With the start of the football World Cup only a week away now, this is a thread to discuss everything about (*puts on American accent*) the greatest football competition on the planet

Here are my predictions as to what will happen (feel free to make your own)

Teams to qualify from the group stages
Group A: France Mexico South Africa Uruguay
Group B: Argentina Greece Nigeria SouthKorea
Group C: Algeria England Slovenia USA
Group D: Australia Germany Ghana Serbia
Group E: Cameroon Denmark Japan Netherlands
Group F: Italy New Zealand Paraguay Slovakia
Group G: Brazil IvoryCoast NorthKorea Portugal
Group H: Chile Honduras Spain Switzerland

How will England do?
England should top their group. The USA match will probably be tough but we should beat Slovenia and Algeria. If we do, then we will most certainly avoid Germany, Italy and Spain until the final as they will be in the other half of the draw. Potentially the cup run will involve a match against the Group D runners-up, which will probably be Australia, Ghana or Serbia. Then we could face France, Argentina, Greece or Mexico in the quarter-finals and then probably either the Netherlands or Brazil in the semis. I think England have got a really good chance of reaching the semi-finals this time around, but certainly their quarter-final match won't be easy.

Surprise team
Hard to say really. I think the USA and Japan have both got a good chance of causing an upset somewhere. The USA will be no pushovers, having beaten Spain and nearly beating Brazil in the Confederations Cup last year.

Who do you think will win the World Cup?
Hopefully England . But realistically I think the final will probably be Brazil/Netherlands v Italy/Spain (whoever wins their respective quarter-finals). I'm going to go for Spain to do a Euro-World Cup double.

Car Expert

surprise team = serbia. STANKOVIC 10. Loving the honduras shirt. It dispenses with their federations crest and instead just has a massive [size=6] H

Looks like Rio Ferdinand and Didier Drogba might miss the World Cup

Car Expert

Not fussed about either.

Ferdinand is english.
Drogba is a cheat.

Car expert, you missed out an option in your answers:

'What World Cup??'

ah #### ... you beat me to it, muffinmonster!

I thought about it, but then I didn't want to sound too negative

Car Expert

That is exactly what I wanted as an answer! Are you one like me who is getting fed up with every single advert on the TV having a football in it, and not looking forward to normal programs being disrupted for a football match between two foreign countries that nobody cares about?

World Cup....

I hope England win it (naturally ), but my head says they won't (I've gone for a semi-final exit at the hands of eventual winners Brazil). Very difficult to see beyond Brazil lifting the trophy : Spain I think will bottle it somewhere along the line, I saw some of France v China on TF1 (French TV) and they looked far from impressive and the commentators thought much the same, I don't think any of the African sides look good enough, sadly (Nigeria probably best of the bunch), Argentina will eventually I think be let down by their manager, and Italy don't seem to be the force they were...

I'm not a great football fun, but I do quite enjoy the social aspect of watching matches for the World Cup.

The office where I work is having a "World Cup Party" for the England v Slovenia game. There's a TV in the kitchen area and they're going to provide food/drinks. Since there's a very strict no-alcohol policy they will officially close for business at 3pm. The last time they did this (Christmas) the IT manager closed down all the networks so no-one could do any work even if they wanted to, and unplugged photocopiers etc.

Can I come to work for you? I don't like football much but I DO like finishing work early.

I'll do mine too...

Teams to qualify from the group stages
Group A: France Mexico South Africa Uruguay
Group B: Argentina Greece Nigeria South Korea
Group C: Algeria England Slovenia USA
Group D: Australia Germany Ghana Serbia
Group E: Cameroon Denmark Japan Netherlands
Group F: Italy New Zealand Paraguay Slovakia
Group G: Brazil Ivory Coast North Korea Portugal
Group H: Chile Honduras Spain Switzerland

France have too much quality in their squad to go out that early, plus they are now playing 4-3-3 with malouda and ribery on the wings.

You didn't see them against China on Friday. They were really not good at all, and the TF1 commentators were getting a bit animated (the result was 1-0 to China, by the way).

france would be okay, but are managed by an idiot

spain have such a good squad, almost all of their players would get in the england squad whereas only 1 of ours would get in theirs. it's spain's to lose really.

TF1 thought much the same...

Why isn't there a, 'who cares' option on the poll?

If only we had three good goalkeepers like Spain do...

Car Expert

It's football! Everyone should care...


I'd settle for one good keeper around now, although hopefully Hart will grow into the role.

He ought to be our first choice keeper for the next tournament, but that's providing he finds a club that will give him first team football. That certainly won't be at Man City...

Car Expert

to be honest - as a patriotic scot, i am rooting for anyone but england. the constant tv adverts, press coverage and biast commentators/tv presenters is really getting on my nerves!

I've never understood this attitude. When it comes to international competitions I would rather England (or an English based team) won, then other home nations, then the Empire.

(Its always good to support the Empire in rugby as the only threat that leaves is the French!)

i dont mind english based teams winning (eg english football teams - machester united, chelsea, whoever...). i would support them over any foreign teams - its just the national team that really gets on my nerves... i really dont know why? its just one of those things i suppose...

Ahh, I wondered how long it would be before this thread appeared!

It's only a game involving twenty two agressive ruffians kicking an inflatable pig's bladder around for goodness sake.

Golf, much less manic.

Thats the way... Looking forward to england's crash and burn against serbia in the second round

I'm with you on this one, b-c! Same predictions for winner and England performance and I'd so like to see the African teams do well...

I wouldn't rule out Chile pipping Switzerland to the post on the first round, though.

Indeed.

Hmm. A good walk ruined.

Well I don't want them to .... except I've drawn Serbia in a sweepstake (Oh, divided loyalties )

I'm getting concerned about the noise levels. Has anyone else seen those toy trumpet thingst hey are selling? Apparently you can get a 100 decibel blast in a stadium packed with them. How many people will remember the world cup for the day they went deaf?

Ah : the vuvuzela! There's a thread about them in Viva Brass...

I want one

Plenty of reputable online places are selling them!

Our office is completely obsessed with food. Now that the cake club is over (in which I came 3rd overall and 1st for texture with my lemon and white chocolate sponge) we're organising food around the World Cup. So everyone has been allocated a day and needs to bring in something to eat appropriate to one of the countries playing that day. My day is Thursday 24th / Italy. It will have to be something simple because we're having an official party on the Wednesday evening so I can't imagine I'll go home and start cooking, but I think bruschetta, parma ham, mozzarella, tomatoes, olives etc purchased on the day should need minimal preparation and do the job.

Hey, brilliant idea! I'm going to propose the same thing to my workmates!

We've just had a mid-morning snack of french bread, cheese and pate!

Well I'm flying the flag for Blighty. Bacon and egg bap.

...but they're not playing today, that's for tomorrow!

less than 2 hours...i'm so excited

The World Cup has kicked off

I'll predict a draw for South Africa v Mexico...

Car Expert

Seems a good prediction so far CE...

South Africa have scored!

Car Expert

Nice goal celebration

It's 1-1. Can't hear many vuvuzelas now...

Car Expert

Am I the only one at work?

Excellent prediction CE. Now please predict an England win for tomorrow

I don't like the new format for the BBCs live text commentary. It's really hard to read with it being so squashed up along the side.

I think they've done it so they can display live coverage for those matches where the BBC has broadcasting rights. I don't think it's *too* bad to read, but it could be a bit larger...

I agree... it'll take some getting used to...I'll see what I can conjure up tomorrow

As for later, I'll predict another disappointing performance from France, resulting in another draw...

Car Expert

They were so poor against China last Friday...