The Monday Miscellany

Thank heavens for Montenegrins, for without them the UEFA Champions League group stage would be utter tedium.

Last season, Chelsea needed a result in their final group fixture against CFR Cluj thanks, largely, to a defeat away to Roma after Mirko Vucinic’s second half brace at the Stadio Olimpico. Now, the relentless succession of English victories has been broken thanks to the precocious talent of Stevan Jovetic, the Fiorentina forward who scored both goals in their 2-0 win over Liverpool on Tuesday.

Judging by the response in England, you’d think the world had stopped spinning just because a Premier League side had lost away from home against a Serie A side but Fiorentina fully deserved their victory. The pace of Marco Marchionni and Juan Manuel Vargas on the flanks and the guile of Mutu in the hole were enough to see a pedestrian Liverpool beaten.

Other interest in the group stage can be found in Milan. AC Milan, after their dire 1-0 home defeat to Zürich, have it all to do to reach the knock-out phase, given that they must now play Real Madrid twice. Judging by their recent performances, it could be argued that the most surprising result so far was their 2-1 win in Marseille, courtesy of two classic goals from Filippo Inzaghi.

Meanwhile Inter drew again away to Rubin Kazan in Tatarstan, though they played much of the second half with ten men. They must still travel to Barcelona and Kiev and qualification cannot yet be relied upon.

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It’s official, the future of football broadcasting is here: 10 inch screens showing fuzzy pictures to those people rich enough to afford the equipment to show it. In other words, it’s 1966 again.

How ludicrous that anybody thinks charging £11.99 to see a match after England have sealed qualification, with other more important matches on television at the same time. How feeble that the BBC do not have the wherewithal to screen a solitary international match. How pathetic that the government have been so slow in adding international fixtures to the free-to-air TV list. How hypocritical that FIFA blather on about football being the people’s game but do not make it a condition of World Cup entry that TV rights to games are sold to terrestrial channels in both countries playing.

Except, though, you do not have to pay. Bet365.com have the rights for their live streaming thingy, so simply open an account with ten pounds, watch the England match then bet it all on Spain to triumph in Armenia. An England match, and a free 20p! If this is the future, bring it on.

Anyway, Saturday is not about England. It is about Denmark v Sweden, about Argentina v Peru, about Russia v Germany, about Serbia v Romania, about Slovakia v Slovenia, about Ireland v Italy, about Cameroon v Togo, about Estonia v Bosnia-Herzegovina. Those matches are where the drama will be.

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Despite all of which, Fabio Capello is quite right in not farting around with an ‘experimental’ team in Dnipropetrovsk. Qualification is achieved but England have their hearts set on a 100% record; what an emphatic symbol of English recover that would represent to the rest of the world.

Besides, if England are to be seeded in the World Cup draw on 4 December, they need to be in the top seven qualified sides in the FIFA World Rankings and beating Ukraine and Belarus should virtually secure such a privilege.

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We continue our omnipresent analysis of who Diego Maradona picks for Argentina with a note of optimism, at least for those of us who really wouldn’t rather the World Cup passed without the involvement of Lionel Messi, Sergio Agüero and Javier Mascherano.

Gonzalo Higuaín, hallelujah, has finally been included in the squad, though Martin Palermo remains with Diego Milito injured. Palermo scored both goals on Wednesday in Argentina’s friendly against Ghana; the match only included home-based players as it fell outside the FIFA international calendar. Higuaín has extraordinarily never played for Argentina at senior level – though he was in their Olympic warm-up squad last year – and could have still turned to France for a place at the World Cup.

Back, too, is Pablo Aimar, still only 29 and now playing in Portugal for Benfica. Is he the replacement for Juan Román Riquelme that the albicelestes have so desperately lacked over the last year?

Mercifully, Martin Demichelis is fit again. How they missed his presence against Brazil and Paraguay in September, when the Vélez Sarsfield central defender Sebastián Domínguez, hardly a player of international ability, was disastrously employed. In Emiliano Insúa and Fabián Monzón, they at last have some proper left backs which should relieve Gabriel Heinze of having to struggle there again.

Right back has also been a problem of late, with Javier Zanetti no longer occupying that position at Inter. Pablo Zabaleta returns from injury and should play against Peru.