Los Idiotas

"Andy Townsend, that was impressive, how far can Spain go then?"
"Well Gabby, on this evidence, they'll be hard to stop. This team might just be the one at last"

"So, Iain Dowie, can Spain go all the way?"
"Yes, I think they can"

Fantastic, this is what makes the World Cup great. It just never lets you down. You want idiots tipping Spain to lift the trophy after an impressive opening win? Of course you do! It wouldn't be the World Cup without it, after all. Well it's not a problem. In the bag. I hope you will notice that I haven't even picked on ITV for this one, I intrepidly ventured behind the red button to find you some shite being spouted on the Beeb as well. I hope you appreciate this.

Ah, they'll never learn. At least I hope not. Spain were great today, I'm certainly not going to deny that, they completely outplayed a very disappointing Ukraine, who seemed to suffer from a bit of stage fright. But if Spain win this World Cup, or even get to the final, then I'll be playing up front for the Ivory Coast in 2010. In any case, 4-0 doesn't quite tell the whole story. Despite their dominance, and the undoubted quality of their build-up play, they had to rely on an unusually large amount of luck. First goal bounced in off Xabi Alonso, second was a deflected free kick, third was a penalty given for a non-foul outside the box which also saw Ukraine reduced to 10. It might sound harsh, but that's what put them three up. Add to that the fact that Ukraine suffered at the hands of a myopic linesman to the tune of 4 incorrect offside decisions in the first half, 2 of which would have given Shevchenko a one-on-one with the keeper, and you can see how things might have turned out differently. It will be described as a convincing win, when in truth it was more of a convincing scoreline. Brilliant fourth goal, mind you.

Ukraine shouldn't lose too much sleep. They can't suffer that kind of luck again, and they shouldn't even need any luck to see off Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, who handily did themselves no favours by drawing.

Not that I'm saying that those from North Africa and the Middle East will be whipping boys, of course. Only an idiot would predict such a thing.