicted a strange turn of events in the World Cup:

"Antonio Vazquez, the Grand Warlock, has apparently been making predictions about world events, including sporting events, for the past 25 years based on his reading of tarot cards and the stars.

Read more at www.worldcupblog.org/ar...

OK, not strictly relevent to the World Cup, but I couldn't pass up a title like that. What can i say? I'm a Simpsons quote whore.

Read more at soccernet.espn.go.com/n...

So, a team of scientists in New Mexico (there's a New Mexico? - Homer) have been studying a load of sports to see which had the most upsets, and football is the most exciting (Cancer cured already guys?).

They analysed more than 300,000 games from the past century in the US and UK and found that the 'upset frequency' was highest for football, closely followed by baseball.

Now, fair enough football is the most exciting - there's skill on display even when there aren't any goals, but rounders baseball second? I'm afraid it doesn't matter how many upsets there are - it's still watching a bloke hit a ball with a stick for 3 hours then running round in circles. At least in cricket there are tactics - baseball pretty much has two options, hit it or don't.

Anyway, I am now content in the knowledge that football is the most exciting sport of all, although this won't comfort me much the next time I have to watch the mighty Villa play Bolton anyone.

Read more at today.reuters.co.uk/new...

Martin Jol has backed Spurs striker Jermain Defoe to make the England squad for the World Cup in June.

Defoe made a strong impression in England's qualifying match against Poland, scoring the winner to help send England through, but has since struggled for first team football at Spurs.

To make matters worse, he's been pushed down the England pecking order by 'Good Touch For a Big Man' himself, Peter Crouch.

However, Jol still believes Defoe will travel with the team to Germany:

"There is no problem with Jermain not starting games. He will get his matches.

"The last couple of times when he came on, he was really on fire. He is probably the only player we have who can really do something out of nothing.

"I don't think it makes it difficult for the England manager to pick Defoe if he is not starting games for us he will still go to Germany."

The biggest problem I can see for Defoe is that, at least in Eriksson's eyes, he doesn't offer something different enough to Owen to command a place as super sub. Eriksson likes to bring on Crouch to completely change the game - he may not see Defoe as a player who can do that.

I've no doubt he'll be on the flight to Germany, but I do think appearances will be few and far between.

Read more at home.skysports.com/list...

So, as we've started a little late on this, I still haven't covered the reaction to the draw for the World Cup Finals.

Somehow, FIFA managed to string the draw out to 90 minutes, with only the appearance of Heidi Klum helping to numb the boredom, but there were some interesting groups thrown up.

Group A saw Germany and Poland drawn together in a fairly tough group. Ecuador, who beat Brazil in qualification, and Costa Rica make up the rest of the group.

Group B was a source of relief for England. Paraguay and Trinidad should be easy matches for the second seeds, but Sweden could cause problems. They scored 30 goals in the 10 qualifying games and with Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic up front you can see why.

Group C was instantly dubbed the 'Group of Death' after the draw, and Argentina will have a tough group stage, having to face the unseeded Holland to make it through the group. However, The Ivory Coast and Serbia & Montenegro should pose little threat.

Group D saw the 5th seed Mexico drawn against Portugal in what could be an evenly contested match. Iran and Angola however will do well to continue past the group stages.

Group E looks particularly tough for all concerned. Italy, the United States and the Czech Republic will all be looking to progress, but only Ghana seem likely to miss out - who out of the other three make it through is difficult to judge.

Group F looks equally as difficult to call. Holders Brazil must be favourites to top the group, but Australia, Croatia or Japan could all win on their day.

Group G is slightly more clear cut - France seem likely to dominate, and Togo are unlikely to impress. Switzerland and South Korea are a little more evenly matched, but without the huge home support they saw in 2002 (or the help of the referrees) Switzerland seem more likely than Korea to progress automatically.

Finally, Group H sees Spain and the Ukraine likely contenters to top the group, with Spain hoping they can hit some sort of form for the tournament. Tunisia and Saudi Arabia I suspect will be looking at the playoffs to progress to the knockout stages of the tournament.

Beckham set the fashion first (naturally), then came Gary Neville, Danny Murphy, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney and now Michael Owen. The curse of the broken Metatarsal continues for England as Owen limped out of Newcastle's 2-0 defeat, and is due to be out for a minimum of 2 months.

Read more at www.timesonline.co.uk/a...

For the last 20 years, throughout all the World Cup's ups and downs and managerial casualties, one my has been a constant - Velibor Milutinovic.

'Bora' as he's known, has managed Mexico, Costa Rica, the United States, Nigeria and China to the World Cup - an impressive record.

Read more at football.guardian.co.uk...