A nerve wracking 24 hours...

It's the not knowing that kills you, they say. And for a group of players, the next 24 hours will see their fate decided. But I'm not talking about the seven England players who'll have to watch the World Cup at home on the telly with the rest of us. I'm talking about my team, Crystal Palace, who face going bust unless the money men can hammer out some deal before 3pm.

We've all got to accept that the game is run by money nowadays. But it is hard to accept that a second tier team with a 105 year history could go to the wall within 24 hours. If there's no Palace, there's no real point to domestic football for me. I'll just carry on following England, and remember being there when Freedman slotted in that winner against Stockport and going absolutely fookin mental.

Let's hope I don't have to go mental for totally different reasons at 3.01pm tomorrow...

Japan 1-2 England

Well, we don't look like world beaters on the evidence of that performance. But then we don't need to yet. No point peaking in May when the final's in July.

Reckon the game will have confirmed a few things though. Bent, Huddlestone, Parker, Warnock and Dawson won't be making the trip to South Africa. Joe Cole definitely should.

ITV need to tighten up their introductory sequence, as Chiles made an unexpected early appearance before being cut off. Always embarrassing to watch. And I hope their World Cup title sequence isn't as long as the one we witnessed today.

Who'll Make It To The Final?

This predicting lark is a tough old game. You never know who's going to get injured during the course of a tournament. And if any game goes to penalties, it's a lottery, and I have no luck on the lottery either.

Bearing all that in mind, I think the 2010 World Cup Final will be:

HOLLAND v ITALY

The World Cup Wallchart

At what age does it become unacceptable to pin up one of these? I think the serious collecting of Panini stickers has to end before you reach double figures, though I am collecting this year, so there. The World Cup wallchart is a different matter. I seldom remember filling one in right to the end. They usually get ripped off the wall once England has been eliminated. Plus it's tricky finding a pen that'll let you write at such an angle without the ink running to the wrong end of the pen, which soon becomes annoying.

Feign Injury In Training. Get name in papers.

That's all any international footballer has to do right now. Go down and stay down on the practice pitch and a nation will hold its breath. A journalist skulking in the bushes will file some copy about an injury scare. An editor back at base will run a scaremongering headline about Player X's worrying fall. Player X will hobble off to the treatment room and put their feet up for a bit, happy in the knowledge that little fall will have kept them in the public eye back home.

Women And The World Cup

There's a fair few emails doing the rounds. Either explaining the offside rule in femme-terms (shoes and handbags). Or it's lads laying down the law for the 30 days of the tournament (featuring things like 'never say it's only a game).

But there's a fair few women around who know the game and who can hold their own in a footie conversation.

That said, I still wouldn't want to be sat next to one during an England game, especially if they started to analyse the quality of male thigh on show, or the bounciness of certain centrally located packages. Keep your eyes on the big balls, girls.

Best Snack To Watch The World Cup With

Got to be the Pringle. You can conveyor belt these into your gob without moving your eyes from the screen. They should have released a Paprikaka flavour for the World Cup. Missed opportunity there, Mr Pringle. Bet he's gutted.

England 3-1 Mexico

It's only a warm-up would be my cry to all those fretting over the performance. Oh, and we won. Sure, not a vintage display, but it's time to roll out the cliche - if you can play badly and still win - er I don't know the rest of that cliche, or even if it is a cliche.

Both Johnsons looked good as did the crowd in their matching t-shirts. Chiles was so laidback in the booth I wouldn't be surprised if he was horizontal during the game. Wasn't impressed with Baines or Carrick, but I doubt either are pencilled in as starters. Sure, no England player looks confident with the ball at his feet for longer than 10 seconds, but that's the English way.

And it's probably why we won't win the World Cup.

British Weather Lets Us Down - Again

England only has a couple of warm-up games before the World Cup. Tonight's Wembley match-up against Mexico isn't exactly going to replicate South African conditions. It's winter down there, and no doubt, the FA were hoping that the weather in London today would be as rotten and disappointing as it normally is this time of year (or anytime of year for that matter).

Sadly, it resembles Mexico out there. And no doubt there'll be a shot of a pitchside thermometer on tonight's TV coverage just to show everyone how far away we are from emulating a southern hemisphere winter.

Thanks Mr. Weatherman. Just when we wouldn't have minded a bit of bad news on the weather front, you serve up this scorcher.

Bad Times For Cows

Aside from non-footballing wives and soccer shy blokes, it's cows that must be dreading the World Cup the most. I've already been invited to three barbecues for the England v USA game. So it looks like a lot of beef is going to get charred on griddles this summer. Sunshine, football and fat oozing burgers with a smidgeon of salad look like being the order of the 30 days of the World Cup. I'd suggest any cows reading this should head for the hills.

Who'll Make It To The Semis?

Getting down to the nitty gritty now. I've already predicted that many people's favourites - Spain - will fall to the Ivory Coast in the round of 16. And I'm going to predict an African side gets to the last four.

ARGENTINA v HOLLAND

NIGERIA v ITALY