As a footballer, John Barnes has been there, done it all, and come back for more.

When I first heard that both Russia and Qatar had won their respective bids to host the World Cup, I thought there could only be one explanation – corruption.

A COUPLE of weeks ago, 17-year-old Englishman Josh McEachran made his Premier League debut for Chelsea and immediately outshone the man he replaced — Ramires, one of Brazil’s best players at the World Cup. It was a short but sparkling debut.

IT WAS inevitable that last Sunday’s FA Community Shield match between Manchester United and Chelsea would be England fans’ first chance at booing their flopping FIFA World Cup 2010 stars.

A lot of people were saying that on paper, England should have beaten Germany in last weekend’s World Cup match. The problem for England was that the players themselves seemed to believe it.