World Cup Countdown - 335 Days to Go!

The first of what I'm sure will be many former World Cup Mascots. This is Pique. In no way taking every Mexican stereotype you can think of, he is a Jalapeno pepper. With a moustache. In a sombrero. I shit you not.



Presumably if England are successful in our bid for the 2018 World Cup we'll have a Black Pudding with a flat cap, bad teeth and a whippet. Possibly, as it's a World Cup, wielding a plastic chair. Definitely sunburnt. I considered doing a mock-up, but couldn't be arsed.

Barcelona can't get hold of Eto'o. It could take a while...

Apparently Joan Laporta is having trouble contacting Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o as speculation mounts about his move to Manchester City.

"This earpiece is on the blink"

"I have called him a couple of times but he hasn't answered his mobile," Laporta is quoted as saying in the Guardian. "I don't know if he has changed the number or whether he's lost it, but I would like to speak to him."

They mustn't have read this. Samuel Eto'o has 400 mobile phones. This one looks set to drag on.

World Cup Countdown - 336 Days to Go!

Phew, only 336 days already eh? How about a collection of classic World Cup free kicks (goalscoring ones, not just restarting play) to warm things up?



This pleased me for two principle reasons.

1. The appearance not only of Tomas Brolin AND his amazing goalscoring celebration. He now looks like this:



2. The USA's 1994 strip. Which looked like this:



That's all for today.

Beardsley pushes Gazza's face forward for 2018

Peter Beardsley, himself the owner of a considerable face, has called upon England to use Paul Gascoigne's in the 2018 World Cup bid.

Beardsley, pictured below turning a bottle of milk sour, is involved with making sure Gateshead/Newcastle is among the host cities for the bid. He reckons Gazza's popularity nigh-on 30 years ago could be key.

"Gazza should be given a leading role in England’s World Cup bid. It is not my call, but he would be a massive asset. They’ve got people like ­David Beckham, who is a brilliant role model, but there would not be a more popular public face than Gazza.

"Apart from 1966, of course, most people would say their most enjoyable World Cup was Italia ’90 when he was our star.

“When you think of the North-East, you think of Gazza and when you think of World Cups, you think of him, too. Had we won that World Cup – and we came very close – he’d have been ­acclaimed the greatest footballer in the world, and rightly so."

Now we all agree that Gazza would make a change from Geoff Flaming Hurst, and we can't keep going to the David Beckham well, and Gazza is another famous England player. Fair enough Peter. What's that? You've got more to say?

“I don’t know who makes the decision, but there’s still time to give Gazza a call.

“Having a role would be brilliant for him personally because he needs to be kept busy, but Gazza is known all over the world and would surely help the bid.

“Everyone loved him in Italy and he still has that charisma.

“He has had his problems but they seem to be behind him now."

Sooooo... we should use him because it'll give him something to do? Take his mind off things? It'll also probably stick him in lots of long presentations and lonely trips abroad into hotel rooms with mini bars. He usually finds himself something to do in that sort of situation.

If we had a more modern, younger version of Gazza, possibly a more metrosexual Gazza that looked a bit more like Will Mellor, we could use him though, right? Right.



It's Charlie from Big Brother. No, not Kieran Richardson's cousin. That was last year. Or the year before. They've become a bit samey haven't they?

Michael Owen on Dragons' Den

He has had some stick, but I suspect he'll land on his feet. This is still funny though.



This also gives me a tenuous chance to drop this in.