With the World Cup exposing a number of ageing European teams in need of new blood, a glimpse of the immediate future can be seen at the 2010 UEFA U-19 Championship , taking place in France at the moment. Reigning champions Ukraine, who hosted the 2009 edition, failed to qualify, but hosts France have stormed into the last four, trouncing the Netherlands 4-1 and Austria 5-0. Joining them from group A are England , who beat Austria 3-2, drew 1-1 with France and lost 0-1 to the Dutch. Although the French are the tournament's highest scorers, top of the points charts are surprise, surprise, Spain , the only unbeaten team. The Spanish U19s defeated Croatia and Portugal 2-1 before a comfortable 3-0 dismissal of Italy. Top of the goal charts with three strikes are Liverpool's Spanish prodigy Daniel Pacheco and Croatian midfielder Zvonko Pamic, who plays for Freiburg in Germany. UEFA U-19 Semi-Finals Tue 27th July SPAIN v ENGLAND Saint-Lo 1600 FRANCE v CROATIA Caen 1900 Final Fri 30th July (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

South Africa 2010 was being billed as a disaster ever since the Rainbow Nation romped home unopposed in the bidding war. The country's high crime rate, political turmoil and level of HIV infection had given journalists a rich seam to of scare stories to mine, reviving a primal Western fear of darkest Africa as the World Cup boldy trod where no one had gone before. As it transpired, Sepp Blatter's baby was delivered peacefully, with nothing more heinous than the high-decibel blast of plastic horns to assault the eardrums of fans across the world. Crime was an issue for the locals with their electric fences, multiple doors and roaming security staff, but it was soon obvious there was little risk of any visiting fans becoming another statistic. The FIFA President was as disgusted by the ugly card-fest of a final as anyone, but will have slept soundly in the knowledge nothing seriously went wrong during his tournament. Those of us who travelled to South Africa came away disappointed in the transport situation, which left us stuck for hours in traffic jams on inadequate roads, but fans could not complain about the cost of living in the Rainbow Nation, having shelled out an arm and a leg for the initial flight of course. Frank Lampard's wrongly annulled strike against Germany followed by an offside Argentina goal on 'Technology Sunday' ensures that the TV replays debate is back on the agenda, and will never go away until something more advanced than the human eye is allowed to participate in decision making. Talking of England, a milestone has surely been reached with no fans being arrested during the course of a World Cup for public order offences, apart from the dolt who briefly entered the dressing room in Cape Town. The team might have backfired once more, but the home of football happily failed to hit the headlines for hooliganism. The Three Lions looked a more spent force than ever on the field, utterly eclipsed by a rampant young German team whose simple counter-attacking strategy wiped out Argentina as well before the Spanish passmasters reminded them who is still top dog. The winners rarely wowed the crowds like they had at Euro 2008, showed a depressing tendency to surround the referee in order to get opponents booked and were not averse to the odd dive or two on their way to the trophy. And in bagging their first World Cup, Spain also took the prize as the lowest-scoring winners in the competition's history. Yet la furia roja's final win was a huge relief to neutrals worldwide after the Netherlands, yes the Netherlands, had tried to foul their way to the Cup with the most unpleasant display seen in a final since Argentina in 1990. They gave the world an x-rated moment courtesy of Nigel De Jong's karate kick and to further blot their copybook, some Dutch players berated the referee when he had actually done them favours in not expelling De Jong and Mark Van Bommel, who after verbally abusing Howard Webb at the end, sealed his display of bad losing by not shaking hands with the Spaniards. With Holland no longer the home of cultured football, Spain carry the torch, ironically a seed which may have been sown by Johann Cruyff at Barcelona in the 1970s. Ghana apart, there were no heroic campaigns to get excited about. The Black Stars won the sympathy vote as the final African competitor and their heartbreakingly self-inflicted exit was the stuff of Greek tragedy, but it seemed too little too late for the underdogs, who had mostly been wiped out in the first round. Japan & South Korea both showed Eastern promise before succumbing to South American power, which briefly looked like overwhelming the competition, and Uruguay can be proud of going furthest from that continent. The football was not as negative and defensive as some recent tournaments have been, but rarely caught fire with no unforgettable contests. There were some fine goals however, and a number of long-range peaches, perhaps a result of the controversial Jabulani, the latest official World Cup ball to annoy those who have to play with it. While Uruguay's advance to the semi-finals may mean the death of 4-4-2 has been prematurely announced, 2010 will go down as the year in tactics of 4-2-3-1 and twin defensive midfielders. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira for the Germans exemplified this, while De Jong and Van Bommel guarded Holland's approaches like two of the three heads of Cerberus. While formations mutate, it seems nothing revolutionary can happen again in World Cup tactics and it was telling that the inheritors of Total Football finally opted to play a disruptive game instead of taking attacking ideas to the opposition. Even that most isolated of nations, North Korea, showed discipline and organisation in their narrow 2-1 loss to Brazil, a world away from their all-out attacking style in 1966, although it all fell apart for them again against Portugal. No single theme hung over the tournament as heavily as penalty shoot-outs did in 1990 or player fatigue did in 2002, but only because the refereeing injustices did not affect the outcome of big games. Had Andres Iniesta strayed offside before receiving Cesc Fabregas' assist before scoring, or the Dutch seen a goal like Lampard's wrongly disallowed, the video issue would be burning like wildfire. As it transpires, some concession to technology, perhaps via the fourth official on goal-line decisions, seems likely sooner rather than later, certainly before the next World Cup. FIFA are beginning to accept they are too remote in the eyes of the world, which perhaps prompted them to splash their logo over substitutes' bibs and TV replays in South Africa. They must be seen to be sensitive to public grievances over refereeing and technology, ticketing and other matters, so their tentative u-turn on video replays is cautiously propitious. A global organisation of such magnitude demands more accountability and transparency. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

"Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought." Vicente Del Bosque and Bert Van Maarwijk will probably not be sleeping too soundly tonight, wondering if they have left any stones unturned in their quest to win the World Cup tomorrow night. Whichever coach triumphs will be etched into the annals of the game forever as the first Spanish or Dutch World Cup-winning manager; the expectations are huge, the nervous anticipation bigger as their heads hit the pillows in South Africa. Questions will be running through their minds - How can the Dutch contain the tiki-taka of Xabi Alonso, Andres Iniesta and Xavi, how can they shut down David Villa and stop Pedro or Fernando Torres running amok in their last third? Will the Spanish have the steel to avoid the meaningful attentions of Mark Van Bommel and Nigel De Jong? Can their defence cope with the craft of Wesley Sneijder and the high-speed threat of Arjen Robben? If Del Bosque or Van Maarwijk have exhausted their years of football knowledge for answers, perhaps they could turn back over two and a half thousand years to the Chinese wisdom of Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War', a perennial favourite for learning how to beat your enemy and win. Hey, if it worked in the 6th century B.C....

• He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks
• Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack
• Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder , and crush him
• If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him
• If he is in superior strength, evade him
• If his forces are united, separate them
• Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected
• Show them a little prospect of gain to lure them, then attack and overcome them
• The highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans
• He will win who is not interfered with by the sovereign
• Prevent the junction of the enemy's forces, disrupt them, cut their supply lines
• The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be avoided
• He will invariably conquer who knows whether it is right to take the offensive or defensive
• If you know yourself but not the enemy for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat

