If I can dream...

As always seems to be the case the scene is set. The legendary Franz Beckenbauer has been running his mouth like a WWE bad guy for the last week and The Sun newspaper has spilled out its usual waste heap of trashy propaganda after what was in all honesty a disappointing display by England in the group stage which has set up an anything but disappointing tie with the old enemy. However when all is said and done the only way to talk in football is on the pitch - and the only conversations that matter come 3pm this afternoon are those between Capello and his troops, Loew and his squadron, and the shrill cries between comrades in battle amidst the relentless noise of the vu-vu zela. Although the English have already displayed discontempt towards the local horns by singing a free-lance rendition of 'God Save the Queen' in every game so far - and the Germans have displayed their own unique support with the largest national flag seen in football. This is indeed a clash between two giant nations of the game with all the added controversy, hostility and backhanded respect that comes with the territory of two sides who have historically gained and lost everything through their battles with the other.

We can't talk about an Anglo-Deutsch contest without mentioning the war even though Basil Fawlty would implore us not to; and its a backs to the wall and all out offensive spirit that might just be the key to relive the success of the dambusters and the D-day landings. The only two significant victories scored against the Germans since the wars may teach us a couple of other necessary keys to success. A mean defensive spirit and a striker whose in the mood would take us a long way to state the obvious as we saw in Munich 2001 with the historic 5-1 dismantling of Oliver Kahn's defence. More to the point that age old match winner of international football as we experienced in 1966 wouldn't go a miss - a wee bit of bloody luck.

I'm not going to attempt to second guess tactics or selection front either manager and I'm certainly not arrogant enough to suggest ways in which to beat the Germans. The one suggestion I will tender is can we please do it in normal / extra time? It might just be one of those games where all form and thought goes flying out the window and is all decided on whether Rooney reaches that ball across goal or whether Terry makes that goal-saving block. I personally want us to attack, press and turn it into a high tempo war, show Mertesacker and Friedrich up for the donkeys they're so capable of being. Lets not kid ourselves that Germany can't open us up themselves. Mesut Ozil has already given English fans the pleasure of his destructive company by destroying our under 21 side last year in the final of the Euro U21's. However only one player of our U21 side has progressed to the national side, then captain James Milner, as opposed to the 6 who make up Germany's comparatively inexperienced side. Due to the loss of Michael Ballack the Germans have no survivors from the side that was shot apart in Munich 2001 - with our only remains being Ashley Cole, scorers Steven Gerrard and Emile Heskey.

Lets not tease ourselves with the parallels of previous successes and failures but focus on the now. Germany are good but they haven't set the world alight. England are good but they haven't set the world alight. Both sides have points to prove and both sides would love nothing more than to prove them. Whether its a war of attrition or an exchange of damaging raids; its England versus Germany; its South Africa 2010 and by my reckoning 50 years of hurt might have a ring to it, but so does Argentina in the Quarter Finals.

A Continental Revolution

Its amazing really isn't it? How the World Cup is held in Africa for the first time and despite a bright start by the hosts, Bafana Bafana have failed to set the world alight and in truth none of the passionately supported African nations appear destined to finally realise Pele's very own prediction that 'one day an African team will win the World Cup.' Well it was all about the European teams before the last week or so with European football being the dominant continental silverware at club level and almost every global star now earning their stripes in one of the great footballing metropolis of the Northern Hemisphere. Despite all - its the South American sides who have caught people's eye and captured the imagination and I want to know why / how.

First of all is the variation and in some ways break away of expected style which the South American sides have approached this tournament with. The only side who have played to an expected stereotype and succeeded so far are indeed the Germans - but its interesting how already France's crippled, uncoordinated style has seemingly sent them crashing to an early exit at the hands of Mexico and Uruguay. Spain have succumbed to an early setback playing a typical Spanish 'walk the ball in' brand of football which the Swiss had clearly scouted emphatically, and our very own England once again have already been victims of their own smash-mouth style of football.

