After the initial blow of England going out come the inevitable e-mails of “condolence” from friends around the world (well europe). More of a chance to mock than actual empathy but still, glad to know they’re thinking of me.

Andrea, Italy

The less said about your sorry side the better but forget about that lets concentrate on some real winners, Italy.

Oh, sweet! 3-0 against Ukraine, and a team that is a firecracker. Everyone played wonderfully, Toni found the goal again, and no-one’s sent off for the semi-finals, so we can put on our best team. The defense is incredible, definitely the best in the world, whichever way you put we’ve got the best men in the world for every position, goalkeeper included.
A mention aside goes for Francesco Totti, who’s back in proper form and absolutely dazzling with his passes. He played fabulously, two crucial polished assists and something beautiful produced every time he touched the ball, though he still has room for improvement (hail, hail). I think it’s fair to say that he’s won the duel with Riquelme for the best trequartista in the world and now officially holds that title, and with Messi not having played and Ronaldinho asleep, I think he’s putting forth a serious candidature for best man of the world cup.

Christian, Germany

First of all Rob, I’m sorry to see that England won’t have the great honour of losing to Germany in the final in our beautiful capital.

Don’t be sad now you all can realise that playing well every now and again (1 game in 5?) isn’t good enough at major tournaments.

I’m surprised about our own team, but I shouldn’t have doubted Jürgen. We WILL now win the cup and become WORLD CHAMPIONS on 9.7.2006 (a day that will go down in History)

Erwan, France

Oh dear Rob, maybe with your new glasses you will finally see that all English players are over paid and just believe what the press say about them. (Unlike our own greats of course ;-))

We will now stroll to the title and Zizou shall claim his rightful place at the top of world football.

It’s a message from Old Europe this world cup isn’t it?

Thank god I don’t have any Portuguese friends. They are all so enthusiastic. Why do I feel empty when they are undoubtedly skipping around planning for next Sunday. The only consolation is that they can’t all send me victorious emails.

As for Erwan quoting De Villepin, that’s a bit rich.