FIFA World Cup semi-final - Spain 1:0 Germany So in the end the Germans were human after all. After a double demolition of England and Argentina which sent shockwaves throughout the soccer world, Joachim Low's lions were mown down by raging Spanish bulls. Yogi was lost in the woods as Spain revived their Euro 2008 glory to hand him a sobering football lesson in Durban. Germany, so awesome in the knock-out stages that they had begun to acquire an unbeatable whiff, were cowed by the defiantly intricate passing of the European Champions, who persisted with their Beautiful Game in the face of the tournament's most dangerous outfit. It was indeed a victory for football as the winners delighted at times and never resorted to a route one approach or launched the ball aimlessly out of defence. The Spanish allegiance to one-touch passing to feet rarely placed them in danger and ultimately had the desired effect of tiring out the chasing Germans physically, while their taking the game to them won the psychological battle. Scoring first was key in the end as it prevented Germany playing their counter-attacking game which had speared England and Argentina so successfully. When the Germans did play on the rebound, Spanish bodies scuttled back and Gerard Pique and Carlos Puyol held up the 'No Pasaran' banners. After proving such a razor-sharp attacking force in previous rounds, the Germans were a blunt butter knife last night, limited to a single shot on target from substitute Toni Kroos. The suspension of Thomas Mueller had removed the Mannschaft's right-wing menace, but Bastian Schweinsteiger also failed to exert an influence, pinned back from advancing by the red shirts buzzing around him, while Mesut Ozil's rising star waned for a second match in succession. Vicente del Bosque's tactical plan triumphed. Painfully aware how lethal Germany were on the break, he shrewdly dropped the sluggish Fernando Torres to add an extra body in the middle, with a twin shield between defence and midfield of Xabi Alonso and Sergio Busquets to block any German advances. Busquets in particular watched Ozil like a hawk and the passing in midfield from Alonso, Iniesta and Xavi was so crisp that Germany were left to chase. In the event it was Spain's taking the game to Germany which handed them victory. They refused to be scared by Germany's previous results and their quick passing and commitment to possession in all areas of the field zapped their frightening opponents' venom. "They are the masters of the game. You can see it in every pass. They can hardly be beaten," admitted Low ruefully. German sub Marcell Jansen concurred: "Spain's organisation and tactics are in a different league," he said. "When they attack, the whole team comes forward, and when they defend, they all work together to keep it tight." The spirit of 2008 breathes again. A beautiful team winning at the Beautiful Game. What is not to celebrate? (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

Germany 4:1 England Forget the Lampard goal. That debate is for another day. What matters is the worst finals result from the inventors of the game. England's collapse to a competent, spirited but hardly exceptional German team was embarrassing, with some of the most amateur defending yet seen at a World Cup. That lone Anglo hoisting of the trophy sails farther away in the mind the longer the latest crop keeps falling short, and as the sixties celluloid grows grainier, then expectations will revise, rather like those of Uruguay, who have come to accept 1950 took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. 1966 has been a millstone and a false totem in the English football psyche for too long. The loss of Rio Ferdinand on the eve of the finals could well have been the straw which broke the camel's back, the undermining of a defence which had previously been a reassurance. After three gentle tests, England's back line cracked against a quality vanguard. Ferdinand's replacement Matthew Upson was at fault for Germany's first two goals, and his jaw-dropping lack of telepathy with John Terry carved vast spaces open in which Mesut Ozil and pals ran amok. Germany's Polish-born strikers Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski were lethal on the rebound, but that was also down to horrendous positional play by retreating Englishmen. The first goal was a banal route one strike seen in schoolboy soccer, with two centre-backs committing the cardinal sin of letting a striker slip between them to toe-poke a punt past their goalie. Then there were about nine red shirts on the wrong side of the ball when Thomas Mueller broke away to score their third and close a chapter in the match in which England were dominant. It was not all gloom as Fabio Capello's men had begun smoothly while the Germans stood off and waited. For a spell at the end of the first half they were clearly on top, scoring twice but having the second goal wrongly disallowed. Yet over the 90, so much of England's offering remained below par - Upson bafflingly picked ahead of Matthew Dawson or Ledley King, Glen Johnson out of position for two goals, an unfit and labouring Gareth Barry a pale shadow of the electric Owen Hargreaves in 2006, a midfield gifting acres of space away and an attack of Jermain Defoe and Wayne Rooney almost invisible. Capello's substitutions - Emile Heskey and Shaun Wright-Phillips, were as ineffective as his changes have been all tournament. Picking Scott Parker and Adam Johnson instead of Barry and Wright-Phillips could have made a difference, but it is too late to speculate now. All England can do is rebuild with youth and usher the so-called golden generation gently out the door after a decade of misadventure. England are all played out again, Champions League winners unable to perform in other shirts. At times against Germany, England looked interested and ready to take the game by the scruff of the neck, and at others a sluggish and aging band of brothers knackered by another gruelling domestic season. Franz Beckenbauer was right – the extra games of England's domestic calendar cannot have helped the national team, and they were stupid not to have won one of the easiest groups. England's near-perfect qualification campaign now looks devalued, with the double-demolition of the waning Croats and defeats of Andorra, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine far less impressive in the light of today’s tragedy. The Three Lions never roared in South Africa, but this time is was not a common case of first-round nerves. The team was stuck in first gear from Rustenburg all the way to Bloemfontein. What went wrong? The truth will out over the next few days and weeks, perhaps with the publication of a diary or two or a whispered snippet to a journalist. But the management team of Capello and Stuart Pearce clearly failed to organise their defence or motivate their charges. I have been trying to avoid WWII references, but was the boss' struggling English and insistence on Italian-style discipline just a bridge too far? The final scoreline is stark, though the stats show England came top on possession and shots and had an identical passing accuracy to Germany: It is goals that win games. While the Germans never had England on the rack and their goalkeeper Manuel Neuer often looked calamitous, the Mannschaft had a creative ace in Ozil that England lacked and had clearly done their counter-attacking homework to coolly exploit the glaring errors of their sub-standard foes. Just as their opening mauling of Australia was followed by a defeat by Serbia, a quarter-final meeting with Argentina will provide a sterner test of German mettle than the English wooden spoon they tossed aside today. England has been here before - a depressing elimination triggering frenzied soul-searching with no denouement. But it has come before in qualifying - Poland in 1973, Holland 1993, Croatia 2007. To lose this badly in the World Cup finals, and in a tournament England had a sniff of winning not too long ago, is devastating all round. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

