Algeria 0 - 1 Slovenia

Terrible game, two poor teams. Goal another goal-keeping clanger!

James Cordon and his show...

...too much mate, maybe just hide for a bit!

Really 'Back the Beard' and Ireland are in the World Cup ahead of Cheating France!

He's a knobhead!

England 1 - 1 USA

And so it finally began, after all the hype England played their first match of the World Cup, taking on the USA in Rustenberg. And was all the hype worth it? Well, as end results go, not really, but it was one of the better performances at the World Cup level in years although all the talk is going to surround one mistake in particular!

It couldn't have been a better start for England who lined up 4-4-2. After 4 minutes Captain Steven Gerrard latched onto a 'contoversially' selected Emile Hesky through ball to then prod the ball past Tim Howard in the USA goal to make it 1-0 to England. The perfect start for England and their skipper.

However, England as ever seemed to then take their foot of the pedal, with few clear cut chances in the the rest of the first half, in fact the best chance falling to Jozy Altidore of the US who didn't appear committed to winning a very winnable header in the English half. With 20 minutes gone James Milner who looked unfit was taken off to be replaced by Shaun Wright-Phillips, whose performance only further underlined that leaving Adam Johnson at home was not the correct decision.

With 5 minutes to go before half-time was the moment that changed the game and possibly the course of England's tournament, as Clint Dempsey shot from about 30 yards, a twice bouncing shot skidded off the side of Robert Green's hand and fell into the net.

A horrific mistake that will be talked about for days to come!

My personal favourite jokes so far:

• Robert Green wishes the game was being played at Wembley, at least then he had a chance that the ground would swallow him up; and
• Like Environmentalists have always said, 'It's not easy being Green!'

A Howler, no more no less.

At half-time England changed King for Carragher, a very strange change as Upson must have done something wrong, having partnered John Terry throughout the very successful qualifying period. And Carraghers lack of pace was showed up by Altidore, who probably should have scored again, albeit Green made a good save to atone a bit for his earlier mistake.

The rest of the game saw England pressurise for the majority of the time, with Wright-Phillips and Hesky in particular guilty of fluffing their lines!

In all, England played well, and would have won except for Green and his mistake. I'd stay 4-4-2 the next game, swap Joe Cole on the left, play Upson at Centre half and Hart in goal. Of course Capello knows about £5million a year more than me though!

Argentina 1 - 0 Nigeria

The favourites won and for the first half at least they were very, very good, particularly the way they keep the ball! However, they were less good in the second half and their defense looks vulnerable, particularly to some speed!

A nice 1-0 victory to start will help though, with the goal coming after 6 minutes from former Manchester United player Heinze, see below for celebration run:

The rest of the first half saw some great play from Argentina, with Veron and Mascarano particularly effective. However, a mixture of poor finishing and a stunning display by the Nigerian keeper kept it at 1-0.

The second half was much poorer for quality and was far more open, but no chances were put away. Messi played well, but didn't seem to have the ball run his way. Still a way to go for him though!

Perhaps the biggest question that still needs to be answered is, the man below, a magnificant help or magnificent hindrance.

Argentina, a good start, the first game by a potential winner, but still need a bit more. The should qualify comfortably from their group!

South Korea 2 - 0 Greece

If I were Greek I would riot! That was a very poor performance full of lethargy, lacking in any desire and invention and to be fair outplayed and hustled by a tidy but not exceptional South Korean side. Match Report.

A goal in each half, the first a simple finish from an attacking free-kick near the corner flag (See Photo) and the second a tidy finish from Manchester United's Ji Sung Park following a calamatous Greek defensive error means Korea are the first side to obtain full 3 points from a game.

Definitely not a classic, and hopefully we will see better later today!

France 0 - 0 Uruguay

I missed the game, apparently it was a good one to miss! 10 men Uruguay held firm against a very poor French side.

Let's move on shall we?

South Africa 1 - 1 Mexico

And so it began, after the ubiquitous Opening Ceremony, that did not contain Nelson Mandela after a horrific family accident the night prior to the big kick-off, the host nation took opened the tournament with the first game against Mexico.

I only saw the second half, which contained both goals, but South Africa were seemingly outplayed by Mexico but took the lead with a belting strike. Some naive defending earned Mexico a deserved draw. It was a nice game to start with and we must hope the attacking play continues.

BBC Match Report: Here

It has started...

Retrospective comments to come tomorrow!

A taster of things to come!

He does you know, will be an interesting month!

One sleep

But when I wake up tomorrow it's World Cup time!

Nervous

Dentists here I come...shit!

One day to go

And I'm now officially as excited as a small boy!

Tired and emotional

Yep, I've been drinking and am putting at least £500 down at the dentists tomorrow!

Awesome!

A bit boring

I guess occasionally there are days like this, days when basically not a lot happens! It's weird as today was really boring but when live gets a bit too exciting, it's the boring days that you pine for!
Really the only interesting thing to say about today is that the morning commute was undertaken in very wet weather, the return trip in much nicer clearer skies!

Monty Magic

What about Colin Montgomerie today! See this link for his course record 62 at Sunningdale to qualify for the British Open: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/mobile/golf/8724586.stm

4 days to go

It's finally the week of the world cup and I am very excited about it, it's missing Scotland and whilst this is dissapointing, it will maybe add to the enjoyment of it, certainly the stress factor has been removed!

England had their final tune up today winning 3-1 against a local South African league team. Most obvious for Capelli is that Wayne Rooney was once again in the headlines making one goal but also picking up a needless booking!

