It’s been a while since I just sat down and did some Photoshop work for a bit of enjoyment, I find it as a good way of escapism sometimes and when you see the final product not only have you learned maybe a new technique or two but there’s a sense of self achievement too.

This particular image was constructed after reading a tutorial over at http://designinstruct.com, it only took me maybe an hour or so to reproduce and it was time well spent in my opinion, quite pleased with how it turned out.

The full image is featured on my Behance profile, so feel free to head on over there, view it and give me some appreciation

You can also download the full 1280×800 version here.

It amazes me that neither of these two famous footballing nations have never managed to win the World Cup considering some of the great players and teams they have had over the years, tonight though one of these teams is going to change that.

We have Spain, a team who lost their opening game of the championships to Switzerland, but have gone from strength to strength as the tournament has progressed, a classic Italy look about them, very strong from the back, a tremendous midfield and strikers any team would love to have. Even though Spain are strong from the back, its strong going forward from the back, Ramos in particularly, defensively though they’ve looked shaky. The game will rest on how much time and space Xavi and Iniesta can get from the Dutch midfield and of course whether Fernando Torres’ shooting boots have been sent to him from Liverpool yet.

The Dutch have flattered to deceive thus far, without playing particularly well they have still managed to win every single game from the World Cup qualifiers until now, thats near enough 2 years of competitive international football without dropping a single point. They have the form of champions, scraping through games and doing just enough to get through. Sneijder will be the key to the Dutch success, if Alonso can’t keep tabs on him then the Spanish will be in trouble.

My prediction is for a 2-1 Spanish victory, but in all honesty I’m not bothered who wins as long as it is a good game, end to end with plenty of talking points, if its anywhere near as good as the playoff between Germany and Uruguay we’re going to be in for a good one.

Goodbye South Africa, its been fun.

These goals are in no particular order as they could all be my number 1 for a variety of reasons, so sit back and enjoy the highlights…

Giovanni Van Bronkhurst

Giovanni’s goal for the Netherlands vs Uruguay in the World Cup Semi Finals was an absolute stormer, what a way to open the scoring in what should have been a very tense game; this goal sent Holland on their way to a 3-2 win and into the World Cup final.

Luis Suarez

Right, put this ‘Hand of God’ nonsense to the side for a minute because lets face it, anyone would have done the exact same thing if it meant getting your country to the World Cup semis, this goal from Luis Suarez in the Round of 16 knocked South Korea out and was an absolute belter, control, pace, precisions, brilliant.

Fabio Quagliarella

What can I say about this goal? Let’s face it, only an Italian would have the audacity, while 3-1 down in a game that has Italy’s fate on the line, to chip the goalkeeper from 25 yards out, a very cool and quite generally outstanding finish.

Siphiwe Tshabalala

A lot of people doubted South Africa’s credentials as a footballing nation, well, opening game, eyes of the world are on you, here’s how to answer your critics, what a strike. It wasn’t even the goal itself but the move leading up to it with one touch crisp passing was a joy to watch, it ripped Mexico apart.

Diego Forlan

Diego Forlan was one of my favourite players to watch throughout the tournament, a constant threat from inside and outside the box as his goal against the Netherlands in the Semi Final proved, but the Jubalani to good use and whipped it straight down the middle with pace giving the Dutch goalkeeper very little chance of saving this.

Other goals that I quite enjoyed were Honda’s free kick for Japan against Denmark and Carlos Tevez’ piledriver against the Mexicans. So that’s my favourite goals, have I missed any? What were yours?

8 points from a possible 24? Fucking pish. Finishing 3rd behind Holland and Norway on goal difference in a group of 5? Fucking pish. Scoring only 6 goals in 8 games? Fucking pish. We were, in general, fucking pish and our squad was made up of more or less the same players that beat France home and away not so long ago, so thanks George, you’ve put us back to where we were under Vogts.

Gordon Smith, the man who introduced Burley to us 22 months ago as the new Scotland manager, the man who managed to leave the Scottish Cup without a sponsor only to then create the worst named cup competition in the world in the Homecoming Scotland Scottish Cup, was also the man pictured pishing himself laughing down in Cardiff when we were 3-0 down.

Get him to fuck, another penny pinching appointment by the disgrace that is the SFA, Smith is a bawbag, who’s contribution is only made to look good by Burleys, his tea is oot – P45 time for Gordon.

What a guy. All the best big man.

There are 3 English teams out of 4 in the semi finals. This isn’t a simple Scottish minded ‘Ah pure hate the English’ point of view, its simply an opinion on the way that UEFA runs the competition. The clubs that are in the semi-finals all deserve to be there, they’ve worked their way through the group stages and the previous knock out rounds to get to where they are, so there is no argument there, but I feel the way that UEFA keeps teams from a similar country separated until the knock out stages has to change.