Today's Portugal v North Korea clash inevitably ignites memories of that crazy quarter-final in 1966 when lightning almost struck twice. The North Koreans, leaving their closed country for the first time, had found a home away from home in Middlesbrough, especially after their unexpected 1-0 win over the fancied Italians. Asian soccer had been unleashed on a world unprepared for it, and the wow factor only increased after they ran into a 3-0 first-half lead against probably the most talented team in the tournament, Portugal. Fans like my father who were at Wembley to watch England play Argentina, could not believe their eyes as the updates from the other quarter-final at Goodison Park showed the minnows were tearing apart one of the tournament favourites. Alas for the hysterical neutrals, the Koreans' cavalier attacking style was outsmarted in the second half by a more wily team with an almost unplayable ace in Eusebio, who bagged four goals in a stunning comeback to send Portugal through 5-3 . The clash of soccer cultures and playing styles that day in Liverpool was the epitome of what the World Cup is about on the field. Would that today's reunion of the nations in Cape Town were as thrilling as that unforgettable match 44 years ago. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

With Bafana Bafana's World Cup life hanging by a thread, many South Africans face a tricky choice - throw away their yellow jerseys and watch the World Cup as they would the Olympics - with interest but without fervour, or adopt another team to try to get excited about. Yesterday was 'Football Friday', when the country was encouraged to dress up for the Cup, and even my middle-aged hosts were sporting yellow Bafana gear accordingly. But unlike on Cape Town's tourist-friendly Waterfront, where I enjoyed the opening game amidst multiracial hordes of happiness, the crowd, if you can call it that, watching South Africa's defeat against Mexico in a local bar here in the Guateng province, were less than thrilled by their nation's first eleven. The Johannesburg hinterland where I am staying has businesses dominated by Afrikaans-speaking whites, whose preferred sport is rugby, and barely a third of the bar that night was wearing yellow. As Uruguay began to rack up the score and it became evident that the hosts would finish up on the losing side, the interest levels waned, eyes drifted from the TV screens and conversations turned to other matters. The next day the airwaves were full of voices urging the nation not to give up on the World Cup, but probably many will. Unless South Africa win by a cricket score against France and Uruguay beat Mexico, the host nation will be out for the first time in the first round. While blacks are by far the majority here and love football, they are not visible to many tourists who steer clear of the inner-city areas or townships/shanty towns they live in for fear of crime. So what visitors are left with are semi-interested Afrikaaners who, if the radio phone-ins are anything to go by, have little experience of the Beautiful Game. The nation as a whole has come together with car flags, shirts and football fridays, but as their team makes its early but not unexpected exit from the tournament, the separate communities of the Rainbow Nation will shuffle back to their townships and gated communities, the dream of a soccer-Invictus a fond memory of 2010. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

