I THINK we all, on one level, wanted to believe the pre-tournament stories that France were in total disarray before they lined up against Uruguay last night.

Whatever your nationality, it is a widely-held belief that Thierry Henry’s inexcusable handball against Ireland in the play-offs should have been balanced out by a considerable bout of bad karma.

I’d always dreamed that Diego Forlan would spike a winning goal in with his forearm in the last minute before revealing his grandmother was born in Cork – but sadly, things didn’t pan out exactly as I’d hoped in Cape Town.

France looked just as disjoined as the pre-tournament reports had suggested.

But Uruguay lacked the general quality to create more chances for their fearsome front pairing of Forlan and Claudio Suarez and then reverted to type eight minutes from the end by losing a man to a crude challenge by Nicolas Lodeiro on Bacary Sagna.

Quite aside from bearing a stunning resemblance to Eugene Levy (the dad from American pie), France boss Domemech has never really inspired much confidence – and I can only think he was looking to the stars for inspiration as his team ambled along in the second half without making a dent in their South American opponents, even with a man advantage.

It has cemented my view that our friends across the Channel are destined for an early flight back home from South Africa, and for the record, I think that could also apply to the Germans too.

I watched the opening match in the Barracuda Bar in the town centre, where fantastically three South Africans and one Mexican had gathered to cheer their side on. Who’d have thunk it?

That’s what the World Cup is all about, and why it matters more than any other global sporting event.

Come about 7pm this evening, we’ll see just how much it means to the English and I hope, God willing, that the game passes off with the same good humour and high spirits as I saw yesterday afternoon.

Patriotic feelings aside, I’ll be hoping Stuart Holden has a good game. Without sounding too sentimental – he’s living proof that good things happen to good people.