Great Armchair World Cup Moments No.3

Ah, the balmy summer of '86. Still at school. Late nights still a novelty. But the World Cup in Mexico that year meant a lot of the games kicking off in the early hours over here. One great game stands out from that World Cup - USSR v Belgium. One of the best matches I have ever seen. 4-3 to the Belgians. After extra time. Jean-Marie Pfaff in goal for the Belgians. Rats up front for the USSR. Great names. Great game. Great stuff.

What politics can learn from the World Cup

You can't be having draws in the knockout stages of a World Cup. Someone's got to win. Someone's got to lose. Same should be the case with elections. We can't be having tame draws when we need someone to get stuck in and sort out the economic mess. So maybe the voting should move into extra time when there's no clear winner. A chance to vote again. And if that doesn't sort things out, it has to be sudden death. Literally. Russian Roulette between the party leader. Last man standing gets the keys to number 10.

Great Armchair World Cup Moments No.2

1998. Penalties. England v Argentina. The commentator asks Keegan the most awkward question ever as Batty runs up to take his spot kick. 'So will he score?' Kevin quickly says yes. Seconds later we were out of the World Cup.

Not a great moment, actually. But a moment I'll never forget. Unfortunately.

Full Round of 16 Prediction

SOUTH AFRICA v ARGENTINA
ENGLAND v GHANA
HOLLAND v SLOVAKIA
BRAZIL v HONDURAS
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NIGERIA v FRANCE
GERMANY v SLOVENIA
ITALY v CAMEROON
SPAIN v IVORY COAST

World Cup Group H

Spain will have this one in the bag, so it's a battle for second by my reckoning. Think the Swiss will roll over and not make it, leaving the South Americans to battle it out. I'm going to go for Honduras to make shock progress to the latter stages. I know Wilson Palacios is in their ranks and a couple of other Premiership players. Chile however, well, Salas is the only one of their players I've ever known and I suspect he's long retired. 1 SPAIN 2 HONDURAS 3 Chile 4 Switzerland

World Cup Group G

Perm any two from three in this group, and I'm not talking about a Ronaldinho style perm. Have Brazil ever failed to get past the Group stage of a World Cup? I'm not going to be the first to predict that. They'll go through as will Ivory Coast I think. Meaning England's nemeses Portugal will fall by the wayside and can't knock us out on pens again. The People's Republic of Korea will finish fourth in this group, I think. And I might even put money on that. 1 BRAZIL 2 IVORY COAST 3 Portugal 4 PR Korea

World Cup Group F

Have to say on paper (and on screen) this looks a fairly easy group for the current World Champions. Paraguay used to have a high profile keeper who banged in a few free kicks. Reckon he'll have retired by now. So that's nothing I know about them. New Zealand? In the football World Cup? With Australia as well. Dunno what that's all about. Slovakia will fancy their chances of getting the runners-up spot in this group. I do. 1 ITALY 2 SLOVAKIA 3 Paraguay 4 New Zealand

World Cup Group E

The Netherlands aside, this Group is a difficult one to call. I don't know much about Japan, other than its capital city is called Tokyo and Lynchpin Lineker ended his career at Grampus Eight. Always got a soft spot for Denmark, especially after their success in the '92 Euros. Bring back the Laudrups I say. And you can't mention Cameroon and the World Cup without Roger Milla, corner flags and dancing in the same sentence. I've been talking up the Africans here, and really think this is another group in which they will triumph. 1 HOLLAND 2 CAMEROON (Roger Milla, corner flags, dancing) 3 Denmark 4 Japan

Declaration

Can now say, officially, that the World Cup starts next month.

Round of 16 Top Half Prediction

According to my predictions, here's how I see the top half of the Round of 16 looking:

SOUTH AFRICA v ARGENTINA

ENGLAND v GHANA

NIGERIA v FRANCE

GERMANY v SLOVENIA

World Cup Group D

D is definitely for Deutschland. The Germans haven't failed to qualify from the group stages of a tournament since 1066 and can't see that changing here. But who'll join them in the knockout phase. The Aussies will never be pushovers. The Serbs know where the goals are kept, but I'm gonna go for the Ghanayans to join the Germans, as this African festival of football is gonna give the nations from that continent extra impetus. 1 GERMANY 2 GHANA 3 Australia 4 Serbia.