Well, the World Cup has provided massive entertainment so far – and we are only just into the business end of the greatest tournament in the world ever! Most of it has had to do with reputations going up – or should that be down – in flames.

Seriously though! For a start, there was the implosion of the French – who just happen to have knocked Ireland out of the World Cup. This is a team adorned with some of the most highly rated talents in the world, including Anelka and Malouda of Chelsea, Sagna, Clichy, Gallas and Diaby of Arsenal, Evra of Manchester United, Ribéry of Bayern Munich and of course – although relegated to the sidelines by the French coach Raymond Domenech – the once stupendous Thierry Henry of Barcelona.
And how did they do? Well in their first game could do no better than eke out a paltry single point from a draw with Uruguay. Next they were thumped 2-0 by Mexico. And in their final game they were stuffed 2-1 by South Africa. Along the way, the French squad produced scenes of ego, petulance and discord that made Roy Keane's premature and acrimonious departure from Saipan all those years ago seem like a model of pre-planning. It was truly ignominious stuff.
Cue mass recriminations back in gay Paree, and a summons from the French President Nicolas Sarkozy for Thierry Henry to go straight from the airport to the Elysée Palace to explain the abject performance of the team. One wondered might that bold girl Carla Bruni have been behind the invitation. Certainly, there was nothing whatsoever that could be achieved by this meeting of beauty (Henry) and the beast (Sarkozy) apart from assuaging the President's already inflated sense of self-importance. Maybe Carla wanted to meet Thierry? "It is a political problem," the President was quoted as saying. "When the whole world is laughing at us, it goes beyond sport." Indeed. The whole world was laughing at the sheer preposterousness of the bad blood that had boiled to the surface in the French camp, with Henry whinging to the President that he had been isolated by the rest of the squad! And no one was laughing louder than the Irish players, who had been jettisoned from the World Cup as a result of Henry's sleight of hand in the qualification play-off. Talk about karma.
The Italians were next for the chopping block. While their exit carried none of the whiff of French farce about it, in a football-mad country the demise of Marcello Lippi's lot was regarded as catastrophic nonetheless, as the holders staggered in at the bottom of what was clearly one of the weakest groups. Most disturbing was their thoroughly pedestrian 1-1 draw with New Zealand, a pretty dire outfit at the best of times, who could only ever make it to the World Cup because they are in such a weak region to begin with.
While Silvio Berlusconi thought better of intervening – he after all is already involved in football as the owner of AC Milan – there was a feeling of wounded pride in Italy that had the papers groping for the most damning terms of abasement they could find. It was a shame. An embarrassment. A humiliation. Italy's darkest day. Well, since Mussolini's ascent to power, that is…
At least the world wasn't laughing.
And finally, among the leading footballing powers to grossly underperform, there was England. They started badly, drawing 1-1 with the US and then, in a woeful display, failed to find the net at all against Algeria. The knives were out for the manager Fabio Capello and understandably so. There was a modicum of relief to be gleaned from a 1-0 win over Slovenia, which put them through to the final 16 as group runners-up. Perhaps now, they actually might
start playing.
Along the way, however, there had been disquieting diversions, including a ham-fisted press conference at which John Terry went public with the opinion that his team-mate at Chelsea Joe Cole should be brought into the starting line-up. In merrily proclaiming that Cole was the only player in the squad who could open up opposition defences with creativity, Terry succeeded in both insulting the rest of the players and getting up the manager's nose, so that the real question was: would Capello leave John Terry out? Truth was he couldn't afford to.
Any lingering hope of World Cup glory for England was shattered on a sunny afternoon in Bloemfontein. The English were unlucky to come up against a young and sprightly German team with a lean and hungry look about it: collectively they played some sparklingly good football to demolish England 4-1. They also, of course, had a large slice of luck in their favour. The tournament will forever be remembered for the fact that a perfectly legitimate Frank Lampard goal was not given, which would have levelled the sides at 2-2. And who knows what might have happened then? But the reality is that bad decisions happen in football all the time and players just have to pick themselves up and get on with it. England failed to, and they were torn apart in the second half by a superb German outfit.
Most English commentators and fans were sanguine about it afterwards. For once, the BBC panellists echoed what the boys over on RTÉ were saying. England's performance throughout was dismal. Not one player, with the possible exception of David James, could claim to have emerged from the tournament with any credit. Some big reputations had been severely tarnished – notably those of John Terry and Wayne Rooney, but also Steven Gerrard and to a lesser extent Frank Lampard.
The much lauded managerial genius of Fabio Capello was also revealed as so much smoke and mirrors. His team selections made no sense. He stuck, bizarrely given his background, to a discredited long ball game. He failed to get his charges playing like a team. And worst of all, England seemed to lack morale, coming up short in terms even of that old bulldog spirit. And meanwhile, the man who everyone assumed would be the source of car crash TV during the tournament, Diego Maradona, seemed like the epitome of good humour and even better sense, leading his brilliant Argentina side through to the last eight playing fine attacking football.
This is how it stands as we go to press: the cream has risen to the top. Germany, Holland, Argentina, Spain and Portugal (yet to play one another), the best of the African sides, Ghana, Japan representing the rest of the world, South American outsiders Uruguay and Paraguay — and, of course, Brazil.
What have we learned? That video technology must be used to avoid rank injustices like those visited on Ireland in the play-offs, England against Germany and – later the same day – Mexico against Argentina. Perhaps none of the results would have been different — and certainly where Germany and Argentina were concerned, the better teams won. But the critical nature of the errors – and the fact that they are so clearly visible to everyone in the stadium on the big screens – means that it simply cannot be allowed to go on…
Could Ireland have lived with any of these teams? Looking at the fate of England, it hardly seems likely. Our key rivals en route, Italy and France – neither of whom we could master – also fared poorly. While there is a suspicion that Ireland might have gone about the task differently, you have to be realistic. The football played by the likes of Germany, Argentina and, in bursts, Brazil and Spain is in a different league. So maybe it really is just as well that we didn't qualify, because we were spared the public flogging to which England, Italy and France were subjected and the shredding of emotions experienced by their fans.
Than again, you'd never know what might have been…