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WORLD CUP WORM 5: Don't fear the big five, fear the orange eleven

The Worm's last night in Cape Town coincided with the dead rubber between Cameroon and Holland but the Dutch party was far from dented by the fixture's lack of significance. Take everything your humble Worm wrote about the English wall of white and magnify for the Oranje Army. The Worm stood and watched for a full 25 minutes as a river of the tall and the beautiful stampeded from fan park to Green Point with a commonality; Replica kits, traditional dress, fitted suits, clogs, vuvuzelas and wigs, each and every one was armed with orange garb. And rather like the English last week, the unsavoury element appears to have been priced out of this trip with good natured young and middle aged support throughout. Many of the thousands will have been South African residents, such is the historical link between these two countries, and with these wealthy locals of European ancestry able to afford tickets and looking for a second team to support, this has become the closest thing to a home tournament off Dutch soil. A coastal tour of Durban, PE and Cape Town stand between Holland and a final at the ominously orange Soccer City stadium and this "home advantage" could be the biggest threat to Maradona's plans for World domination.

Incidentally the slogan above come from the official team bus of the Netherlands. Each bus carries a motif, with highlights including such nationalism as "The Samurai spirit never dies! Victory for Japan!", the characteristically lame "C'mon Switzerland" and the unfortunate French effort "All together for a new dream in blue".

WORLD CUP MEN OF THE MATCH #25: Miroslav Stoch

Match: Italy v Slovakia
Worm's pick: Miroslav Stoch (Slovakia)
Worm says: The game of the tournament thus far had a number of standout performances including that of English authoritarian Howard Webb but it was 20 year old Miroslav Stoch who caught the Worm's eye with his ability to seize the space left by an absent Italian midfield and make searing runs from left wing to the pressure points of Italian vulnerability. Stoch's busy and aggressive style of wingplay contributed to FC Twente's surprising victory in Dutch football last year and in spite of his failure to make the grade at Chelsea, he looks a talent well suited to the English Premier League.

In a word: Direct

WORLD CUP WORM 4- Reflections on England- Algeria

   The Worm was rather uncomfortable at the thought of watching England at a World Cup and admits to mixed emotions as the draw was made and this fixture fell in his lap; the reputation of England’s travelling support needs little explanation here. So it is with much delight that he reflects on the most joyous and harmonious of sporting events in spite of the lame performance. To hold the hottest ticket in town is a rare event for a follower of Brentford. As the day developed, Germany lost and the USA were conned out of a late win, it was building into an ideal day for the Three Lions and the pivotal day of the Worm’s tour. As dusk became night we marched with optimism to the great silver bowl of Green Point stadium on Cape Town’s north shore.

WORLD CUP WORM 3: Johannesburg

Enthusiasm for the Bafana Bafana was instantly tempered by their unequivocal thrashing at the hands of Uruguay with one local headline running "why Bafana were so abysmal". News of the French implosion has failed to spark much optimistic comment from even the most positive of fans and the consistently poor showing of African nations remains a feature of the tournament. But this has not affected the vibe amongst travelling fans, nor the pride at hosting what so far is a successful tournament. Taxi drivers, a reasonable approximation of the national zeitgeist, are turning their attention to new favourites Argentina, and Brazil. Cape Town was thrilled to play host to England's stars but the city has been left with a pervasive sense of disappointment after Rooney's failure to show on Friday night.  

The Worm has just returned from Johannesburg, an important part of the tour helping to consolidate the previous view of Cape Town as a fundamentally European city. Jo'burg, by contrast, is undeniably African, it is dusty, sprawling, with clear skies and an African sun. Its reputation for gun-crime (roadsigns indicate carjacking hot-spots, for example) dictates that most of the socialising takes place in the relative safety and carbonfibre mock opulence of the shopping malls yet it feels as if the people are more integrated here, professional blacks and "coloureds" share the local high-life in a manner lacking in Cape Town. 

WORLD CUP WORM 2: Cape Town and Port Elizabeth

An Englishman abroad should always make comment about the weather and no mistake, here on the Cape this is a wintry World Cup. Fantasies of scorched earth have been replaced by the cold, cold reality of the icy rain that has been with us since Ghana's win over Serbia. As well as compromising my choice of holiday-wear, this has significant consequences for the organisers as a whole. Already down on expected visitors to the country, those who are here seem to be staying indoors. Hawkers at the fan zones are desperate for our custom, relying on old fashioned gift of the gab to get us to buy their curry and rice. In some venues the staff have outnumbered the fans.

So the party went indoors to witness the host continent's first and currently sole victory, with a helping hand from Zdravko Kuzmanovic. As the celebratory West African beat hit the streets we came to realise the pan-African solidarity in the football as the locals rallied to the support of their brothers in a manner inconceivable to European or South American eyes. The official World Cup logo is a map not of the host country but the host continent telling us that this is a tournament for all indiginous Africans. We hope for a strong showing from one of the Sub Saharan sides, progressing deep into the knockout stages, to make the tournament a true local festival. For all this eulogising, however, it remains incongrouous that as a visitor to Cape Town one's contacts in tourism are relentlessly white.