a kick in the balls

Rooney: raw brilliance fused with brooding menace. According to sports scientists, the optimal range of testosterone for an athlete is between 600-900 ng/dl. Rooney's veins overflow with the stuff. He is the ultimate grunt - the sort of man that future generations will clone to go to war - a player you would always want on your team, even though you know he's always primed to explode. Today he did (Sean Ingle). The Guardian newspaper has given some amusing coverage of the World Cup with headlines such as "Lampard injury hopes quashed", meant as insult to Lampard for his continued poor performance in the tournament. Despite being utterly crushed at our loss today, the game was a 2-hour nail biter of epic proportions and easily the best performance by England so far. And perhaps it was better this way, rather than continuing on dismally. We can be proud of England's sterling display whilst a man down with nods to Owen Hargreaves, Ashley Cole and Aaron Lennon for some notable performances.

The World Cup is not over for me yet, though. I've made some German friends down the local and it is with them that I'll follow this tournament to a glorious Germany victory.

Gehen Sie Deutschland!