This feels like the end.

The end of Manchester United's mastery of English football. Wayne Rooney is only one player, but his desire to leave the club is laden with far greater significance.

These things creep up on you. There was no precise moment at which Liverpool's era of dominance was declared over.

But one morning they woke up and it was five years since they had won the league. Then 10. Soon it will be 20.

Arsenal's Invincibles did not stage a farewell gig, but slowly drifted away. Suddenly you looked at the team sheet and there was no Henry, no Pires, no Vieira. In fact, none of the

After a two-day hiatus that felt not so much like World Cup withdrawal as full-on cold turkey, we are finally ready to commence the business end of this jamboree with some Proper Matches.

Of course, with England not invited to the last-eight party, a new route in via the back door is required. Germany v Argentina certainly fits the bill, allowing us to look on enviously at two of our supposed bitter rivals for the price of one on Saturday.

So, off to Pretoria to see Argentina then, arriving ridiculously early for what turned out to be an evening training session. Honestly, these latin types.

Before the quarter-final between Argentina and Germany, it was all about Diego Maradona. After the Albiceleste were drubbed 4-0 in Cape Town, it's all about the Mannschaft.

Joachim Loew's young and exuberant team were even more devastating at the Green Point Stadium than they were against England in the last round, and with Brazil also out and Spain still far from convincing, the World Cup is suddenly their oyster.

Even the normally reserved German chancellor Angela Merkel was up and down in her seat as though she had a particularly amorous Silvio Berlusconi behind her. When she went to

At the third time of asking, the host nation has got a team to cheer on in the World Cup final.

After South Africa crashed out in the group stage and Ghana so dramatically failed to reach the last four, parts of the host country have grabbed their reason to support the Dutch with both hands after Netherlands beat Uruguay 3-2 in their semi-final.

Forget Bafana Bafana and the somewhat clunkily dubbed BaGhana BaGhana, now some South Africans are getting fully behind the Oranje Oranje.

They may have joined in with the African unity vibe when the Black Stars were the last team from the continent

It's not too often that you get an e-mail that reads: "Octopus Paul will predict both World Cup final matches. We expect his decision tomorrow about noon. We'll let you know asap."

But this was what dropped into Early Boers's inbox from Eurosport's German office yesterday. Such is the power that said cephalopod - or 'Pulpo Paul' as he has been dubbed by the Spanish speaking world - now wields during this World Cup.

It's the sort of thing you'd expect to be taken from the tales of Billy the Fish, but this is really happening. Who would have thought this would be how the intrigue surrounding

It's typical of Emile Heskey's England career that he would be the first of the shamed class of 2010 to announce his retirement from international football.

Just as he did throughout his 11 years of service for his country, he has taken one for the team by putting himself in the firing line so that, should any of his erstwhile colleagues follow suit, it will be easier for them.

Mind you, he was the only one of the 23 who went to South Africa who could also have quit club football in order to prolong his England career.

Still, six different England managers picked him, and they can't all have

Is there any business other than football in which no news is news?

A quick glance at a couple of yesterday's biggest Premier League stories doesn't reveal anything earth-shattering. Or anything at all for that matter.

'United not buying anyone' was one. 'Agent: City want Drogba' - 'City: No we don't' was another. Please, Arsenal, listen to Xavi and just get on with selling Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona so something actually happens.

So when Steven Gerrard commits his future to Liverpool, you take what you can get. Gerrard's announcement may have been through stating he was looking forward to

Liverpool brought in Roy Hodgson in order to take them up a level. Just as Chelsea hired Jose Mourinho to bring his European Cup expertise to Stamford Bridge, Liverpool hope Hodgson is the man to spearhead their Europa League campaign for the coming season.

He took a big step towards that yesterday by signing Joe Cole, an injury-plagued free agent with a big point to prove. So gleefully was the announcement made by the club that the official website couldn't help but label the news an 'EXCLUSIVE!'. Well, you'd hope that they were the first to know, otherwise things are worse at Anfield than we