With only 8 groups in the Champions League, there are countries that have up to 4 teams included in the competition, England included, so if you happen to be a club from another country you have a 50% chance of landing in a group with an English club because none of the English clubs can be drawn against each other at this stage – but why?! What difference does it really make if a Pot 1 English club is drawn in the same group as a Pot 2 English club? The answer is, probably none, both the English clubs will still probably get to the knock out stages unless they happen to have a strong Pot 3 or 4 team in their group.

This season there is a strong possibility of last season’s all English final repeated *yawn* and we’ve already had Liverpool vs Chelsea in the knock out stages for the umpteenth time in so many years *yawn* (although this season’s tie was a damn sight better than the previous meetings) and we’ve also obviously got Arsenal vs Man Utd too. I don’t want to tune in and watch ‘European’ football when its just like watching Sky Sports any other given weekend, I already hate the way that UEFA deliberately keep the ‘big’ teams from playing each other in the group stages via the ‘Pot’ system and now on top of that they exclude teams from the same country playing each other.

Someone at UEFA has to say fuck it, lets take all 32 teams taking part, throw them all into the same Pot, pull 4 out at a time and make a proper competition of it all, put a bit of romance back into the Champions League. It has become all too predictable in the past few years with who is going to get to the knock out phases and further. Imagine a year where 4 ‘Pot 1′ teams are drawn in the knock out stages, that’d throw up for some tremendous games of football, or even a year when 4 ‘Pot 4′ teams are drawn together, you would have 2 less fancied teams getting to progress in a way they would not have thought possible under current rules.

Get the seeding systems to fuck. Get the country exclusions to fuck. 32 teams, all in. Winner takes all. Thats how it should be, UEFA should stop protecting the bigger clubs and more to the point, their bank balance.

The banter and one liners are serious laugh out loud moments, a right good British comedy. Be sure that if you haven’t seen it you do so, can’t recommend it highly enough!

What. A. Game.

I honestly thought that Liverpool were going to go on and win that after the first half that they had and see when it went 4-3 Liverpool, the momentum was in their favour and I could have seen them going on to win 5-3 and go into the semi finals on away goals. All credit to Chelsea though, they made it hard work for themselves but if they defend the way they did that night against Barcelona they will get torn a new arsehole.

Man Utd made history, again, the bastards, by becoming the first ever English team to beat Porto in Portugal; some goal from Ronaldo to win the game and the tie, I suppose he did owe that to his team mates the way he chucked it in the first leg on the build up to Porto’s first goal. Arsenal will prove a greater test, it really is two great semi finals to look forward to, but what are we going to have? A repeat of last season’s final or a repeat of the Arsenal Barcelona final from a few years ago… or something completely different?

Either way, it’ll be an even to look forward to.

I think its safe to say the only team who have absolutely no chance of getting through to the semi finals are Bayern Munich who were completely wiped off the face of the planet by Barcelona last night, 4-0 going on 40-0. Messi ran riot, as usual, scoring what I believe was his 32nd goal of the season, see anyone who is reading this and thinks Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world – YOU ARE AN IDIOT. While Ronaldo had his one off never to be repeated again season of scoring 40+ goals last year, Messi has consistently delivered the goods, on all levels, Ronaldo will never do that.

It was ‘the greatest player in the world’ attempting to dribble away with the ball 30 yards from his own goal that lead to Porto’s opener at Old Trafford, what was even more sickening was that Ronaldo jogged off and left it to everyone behind him to make up for his mistake. Fanny. He did the exact same thing against Villa at the weekend. Fanny. Anyway, Porto were sensational, the English media had completely written off any chance of them creating an upset and I am so happy that they did, they did it with fast paced skillful football and was a joy to watch. 2 away goals and an unbeaten home record against English clubs would make you think Porto are going through but never write off Man Utd; if you only get the chance to watch one second leg game this is it.

Arsenal should get through against Villareal after picking up a very sought after away goal from a quality Adebayor strike, he’s hitting a bit of form at the right time for Arsenal. Senna, a player I have rated since seeing him run the show against Celtic in the UEFA Cup in 2004/5 season, scored a tremendous goal too, I’m shocked and surprised a bigger team hasn’t snapped him up.

The Liverpool v Chelsea game was a shocker, I was expecting at best a 1-1 affair but Chelsea really do have the upper hand going into the second leg with a 3-1 and more importantly 3 away goals, Liverpool will have to play the way they did against Man Utd at Old Trafford a few weeks ago if they want to have ANY chance of going through.

So to round up, Barcelona are through, I hope they won’t burn out too early in the competition but I really fancy them to go all the way to the final and win it, Chelsea are through, Arsenal should be through if they can keep players fit and I am going to stick my neck out here and predict the upset of the round being Porto sticking Man Utd out.

Based on the football I’ve seen this week how good would a Barcelona v Porto final be? I’ll tell you.

Tremendous.