In its simplest form football is a game of blinding simplicity. The team that kicks the ball into the opponents net the most wins.

Despite the lack of sophistication when it comes to the scoring system, it seems that not every facet of the world’s media has been able to grasp the delicacy of the outcome of a game and once again during this World Cup, USA has emphasised its fleeting relationship with the game.

Not wishing to bash a country merely for their comparatively tame interest in football when compared to the majority of the rest of the world, but the reaction of their media and its seeming lack of understanding of the game is astonishing.

Bored with the reality of everyday life, FIFA have seemingly shrunk into the warm and cosy bosom of a dream like world where England are the considered to be the seventh best team in the land, according to their latest edition of the world rankings.

Not content with merely securing England’s undeserved position inside the top 10 of the world’s best teams, FIFA have felt it necessary to elevate Mr Capello and his golden generation up one place from eighth to seventh.

This decision is all the more confusing considering that just days earlier the same governing body placed England as the 13th best team at the World Cup.

The 1994 World Cup in America had Diana Ross busting the net in half despite her penalty trickling wide, France ’98 had the mysterious fit of Ronaldo before the final and 2006 saw Zinedine Zidane head-butt Marco Materazzi after the Italian offered him a few choice words.

When it comes to the World Cup, memories rarely gobble up all the facts and over time specific details relating to players, teams and fixtures become cloudy, but for whatever reason, some remain with you in full Technicolor.

They don’t necessarily relate to the final or even the semi-finals, as memories have no time for the importance of a match, but often do for a charm that helps build a picture of World Cup personal to you.

Spain were crowned World Cup winners on Sunday night and deservedly so, as their squad of newly found heroes performed in a manner that was a credit to their country.

They approached the game in a positive way that would have made the creators of the beautiful game proud and their legacy of attractive and stylish football will live long in the memory of fans all over the world.

Every hero needs a villain though and Netherlands competently filled the role of the baddie and in doing so cast aside their reputation as exponents of total football.

All that is pretty is not necessarily entertaining.

A delicate flower, an elegant and graceful butterfly and Kate Moss are a treat for the eyes, but none of them have the power to enthral.

Spain are also a delicate flower.

Who needs Parliament? Who needs the White House?

All any progressive and thoughtful leader needs these days is Facebook, as exemplified by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who decided to reverse his suspension of the national football team from international competition after seeing hundred of posts persuading him to do just that on his profile page.

Seemingly madder than a March hare during a particularly special moment of madness, Jonathan couldn’t be persuaded to overturn his decision by any of his back-bench, who are employed to make such important decisions and offer guidance, but a few hundred people on his favourite social networking site grumble and he springs into action.

The second quarter-final between Ghana and Uruguay promised little in the way of excitement, as the two teams nervously attempted to go beyond the expectations of many and reach the last four of the competition, however what was delivered instead was a game of such monumental excitement that is unparalleled in my memory of World Cup football.

The match had more twists and turns than a complicated Hitchcock thriller when he was in his double crossing pomp.

Just when it appeared to be obvious who was going to win, the rug was pulled out from underneath the potential winners and the audience was no closer to having a sense who would be the victor.

Football is no longer a sport held dear by a minority of hardened fans who travel the length of the country, or even around the world to follow their club or national team, as it is now a part of mainstream culture.

This is by no means a bad thing, as it has helped propel the sport away from being just the reserve of the loutish few, into a sport that can be enjoyed in comfort by people of all ages, but this does have its down side.

Even though conditions inside football stadia and local boozers were not as welcoming as little as 20 years ago as they are today, you could be in no doubt that all the inhabitants inside were there to watch the football.

England’s adventures at recent World Cup’s have held a familiar and frustrating repetition.

If the Three Lions story was shown at your local multiplex, the trailer would be read by the American voice-over artist with the gruff voice – who insists on replacing autumn with fall – and the film would carry the tag line “the biggest hard luck story of the summer”.

This much repeated tale though has clearly become tiresome to the squad of 2010, as apart from one Frank Lampard effort that was missed by the partially sighted linesman, England have little reason to feel hard done by this time around.

The World Cup brings many joys, but one is that of familiarity.

Knowing that the delights of the world’s elite will be on show is an exciting prospect that is limited in its appearance to once every four years.

This time around though, it hasn’t been the attacking rhythms of Brazil or Argentina that have excited my appetite, or the shexy football of the Dutch, or even the prospect of England winning the whole thing, it has been the idea of seeing North Korea that has excited.

For the past few days I have begrudgingly sat and watched ITV’s coverage of the World Cup.

Every time I discover my evenings viewing will be tainted by ITV, my heart sinks a little knowing that I’ll have to watch Adrian Chiles try and bleed cliché ridden blood out of the collective stones of Robbie Earle, Andy Townsend and Mr Charisma – Edgar Davids.

Thankfully though the gods of decent football punditry have smiled on World Cup fans and decided that Earle should be sacked, after allowing ITV allocated match tickets intended for his friends and family into the hands of a third party.

There are two things that the English press love and that’s scandal and failure and unfortunately for the England team and in particular Robert Green, they handed the media an easy nights work on Saturday.

Images of Robert Green scrambling desperately to reach the ball that had eluded his grip moments earlier were splashed across the front and back pages of most newspapers on Sunday morning, as he became easy fodder for the red tops.

Usually in this situation the press is clear who’s to blame as they seemingly collectively agree on a fall guy for the nation to vent their anger towards, but this was not the case on Sunday.