So the Brazilians have turned up with another generation of outrageously talented attacking midfielders and forwards who can all score from anywhere and glue the ball to their foot right? Well, wrong. The Brazilians have indeed bagged the Confederations Cup, the Copa America and their South American Qualification Title since 2006 but it was playing a style of football in the mould of their former captain Dunga. A relatively unproven attack of Robinho, Elano and Luis Fabiano spear heads a side which has all its glorification in its defensive mental. 3 of their back 5 played in Mourinho's Inter side who defended and battled their way to European glory last season and the experience and presence of Melo and captain Gilberto are an invaluable asset.

If anything it is Argentina who are the new Brazil. Rather than relying on their impregnable defenders such as Ruggeri, Passarella, Chamot and Ayala and turn to one genius such as Maradonna, Batistuta or Riquelme this Argentine side has it all in attack. A team who European top scorer Diego Milito is yet to cement a place in, and Sergio Aguero has not even featured in.  They carry the unpredictable enigma of their coach Diego Maradonna of course who at the last minute ditched his unfamiliar 3-5-2 formation and now claims that Newcastle's right winger Jonas Guttierez is one of the first names on his team sheet to play at right back in place of European club-God Javier Zanetti. Despite the calamitous appearance of the Argentine defence so far they are yet to be troubled as the machine of Higuain and Tevez gathers Messi driven momentum and Maradonna is leading Argentina to maximum points in Group B.

Uraguay have suddenly become a side people are putting outside bets on - and you can't blame them in the light of their performance last night. Uraguay appeared to have stuck to the traditional image of mindless thuggery shaped by the likes of Montero but nowadays the main man of Uraguayan football is one of European footballs best forwards and has been given a role in which he can greatly influence his nations progress in this competiton, behind Edinson Cavani and Ajax goal ace Luis Suarez. Uraguay have indeed retained some of their hostile qualities with a midfield that sends shivers down the spine of the faint hearted, as we saw when Perez and Pereira numbed the threat of Ribery, Gourcuff and Govou. For once it appears the Uraguayans may have struck upon a decent balance rather than mindless attack and blind destruction, making them an outside semi-final threat.

Mexico stunned many with a 2-0 victory over France tonight having been frustrated on the first day by hosts South Africa. The finishing in the first game was indeed disgusting particularly from West Ham's Guilherme Franco. However once again Mexico are a far cry from their unimaginative attacks involving slight, one-dimensional wingers loading balls to the head of Jared Borgetti or the acrobatic and chaotic style fronted by the Bicycle kick king Manuel Negrete. The flamboyance of Vela, Dos Santos and Blanco has made Mexico a fresh threat with a slick Arsenal style of scithing through defences - often with everything right until the finish. Their rolls-royce of a captain Rafael Marquez still oozes quality and defenders such as Salcido at left back give them a more secure image. However Mexico may well still be a Quarter final side at best and one norm still remains. The unrivalled, undoubted, unexaggerated madness of Oscar Perez.

Now for my favourite bit - to Chile. The last time we saw Chile they were in fact surprisingly similar to the Chile side who took the World Cup by the scruff of the neck in their 1-0 win over Honduras. In 1998 Marcelo Salas was the new boy on the block and Ivan Zamorano was always good for a goal himself. Other than that pairing the side was weak and unlike the Chile of today they did not contain the unique enterprise which has been instilled by the passionate Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa. Their interesting 3-4-3 format is no joke. The wingers do indeed have defensive capability but are by no means wing backs; and the 3 forwards are also for real with Mark Gonzalez and Alexis Sanchez fronting a two-pronged threat on both flanks which is fed into by midfield maestro Matias Fernandez and the dogged ball-winning tangent of David Pizzaro and Carlos Carmona. Yes Brava and Contreras are both mad but Chile do have some sense at the back particularly with the young and refreshing defender Javier Vidal. Their team chemistry and workrate is astonishing which is the key to any good defence and indeed any good attack. Should Humberto Suazo - top scorer in the South American Qualification Group - turn on the style in place of the unflattering Jorge Valdivia, Chile may well entertain the world before crashing out in the Second Round / Quarter Final when their loose and fluid attacking strategy eventually becomes unstuck.

