“Finally, the waiting is over. After all the hype, the talk and the phony war, it is almost upon us. Yes, it is now time for the Fiver to emerge from its cobwebbed crawl-space and head off for its early-summer “special” at Madame She-She’s Kings Cross bathing parlour, there to enjoy its annual intensive ablution regime involving a 20-minute industrial hose-down, the descaling of physical extremities, laundering and re-stitching of Kevlar undergarments and finally an assisted constitutional massage overseen by a group of faceless, asbestos-suited individuals armed with tongs. With any luck the Fiver may emerge in time to catch the start of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, which also gets under way tomorrow, and which has also been letting off a humid stink of fevered, pent-up excitement. Finally, 1,464 Fifa World Cup-less days since the last one, football’s great final frontier, the not-for-sale, inescapably shiver-inducing Fifa World Cup is here.” (Guardian – Barney Ronay)