We're Spilling for England.

So the talismanic captain gets injured and comes home early... a 1 - 0 lead in the crucial first game is squandered by a howlingly stupid mistake... and the inspiring World Cup song has a rap in it! Having watched last night's England game I'm not too downhearted. In fact if I were superstitious in anyway (and football does test my rational logic to the brink) I'd say all the omens were in place for a repeat of the glory days of Italia '90 when Captain Fantastic Bryan Robson limped home half way through the tournament. Steve McMahon inexplicably passed the ball into, Orpington born, Tony Cascarino's path to give the Irish a barely deserved equaliser in the first game and John Barnes set the template for Dizzee Rascal to follow... you've got to hold and give, but do it at the right time... bloomin' genius!

The World Cup is only a couple of days old and I'm already really enjoying it, vuvuzelas and all. All the world is in London. I watched the first game with a South African called Edward. Then turned up at Orode's with green and white face paint to watch Nigeria take on Argentina yesterday afternoon, before going on to Matt and Aida's for the USA game in the evening.

Matt was hysterical and seemed as righteously angry that the USA only managed to draw as I was by the fact that so much English possession couldn't yield a winning goal and that the US were completely out of it with both goals essentially being scored by the English. Robert Green proving that not all spills anger the Americans. I guess it's about mentality. Sport in States is fairly black and white - you win or you lose and there is no rain stopped play, golly well played, Corinthian spirit in between. We'd have knighted all our players if they sneaked a fluky result like that. And so it begins ... what price for Rooney's tears followed by a semi final defeat on penalties?

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