I had a good old belly laugh while I was waiting in the car for Liam to come out of school this afternoon. Since the World Cup began last week, I have been listening to Talksport while in the car. For those of you who don't know, I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that Talksport is a radio station that talks about sport all day, every day. As you can probably guess, this radio station is not intellectually challenging - but it does provide live commentary on almost every game. Anyway, as I was waiting for Liam, the show's two English hosts were talking about the forthcoming Brazil game, and particularly about the way Brazil have prepared for the tournament - and how they prepare for every tournament in which they take part. Without a hint of irony, both of the presenters agreed that the thing that upsets them most about the Brazilians is the way they always come to the World Cup expecting to win it - claiming that they even boast about how they will win it. I laughed so hard that the people in the car next to me must have thought I was having a fit - you see, these two presenters (and almost all of the presenters on Talksport, and the BBC and just about every other UK broadcaster) have spent the past several months telling us how England are going to win it... just as they are going to win every tournament they enter, e.g. Euro 2004, Japan 2002, Euro 2000, France 1998, Euro 1996, USA 1994, Euro 1992, Italia 1990, etc., etc. The only difference that I can see is that Brazil quite often do win - which is why their shirt has five stars! And they say that the Americans lack a sense of irony!

Today's results:
South Korea 2 - 1 Togo
France 0 - 0 Switzerland
Brazil 1 - 0 Croatia