[spireitematt]

That was the Euros - there is a lot more serious competition in the World Cup and the winning team generally has a 'wowww factor' attached to it although an element of luck tends to prevail in certain matches. I hope the team that 'plays the beautiful game' in the proper way, with gusto and dynamism, picks up the trophy. Engerland comes nowhere near that pre-requisite and, of course, they are not playing on their home patch. As previously commented, the bookies' odds generally indicate the quality teams who will 'come through' in the end and previous notable experience of World Cup final participation is invaluable.

At the moment there has been no wow factor. Germany have lost to Mexico, Argentina held to a draw by Iceland, Brazil held to a draw by Switzerland. Only match which has had wow factor in this tournament so far is Portugal vs Spain. There is still a lot of football yet to be played and I guess there will be more twists and turns and anything can happen.

England have only played 1 game and did very well against a very physical side. We also did well to score a last minute winner, in the past we would have ending up drawing that not winning it. We should beat Panama, Belgium will be a struggle as they are a good side and a lot of there players play in the Premier League, so would take a draw against them. In the last 16 we will end up playing Japan, Columbia, Poland or Senegal. The quarter-finals we could end up meeting Germany or Brazil and that will be the real test.

A lot of football to be still played and a long way to go anything can happen. If we go out in the quarter-finals then we will still have done well seeing as we haven't made the quarter-finals since 2006. Anything better than quarter-finals then fantastic.