Karl-Heinz Rummenigge provides a refuge for football's disillusioned | Lawrence Donegan

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge's ECA may be the lesser of two bad choices when it comes to football's future. Photograph: Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images

What is it to be, a punch in the face or a knee in the groin? The politicking, money?grubbing opportunists who run Fifa, or the politicking, money?grubbing opportunists who run the richest clubs in Europe? Sepp Blatter or Karl-Heinz Rummenigge?

The most obvious answer is C (none of the above), but after a footballing week that has seen more sabre rattling than the director's cut of Braveheart, it appears we have to choose sides. There will be no Switzerland, alas, in the coming battle over who controls football, only more of the same from Blatter, Switzerland's very own Mr Magoo.

Fifa's president was at his myopic worst on the eve of the 2014 World Cup preliminary draw in Rio de Janeiro as he laid out a timetable for "reforming" football's world governing body. "We are going step by step ... We are not going to make decisions without contacting the different parts we need to," he said. "There is a lot of work that is already on the table, we have had contact with organisations working in transparency, personalities who work on anti?corruption systems, we are talking to the United Nations, who have this sort of committee."

Thank heavens Fifa have not spent the past year mired in corruption scandals so pervasive that this weekend's festivities were reduced to the status of "welcome diversion", otherwise Blatter might be accused of buying time in the hope people forget the scandals and move on.

Fat chance. Which brings us back to Rummenigge, who in his role as the chairman of the European Club Association has been cast as the lead pallbearer for football's old order. Revolution is afoot, according to comrade Karl-Heinz.

"Sepp Blatter is saying [that he's cleaning up the shop], but the fact no one believes him tells you everything you need to know," he said. "They believe the system is working perfectly as it is. It's a money machine, World Cup after World Cup. And for them, that's more important than serious and clean governance. I don't accept any longer that we [should be] guided by people who are not serious and clean."

Rummenigge has found the ideal candidates to replace Blatter and his allies as rulers of the football world: himself and his friends at the ECA. "I'm ready for a revolution if that's the only way to come to a solution," he said.

The solution is for the ECA – or at least their richest and most powerful clubs – to break away from football's established structures, free themselves and their players from the obligations of international competition and set up what has come to be known through the years as a European Super League.

We have been here many times before, only for the clubs and governing bodies to reach an agreement to maintain the status quo, albeit with a few minor adjustments around the periphery. The most recent entente cordiale was signed in 2008 and will run out in 2014, when there is every reason to believe the urge to break away will be even stronger.

For one thing, Blatter will still be in charge, with all that implies for the prospects of real reform at Fifa. More pertinently, the financial attractions of a ECA-run super league will be even more apparent by then. A few days ago in the United States the five?month dispute between NFL owners and players over money was resolved. The stand-off had been expected to last a year, but that was before the realisation dawned that life in the NFL was simply too lucrative for all involved.

The coming season's revenues are expected to exceed $9bn (?5.5bn) – most of which will come from television. That figure will increase dramatically over the next few years as the TV deals (worth a combined $20bn) run out and are renegotiated. Upwards.

Don't think these negotiations will go unnoticed by Rummenigge and don't think his ECA friends will fail to understand that while the NFL's appeal is vast, it is geographically limited to the US. Football knows no boundaries and nor, one suspects, will the financial expectations of ECA negotiators should they ever find themselves selling the rights to a European super league. Twenty billion dollars may be just about right – as a starting point.

These are obscene amounts of money and it would require an unimaginable degree of selfishness for Europe's leading clubs to pursue their own interests at such cost to their national associations. What would English football be without Manchester United and Chelsea? And Spanish football without Barcelona and Real Madrid?

"It is just going to be a closed [competition] that stays closed forever. How boring is that?," said Malcolm Clarke of the Football Supporters' Federation, dismissing the notion of a breakaway.

Boring? Try telling that to the millions of Americans who cannot live without their weekly dose of the closed league that is the NFL. And try telling that to those who have become thoroughly disillusioned with Fifa and the damage caused by their disreputable antics. Ask these people to take sides and they will go with Rummenigge. He is far from perfect. But he is not Blatter.

The temptation to feel sympathy for a professional athlete is never stronger than when he or she lands in trouble for saying exactly what is on their mind.

Don't we want honesty in our sporting world? Of course we do. It is just that we have a strange way of showing our appreciation on those rare occasions when the unvarnished truth will out, as Rory McIlroy found out when he responded to criticism of his caddie, JP Fitzgerald, from the American commentator Jay Townsend with the tweet heard round the world: "Shut up. You're a commentator and a failed golfer, your opinion means nothing."

