Hadn’t seen much punditry from the Bill O’Herlihy/Dunphy combo on RTÉ until today, but the Dunph-meister showed a few early flashes of his old controversial form. Responding to a Gary Lineker piece in the Telegraph in which Mr. L described England’s start to the Paraguay game as "exhilarating", the bould Dunphy promptly informed us that Gary was talking out of his hat. "If that’s what he thinks, he’s a liar" growled Dunph, before Bill (who is a world class ‘egger-onner’ despite his pretence at being the "voice of moderation") stepped in to describe the above comment as "a bit strong".

Other than that, the Dunph was in fairly mellow form (alongside a slightly terrified looking Mark Kinsella) with only his comments RE: the wisdom (or otherwise) of appointing a rookie as national team manager¹ hinting at the usual spikiness.

Over on the Beeb an expectant Mick McCarthy quickly turned into a downcast Mick McCarthy as the promise of a new "big lad up front" to cheer ended in disappointment. Red Star Belgrade’s Nikola Zigic may be an impressive 6′8″ but on this showing (at least to Mick’s eyes) he’s no Niall Quinn or Tony Cascarino.

But seriously folks, this group gets more intriguing by the minute, so expect a real slobber-knocker when the impressive Dutch meet the irresistible Ivory Coast. Could be an early trip home for the S&M brigade and their lacklustre giant. 2 from the other 3 to go through is the WWCW forecast.

Holland 1 Serbia & Montenegro 0

1. See Marco Van Basten & Steve Staunton for details [back]