The (World Cup) Friday List of Little or No Consequence #168

Record starts
12 Songs That Were Top Of The UK Singles Charts On The Day Previous World Cup Finals Began

1. Good Luck Charm by Elvis Presley (1962)
2. Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks (1966)
3. Back Home by the England World Cup Squad (1970)
4. Sugar Baby Love by The Rubettes (1974)
5. Rivers of Babylon by Boney M (1978)
6. Goody Two Shoes by Adam Ant (1982)
7. The Chicken Song by Spitting Image (1986)
8. Killer by Adamski (1990)
9. Love Is All Around by Wet Wet Wet (1994)
10. C'est La Vie by B*Witched (1998)
11. Just A Little by Liberty X (2002)
12. Axel F by Crazy Frog (2006)

World Cup TV Preview: 11 - 13 June

Friday 11th June

15:00 South Africa v Mexico, FIFA World Cup Group A, ITV1/HD
Hallo everyone and welcome back to the famous Some People Are On The Pitch TV Previews. Well, here it is - the World Cup. At bloody last! Kicking off proceedings are the hosts who need every ounce of support behind them from their adoring public. ITV are your hosts for this tournament opener as we prepare ourselves for that constant droning buzzing noise that will become synonymous with South Africa 2010. At first, you'll find the din irritating but give it time and soon you'll get used to Clive Tyldesley. Boom boom!

19:30 Uruguay v France, FIFA World Cup Group A, BBC1/HD
Auntie Beeb kicks off her coverage with the grandfather of the World Cup, Uruguay. The two times world champions just scraped into the Finals in a play-off and outside Montevideo, little is expected of them. However, in Diego Forlan they have one of La Liga's finest (assuming he is fit to play) and will be tough hombres. France, as we all would have read in the tabloids, are ball-handling, surrender eating cheese monkeys with a comical manager and a divided squad. That's as maybe but it's not going to stop them from winning the group.

Saturday 12th June

12:30 South Korea v Greece, FIFA World Cup Group B, ITV1/HD
An intriguing if not uber-glamorous encounter between two teams with their eyes on second spot. It's maybe a cliche but there are no easy games in this group and no obvious runner-up to Argentina. In our Sound of Football World Cup Preview Podcast we predicted that Greece would finish second and I fancy Bundesbag favorite 'Fanis Geikas to shock the world of football with a brace.

15:00 Argentina v Nigeria, FIFA World Cup Group B, BBC1/HD
The west Africans will have a lot of support for in South Africa and they may well need it. Argentina may have more question marks around them than the Riddler's wardrobe but few are expecting them to make a hash of the group stage. The big question for us outsiders is 'will he play Higuain or Milito'?

19:30 England v USA, FIFA World Cup Group C, ITV1/HD
If England lose this game I can see them salvaging the group with wins against Algeria and Slovenia. If USA lose I can see them dropping points against Slovenia before facing Algeria in a fight for their lives. In my book there's more pressure on the States. Not that that will stop me from drinking large amounts of alchohol while watching the game through a pillow.

Sunday 13th June

12:30 Algeria v Slovenia, FIFA World Cup Group C, BBC1/HD
These lunchtime slots seem to be reserved for the more defensive minded fixtures don't they? Algeria are bus-parkers while Slovenia have only a little more about them. A second half Milivoje Novakovic goal could be enough to settle this one.

15:00 Serbia v Ghana, FIFA World Cup Group D, ITV1/HD
Here we go then - our first chance to see Serbia's Milos Krasic in full flight. If all goes according to plan the CSKA Mocow player will be hot-footing it to Spain after a successful World Cup. Ghana are shorn of Essien and are relying on the young squad that got them to the Africa Cup Of Nations Final earlier in the year.

19:30 Germany v Australia, FIFA World Cup Group D, ITV1/HD
Much like the arrival of Krasic on the world stage, Bundesliga fans can't wait to see what Germany's Mesut Osil can do. We'll get a better indication of whether the Bremen midfielder has the stuff to reach the top after he pits his skill against a resilient, if creaky, Australia side.

denotes match to be covered by The Sound of Football Podcast.

32 For 2010: France

From the outside looking in, France appear to be in an enviable position. So many talented players, so much potential and yet led by such a volatile coach. One wonders quite what the fates have in store for France in South Africa this summer.

Like King Canute denying the force of the tide, Raymond Domenech has resolutely proclaimed he and his team are just fine, thank you very much, away from the continual barracking they get from the press and public alike. Truth be known, however, it’s Domenech they have a problem with rather than the players.

Going into the 2010 World Cup, there has been much outcry about the absence of such notables as Patrick Vieira, Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri in the squad, but Domenech has dropped them all for his own personal reasons. In the case of Benzema, team spirit in the French squad at Euro 2008 was disrupted when he and several others formed cliques as a way harbouring their distrust of the coach, so this time the coach has left them behind. Such actions will be seen either as a show of force or a gunshot to his own foot.

Even without the above mentioned stars, Domenech does still have much talent at his disposal. In every area of the pitch there are world class players to choose from including Franck Ribery, Nicolas Anelka, Yoann Gourcuff and many more. The problem Domenech has had is finding the right blend of fitness, good form and technical ability among them to create a winning combination. Recent friendly matches such as last Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat to China 1-0 suggest he’s cutting it a bit fine to arrive at the answer.

And finding the answer was something France failed to do beyond doubt in Euro 2008. Having reached the 2006 World Cup final where they were outclassed by Italy, they couldn’t even register a single win in their first round group in Switzerland two years later. The 4-1 thrashing at the hands of the Dutch all but sealed their early exit from the tournament, and ever since Domenech has struggled to hang onto any credibility.

Adding to the sense of doubt that’s been creeping into the collective mind of Les Francaise was their country’s lucky qualification for World Cup 2010. Were it not for Thierry Henry’s twitchy left hand, it might have been Ireland waiting patiently to play Uruguay in their first finals match, and the French are neither happy or proud of the fact. Finishing second in their group behind Serbia, they began their campaign with only one win in their first three games. They then had to rely on a few 1-0 wins over Lithuania and the Faroe Islands to get some points on the board before a resurgent finish got them to the play-offs.

So will France have nothing but doom and gloom to look forward to in South Africa?  Actually no, for this is a team that has had a strong pedigree for success going back over many years now. In a first round group containing Mexico, Uruguay and the hosts South Africa, they have no excuses for not getting through to the knock-out stages, but the memory of their shock early exit in 2002 still comes all too clearly to mind.

Surely it couldn’t happen again, could it? With this French team - and more specifically its quirky, belligerent manager – the feeling amongst most people is that you can’t quite discount every possibility.

World Cup Sound of Football Podcast - Who will be World Champions?

(WARNING - CONTAINS SPOILERS)

The World Cup is upon us and the Sound of Football podcast is back with a bumper preview edition.

Graham, Terry and Chris go through each group and predict who will finish first and second. Then we predict the winners of each game in every knock out stage all the way to the Final itself which will be won by...

You can listen to the podcast here or if you right-click on that link, you can download the MP3. Alternatively, you can subscribe via the your reader of choice or via our iTunes feed.