USA draw looks better-

There is a saying that a draw in your opening game of a World Cup is never a bad result. Not something England fans wanted to hear on Saturday but after this evening's draw between Champions Italy and unfancied Paraguay, it looks a bit better. The match itself wasn't great and came after a 1-0 Japanese victory over Cameroon and a routine 2-0 win for the Dutch. The tournament continues to smoulder....


Robert Green is still alive by all accounts and has been filmed playing golf and chatting to some of his former team-mates. I say "former" because the media would have us believe that Green is unplayable for the second game after his massive blooper in the first. I don' buy that. If Green was unplayable, he should have been subbed at half-time but he continued and made a critical touch in deflecting a near-post drive onto the woodwork after the break. Even the best goalkeepers make mistakes that lead to goals but they tend not to do this in succession unless they are playing with an injury or something. I would stick with Robert Green on Friday night. One mistake doesn't make him a bad keeper and, frankly, a panic change to David James or even Joe Hart might just bring in a keeper who is due a howler of their own and James has form. England can't afford another mistake like Green's but there's absolutely no reason following his assured second-half display that there should be a knee-jerk reaction.


Away from the World Cup, cocaine abusing Romanian bad-boy Adrian Mutu has lost his appeal against a compensation claim from Chelsea following his sacking at Stamford Bridge six years ago (yes, six years ago!). The £14m fine imposed by FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport has been upheld in the Swiss Federal Court although Mutu probably can't pay and won't pay. He is 31 now and I am not sure how enforceable the fine is. Presumably the biggest risk is that FIFA cancels his playing contract which would cut off his lucrative deal with Fiorentina, so expect him to appeal to the European Court of Liberal Hand-Wringing in order to postpone the order to pay and prolong his earnings potential until he eventually packs up and blows a long raspberry in Chelsea's direction.