Sweden and the law of sod for Sven

ALOT of people believe Christmas came early for England when the World Cup draw was made, and there's no point in denying it could have been a lot worse.

The way things were set up, we could have been in the same group as dangerous floaters like Holland or Czech Republic but thankfully we avoided both of those.

It was certainly exciting, even though I had to find out what was happening in the draw via my wife on the mobile phone.

No, she wasn't in Leipzig but at home watching it on TV. Me? I was at the Tottenham staff Christmas party and when the draw was being made, dinner was being served.

I like my food but I couldn't concentrate on dinner during the draw, so I nipped outside and my wife talked me through it on the telephone.

By the time we had finished, my dinner was cold but I didn't care.

We might have been in the middle of December but somehow the draw made next summer's World Cup significantly nearer.

Let's face it, the draw was pretty kind to us, although this is a World Cup and there are no walkovers there. Sweden, for example, will be tough. When their name was announced, I immediately thought of Mr Eriksson and the law of sod.

I haven't played against the Swedes yet but it is uncanny the way we draw them in major competitions and fail to beat them.

They play a very English game, they are strong and well organised and there is every chance it will be close again.

Paraguay couldn't be more different. I've heard the pundits saying we should beat them comfortably but I understand they earned draws against both Brazil and Argentina in their qualifying group, and any team who does that must be treated with the utmost respect.

I don't know a great deal about them, although, as a goalkeeper, I've obviously heard of their former keeper Jose Luis Chilavert, who is quite a character.

Our other Group B opponents are Trinidad Tobago, who we've never met at international level.

With some of their players earning their living in the English game, they are much more familiar.

Not long ago, Shaka Hislop and I were standing at opposite ends of White Hart Lane in a Premiership match when West Ham came visiting, and now we could be doing something similar in Germany next June. Speaking of Germany, I've never played football in the country before and I can't wait.

The expectation seems to be that we should win the Group and play Poland in the last 16.

That seems to be a long way off but if that turns out to be a reality, it would be a significant game for me since it was against the Poles in a World Cup qualifying match in Katowice that I first came to wear the precious England jersey.

Now the draw's been made I am sure the Football Association will begin to make preparations in earnest. I would expect us to play Courtesy RSR against a South American team in one of the friendlies plus another against a Scandanavian team, say Denmark or Norway.

The sense of anticipation is massive but that's all well in the future. Much more pressing is tonight's match for Tottenham against a Portsmouth side who, after all the shenanigans, have a new manager or, more accurately, their old manager who has come back.

Things are going pretty well for us. We took seven points from the matches against the three newly-promoted teams and tonight is another one we should look to win.

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