The Archive

Coming down with premature World Cup fever? Michael Owen’s tournament diary should calm you down (if not send you to sleep). Ian Plenderleith looks at the big boys’ special sites for Germany 2006

Several major internet companies and sports channels have launched their own dedicated World Cup websites and most will track matches during the tournament to catch the unfortunate fans who can’t be there because they don’t have a mate of a mate who works for one of the tournament’s corporate sponsors, or who are unable to be sitting in front of a TV screen.

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As we reach the end of the season is the Premier League the most unpredictable league?

Looking at the tables as the end of the season approaches, it might occur to you that, with very few exceptions, no one really knows anything. Passages of play in matches have been described as little more than a series of random events, their final outcome decided by whoever is able to impose a distinct pattern, which more often than not neither side manages to do. This season, the same sense of galumphing randomness has applied to the football predictions business. Never before have the forecasts for how the season will pan out come so badly unstuck – the confident assertions made in tabloid and broadsheet columns and TV discussions may as well be seen in same light as contributions to the astrology page.

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Update on clubs in crisis. Tom Davies reports

The takeover of Rotherham by a group of local businessmen has saved United from the immediate threat of liquidation that has hung over them since the turn of the year, but the club’s financial position remains precarious and fundraising campaigns are continuing.

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Cameron Carter sees that diving and simulation has become the BBC's current topic for discussion

The big topic on the BBC last month was diving and, in particular, how terrible and somehow foreign it is. During the last FA Cup quarter-final, Garth Crooks gamely attempted to turn a half-time studio debate into a political bear pit when the subject was introduced by Ray Stubbs. Some days later, on Match of the Day II, Stubbs seemed to get a little peevish when Graeme Le Saux and Lee Sharpe didn’t appear to treat his debate on Didier Drogba heatedly enough. At one point he jokingly asked Sharpe why he was smirking, in the way that someone jokingly asks you why you can’t get your own cup of tea. Stubbs is obviously of the view that there are some subjects one simply doesn’t joke about.

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Wednesday 1 England beat Uruguay 2‑1 at Anfield in their final friendly before the World Cup squad is picked. Darren Bent makes his debut, Peter Crouch and Joe Cole score. Scotland lose 3‑1 to Switzerland, extending their ten‑year run without a friendly win at Hampden. Northern Ireland beat Estonia 1‑0, Ivan Sproule scoring after 78 seconds. England’s World Cup group opponents Sweden lose 3‑0 to Ireland, while Paraguay draw 0-0 with Wales, Derby’s 17-year-old Lewin Nyatanga becoming the youngest ever Welsh international. Former Chelsea and England striker Peter Osgood dies aged 59.

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