Now that Scotland have given up qualifying for World Cup Finals, we've created a vacuum. In our absence, who will be the first team to book their homeward ticket? Step forward Poland - and isn't it two-in-a-row for this lot? If my memory serves me rightly, they didn't stick around for too long in the Far East four years ago but back then they didn't have the excuse of having two of the Paranoiadome's finest in their ranks. Still, they've got some consolation. A change of tenancy has ensured that events in Dortmund were greeted much more favourably in the pontifical palace.
It was yet another excellent day of World Cup action, thrills and spills in abundance and plenty of talking points, not least of all Spain's impressive destruction of Ukraine in a game which it was widely believed could have gone either way. Sadly, but hardly surprisingly, inept refereeing played a part in making it such a one-sided contest but it would be wrong to let this detract from a very good performance from the Spaniards.
Two goals inside the first 17 minutes from Xabi Alonso and David Villa put Spain in the driving seat but, when the scoresheet was still blank, Shevchenko had broken free on the left, he was onside and heading straight for goal, only to be pulled back when a linesman flagged against a team-mate in an offside position. Yet again the big question mark surrounding the interpretation of the offside law exerted undue influence on a major game. The Ukrainians certainly had good cause to feel aggrieved with the performance of the match officials.
Their hopes of taking anything from the match died within moments of the start of the second half. Swiss referee Massimo Busacca spotted a tug on Fernando Torres as the striker powered through the middle and, although any contact had taken place outside the box, the numpty with a whistle pointed to the penalty spot and showed defender Vaschuk the red card. Villa rattled home the spot kick and it was game over.
What was the ref thinking about? Any attempt to hinder Torres' progress had failed dismally, he got his shot in, only to see it saved by goalkeeper Shovkovskyi. Remembering how an equally incompetent ref had spoiled the Champions League Final, I honestly believe that, had Torres gone on to score, Busacca would have disallowed the goal and awarded the penalty. After all, it was the first pen of the competition so it was this self-important nobody's chance to make an impact in his own pedantic way.
Fernando Torres did get his name on the scoresheet near the end when, after a bold break forward by Puyol, he let rip from the edge of the box and almost uprooted the net. And it said it all about Ukraine's afternoon when Shevchenko was crowded out when he had a chance to grab a late consolation goal. They must have been a right depressed lot when they got back to the dressing-room but they got an unexpected break just a couple of hours later.
I wasn't expecting too much from Saudi Arabia v Tunisia. Only Hammy Namouchi's inclusion in the Tunisian line-up stirred up my interest and, not having been his biggest fan, I have to say nothing I saw this afternoon changed my mind. But he lasted the full 90 minutes so he must have been doing something right in coach Roger Lemerre's eyes. Maybe I've learned nothing in more than 40 years of watching the beautiful game but Namouchi succeeds only in annoying me, doing just enough and no more to hold on to his place in the team.
Tunisia were ahead at half-time thanks to a smashing strike from Zaid Jaziri and they looked to be in total control. But like so many others in this World Cup, they seemed to settle for 1-0 and, once they took their foot off the gas, they found it hard to regain the momentum. Al Kahtani levelled the scores by getting across his marker to shoot home at the near post, then just 90 seconds after coming on veteran super sub Sami Al Jaber ended a great passing move to fire the Saudis into the lead and leave the Tunisians to ponder over what might have been.
The celebrations which followed Radhi Jaidi's injury time equaliser had a hollow ring to them. Tunisia certainly should have won this match and cashed in on Ukraine's afternoon nightmare. By losing the initiative in the second half, they gave Oleg Blokhin's team a get-out-of-jail card, instead of putting the pressure on their more-fancied group rivals.
Following their good victory over Costa Rica in the opening match, I thought the pressure was off Germany but, with Poland playing for their World Cup future, they were sure to be awkward opponents. Zurawski was up to his tricks, doing the dying swan act midway through the first half, only to be caught rotten by a TV close-up. His only other contributions were a powder-puff shot which Jens Lehman could have thrown his wig on and a free-kick which battered off a team-mate. Here's hoping for more of the same in the new season.
At the other end Boruc landed lucky on more than a few occasions. Once more Philipp Lahm was excellent pushing forward on the left, firing over some very tempting crosses but Lukas Podolski looked like he was playing blindfolded. Plenty of shots rained in on the Polish goal, the keeper just couldn't get himself out of the way and, when Klose and Ballack hit the crossbar in quick succession in the dying moments, it looked like the Poles would escape with a point.
But don't ever underestimate the Germans. At no time did they settle for a draw and right at the end two substitutes linked up, Odonkor crossed to Neuville and the Borussia Moenchengladbach man rattled it in from six yards. Pick it out Artur!!!
So Germany are still on course to top Group A with full points, which can only be bad news for England and Sweden who know failure to win their group puts them on a collision course with the hosts. And coming through such a dour struggle tonight will have given the Germans a great boost and lifted confidence to the point where they will relish going head-to-head with possible trophy rivals at the start of the knock-out stages.
LITTLE BOY BLUE