World Cup 2006 Day 1 and 2

Off we go, marvelous. Nipped home from work early to catch the build up to the opening game but missed the opening ceremony. Great first game, typical result for the Germans lots of goals and a ball which moved in the air like those balls you used to get when I was a lad (orange and black) from petrol stations for about 50p.

As for the England game, hmmmm. I watched it on the projector and the picture wasn't half bad from BBC1 Freeview. The sound though was crap. I don't know if it was the stadium, the microphones, sound mixing or the fans' fault but there was feck all atmosphere from the crowd coming through the speakers (contrast it with the T&T v Sweden game and it was like a wake).

Regarding England's chances of lifting the trophy... they're nil. Same old same old. No passion or vision from the players and the coach. Sven's team talk, tactics and substitutions... all pish. Hanging on to a 1:0 lead will be impossible in the second round onwards unless they start playing some free flowing football and go to win games in some sort of style.

On to ITV for T&T v Sweden (reputation of pish picture quality for live football) and yup, on Freeview it was unwatchable with massive blocking and pixelisation. Watched it on the normal telly through SKY and I could at least make out the player's faces. Great result for T&T, down to 10 men for half the match, keeper injured in the warm-up, and no Marvelous Marvin. Sadly, it means a win for England on Thursday and they'll win the group before a week has even passed.

At the moment, depending on the draw, I'd predict a Germany v Brazil final.

Category:

• Sport
• Football
• World+Cup