Anyone who tipped a World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands can be congratulated for having the visionary talent of a clairvoyant. It means we will for first time be seeing an all-European f

It would be unfair before the final group matches to pass judgement on the bigger footballing nations who are struggling so much at this World Cup.

After the final whistle of Argentina’s 1-0 victory against Nigeria the diminutive Diego Maradona, who was once the biggest player in the world although he is just 1.60 metres tall, went to Messi grabbed him by the hips and picked him up as high as he could.

As the World Cup approaches, let’s jettison all the worries we carried around with us for years now, so that this first football world championship in Africa will be a success.