The World Cup might only just have started, but it's been kicking off here on the World Cup blog all week.
We've been slightly taken aback at the huge scale of readers' responses to some of the posts here - perhaps we underestimated the scale of enthusiasm around the world for the tournament.
Or perhaps we just underestimated the depth of division over the merits of Owen Hargreaves, whose inexplicable inclusion in the England squad, having only managed to win the double twice in the last two years with Bayern Munich, provided one of the liveliest talking points of the week.
Starting off the flood, our own Rob Smyth wrote: "Hargreaves is quite simply England's best defensive midfielder, not exactly an unimportant position in modern football, and the only man in the squad capable of playing the role in its broadest sense. Of course he has limits, but so did Gilberto Silva in 2002, Didier Deschamps in 1998, Carlos Dunga in 1994, and so on."
Plenty of you agreed - crouchinho said it was "spot on" while guyb9 raised the ugly spectre of Phil Neville being drafted in to do the job. But tonytunes said it was "fact" that there were "at least three or four" England players who could do the job "far better", although he didn't name any...
It looks as if the pro-Hargreaves crowd - under-represented in Fleet Street - had the edge on our thread. But Glasshalffull, moved to register with us "purely to reply to this drivel", summed up much of the dissent when he said: "The only conclusion that you can draw, is that week in week out, when he does genuinely seem to play well for Bayern, he is either playing in a slightly different role, or he's playing in a totally differently paced match, against inferior opponents. Put that England shirt on his back, and you have to conclude that he is simply not up to the task."
Away from England - but not that far - we got some very interesting contributions to a discussion on France's chances this time around. GU's Paul Doyle got things started with a post that warned France "will remain on course for another World Cup flop". He offered five tips for a French turnaround - starting with: "1. Buy a bumper-pack of souvenir World Cup cushions, spread them carefully along the bench and order Patrick Vieira, Lilian Thuram, Zinedine Zidane and David Trezeguet to park their jaded hides on them for the next 30 days or so."
You all piled in, suggesting Henry might want to finally prove he's a big game player, expressing bafflement at the inclusion in the French squad of blundering Jean-Alain Boumsong ahead of Phillipe Mexes (and this week's late call-up of Sidney Govou to replace Djibril Cisse), and general disdain for the tactics of French manager Raymond Domenech.
But there were a few (French, perhaps?) voices of defence. Maroule wrote: "Entertaining comment, and nice to read about 'les Bleus', but totally off the mark [...]Mark my words, it could still come around nicely for les Bleus, while the overhyping of the Brits is a recipe for bitter disappointments."
But, given the tales coming out the French camp over the last few weeks, perhaps paulinhungary had a point when he wrote: "When so many have-beens have played in the same team for close to 8 years, how do you expect them to just accept being placed on the bench? That would result in some serious temper tantrums." There have been a few already, it's been said.
Elsewhere, do read the Guardian's Andrew Culf on Ray Winstone's great work as England's traveling ambassador for good behaviour, and see an excellent bit of live pictureblogging from the Observer's Anna Kessell, explaining why a part of Cologne's main train station was closed early on Friday.
A few other posts worth a look while you nervously await the next game: Marina Hyde reflects on the news that former Spin Doctor Alastair Campbell has started working on a World Cup blog for the Labour Party (with a little bit of politics chucked in for extra tedium).
And make time to meet Der Kaiser, our betting fish now living next to me at the end of the GU sports desk. He got off to a a great start, predicting that Germany would win against Costa Rica by more than two goals (although you should have seen him celebrate that Torsten Frings goal). He's got my money.
Finally, don't forget to share your World Cup predictions with Sean Ingle and thousands of readers - just be ready to defend them in the fevered debate that continues as I type.
