And just to jump on the international pastime of group standing speculation, let's see where we are.
England beat Paraguay 1-0 in their first game giving them 3 points and, from here, every chance of qualifying. They play Trinidad and Tobago next - widely touted as the worst team in the whole competition - followed by Sweden. Likeliest scenario is they beat the West Indians convincingly (a 2 to 3 goal lead at half time giving Sven room to experiment a little and let a few of the lower ranked players a run-around). If that happens, England qualify and the Swedish game is irrelevant. England are likely to win the group but could come second - still qualifying - but putting them into a different second round match.
Australia, against all logic, wiped the floor with Japan. The fact that they trailed 1-0 until the last 10 minutes and then put 3 away before the final whistle only added to the excitement in what is generally agreed to be the best game so far. Shame I missed seeing it, though I heard heard Kim's screams across some 50km of verdant English countryside. So, what happens now in this difficult group? Well, will Brazil win everything? Probably, but, if they win their first two - against Croatia & Australia - they will have qualified so why risk injury just to show off. Because they are Brazil, that's why, and they can. That puts it all down to the Australia vs Croatia game on the 23rd. Should Aus win they qualify second. There are other calculations but let's go with this one.
England win Group B, beat the Group A runner-up in the second round and go on to thrash whoever else comes out of groups A, B, C & D. Australia do something similar.
And then...AND THEN - it's England vs Australia in either a semi-final or the final itself.
Expect a World Cup domestic in Chez Roach some time after 4th July.
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