I’m enjoying this frivolity, this international jollity, this staying up till late to watch Iran. The chance to see Algeria may oft produce hysteria in ways that only World Cup football can. I’ve scoffed at all the analysts, the patronising panelists, yet never touched the dial to change the station. And I’ve taken no siesta […]

Seconds away from the final sixteen, what a wonderful fairy tale it would have been. We thought that the golden boy had split the scene but it seems that he was only waiting. We stared dumbfounded at the television screen watching Portugal celebrating. We’d written him off with his Portuguese mates, declared that he’d never […]

The Bosnians tried desperately to get that one goal back. The Bosnians threw everybody into the attack. The Bosnians knew if they didn’t score, then they’d be toast. But where were the Herzegovinans when they were needed most? The boyos from Nigeria fought hard to keep them out. The Bosnians tried very hard to end […]

I thought perhaps I might compose a sonnet about this Group H World Cup match today, but when I came to write a poem on it I couldn’t think of very much to say. If I were being kind, I would wax lyrically on how both teams declined to show their hand; how Belgium snatched […]

After Belgium – Russia, eyes were bleary. The prospect of Algeria dismayed. This syndrome tends to make one football weary after thirty World Cup games are played. This didn’t look to be a nerve-end scraper. Neither team had shown a lot of class. It didn’t look that good a game on paper but thankfully they […]