After a 2-0 defeat to Mexico tonight, France have become the first big team to come within touching distance of elimination. A Uruguay-Mexico carve-up in the final group games would see both through - a draw sees Uruguay top the group with Mexico second, no matter what France do to South Africa.

It was dramatic, it was exciting and frankly, it was deserved – Mexico were excellent, France poor. Given how much we love to see the big nations brought down a peg, it should have been highly enjoyable.

But it wasn’t, thanks to the commentators and the reactive media (particularly a few sanctimonious ones on Twitter) taking the opportunity to mention that handball in that playoff match every minute of the game, as if France’s loss was more of a victory for Ireland than it was for Mexico.

I don’t pretend to know the entire Irish population. But while those I do were pretty irritated by Henry’s handball at the time, they soon got over it. They certainly put it behind them quicker than the English media, led by a few individuals calling for Henry to be banned for the tournament, France to be thrown out, and other ludicrous and overblown suggestions.

Tonight was a huge win for Mexico. A draw would have left them needing to beat a flying Uruguay, but instead they proved the talent they have in the squad and are on the brink of qualification for the knockout stages. They should have been the stars, yet inexplicably, too many chose to focus on the ‘karma’ of the situation and how delighted Ireland would be, despite a) as far as I can see, the Irish don’t care anymore and b) Henry didn’t even feature in the game.

Don’t get me wrong, I felt for Ireland at the time, and if some still harbour ill feeling towards Henry, and France in general, then maybe they will have enjoyed tonight a little more than most. But the impression I get is that the majority hold no such grudge, so this continued campaign of vitriol is not representative of their feelings in any way.

The more the written press continue this faux holier than thou attitude on behalf of a nation that do not desire or require their ’support’, the more they irritate me. And I’m sure I’m not alone.

For the record, I have a sneaky suspicion France will still go through. Mexico will fancy their chances of beating Uruguay to top the group, therefore avoiding Argentina in the second round, and that would open the door to France, provided they can hammer a demoralised South Africa. Don’t write them off just yet.

As for the Arsenal representatives, no-one covered themselves in glory. The entire French team was unimpressive, while at the other end Vela missed a great chance before going off with a hamstring injury. In earlier matches, Cesc inexplicably remained on the bench while his teammates lost to Switzerland, and Eboue was part of an Ivory Coast defence untroubled by Portugal.

On the plus side, the entertainment level of the tournament has picked up after a slow and cagey start – Argentina demolished South Korea today, and teams are certainly playing with a freedom missing in the early days.

Betting Update

After a bad day yesterday – three out of three bets failed to come in – Argentina’s big win over South Korea and Greece’s victory over Nigeria boosted the profits once more. Part of me wishes I was staking more than a pound on each bet…

I will continue to place a bet on each match in the tournament, adding some random ones here and there, so keep checking the tracker to the right to see how it is going.

Other Arsenal news

The fixture list is out for the 2010/11 season and we start with a belter – a trip to Anfield to face a Liverpool side hoping to feel the effect of a new manager. Our next crunch game is also away - Chelsea on October 2.

November, often a bad month, will again be tricky – Everton (away), Villa (away) and Spurs (home) provide plenty of challenges, especially surrounded by Champions League fixtures. We complete the trio of away games against the Big Four before Christmas.

If we are in contention at Christmas, having played Liverpool, United, Chelsea, Everton, City and Villa away, we are in with a real shout.

But that is for another time – I have to be honest and say that I struggle to get excited about the season when it is so far away. When the players start training again, and we play our first pre-season match, everything will change.

Before then, we have the rest of the World Cup. And I love it, at least when the TV is muted.

Van Persie crossing for a Dane to power home is a vision we’d like to see a lot more of, but we got a sneak preview in the World Cup today as Poulson headed his cross against Agger’s back and in, to give Holland a lead they never looked like giving away. The 2-0 scoreline gave the Arsenal contingent their first victory of the competition, and Van Persie looked sharp throughout before getting a rest for the final fifteen minutes.

At the other end, Bendtner was decent for Denmark, one glorious turn in midfield bamboozling two opponents, but he shanked his only real chance wide. Despite impressing, Adrian Chiles mocked him relentlessly at half time, presumably based on some preconceived bias – his showing certainly didn’t warrant that level of criticism.

Bendtner (and Denmark) were made to feel better by the game that followed between the two other teams in the group, Japan and Cameroon. The Africans looked lethargic throughout, stuck Eto’o on the right and left Alex Song on the bench, a pair of bizarre decisions that Le Guen stuck by all game. Japan were well organised, played for a draw and got a bonus when they pinched a goal. On that display, Denmark have every chance to come back and qualify.

