Peter Crouch agrees with the author that he should start against Algeria.

So one week down in the World Cup and I’m not quite sure what to make of it. In places, it’s business as usual, but then in other games we’ve seen total destruction of the apple cart.

The Good

Argentina. They’ve been pretty sensational so far. Much better then I expected. Having struggled through the qualifying I had tipped them to go out in the first round in a whirl of Maradona madness. But they’ve been excellent. Although, to be fair, I reckon I could do well as the Argentina manager. Especially with Messers Messi, Tevez, Higuain, Aguerro and Veron in my team (among others).

The Bad

Has to be the general standard of the football. At the moment, most teams seem terrified of losing. Anyone unfortunate enough to witness the Portugal v Ivory Coast game will attest to this. I’m hoping against hope that teams will start to get a little more expansive when the group stages conclude. The prospect of must-win games can surely only guarantee some entertaining games. However, I have distinct fears that we’ll end up with similar defensive mentalities come the knock outs.

My money’s on a lot of penalty shoot outs. Which naturally means that England will be knocked out in the Quarters.
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Capello ponders how to tell Carrick that he's not coming on safari.

For some strange reason I love this bit in a World Cup Year. The country (England this is) is swept up in World Cup Fever. Every other advertisement has a football connection somewhere, builders start parading the flags they got free in The Sun on their vehicles and grannies across England start knitting jumpers of various shades of red and white for their “little Jimmy”. Optimism sweeps the country as the press hype up the teams chances and newspapers start offering free tickets to the Victory Parade.

It’s also the time when the England coach has to cut his squad down from 30 odd to 23. Some years it’s obvious, some years it’s not. This year is no exception. The obvious facts are, that Gareth Barry’s injury in the City match against Spurs last month has left such an enormous hole in the centre of the England midfield that it’s in danger of consuming the whole country. Some members of the press and the public think that Barry has had a poor season and is no good in an England shirt. However, it is no coincidence that England have looked disjointed and un-balanced without him. He is the glue that holds them all together.

Without Barry, England are left to make do with any of Huddlestone, Parker, Carrick, Milner or playing Gerrard and Lampard together (and we all know where that ends up). The rusty performance against Mexico last week shows that neither Milner nor Carrick really have what it takes, but then that should have been obvious before the game. Milner is better on the flank and Carrick has had a shocking season and shouldn’t really be anywhere near the squad. I, like every other proud Englishman, have my own opinion on this matter, and I will share it with you soon.
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Joanh Lomu clatters through England

The great thing about sport is that occasionally it produces an athlete so talented, so exceptional, so perfect, that the only conclusion we can draw, is that they were either artificially created in a lab, or that they are merely some freak of nature that was born to do what they do. Someone that would look totally out of place doing something other then the sporting discipline they are taking part in.

The subject for my first article on sporting freaks is one such athlete. You can’t imagine this guy doing anything other then playing rugby. Or maybe sumo wrestling. But you can’t, for example, envisage him as an accountant.

Cast your mind back to early 1995. Rugby Union was in a pretty major transitional phase, with professionalism only just around the corner. (The game went professional in August 1995). South Africa had only recently returned from the international wilderness and were preparing to host the World Cup. If I remember rightly I was a young wipper-snapper winger playing school boy rugby, and my favourite player was Rob Andrew (I think). The world of Rugby was filled with such players like Rob Andrew and Brian Moore. Honest chaps who held down civilised jobs during the week, whilst taking to the rugby pitch at weekends.

Then, along came Jonah.
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An Otway Odyssey

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “odyssey” = noun (pl odysseys) a long eventful journey.

No shit.

Some of you may or may not be aware of my weekend past time of mountain biking. Occasionally I get a bit ahead of myself and sign up for crazy events such as 100km Marathons. It happened last year when I completed the BMC 100km Classic. For some strange reason, I signed up to compete (well, “take part in” really) in the 2010 Otway Odyssey. A 100km MTB Marathon that runs from Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Road up through the Otway Ranges to the township of Forrest. And as I discovered this weekend, the OO made the BMC look like a swift jaunt to the shops to get skittles. The first 50km is basically up (and with a total elevation gain of around 2000m you’d expect that), then there is around 27km of beautiful singletrack around the world class trails in Forrest before the final 13km loop to the finish.
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The Commentary Box is fully embracing social media! We are now on facebook, so become a fan and help support us.

The Commentary Box Facebook Page.

Ok ok ok. I know I said I’d try harder. So here it is. Me trying harder.

