Going Green

So all the teams have now played one game and despite being in it’s infancy the 2010 FIFA World Cup has thrown up a talking point or two. Here are a couple of the key ones and not a vuvuzela in sight.

The Green factor
I feel so sorry for Rob Green, OK it was his fault, but we probably can’t imagine what he’s gone through since Saturday. But the question is should Capello play him against Algeria, I think he should for a number of reasons.

1. The Scott Carson factor – look what happened to Carson after the ‘wally with the brolly’ game against Croatia at Wembley, that moment basically ruined his career. He has been terrible ever since and it is now what he will be remembered for. I don’t want to Green's career ruined in the same way and if you play him against Algeria it gives him the chance to put to bed the USA ghost.

2. The howler factor - What happens if Green’s replacement makes a howler. If Capello brings in James, what if he makes a mistake (and let’s be honest, that’s very possible), does he then drop him for Hart? It can’t work like that.

3. The fear factor – if Green is dropped then all the goalies know it’s one mistake and you’re out, putting even more pressure on them, and that’s not conducive to good performances.

4. The Algeria factor – OK maybe I’m being arrogant, but Algeria are unlikely to greatly trouble England’s rear guard, I think it’s a great game for Green to come back into.

It’s time for Capello to earn his money, but I think it’s a straightforward choice, he’s gone Green and he has to stay Green.

Boring games
So many games have failed to ignite the imagination, teams are playing defensively, playing not to lose. It hasn’t been a great advert for the World Cup. Several reasons have been banded around, the number of poor teams, the ball etc. Who knows why but I don’t think it’s the number of poor teams, take Portugal v Ivory Coast, two decent teams but an awful game, they were both so scared to lose that neither tried to win, but I think that if either had tried to win, they would have. I blame Sven.

The other argument against the many smaller teams spoiling the spectacle is North Korea, probably the smallest team at the tournament, they had to train in public gyms, dodging South African fitness fanatics in the process for goodness sake! But they made their game against Brazil good to watch, OK so they played defensively, but they passed it around confidently and with a little more luck and without some Brazilian magic (what a goal!) could have snatched an unlikely draw – one of the best games of the tournament so far

Mixed performances for big teams
So Spain lost Brazil won but the most interesting result was Germany, they were simply brilliant, albeit against a 10-man Australian team. Despite having a young team they have set the marker down for others to follow in terms of attacking and scoring goals. They just have to hope that they have not peaked too early, just ask Holland about peaking too early. Holland by the way played well against a good Danish side, they could be real contenders come the business end of the Cup, however they will need to sort their defence out and get a kind passage to the latter stages.

Despite Argentina’s poor qualification campaign (OK they still qualified so it wasn’t that poor) they looked quite good against Nigeria, but you would expect that of a team including Messi. Maradona provided entertainment on the sidelines, with the maverick manager dancing, jumping and being generally boisterous around the technical area.

Hopefully the football will improve with the second round of games, and if Uruguay v South Africa is an indication, they will, so keep the faith.