Hello readers,

 

The nitty gritty of the World Cup starts on Friday with the quarter-final games to kick off between arguably the best eight international teams in the world.

Italy, Brazil, France, Portugal, Ukraine, Argentina, Germany and of course England, all possess the capabilities to win the tournament.They are sure to be fantastic games.

 

Hopefully the football will grab the focus and headlines as opposed to any negativity which has arisen in a few games, notably the Portugal v Holland game, which saw 16 yellow and four red cards shown.

 

England’s quarter-final opponents Portugal have looked so far so good. However the fact that the Barcelona midfielder Deco will miss the game is definitely a benefit to England.

I think Deco is an exceptional player on par with the likes of Ronaldinho and Riquelme of Argentina, so his absence will have an adverse affect on Portugal.

The battle between Cristiano Ronaldo and Ashley Cole will be an exciting tussle. Ashley Cole has always seemed to be able to deal adequately with the silky skills of Ronaldo so hopefully that will continue in Sunday’s game.

 

Wayne Rooney’s 90 minutes against Ecuador was uplifting to see. It was amazing to see the power, skill and strength of Rooney, who is still supposed to lacking match fitness.

David Beckham’s performances have come under some scrutiny but his winning free kick against Ecuador will give him confidence to do the same and more against Portugal. Hopefully his stomach will be a little more stable this time round.

 

I had a similar personal experience in Hungary last year at the U19s European Championships. I usually feel queasy for the first ten minutes of a game due to nerves and anticipation, yet against Switzerland, which was the game which would’ve decided our entry into this year’s U20s World Cup, the dehydration got the better of me and I had to come off because I felt like vomiting on the pitch. I’m sure the Swiss defenders would not have been too happy if I did!

 

With regards to the other quarter-final fixtures I think Brazil v France will be a fantastic game, seeing a whole host of the world’s best players playing for both teams. The game is a replay of the 1998 World Cup Final that saw France beat Brazil.

 

Although Brazil won convincingly on Tuesday against Ghana I think there is a general consensus that their performances have been reserved in comparison to other Brazil-esque performances.

So it is safe to say France have a great chance. I am not going to attempt to predict that result. I am sitting on the fence.

 

Any predictions?

 

As an adopted West Londoner, my soft spot for Australia has grown because of the strong Australian community in in the area. So it was upsetting to see the Socceroos knocked out by Italy in the dying minutes by what I think was a very harsh penalty decision.

 

Italy will be looking to allow their success on the pitch do the talking as opposed to the negative news stories surrounding Serie A at the minute.

 

I predict the semi-finals to be Argentina v Italy and England v Brazil or France. I hope I am right. We’ll all find out on Saturday night. Please send any questions, answers or predictions to the editor@thefa.com.

 

Catch you later

Eniola