Before the year runs out and I haven’t posted anything at all, I thought I’d better get my thoughts and expectations for the sporting year ahead. Sadly I’ve already missed the boat on the Australian Open, but if I had had chance to blog about it before the event I would have written about my hopes that Andy Murray would do well. You can imagine my delight that he did very well indeed. It is a shame that Roger Federer still exists! I did manage to catch Murray live in his second round match against Marc Giquel and I was stuck by how much more aggressive he looked on court. I had high hopes. I guess the only disappointment was that Murray couldn’t take that final set against Federer. I guess we all knew The Fed would prevail, but I had hoped Murray would take a set or two off him. Still, I have hopes for Andy. I have no doubt he will win a major one day, I just don’t think it will be Wimbledon. He seems far more at home on the hard courts of Australia and the USA.
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Wow. Long Time.

I must apologise to my legions of readers for the lack of posts recently. Sadly, I will have to play the work card. There’s been far too much of it recently. I do, however, have every intention of returning to regular posting within a few days. A Christmas holiday will do me a world of good. Since my absence though, the image of Andrew Strauss lifting the Ashes is a pretty good holding page.

If you fancy getting my regular tweets, you can follow me on Twitter. I’ve certainly been a little more active there!

In the meantime, we’ve had a lot of sport in the past few months. Jenson Button became F1 World Champion, despite his best efforts to throw it away. He’s now followed the money to McLaren, where he will be second fiddle to Lewis Hamilton. Manchester City, much to my frustration, succeeded in notching up an amazing run of seven consecutive Premier League wins. Fortunately, a fantastic win against Chelsea sees us on our way again. The England Cricket team somehow managed to notch up a ODI series win against SA, although I think the rain helped. This Trott character seems to be the business. And finally, the England rugby team raised few eyebrows with a poor showing in the Autumn Internationals. Although Rob Andrew et al seem to be convinced we’re getting better. At least no one was sent off this time. That IS an improvement.

Oh, and did anyone catch any of the cricket from Adelaide recently? Cracking test match between Windies and Australia. Would have loved a Windies win, especially since the hammering they coped from the Aussie press after the first test. Who says test cricket is dead? Game of Champions.

I look forward now to heading to France for Christmas, where I can relax with Sky Sports and Real Ale. Various musings will be coming your way in due course.

Bonos Nochos.

England reclaim The Ashes

WARNING: This article contains information that some Australians may find distressing.

Blimey! What a result!

Before I begin, I’d like to just take a moment to revel in my Englishness as I wallow in a jacuzzi of Australian misery. After all, I am an England fan, and this is the best thing thats happened for some time! For the next few weeks, every time I speak to an Aussie, there will be a twinkle in my eye and a wry and knowing smile. England getting one over the Aussies doesn’t happen very often, and I am in pole position to make the most of it.

As the article continues, I will try to become more objective, but right now, all I can say is, BOO YA!
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Can Man Utd make it 3 in a row?

I was meant to write this article last weekend, before the premiership kicked off. But unfortunately I was down the coast in Sorrento in a friend’s beach house, recovering from a round of golf and an afternoon wine tasting. I’m sure you can now understand why I didn’t get round to it. Still, I’m here now, and super psyched that the football season has begun. Also, I think we could do with a break from cricket on this blog!

To business then. Regular readers will know that I’m a Manchester City fan. And as such, I’ve been looking forward to this season with salivating anticipation, if that makes sense. As I’ve just been reminded, 11 years ago, at the start of the 1998/1999 season, City were building up for their assault on the then Division 2 [League Two] title. My early childhood hero, Georgi Kinkladze had just departed for Ajax, and things didn’t look good. Still, we had Paul Dickov and Kevin Horlock, among others! Surely things could only get better?
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Freddie's Last Hurrah

Well game on then. For England the equation is simple. 1 Test match. 1 Win needed. 1 Ashes series. For Australia, the equation is equally simple. Despite the fact that they need only a draw, I can guarantee that Ricky Ponting’s men will be all guns blazing. They will want to leave England 2-1 winners. So what a game we have in store. I only hope that the game proves to be the nail biting finish that this series deserves, and that we are not robbed of a good contest by the weather or a placid pitch.

England head into this test low on confidence and middle order ability, and it would be an astonishing turn around were they to upset the odds and win this week. But in order to do so, they must display the determination and aggression that will be needed to wrestle the urn from under the number 1 ranked team in the world. And if they have the will, they can certainly do it. After all, aside from the 1st test and the 4th Test debacle, England have been on top in this series, and must take heart in the fact that, if they bowl in the right places, and don’t give their wickets away, they have every chance.
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