Where's Wally? Not at the World Cup, that's for sure.

Hello reader(s?),

my name is Alan and I will be documenting my thoughts on anyting and everything related to the world cup over the coming month or so. It's the first time I've ever written an online blog so it's probably best I tell you a little about myself. I'm 24, and live in London, where aside from a short uni excursion up t't north, I have spent all of my life. I am a keen sportsman both playing and watching, with a particular obsession for football. Of course, barring my desperate injury record I'd probably be on the plane to Cape Town this summer... Rather sadly and rather obviously, that's simply not true but it's what I like to tell myself. Seriously, there's few things better than a bit of hypothetical self-flattery. In reality, my closest footballing comparison is probably Phil Neville, which, depressingly, says it all.

I am a lifelong Arsenal fan, which might turn a few of you off or raise a few 'hilarious' comments about lack of silverware or Wenger being a paedophile, but 'Not up in here, man, Not up in here!" To me, the whole point of the world cup is that for one month we all put aside our club's petty differences and unite behind the futile cause that is England. To summise: Southgate, 96, age 10, I cried, tore poster off wall; Batty 98, age 12, I cried, tore poster off wall; Ronaldinho, 2002, age 16 and old enough not to have done, I cried, at least I didn't tear down a poster; Rooney off, Ronaldo tw*t, 2006, age 20, tore down a poster. Why do we do it? Because we love it, that's why. Because there's always a chance, however slim, that this embarassing love affair I seem to have with England and crying could in fact be tears of joy rather than tears of apocalyptic despair. Here's hoping.

Despite my undying love for the world cup, and my wish that it could take place every year, I have never actually been to a world cup game. I have been fortunate to have had tickets at Arsenal since the age of 7 and been able to see the likes of Wright, Bergkamp, Vieira Pires, Henry, Fabregas, et al as well as distinguished opponents such as Cantona, Rivaldo, C. Ronaldo, and Messi, so it's not as if I'm lacking experience but once again I will be viewing from home. Obviously, I would love to go. A friend of a friend of mine has managed to wrangle some sort of dissertation research in South Africa over the world cup. I don't think I've ever been so jealous in my life. I think they've even got funding for it. My only reposte is to try and watch every single match. I'm not sure it's possible, but I'm working on a day-by-day basis at the moment - and no, I'm not a bum, not quite - so I'm gonna give it a shot.

I'm going to be watching the first game on my girlfriend's rooftop terrace with some mates, weather permitting. I've been looking into setting up a projector screen, which would be awesome, though potentially a little risky what with the gallons of beer sloshing around. Otherwise, I can see myself creating a fairly permanent groove in my sofa. (Note to self, move fridge upstairs within metre radius for ease of access to beer supply).

As for keeping up to date with World Cup news I will be frequently pressing refresh on the bbc sport page, as well as listening to the guardian podcast. I will be trying my best to avoid most other sites, but occasionally I'm sure will fall foul to tempatation. 'Beckham to transplant new achilles', 'Maradona spikes Brazilian water bottles', 'Berlusconi overrules Lippi with saucy Italian win bonus'; I'm almost tempted to write them myself.

Of course, the main news about the world cup from an England perspective is the recently announced squad. I shan't go into great detail, but just a few words on some that were a little unlucky. The biggest surprise was probably the absence of Theo Walcott. As an Arsenal fan, perhaps, I should be more outraged but in truth, I'm not. Theo's had a tough season with recurrent injuries, and has never really found his top form consistently. I'm sure he'll be devastated, who wouldn't, but hopefully this will give him the determination to work even harder on his game. I was just a little surpriesed that it was Wright-Phillips who took his place. SWP hasn't played much at all this season, and it would surprise me that one alright performance against Japan would be enough to swing it so late in the day. Personally, I'd have liked to see Johnson, he's looked like a really good prospect for City, who offers something different. Maybe that's just me. You've also got feel a little sorry for Darren Bent. He's scored 25 goals this season, while Heskey has had 8 shots on target. That's all I have to say on that one. The only other unlucky candidate was Scott Parker, who I think had a great shout of being in given his impressive performances for West Ham against Michael Carrick's fairly abject performances for Utd. All that aside, I'd rather have Capello at the helm than most others, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Until next time, I'll leave you with a link to the best the media has to offer for the build up to the world cup. I'm sure you've all already seen it at least in part but if not enjoy.

Over and out.