What a start! Heat = Goals and Spain aren't done yet

It's here! The World Cup is here! If you're anything like me you'll have pinched yourself at some point in the last 48 hours just to make sure it's all real (I genuinely have, I always do). I managed to pull Nigeria in the office sweepstake and predicted a 2-0 win for Braaaaaaaaaziiil Braaaaaaaaaziiil in the company prediction competition that I'm running, great start what with Croatia taking a 1-0 lead after just 11 minutes.

As per that brief clip above I think ITV have once again trumped BBC in the opening credit stakes. Despite have the worst commentary/analysis team of the two, excluding Cannavaro and Viera (even if Cannavaro does at times struggle to keep up with the English chit chat), ITV tend to make up for it with their opening credits. In the last tournament it was close ITV came up with probably the best opening credits since Glory Land (ITV 1994) or the ITV 1990 theme. But BBC had, what I'd consider their best ever (even including the tournaments I didn't watch because I was too young or not even born).

On the football side of things I've been thoroughly entertained so far. There's been plenty of drama from the word "go" and the lowest scoring game has been a 1-0 for Mexico over Cameroon. I have a theory with the number of goals we have had so far in the tournament, I could be proved wrong as there are another 60 games to go, but here it is.

Now that you've been equipped with the history of the World Cup thanks to my comprehensive guide (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) you'll know that the best and most entertaining tournaments were Mexico 70, Spain 82, Mexico 86 & USA 94. I confess that at no point do I actually say this in my previous posts. This is solely based on my opinion, which has been formed, watching some of these tournaments, either at the time or through clips and reading about them and what others have thought. There's a constant theme with all of the above tournaments though, sunshine. Sunshine (well heat actually) and goals.

Sure let him down!

Anybody as well versed in this World Cup malarkey will argue that statistically 1986 had a comparatively low goals per game ratio and that 2002 also had games played in the sapping heat (just ask, then Spain manager Jose Camacho). But my counter argument for that is 1986 saw some of the World Cup's great topsy turvy goalfests. Italy v South Korea and Denmark v Uruguay in the groups; Denmark v Spain and Belgium v USSR in the 2nd round; and the Final itself where Germany came back from 2-0 down to level the game, only for Argentina to snatch a winner near the end.

If you don't believe me I have further evidence. The 2 most open and attacking World Cup's since everybody (rather cynically) realised you stood a better chance winning in football if you defended well, somewhere in the 1970's? have been 1982 and 1994. 82 has the highest goal ratio of a "modern" tournament and Spain was pretty hot the last time I checked.

If you think of all of the big (colour TV) goalfests in the history of the tournament they can be traced back to these tournaments. Italy 4 West Germany 3 & England 2 West Germany 3 (70); Braaaaaaaaaziiil Braaaaaaaaaziiil 2 Italy 3 & West Germany 3 France 3 (82); Romania 3 Argentina 2, Germany 3 Belgium 2, Holland 2 Braaaaaaaaaziiil Braaaaaaaaaziiil 3 & Romania 2 Sweden 2 (94). I rest my case.

As players get hot and tired they get slacker, especially defensively, and they start to take risks like hitting long balls (oh god, watch out for England tonight then) or long shots. Add in the fact that once a team goes behind in a game they sometimes have to abandon their game plan and open up a little and you'll get goals. My thought was that the early games wouldn't see so much of this as teams would rather stay compact and see out a slow 0-0 draw (that could still well happen, were only four games in) and that as the tournament went on and players got more tired, due to the affects of playing twice a week in the stifling heat, the goals would start raining in. Let's see, I could be totally wrong and we could be in for 4 weeks of 1-0 wins from this point onwards...

He does look like a child soldier. The moustache doesn't help!

The story so far sees Braaaaaaaaaziiil Braaaaaaaaaziiil beating Croatia in there opening game, coming from behind with the aid of some questionable refereeing decisions, but then this is why host nations always do well (unless you're South Africa), referees are influenced by the noise the crowd makes when there is a contentious decision. We are too. When was the last time you saw a player go down, not much of a fuss made by the crowd and you thought, "That's a definite foul!" They're human. That main thing I took from that game was that the Braaaaaaaaaziiil Braaaaaaaaaziiil fans can't give Diego Costa too hard a time for playing for Spain (instead of Braaaaaaaaaziiil Braaaaaaaaaziiil, his country of birth), they've got Paulinho and Luiz Gustavo who are clearly Sri Lankan and Rwandan. Gustavo looks like one of those 11 year old child soldiers that you see in documentaries, with a cigarette in his mouth and an AK-47 in his hands (can I just say, as I'm aware that's a bit close to the mark, I'm not making light of the plight of these kids, what happens to them which forces them to be party of these rebel "armies" is actually shocking).

He's probably got one eye on this week's 1st Test at Lords

It's not the first time Braaaaaaaaaziiil Braaaaaaaaaziiil have had Sri Lankans in their squad , remember Emerson?

Elsewhere, lazy pundits are now writing Spain off because of their 5-1 defeat to the Dutch. As a result I've just put and eachway bet on Spain to win the tournament, their odds are now, stupidly, out at 11/1 (based on my previous form with bets that's probably the kiss of death). Let me straighten things out right now though. I don't think Spain will win the tournament, yes because they've aged (and you need young legs to play in the sun), but not because of last night. Last night they were the more threatening team up until the point at which Holland went 2-1 up (remember Silva had a great chance to extend the lead when it was 1-0). Once they went 2-1 down they had to come forward with more urgency and leave gaps at the back, that coupled with the heat... Goals!