Back on topic, Algeria now they have made it will be a difficult team to take on. One player I’ve been a fan of for a while is Mourad Meghni of Lazio, a former graduate of Clairefontaine, French under 21 international and former stand out at Bologna. He is a gifted, ball playing attacking midfielder who was once compared to Zidane.

I saw the Germany-Ivory Coast game too and I agree on your assessment Steve. Another player who impressed me was Emmanuel Eboue. I thought he did really well in his more advanced role on the right of a front 3. He was a constant threat and caused the German defence a lot of problems.

With regards to Podolski, more often players struggle to replicate their club form at international level, whereas with him it’s the other way round. All in all it must’ve been a really difficult game for the Germans to play following the tragic events of last week. All credit to them.

I watched Germany play Ivory Coast last night and was impressed by both teams, it was a very open game and both teams seem to pass the ball very well. I would say Germany were the better side but in the end were lucky to escape with a draw. When Drogba returns they’ll have quite a team. Seydou Doumbia impressed me as well, great with the ball at his feet and running at players, he looks very dangerous.

Germany looked incisive and very attacking minded too, Low is quite an astute coach and seems to get his players thinking, their movement is exceptional. Ozil and Podolski both played well and any attacking midfielder would be proud of the ball played by marauding centre half Heiko Westermann for the equaliser. Some things are far more important than football, and it was quite an emotional game given the tragedy surrounding German football in the last week – such a good game of football was a fitting tribute to Robert Enke, may he rest in peace.

For teams such as Cameroon or Ivory Coast to really compete with the likes of Brazil and Germany it will take a lot of luck and some huge performances from the likes of Eto’o. With Essien suspended in 2006, Ghana were quite comfortably beaten by Brazil, who themselves were nowhere near their best. They probably lack the depth to perform consistently over the course of the 7 games.

Having said that, in any one knockout match, one or two of the top sides could well be humbled by the African teams, and will probably be hoping to avoid the likes of Ivory Coast in the draw.

The one thing about the African teams is for every Eto there are 5 or 6 average players (in most teams), whereas the top teams in the World seem to be able to put out quality in every area of the pitch. At international level you cannot afford to carry players and this I think is where the African teams will struggle.

In saying that if you put together an African XI then I think they’d fair well against everyone. Exporting talent to Europe has really improved their chances in the World Cup and has increased the standard of the African Cup of Nations. For Ghana to beat Brazil in the U20′s means that they’re getting something right down at grassroots level so it’s only a matter of time before a few teams emerge as potential World Cup winners. Slightly off topic but people have predicted a similar trend of China in 15-20 years time. If World Football Columns is still about then we can come back and check if we were right!