For what its worth, Townsend may have had a point about Fitzgerald, and he and McIlroy may have exceeded the speed limit on racy personal insults. But so what? All involved had their say, no one got injured, and the rest of us were made aware that golf isn't quite the cosy little world it sometimes appears to be. I'd call that a good day for the sport.

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If we can organise the Olympics, why can't we get the basics right? | Matthew Taylor

When David Cameron and Boris Johnson boasted that the Olympic venues had been delivered on time and "on budget", international observers may have seen it as confirmation that the UK is good at big projects. As well as the successful Olympic preparation, this year has seen a hitch-free royal wedding and major global sporting competitions at Wimbledon, Silverstone and Royal St George's running as smoothly and profitably as usual.

It's not just events (which by their nature have to be delivered on time). The Channel Tunnel rail link, the renovation of St Pancras and the Jubilee Line extension show how we can get big projects right . Why then can't we summon up the mixture of political leadership and public support needed to modernise and maintain our basic infrastructure? We are building houses at about a third of the rate needed, our transport system is outdated, our sewers are crumbling, our waste management is poor and question marks hang over our ability to develop an energy infrastructure which can deliver both sustainability and security of supply.

What can explain this contrast and can anything be done about it? In the face of the intractability of infrastructure development, some use the excuse of national geography. But while being a small, crowded country makes some things more difficult (finding space for houses and train lines), it should make others (creating economies of scale) easier.

Of more relevance may be aspects of our national character. Whatever the human cost of violent revolution or a defeat in war, such events can help associate the central state with the idea of national mission and renewal. The evolutionary compromises of the British constitution bequeath our national leaders few such pretensions. On the upside, our system of government is among the most open and accountable in the world. On the downside, it leaves government and their civil service advisers lacking the legitimacy to forge ahead with projects which rely on a faith in the long term to offset short-term disruption and costs.

The consequences of our historical predisposition only to trust the state at times of national emergency (even then grudgingly) are reinforced by the adversarial winner-takes-all electoral system which we have recently voted to keep. The length of time in infrastructure projects between the pain of writing cheques and the pleasure of cutting ribbons means ministers have little incentive to make sacrifices today, the benefits of which will be enjoyed by a different government of the future.

But there is a deeper problem still with our democratic culture, one that affects our ability to update our creaking infrastructure but also many other policy areas, from the funding of social care to the allocation of school places. As the old, class-based political order declined from the 1960s on, it was replaced by the myth of democracy as consumerism. In line with a neo-liberal ideology which equated the private sector and markets with efficiency and virtue and the state and politicians with ineptitude, the notion that "the customer is always right" was translated into the focus group techniques of market research.

But the voter isn't always right. The opinions people express when first asked a question can change dramatically when they are furnished with a few basic facts. And most of us hold apparently contradictory positions. As Ben Page from Ipsos MORI says, the British people have a simple desire: "A Scandinavian welfare state on American taxes." There's nothing wrong with public debt if it is incurred by investing in the future. But the debt mountain threatening to engulf Europe and the USA is different. It is in large part the manifestation of the politicians being afraid to tell the more privileged that there is a limit to the number of times they can have their cake and eat it.

Going back to infrastructure, confused public opinion extends to localism where we simultaneously demand more affordable housing for our children while rejecting any being built where we live. The National Housing Federation reports that more than 200,000 houses have been removed from the planning system since the coalition's populist decision to scrap regional strategies. Without accepting, let alone addressing, the inherent tensions, ministers blithely promise to create a system which delivers on the commendable goals of accelerating growth within the current economy, laying the foundations for a radically different green economy of the future and handing power to neighbourhoods.

So what needs to change? In the face of poor policy-making and public cynicism, the debate about democratic reform tends to focus on institutions and processes but more important are the terms of public discourse. Genuinely good governance moves us beyond our innate human tendencies to self-interest and short-termism to identify a coherent idea of enlightened public interest.

History tells us democracies are better stewards of the environment and that the flipside of the grand plans of dictators are the destruction of communities, and disastrous follies which are only revealed years later. But as America divides over a budget deficit built up despite a failure to invest in infrastructure, it is far from clear that a gridlocked democracy is better suited to tomorrow's challenges than a technocratic autocracy.

In an open, querulous democracy such as ours, neither authoritarianism nor a return to deference is an option. Instead, we need a combination of new forms of public engagement and innovative policy-making. Citizens' juries may not be the best way to make detailed policy, but they can help build a consensus that action is necessary and that there are no pain- or controversy-free options. New forms of hypothecated and local taxation, charging and community investment can help to create incentives to act more in the long-term interest.

Ideas like these have been around for ages but our risk-averse, policy-making establishment still clings to the old ways. The citizens' juries Gordon Brown announced soon turned out to be a toothless listening exercise. The big society debate has seen lots of talk of new vehicles to encourage community investment in local infrastructure, but cash-strapped councils are sceptical and there is a chronic shortage of starter capital.