It hasn’t been the best World Cup for Arsenal players yet, but then it hasn’t been a great World Cup for anyone up to now. Too many teams are living by the mantra that an early loss is a disaster, and the resultant negativity is producing a dearth of goals. Only Germany have sparkled, but even they were up against a hapless Australian side and aided by a referee who showed a red card to Cahill for absolutely nothing.

Tomorrow holds more promise – ignoring the early New Zealand-Slovakia game (placed at lunchtime for a reason), there is further Arsenal interest as the Ivory Coast kick off their campaign with a tasty looking game against Portugal in the afternoon. And then we get our first glimpse of Brazil in the evening, before Cesc’s long wait for a runout ends against Switzerland on Wednesday.

The World Cup can only get better, and it will.

Betting Update

After the double success of the opening day, Argentina’s narrow win and England’s draw with the USA provided a pair of winners, making day two another success despite Greece’s failure to live up to my expectations.

Day three was the first hiccup – Algeria, Serbia and Australia all comprehensively failing to achieve the results I tipped, but after correctly predicting Holland’s two goal victory, combined with Japan’s defeat of Cameroon, form was today restored. Had Italy snuck a late winner, it would have been a ridiculously successful day.

All in all, it is going well so far, with eleven £1 bets returning a healthy £24 – £13 profit. I will continue to make a tip for every match shortly before kickoff on Twitter, so you can either keep a track there or watch the panel to the right. If you fancy joining in, feel free to add your own tips to the comments, or on Twitter using the hashtag #groanswcbets – I’ll take on any good ones.

And that is that. See you tomorrow to watch Eboue make Ronaldo cry. Again.

The World Cup is finally underway, and all the evidence of the opening day suggests that we are yet to see the team that will lift the trophy. South Africa and Mexico served up a cracking 1-1 draw to kick off the tournament, before France and Uruguay played out an utterly uninspiring stalemate. There were impressive moments (none more so that the terrific strike from the brilliantly named South African Tshabalala) but nothing that will scare the rest of the competition.

It was also a day featuring many of Arsenal’s representatives. Carlos Vela nearly scored the tournament’s first goal, only to be (correctly) denied by an attentive assistant referee, but he otherwise disappointed in a Mexico side that could find themselves struggling to qualify after failing to punish South Africa’s tentative first half.

The French trio of Sagna, Gallas and Diaby will be disappointed with their opening result, especially as Uruguay went down to ten men late in the game, but on an individual level they should be happier. Gallas was solid at the back, Sagna was more of a wing back threat than Evra (and will be grateful not to have been injured by Lodeiro’s X-rated challenge), but the real star was Abou Diaby, who was a constant threat in an advanced midfield role, and was the sole player who appeared capable of terrorising Uruguay’s somewhat suspect defence.

Diaby has always been a divisive player, but his performance tonight was reminiscent of the run of form he enjoyed early in 2010, before he tailed off again towards the end of the season. Running with the ball, he is a mesmerising sight, and could enjoy a prosperous World Cup if those surrounding him showed more intent. France looked rudderless and impotent up front, and provide so little goal threat that their stay in the competition may be shortlived.

The next time we see an Arsenal player in action will be Monday, when Van Persie, Bendtner and Song kick off their campaigns, but there are plenty of matches to get your teeth into over the weekend, so enjoy. They can’t be any worse than tonight’s snoozefest.

Betting update

A great start for the betting tips, tracked to your right - having tipped 1-1 for the opening match, I predicted a card-fest in the second game, and both bets came off. I’m not getting too smug though – it may all go horribly wrong tomorrow.

As ever, you can follow the bets as they are placed on Twitter, or just keep an eye on the tracker to the right. No doubt some red lines will be appearing soon.

And that is it for today. I will be missing much of Saturday’s football due to a wedding, but they have kindly incorporated the England game into proceedings. Good thing too – we were planning on watching it either way. See you on the other side.

Two days until the World Cup starts, and given that the tournament usually spells the end of any transfer action for a month, we have just enough time to assess the status of each of the current sagas.

Cesc Fabregas

blah blah…Xavi …blah blah… Barca DNA …blah blah… not for sale …blah blah… certain to sign …blah blah… tappy tappy …blah blah… desperate president making final plea …blah blah… sound of a door being slammed shut.

Nothing new here – Barcelona are still confident of signing our captain, we say he isn’t for sale, they claim we’re still in negotiations while blatantly tapping him up in public. This will not go away, but equally nothing will happen while the World Cup is on.

Joe Cole

Chelsea have finally confirmed that Cole will leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the month. The player is rightly refusing to comment. The press are convinced we’re signing him, or that he’s off to Spurs, but every source I have is convinced he will join United, and I have no reason to doubt them.

