Each time there was a near-miss for Paraguay, or a save, or booking for an England player, the drums beat out and the crowd – women, children and whole families, most of whom appeared to have little interest in the football – proudly displayed their South American passion.. It did not take long, entering Munich’s Marienplatz on Friday night, to confirm that the host nation had celebrated their opening-game victory in style. The scrunch of broken glass underfoot, the sight of singing fans atop vans, waving huge flags from open-top cars, or simply swaying drunkenly, required little interpretation. Even the early England goal could not dim the party atmosphere at Costa Dorado, a Spanish flamenco restaurant just off London’s Oxford Street where the Anglo-Paraguayan Society met for yesterday’s match.

Perhaps it was the prospect of the head-to-head between Lawrence and Crouch – not to mention the Trinidadian’s encounter with Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic yesterday – which ensured that the larger sets, ranging from a modest 42in through to a 57in monster costing up to $65,000 (£5,600), sold out first and are now installed in both international airports so that nobody has to miss a kick How else would such high-rise rivals fit in the picture?. Electrical retailers in the Caribbean islands have reported an unprecedented clamour for plasma-screen television sets. What might sound too cocky by half from other mouths comes over from the fourth-highest scorer in England’s international history as mere self-belief.. Combating the aerial threat of the 6ft 7in Peter Crouch was always going to prove a tall order for Trinidad & Tobago, but in Dennis Lawrence, who is the same height as England’s unlikely cult figure, they may have just the man for the job on Thursday After all, the Wrexham defender’s nickname is “Tallest”.

Yet once a man is established as a nice guy, the benefit of the doubt tends to fall his way Little Michael Owen a diver? No way Reckless gambler? Give him a break. Tyneside mercenary? What could he do if Liverpool wouldn’t pay the fee?

Owen is middle-class Chester to Wayne Rooney’s Croxteth, Mr Smooth to a rough diamond, but with a disarmingly cheeky smile of his own; as soon as he overhauls Gary Lineker’s 48 international goals he should become the face of Walkers crisps. In this kitsch host nation, where colours are apparently thrown together to attract attention, La Volpe, a committed smoker, stands tall with his weakness for the scruffy-jeans-with-smart-jacket combination, often allied to a shirt of loud Teutonic hues.. A good reputation, they say, is hard won and easily lost. Iran should beware not only his pyrotechnic style of instruction from the coaching area, but also his taste in clothes.

But thanks to the eccentric, unpredictable behaviour of the moustachioed Mexico coach Ricardo La Volpe, today’s Group D meeting between Iran and Mexico should not disappoint. Once the reserve goalkeeper for Argentina’s 1978 World Cup winning squad in Buenos Aires, La Volpe, 54, is renowned for volatile antics which can be quite a spectacle. The former Aston Villa forward Savo Milosevic joined in on Kezman’s side, and only the intervention of others prevented a brawl.. After the goal-fest in Munich at Friday night’s opening fixture, it might seem a tall order to expect the remaining first- round games to match that level of entertainment. He took the next opportunity to lunge in on Kezman, to which the forward reacted furiously. It followed an aerial challenge between Nem-anja Vidic and Mateja Kezman, with the Manchester United centre-back angered by the way the former Chelsea player had climbed on his back.

Two first-half goals were taken with surgical precision by Argentina’s strikers. The architect was as much the Ivorians as Juan Roman Riquelme. But such was their determined belief that they pushed their vaunted opponents hard. By the end Argentina were holding on as Didier Drogba’s late goal brought a grandstand finish to a grand match..