Oh, those Brazilians, you know? Circa 1970? Broke the mould. Theory out the window. Free expression of football. Uncategorisable. Is that a word? It is now! You know? Far cry from small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts, rush goalie. Two at the back, three in the middle, four up front, one’s gone home for his tea. Beans on toast? Possibly, don’t quote me on that. Marvellous.

Watched the France vs Italy match last night, quite an entertaining game, got me in the mood for the world cup. I might avoid watching England this year, enjoy the football rather than getting emotionally invested in the results.

Cant wait, utterly love the World Cup . Cycling, summer ,cricket and and a WC summer what more is there. I actually really like the England team on paper. But then I usually do.

My adopted homeland of Sweden are in too so will be football madness for the next  6 weeks, although their group is pretty tough.  Iceland will be watched as well as the big teams. The opening game doesn’t exactly fill me with excitement but, dear God I love it

Lots of strong teams this year: Belgium, Brazil, Argentina, France and Spain. But it will probably be Germany.

Well, after that stunning display in the friendly I can see how England can win the world cup. Get rid of the second half 😉

Some decent football from England there but Sterling just seems to be missing something there

We all need one of these,

Hoping Belgium can finally get it together and win – some beautiful footballers, plus Feli, be a travesty if this generation of players doesn’t win a major tournament.

That being said, I’m not optimistic. They’ve been the most talented squad for a while now and done nothing, e.g. getting shelled out by Wales in the last Euros. Clearly they’re missing some leadership / psychological components and I’m certain that Roberto Martinez is bringing nothing in this regard. If Kompany is match fit that will be massive.

Counter argument to this is that the players are used to psychopaths like Mourinho and Conte screaming bollox at them all season, so having an actual nice bloke like Martinez telling them they’re all awesome might actually be a good thing. We shall see.

I watched Belgium verse Portugal last night, started off quite well but went downhill after 15 mins, for all the technical quality of both teams there was little quality on offer for most of the game. Hazard needs to lean to be a team player rather than just playing for personal glory (despite his recent comments about himself).

Not there yet ..Im sure I will warm to it once it starts ..

I live a sheltered life. There was a sweepstake being organised at work last week and I had no idea it was on!

Interesting stat of the day: the Nigeria kit is a replica of their 1994 World Cup kit where they reached the last 16. Three million of them were pre-ordered. Kerching for Nike

Does anyone fancy a fantasy football league?

Just created a telegraph league if you want

https://fantasyfootball.telegraph.co.uk/world-cup/leagues/view/8148957

Passcode the imaginative 1234

Well my fantasy team has its first casualty, can’t believe that Germany havn’t named Sane in their 23 man squad. They may have an abundance of riches, but he is one of the best, there has got to be more to that decision than meets the eye.

Unlimited transfers until the first kick off 🙂 Sane Out of mine now

Stirring start so far…

Confident we should get out of the group like this…

Any FF swaps yet?

Anyone follow the Athletico Mince podcast?, Now the gangs of the EPL have met up at St George’s Pk, Bob has a spy in the camp and seems it’s not all roses between Vardy and Kane’s respective crews. Will be interesting to see how that develops.

As it’s aproaching the actual business end of international football i’m Breaking my golden rule about wasting 90 minutes of my life watching Engerland friendlies.

The one thing that is absolutely apparent so far is that the FA need to snatch that blokes bloody hand off who wants to buy Wemberley! And never ever host an Engerland game there ever again! Play American football there, and host Rolling Stones concerts.

Let the squad go back on the road again again and play at Anfield, Turf Moor, Old Trafford, St James’s Park, Goodson… proper grounds….. and have them play in a proper atmosphere in front of proper fans

….and spare us all the frankly embarrassing sight of all the best seats in the house being left empty for the first 10-15 minutes of the second half while their corporate occupants decide whether they can be arsed forsaking their lavish hospitality to bother themselves to re-take the seats that a lot of football-loving kids would give their right arm for.

On the footy front… I wish Jose would give Rashford the freedom to play like this! This is what he can do. He’s having a blinder!

1. Is Antone Griezman, to start you off

Watched the first st hour with the sound off. Like watching them at wemberlee withth sound on.

got the sound on now, ER crowd doing a good job by the sound of it. Well done everyone, MOT

3. Andrés Iniesta

RM.

6 Lionel Messi

10 Luca Modric

13 Sadie Mane

22 Luis Suarez

14. Christian Erikson

18. Robert Lewandowski

23. Gylfi Sigurdsson ( spelling )

8.black pig chocolate bar …never heard of him ..is he any good ?

good work so far. 9 and 17 are my favourites oh and 24.

Ball hog bar….   Paul….

20. Angel Di Maria

11. Date Vid Silver

20. Angel Die Mary Ear

And I went for Pool Pig Bar

24.ilkey Gundogan ..( man .city & Germany )

21. Thibaut Courtois.

RM.

Has anyone had got a bet on Spain? They’ve just sacked their manager the day before the competition starts.

Like you do

And Rafa is someone they are said to be considering …

WAKE UP ASHLEY YOU BELL END !!!

Has anyone had got a bet on Spain? They’ve just sacked their manager the day before the competition starts.

Like you do

I have them in the office sweepstake 🙁

To be fair they had little choice really – I mean, WTF, who* in their right minds announces their new manager in this fashion just days before the World Cup – couldn’t they have embargoed the announcement until after the tournament?

*Real Madrid evidently.

4. Ronaldo

17. Ozil

19. Tim Cahill

Canada, USA and Mexico have just won joint bid for 2026 World Cup.

Should make for interesting times with Trump’s view of the co-hosts.

@eddiebaby – Trump won’t be in charge in 2026, he might not be alive and if he is he’ll be in a “Retirement Centre for Fectards”

What the hell is this?!

So the day is finally upon us….not sure I’ll bother to watch much of the game though as I’ve got a few things to do.  I’m hoping we can avoid the usual disappointing opening England match, where we snatch a draw from the jaws of a nervous win.  If and its a big IF, we can put away Tunisia with some panache, I have hopes for getting some way into the comp…….maybe as far as the KO stages even! 🙂

That opening ceremony was so bad.

Boris: “We got everything ready?”

Alexandra: “Da”

B: “Great the opening ceremony is?”

A:”Ah! Errr Wait We don’t have one”

B: “What about Robbie Williams he is the icon of football”

A: “Good call comrade and maybe some dancing clowns”

This is disgusting to watch, on several levels.

Great to have the proxy war in Syria proxied again!

All the dignitaries look like Bond villains.

FIFA couldn’t give a toss about football.

VAR, jesus wept.

Ad breaks – BET BET BET BET BET BET BET

Scotland would gub both these teams.

On top of all that, Robbie Williams!

Ad breaks – BET BET BET BET BET BET BET

Scotland would gub both these teams.

On top of all that, Robbie Williams!

Effin glad I’m missing it. 1st and last are 2 of my most hated things 😆