Rio Ferdinand is out and there is still the question of who will play in goal, but aside from a stern first game against the USA, they should qualify comfortably from their group.We sit and wait with high excitement!

Wylsey in Back of the Car!

Sunday Evening

Lovely chilled out day today, enjoyed doing not alot, aside from a trip to Sainsbury's for a weekly shop. Five day week tomorrow!

The Derby

Was at the Derby today at Epsom Downs and had a proper great day, good food, good drink and great weather. Would like to say I won a lot, but sadly not the case!

The Derby was won by Workforce by 7 lengths in a pretty special manner, but the highlight of the day must be my buddy Steve, who got a bit too drunk early doors and needed a bit of help to get home. Some photographic evidence for you here, with the rest of the gang.

Please see my new Blog on World Sports Venues for more on Epsom here.

Derby pre-game

Three horses to choose from, two Aidan O'Brien horses and the Godolphin number too. Will need to look into it tomorrow.

Friday night

My favourite part of the week definitely! Derby day at Epsom tomorrow, hopefully i'll win big!

What a night!

Summer Beers

I guess if you ever have a post with the above title you open yourself
up to acusations that you are pissed, but I would like to think that 3
lager tops that isn't the case right now!

What I would like to highlight though is that there is no more
refreshing pint of the Amber nectar than the pint you have after you
have spent a hard day working away earning a crust.

Tonight I have enjoyed a couple of pints with some good guys, enjoying
some good conversation and a bunch of jokes! Maybe this is the way
tense negotiations in politics should work, if it doesn't already!

Cumbrian News

Horrible news from the north west today, some guy went ahead and
killed 12 innocent people. Thoughts to all the family and friends of
those affected!

RBS 2

I've completed my Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) form now, so will post it tomorrow and see how we go...I get the feeling it is an irreconcilable difference now though!

Plus, still haven't got rid of my bloody Premium Current Account!

South-West Trains

It's almost like it's not a real day unless somewhere along the line (no pun intended!) something goes wrong on the journey to or from work. Today after a great run to work in the morning, it was the PM journey that caused much angst! With delays already occuring for reasons unknown, we then had to enjoy a game of train vs. uneducated man as the guard fought a 30 minute fight with a door that would no close. Cue much British sighing and tutting followed by the old should we stay on or get off questioning. Anyway, I got off and straight away the train left! Brilliant! Shame there is no choice regarding who we travel with!

RBS

Today is a big day for me and RBS, it's time to get my charged bank account changed to no charge and make sure my complaint reaches FOS!
And to think I 'own' part of them!

Squad in full

ENGLAND'S 2010 WORLD CUP SQUAD:
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green.
Defenders: Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock
Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Forwards: Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney

My bad...

I only have 3 minutes to wait apparently!

England world cup

I can't believe how long it is taking for the squad to be announced!
One of the guys who is missing out must have left his phone somewhere...like Austria!

Inside the arena

Rod

Here's the stage bathed in light

Inside the O2

As you can see, they've created a nice restaurant walkway inside. A bit narrow in places, but nice all the same!

O2 for the Rod

Off to see Rod Stewart at the O2 arena today. Here's a pic from inside the former Millenium Dome.

Lunch-tastic

Lovely Market for lunch at work today, I went for belting pork sandwich!

Holidays

June 26th holiday to San Francisco and Vancouver booked...bang!

Two nil!

Peter Crouch is a very tall man, and Walcott is pretty small to be fair! Hint of a handball there and a foul on the 'keeper too I'd say!

2-0 and very generous to England!

British Rail

Ok, so Virgin Rail but we should definitely be happy with that!

Just to confirm the score!

Lesley King

Booked himself on the plane to South Africa with that goal...no knee issues aside!

Gerrard with some claret. Not a man who you associate with
bleeding...a bit of a random thing to say admittedly!

England vs. Mexico

Ten minutes gone and fairly even, both sides looking strong attacking
out wide, hence having some problems defending out wide! I think
England need to improve though!

Murray stunning

2-0 down and well out of it, not the normal British tennis player
thing to do then and win 3-2! Good lad Andy Murray at a boiling Roland
Garros today! Story

Warmth

You have to love the sun, beautiful hour at lunch in Regent's Park
followed by actually looking forward to the walk from the train/tube
home in a minute. Shame my Southwest train has no a/c, but you can't
have everything! Plus, football on terrestrial tonight as England take
on Mexico at Wembley in a World Cup tune up.

Summer is here!

There you go, what a lovely evening we have in SW15!

Sunshine

Unreal, we've had a hot and sunny weekend, the mercury tipped 28C
today, which is almost too warm...not! Who even says that by the way?
Stupid twats! What I really like is that it makes Britain look nice
any worth living in, albeit the fact all men walk around the shopping
centres with no tos on and the black sock trainer or sock and sandel
combos come out from hibernation! Saw a whole bunch in Sutton today
for sure!

Hangovers

On school days just do not work, I've been as good as useless all day
today, Williams-esque you could say!

Pot plant

Been in the house for 10 days now and I think the fella is doing very
well! He's certainly perked up in the last 2 days sitting in the
window with the sun out for a change! Good times!

Sometimes...

you just have a crap hard day so you have to got out there and do something for yourself. So I did, a nice little 4 and a half mile run. By no means was it quick and my knee hurts a bit now, but I did it, it made me feel good and I'm proud of myself! Now Dinner!

Tube though...seriously

Why is it so slow, how far apart must each set of lights be that you
always seem to be waiting at one. Makes me embarrased to be British at
times, it really does!