Expert Blogs

A week into the 2010 World Cup, it's time for a few random observations.

North Korea tried to sneak an extra outfield player into their squad by registering him as a goalkeeper and hoping that FIFA wouldn't notice. Shouldn't England have done the same? And played him in goal?

Adidas: would you please just stop messing about with the ball?

Everyone else: would you please stop moaning about it?

Does Raymond Domenech have a frighteningly incriminating video of the President of the French Football Federation locked away somewhere or what? A video featuring something deeply, deeply wrong. If not, how else has he stayed in the job for so long?

Or is he in fact a genius? After all, who else could get those players playing that badly?

That Leo Messi is pretty good. Against South Korea, when he dropped back to play almost as a straight forward central midfielder, we got a glimpse of the future - and another indication of just how brilliant he is. When Messi no longer has the speed, he'll still be special.

"I've got a girlfriend, she's blonde and very pretty." We're very pleased, Diego. But we can't help feeling you're protesting a bit too much. There's still nothing to touch Maradona. Apart from his pretty, blond, 31-year-old of course.

Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard together. It hasn't worked for ten years, why would it suddenly work now?

The referee who handed out the most cards so far - with nine - was a Spaniard. In a game that wasn't even dirty. Is anyone surprised?

Paul Le Guen: maybe no one's told you this, but Samuel Eto'o isn't a right midfielder.

Can you really score a disallowed goal, smash an absolute rocket against the post, and still have played poorly?

Is "we don't know anything about them" an acceptable thing for a highly paid television pundit to say?

Cuauhtemoc Blanco got in trouble for smoking in his hotel room. Why? Was it a non-smoking room?

You wait four years to play in the World Cup. You get a ridiculous yellow card for a handball when it actually hits you in the face. You get suspension. And you can't appeal.

Why are fouls by attackers so easy to blow? Could it be that refs are actually cowards?

Is Busquets all that good?

Go on, admit it: you weren't going to bother with USA-Slovenia.

Go on, admit it: you wish you hadn't bothered with England-Algeria.

What was that about England's group again, The Sun? Did your cover really say "EASY"?

"The bigger the stage, the worse Higuain gets." Maybe the sports daily Marca, Spain's best-selling newspaper, doesn't think the World Cup counts as a big stage.

Is it harder to break down ultra-defensive teams than we realize?

Is Chile coach Marcelo Bielsa the coolest man around?

So the Slovenia keeper is a coward. But, let's face it, you wouldn't be in a hurry to stick you face in the way of that, either.

Panini says they produce exactly the same number of every sticker in their World Cup album. They're joking, right?