Laurent Koscielny

One of those players who will be copy-pasted into every article I ever write about him has apparently been subject to an £8m bid from us. The Lorient defender is highly rated, but none of the stories surrounding him come with quotes from us, him, or his current club, which either means the rumour is garbage, or that we’ve finally found another club that likes to do business as quietly as we do. At least it beats seeing Hangeland tipped to join us every day.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see this one come off – he’s 24, which is about the right age for a centre back needing to step straight into the first team squad, we hadn’t heard of him before this summer, and we are in dire need of centre halves. There may be too much smoke for this one to be completely false.

Phillippe Senderos

At last, something concrete - Senderos’ long and sometimes painful career at Arsenal has come to an end, as the 25 year old has joined Fulham on a free transfer. I know I’m not alone in feeling a bit sad about this – Senderos was such a bright prospect in his early years, but some high profile mistakes and Wenger’s sometimes rough treatment of him (axing him for Gallas, ruthlessly ousting him for mistakes) made his departure inevitable.

I can’t help but feel Fulham have gotten a fantastic bargain here – Senderos was always at his best when playing regularly, and he’ll get that under the watchful eye of Roy Hodgson, a master at lifting the spirits of any player under his tutelage. Just 25, the Swiss’ best years are ahead of him, and it is a shame he will be spending them elsewhere. Much as I hope we don’t look back at what might have been, I genuinely wish him all the best - he deserves a bright few years, and it is hard to resentsuch a likeable club benefitting from the re-ignition of his career.

And that is about it. Look out for some World Cup features over the coming days – I make no apologies for loving the showpiece tournament as much as I passionately dislike international friendlies during the season. And besides, if I relied on Arsenal news over the next month, you might get a post once a week at best.

Stay tuned.

After the unequivocal rejection of Barcelona’s opening Cesc bid, there was widespread pride at how forcefully we were dealing with a club that had treated us as if we were an unimportant third party. But even as the words ‘will not enter into any discussion’ were uttered, there was also acceptance that the Spaniards would not go away.

That we hold the cards in this affair is undeniable, but equally important to note is how desperate Laporta is to land his man before stepping down as Barcelona president. If he fails, it will be a major blight on his reign, at least in his own mind. Theoretically, his obsession is good news for us, because such a man is easy to extract an overblown price from, but with their financial situation far from healthy, his willingness to spend lavish sums is restricted by reality.

With the realisation that the money on the table will not be enough, coupled with the knowledge that they cannot afford to raise the stakes much higher, Laporta is becoming desperate, as shown by his latest comments:

“It’s a price that we consider to be his market value. Arsenal have rejected it. We have to do everything we can to convince them that the best thing for all is to reach an agreement”

“The club have full confidence that Arsenal will end up understanding the situation”

We have full confidence that Arsenal we end up understanding the situation? Thanks Joan, but we actually understand the situation quite well. You want a player who is tied into a long term contract, and isn’t the sort of player to put in a formal transfer request or agitate for a move. Therefore, you must pay us what we believe to be market value. What you consider to be a fair price is completely and utterly irrelevant.

The thing that gets me is this – up to this point all of Barca’s actions have had a carefully constructed ulterior motive. The words of the players and the staff have been aimed at doing two things: a) driving a wedge between Cesc and Arsenal and b) driving a wedge between the fans and Cesc.

Neither tactic is working. Cesc has handed control to the club, and by doing so has confirmed himself as the man of class we all believed him to be. He is still our captain, and we still want him to stay. Furthermore, if Barcelona fail to come up with the money being demanded, that is exactly what will happen. Everyone knows it.

So what exactly is the point of these comments? Does Laporta expect us to turn around and say “Oh, I see, we didn’t realise you wanted him so badly. Since you can’t afford the price we’re asking for, we’ll just sell him on the cheap. After all, he’s got that Barcelona DNA. And we’re just lovely giving people. After the respect you’ve given us, it’s the least we can do.”

Er, no. The club’s resolve will not weaken, and the likelihood of Cesc getting restless won’t grow – after all, they are valuing him lower than the 28 year old striker they bought two weeks ago. Doesn’t that just make you feel so…wanted?

To me, these are the words of a man who has decided to end his presidency with a grand gesture, but is rapidly discovering that the deal is not the surefire winner he believed it to be, as the other parties in the affair aren’t playing along. That Cesc will join Barcelona one day is irrelevant to him – he wants him to return under his watch, which ends on June 30. Don’t believe that his claim that the Cesc deal should be completed pre-World Cup is for the benefit of the player – it is purely because once the World Cup ends, someone else will be in power, and take the credit.

We have absolutely no reason to budge. If I were in the Arsenal boardroom, these quotes would be making me smile. As Laporta gets more desperate, it becomes ever more likely that Cesc will stay.