Finally Paraguay. What a crock of absolute shite they really are and always have been. Its food for thought though ye. Italy are boring, France and negative, England are predictable, Germany robotic, Portugal one-dimensional and Spain superflous. Meanwhile there is a subtle revolution going on - and you're all really going to laugh at me if all the South American teams go out in the Second Round.

Mind over Matter: England in SA 2010

In every pub and sitting room across the nation even the most optimistic of us thought the same thing on Saturday evening; 'typical bloody England'. A bright start, a couple of injuries, a goalkeeping blunder, wasted chances and a lack of ideas. Its not a curse and its not the fact that we haven't got the players - and these realities were confirmed in fact by our old enemy and the football side that we all love to hate. Many of us sat green with envy as we saw a Germany side who had been wrongly tipped by bookmakers and pundits alike to struggle in their fairly mediocre group stage and pose no threat to Jules Rimet this year. Well those of you who know me will know that I was not at all surprised to see the Germans finally kick this competition into action after an array of draws and tense affairs in the opening games. There's a lot of people in Britain who would have you believe that German football and the continental style is boring. Well actually I disagree and have done for a long time. I'm not bored of winning games 4-0. I'm bored of hearing people criticise Emile Heskey, or say Gerrard and Lampard don't work together or say Glen Johnson can't defend. Maybe we wouldn't still be doing it though, were we just to learn a few simple lessons and learn how to play a game of international football.

I'm not here to rip apart tactics and team selection because I think the real problem with our approach to international football is ideological. Why is it that throughout the entire German demolition of Australia, a side who are of a similar standard to our opponents on June 12th, USA, I did not see one German player make or attempt one pass that any of our players would be incapable of doing themselves. There's an argument that says that the German movement was better and the formation was more fluid than our rigid and dated 4-4-2 which arguably cripples the likes of Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney who are the usual candidates to be moving into the same pockets of space as the German playmaker Mesut Ozil expertly exploited at the tender age of 21. There is also an argument that a more intelligent, skilful player such as Joe Cole would have been a more effective tool in terms of breaking down the defensive setup of USA as opposed to the two-dimensional style of speed demon wingers Wright Phillips and Lennon who unsurprisingly enjoyed little success against full backs who were happy to show them down a blind alley and loft ineffective crosses in for their beefy centre halves to deal with. There's no doubt that Lennon and SWP tear defences apart but its the likes of Cole and Milner who unlock them - which is why I personally think Capello's notion of Cole as an 'impact sub' is back to front.

Going back to the Germans and their patient style which brought tangible results. Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski dispelled the myth that good league form is vital for good international form having scored a total of 6 goals in the Bundesliga this season between them. Like Heskey, whose international form has traditionally been better than that for his club; Klose can be classified as a target man - but I did not see one hopeful long ball being piled up to him by either of the German centre halves and any service in the air to Klose was a whipped cross into areas in front of him rather than the ineffective high hanging balls which big Emile is often treated to which ask the striker to generate all the power and accurary with the header usually from around 15 yards. Well to be honest Klose couldn't do that so why would Heskey be able to. When Heskey actually got the ball to feet his post play and distribution was top notch, setting up Steve Gerrard's openers and playing in Wayne Rooney who had narrowly strayed offside in another passage of play.

Not only is Germany's preparedness to keep the ball and keep their passing simple and safe before looking to move the ball more quickly in the final third more effective in terms of attacking, it also reduces the likelihood of pressure being built up on them. Every time Terry or Carragher whacks the ball up to Heskey's neck with little or no supprt we're not only wasting possession but we're giving it to our opponents and thus inviting them onto us. In turn we had a few scares from unnecessary set plays before Green's howler and if anything the goal had been coming. Nothing to do with the keeper, the defence, the midfield or the strikers. Its our style of play and our impatience that costs us and its been a problem for ever since I can remember. Every week at my own club at 1-0 down people start yelling garbage such as 'Get it forward' or complaining when players pass the ball backwards rather than loft it forwards. Well if you learn anything from a game of football learn this from the Germans. Chelsea might have won the Premier League playing a lot of perecentage football and grinding teams down with a solid defence. It might work against Burnley - but it won't work in a World Cup.