Did you know thta today would be the most important day in your life? The day that Trinidad and Tobago takes on the old master as an equal - at least when the whistle first blows. Consider the history of the place:

Trinidad was visited by Christopher Columbus in 1498 but was not colonized because of the lack of precious metals. It was raided by the Dutch (1640) and the French (1677, 1690) and by British sailors. Britain captured it in 1797 and received formal title in 1802. Tobago had been settled by the English in 1616, but the settlers were driven out by the indigenous Caribs. The island was held by the Dutch and the French before being acquired by the British in 1803. The islands were joined politically in 1888.

Who can't love an underdog like that. And that is what we do around here - back the little guy. Why? What sort of person backs the big guy? Think on that. And while you do think on this quote about England from one of the wisest guys I have ever not known:

A dissatisfied-looking Gordon McAllan from Easterhouse said: "After all that hype, to win by just one goal? I think they're a bunch of numpties^*." And his wife Anne added: "I don't want England to win this cup. Because I'm Scottish, I'll always go with the underdog and I hope Trinidad & Tobago stuff Sweden later on."

They are a bunch of numpties. They are. The whole "Spirit of '66" thing is fine as a dream but realistically the whole 1998 Beckham kicky pants is much more what we have before us on the pitch. I like them fine enough but they are, if lucky, a top eight team with tendencies to collapse followed by finger pointery. [Reason for the Flea to reconsider here. ] I make it a tie: 1-1.

In other games, I am picking Ecuador and Sweden each to win.

^*As to the meaning of numpties, see here.