What D'Ya Think Of It So Far?

Legendary British comedians Morecambe and Wise used to have a running gag that went something like this:

Ernie Wise (talking about the show): 'So, what do you think of it so far?'
Eric Morecambe: 'Rubbish!'.

And, frankly, that's how I feel about the 2010 World Cup Finals so far. I'm writing this before Italy play Paraguay, but so far only the opener between South Africa and Mexico and last night's demolition of Australia by Germany have really entertained.

Most of the football so far has been dour, lacking in either technical skill or entertainment value. The non-contest between South Korea and Greece has been the ultimate example of this, but France v Uruguay wasn't far behind.

Surely, when international teams reach the pinnacle of their aspirations, they could at least contrive to play like it.

Anyway, that's my opinion. I'd be interested in hearing yours.

Friendly Results...Everyone Is Rubbish

Manchester United's second top scorer - 'own goal' - made a timely appearance in England's clash with Japan, scoring 2 goals. This saved everyone's blushes in a very unconvincing 2-1 victory for England.

So, it is with relief that I note that every other World Cup bound side who played a friendly today was also rubbish. Well, except Mexico who gave Gambia a 5-1 thrashing.

You can see the full results for the latest round of international friendlies at the BBC website here.

Feel free to marvel at scores like Belarus: 1, South Korea: 0 and Spain: 3, Saudi Arabia: 2.

Let's hope it all improves dramatically next month.

How To Do Well At A World Cup

Remember South Korea at the 2002 World Cup Finals? Did well, didn't they? Home advantage; some lucky decisions: yup, these things played their part. But, to my mind, the reason for South Korea's success was clever management on the part of then boss Guus Hiddink.

Realising that the South Koreans were a) awful and b) not going to play a competitive match ahead of the 2002 World Cup, Hiddink organised friendlies against the world's best, including both France and England. Thus, he managed to hone a competitive spirit and turn them into a half decent team.

The reason I bring this up now is because it looks like Mexico boss Javier Aguirre is trying to do the same thing. Mexico have already played 5 friendlies this month and they have a further three still to play ahead of the 2010 World Cup Finals.

They have already played England and have Holland, Gambia and Italy still to play. Indeed, the only reason they are playing Gambia is that their original opponents, Portugal, pulled out.

It seems to me that Aguirre is taking the World Cup very, very seriously and is attempting to turn Mexico into a team that is very comfortable playing together, as opposed to a collection of internationals with no more than a week or two training together before the tournament.

It's going to be interesting to see if he can pull it off, but I for one think Mexico might just be a surprise package at the 2010 World Cup Finals.

Provisional Squads So Far

OK, we're now getting down to the serious business of the World Cup with a number of nations announcing their provisional World Cup 2010 squads. To avoid the world's most tedious blog post, I'm just linking to news articles detailing who is in and who is out.

Germany Provisional Squad : No Hitzlesperger, no Kuranyi - full details here.

South Korea Provisional Squad : Park Ji Sung, that Bolton guy and full details here.

Ghana Provisional Squad : including Germany's Kevin Prince Boateng?! - full details here.

Holland Provisional Squad : Christ, they've got some good players - full details here.

Hiddink Could Make The World Cup After All

Let's face it, Russia's failure to make the World Cup 2010 - mainly, I feel, due to complacency on the part of the players - was a surprise. Most of all to me.

I've always backed sides managed by Guus Hiddink to do well and, frankly, he's made me a lot of money down the years by always coming through when I've bet on his teams.

His management of South Korea ahead of the 2002 World Cup Finals was a masterclass for any international manager. What he did was take a worse than mediocre side and turn them into a competitive team.

Because South Korea had no competitive games before the 2002 Finals, Hiddink lined up a succession of friendly matches over a period of eighteen months against teams from around the world.

After drubbings by France and the Czech Republic among others, by the time the 2002 World Cup Finals rolled around, they were hammering Scotland and drawing with England.

And, of course, he steered Australia to the second round in 2006 and got Russia through to the Euro 2008 finals at the expense of England.

Having left his post as Russia manager, Hiddink has already, very wisely, turned down an approach from North Korea to manage them at South Africa 2010. But, it appears the Dutchman may be interested in taking over coaching duties with Nigeria.

Interestingly, Nigeria's World Cup group includes his old side South Korea, but - if he takes the job - you would definitely back Hiddink to get Nigeria through to the second round and possibly the quarter finals.

Australia, Japan and South Korea All Qualify

From the Asian groups, Australia, Japan and South Korea all qualified for South Africa 2010. The quality of the football wasn't high, but all three sides did enough to get through.

Hardly surprising names, I admit, but that just leaves one place for one of North Korea, Saudi Arabia and, at an outside bet, Iran.