One nil to the Ingerland

I'm not sure that the match lived up to the hype but 60 million people breathed a collective sigh of relief when England sealed 3 points against Paraguay, which seemed a minor miracle considering the combination of the idiotic greasy mexican ref and Sven's tactical blunder of subbing Michael Owen in favour of Steve McClaren's golden boy Downing.

If the picture to the left of Barry's best mate George (sporting the St George's Flag in his hair) doesn't adequately display the football fever that is taking place in England then nothing will!

The first half was a fairly solid performance by England and Beckham's free kick caused an own goal by Paraguay whose defence always seemed shaky in the first 45 mintues. After the break though, a predictable England meltdown caused by god knows what; it could've been the heat, the tactics or Paraguay pulling their socks up. We all felt like we needed a drink after the game (well, we were drinking anyway but you know what I mean) and Sven seemed far more optimistic about the game than either myself or all the BBC pundits.

After the game we had a BBQ to celebrate my Mum's 60th tomorrow and my return to Blighty. I caught up with Mum's friend Dawn who I haven't seen in donkey's years, Anne and Keith who I last saw in Sydney a few years ago and George and Mave (and little Jade the springer) - it was fantastic to see everyone again. Justin and Kim came over after the football and Jo returned from her trip to London to catch up Kevin and Hilary and she managed to get on the London Eye in record time for a sunny Saturday in London, mainly due to the football being on!