A lovely game of charades

"Lads I can't use it to check where your Uber is"

Now the dust has settled on the group stages, let’s address some of the things we’ve learned from the World Cup so far. In short, Germany are rubbish so we don’t have to worry about them in tournaments ever again, England are going to win it, four games in one day is NOT too many and no one has been kidnapped, poisoned or otherwise defiled by the Russian state (that we know of). All in all, something of a success.

Everything is different yet again (i.e. exactly the same as before)

"One-nil up lads. Keep it tig... oh."

It’s very un-Spongers for us to piss on everyone’s chips at a major tournament. But here we are, chaps in hand, aiming for the McCains. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. After four days of football, England are in town (Volgograd to be precise). Aside from witnessing the game of the tournament so far (Spain vs Portugal), we’ve seen Germany humbled by Mexico. France limping to a 2-1 win against the Aussies. And Brazil and Argentina stuttering to 1-1 draws against two banks of four aka Switzerland and Iceland.

Preview #2: The World Cup is ACE

Just the best thing ever

There’s a major tournament on, which in time-honoured fashion means Spongers HQ is a relative hive of activity. Relative in that someone is actually sitting in front of a laptop for the first time in two years, albeit staring at a half-finished article wondering how to write an intro. But, given it’s a major tournament that’s got us off our backsides to do so, how about a preview that actually takes place BEFORE the first match? First time for everything. Here we go then. The World Cup is amazing. Here’s why…

Preview #1: The World Cup is AWFUL

"We'll just say you're on holiday"

There’s nothing like a global football tournament held every four years to spur the semi-retired Magic Spongers team into getting their arses in gear and do some typing. So in time-honoured fashion, here’s the first part of a double header on the World Cup. Ladies and gentlemen, the World Cup is awful. Here’s why…