Is this the most inconvenient World Cup for fans in recent memory? Without a doubt. After a week of travelling to games here in South Africa I would go as far as saying you are better off staying at home and watching on a big screen. I feel like most of my time here has been spent in traffic crawling to and from games with tens of thousands of others who are afraid to use the skeletal public transport options or in the case of Rustenburg, have no choice but to hire a car. Parking is a confusing toss-up between park and rides far away which can demand tickets without any being obviously on sale, or on-street hawkers ushering you to their 'secure' spot where they promise to watch your car for a fee. The gritty neighbourhood around Ellis Park in Johannesburg for instance is one you would not want to walk around alone, and is buzzing with unofficial car-parkers who try to direct you off the road and give you no confidence. Having followed signs for a park and ride there we were stuck in traffic on a tight commercial street without a white face in sight, which made us feel so uncomfortable we did a u-turn and found a verge instead. The arrangements for Soccer City in Joburg, capacity 90,000, entail a huge trek or a marathon wait for shuttle buses for those arriving by car. There just is not an underground or adequate train network here like there has been at the previous three World Cups, and add to that inadequate highway space e.g. one lane in and out of Rustenburg and voila - a transport nightmare. Add to all that the deafening din of vuvuzelas, blasting out at all hours of the night and day from the lips of moronic arriviste fans, not by locals, plus the vast fluctuations of weather - burning sun by day and almost zero by night, and it really is a challenging experience to be here. So enjoy the World Cup chez toi, and spare a thought for those of us who shelled out to brave the real thing. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

England 1:1 USA, Rustenburg, South Africa A dismal opener. England failed to beat a USA team inferior in all departments except that goalkeeper, which sadly counted on the night. It was not Robert Green's almighty hash which denied England victory. It was heroic defending from the muscly but limited American centre-back duo of Jay DeMerit and Oguchi Onyewu, key interventions from the underrated Michael Bradley in the middle, but above all England's lack of penetration. But enough of the game; you all saw that. Feel lucky you were watching it on television instead of having to endure a nightmare journey to and from the game in a middle-of-nowhere place called Rustenburg. Based less than 90 minutes away, we took over twice that reaching there. The only route to the host venue consisted of a single lane highway and with no rail service or scheduled bus services, car hire was the only option for the majority of the 38,000 present. Despairing drivers took to using the hard shoulder while a police car stopped one of the opposing lanes to create an extra lane for those trying to make kick-off. Ridiculously, the local organisers had kept toll booths functioning instead of making an exception last night, creating another needless bottleneck. But the travails on the approach roads were nothing compared to the gridlock around the park and ride. Over two hours after final whistle we were still stuck in a traffic queue waiting to leave, and all this in a venue holding only 38,000. Add to that the plunging temperatures, no stadium scoreboard, the running track around the field and England's poor showing and you can imagine how glum I was. The policing here has been low-key which is fine. And the locals are wonderfully hospitable people. But with the stunning lack of public transportation and inadequate road network, I have to say South Africa was the wrong choice for fans. Rustenburg was too hard to reach easily, and even the picturesque tourist town where I am lodging has no buses or taxis! I have never experienced such transport chaos at a game like last night's. Never again, FIFA. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football

After a day on planes and in airports your mind isn't fully operational. So waking up this morning to see Table Mountain before me it felt like someone had hit me over the head with an iron vuvuzela. I could have rushed to Fleet Street with a story of another journalist falling victim to South Africa's rabid criminal class but I am feeling generous. A drone of said instrument welcomed me to Johannesburg airport yesterday, already encouraging me to buy ear plugs so as not to return home deaf. The fans are assembling en masse, tossing the crime fears aside. A global carnival awaits, with unfamiliar friends arriving - I had never seen Uruguayans before in my life until 30 of them walked past me at Joburg airport yesterday. The most numerous I've seen so far - Mexicans here for their opening clash with the hosts, and Australians, the globe's great adventurers. FIFA merchandise is everywhere and absurdly priced - £60 for a Bafana Bafana jersey anyone? But everyone has been very friendly and appears excited. Whatever your thoughts on this troubled nation being given the tournament, the locals are really having fun with it. That is what the World Cup is about after all, not who wins, but who enjoys it most. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters World Cup football