Blog Post no.1826438

Well, this world cup has changed very quickly from when I wrote last week. Suddenly it looks as if all the predictions people had made may have been very hasty.

After Spain losing to Switzerland there is a very real possibility that they could end up facing Brazil in the Round of 16 - one of the two stand-out favourites would fall at that stage. Having shown in their previous performances that both look eminently beatable, this World Cup could be there for the taking.

But probably not for England - playing Carragher and Terry as a centre back pairing is a ludicrous idea. They have been left with absolutely zero pace in the centre of defence. Every player we have selected as the CBs is the player who is typically assigned to attack the ball at club level. We have no sweepers! They will almost inevitably fail as soon as they are faced by any half-decent striker with a modicum of pace. For christ's sake, they made Altidore look like as passable international level striker and he does not even make the Hull starting XI.

Germany impressed in there first game, for many people this must have been the first chance to see the attacking flair of Mesut Ozil, who shone during the 4-0 defeat of Australia. But, the player who really stood out in my eyes was Sami Khedira - he had quality on the ball, good vision and broke in to the box from a deep position constantly. This combined with intelligent reading of the game and strength in the tackle means that he is the player that I now desperately want Arsenal to sign.

Having said this, they are currently losing 1-0 to Serbia and are a man down to a couple of ridiculous decisions from the Spanish referee. It will be interesting to see how such a young and relatively newly formed team reacts to such adverse conditions.

I believe that there are no nailed on certainties for the finals or the semi's due the unpredictability of the this particular competition. Though I believe that when Holland 'click' they could be a match for anyone and are potential winners of the tournament.

A lot of this unpredictability stems from the increasingly defensive mind-set of teams. There is such an aversion to risk and such a great fear of being absolutely tanked that teams seem to be defending in greater numbers than at any previous World Cup I can remember. There is no certainty which comes from the knowledge that in a attacking game Spain will outscore Switzerland. As is evidenced on an almost weekly basis in the Premiership if teams defend well and attack on the break a terrible team can beat a far superior team forced in to mistakes arising from the frustration that comes from facing 10 defenders.

More predictable is the media's obsession with the new World Cup ball. Provided, as always, by Adidas it has been blamed for everything from misplaced passes to the growing collection of goal keeping howlers. Surely everyone would be happier if Adidas just spent the next four years creating a pretty new pattern rather than redesigning a ball.