The Olympics show the public can get behind a major national project and that we have the management, engineering and construction skills we need. But from sewers to power stations, the infrastructure deficit continues to grow and today's problems pale by comparison to the challenges which could be posed by 21st-century resource shortages and climate change. There are no immovable deadlines or international competitions to force the state or private sector to invest for the future. The impetus will have to come from within our political system and at the moment that is severely in doubt. We may be good at organising sports events but we are still not winning the game of long-term leadership. Maybe it's time to consider new ways of playing.

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Manchester United 2-1 Barcelona

Nani celebrates giving Manchester United the lead against Barcelona. Photograph: Rob Carr/Getty Images

Manchester United have demonstrated that Barcelona are not invincible, after all. Okay, this was only a pre-season friendly, a time for experimentation and Sir Alex Ferguson's team were spared the brilliance of Lionel Messi, but this was still an encouraging way for the Premier League champions to end their three-week tour of the United States.

The decisive moment was provided 14 minutes from the end by Michael Owen, who has now scored in three out of United's five tour matches. Nani, for long spells the outstanding player, had opened the scoring in the 20th minute before a brilliant strike from Thiago Alcantara levelled the match during Barcelona's one period of concerted pressure. Owen's goal came six minutes later on a night when the Champions League finalists attracted a crowd of 81,807 to the home of the Washington Redskins.

The downside for United was that Rafael da Silva was injured in a 17th-minute collision with Seydou Keita and must undergo tests on his right knee to ascertain whether he will be fit for the start of the season. There were also some anxious moments for David de Gea, particularly in the second half.

De Gea looked hesitant at times and Anders Lindegaard's impressive form on this tour leaves Ferguson with a dilemma about who should start the season in goal.

That apart, however, Ferguson can reflect on another satisfying performance from a side that have scored 20 times in their five successive wins on this tour and coped ably with the difficult conditions presented by a day when the temperatures had gone beyond 38C (100F).

Barcelona, to give them their due, were not just missing Messi, recuperating from the Copa America, but this was also their fourth game in a week and they were operating with two midfielders, Jonathan dos Santos and Sergio Busquets, playing in defence. Xavi Hernandez and Gerard Pique were among those given the night off and their approach to the evening could probably be summed up by the attire of Pep Guardiola on the touchline, wearing bleached jeans and white trainers rather than the customary tailored suit.

Yet Ferguson, too, was not fielding his full-strength side, with Daniel Welbeck partnering Wayne Rooney for the opening half and Tom Cleverley operating in central midfield. Rio Ferdinand was given the night off, with Jonny Evans coming into defence, while Rooney, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra were all withdrawn at half time. By the end, Ferguson had made seven substitutions, with only De Gea, Evans, Cleverley and Nani lasting the full match.

Cleverley can reflect on a decent evening, particularly in the build-up to Owen's goal when he anticipated a sloppy pass from Busquets, intercepted the ball and then released Owen to scamper away and dink his shot over the oncoming Victor Valdes. Nani, however, was United's best player by some distance, especially in the first half when his eagerness to impress on the right made him a constant menace for the Barcelona left-back, Eric Abidal.

Nani's goal stemmed from a nicely weighted through ball from Welbeck on a typical United counterattack, timing his run to stay onside before slipping his shot past Valdes.

Barcelona scarcely emerged as an attacking force in that period, barely recognisable from the team that had outclassed United at Wembley in May. In fact, it was possibly too quiet for De Gea. The Spaniard was a virtual spectator throughout the first half and looked anything but commanding after the restart. One miscued kick went straight to Isaac Cuenca 30 yards from goal and could conceivably have been punished more heavily. A few minutes later, De Gea was hesitant in the extreme when Andres Iniesta dinked a little up-and-under into Thiago's path. These moments were probably inevitable for a 20-year-old at a new club but Ferguson must hope they do not linger.

De Gea was also rooted to the spot as Thiago's shot went in for the equaliser although in this instance the credit should go to the Barcelona player. Thiago struck his effort superbly with the outside of his right boot from 25 yards, the ball twisting away from De Gea and spearing into the top right-hand corner of his net.

Owen then raced away to restore United's lead and on the balance of play it was probably deserved. The striker tarnished the moment with a horrible miss in the final few minutes, blazing over an open goal, but it mattered little.

Manchester United (4-4-2): De Gea; Rafael (Fabio, 17), Vidic, (Jones, 76) Evans, Evra (Smalling, ht); Nani, Cleverley, Anderson (Giggs, ht), Young (Obertan, 62); Rooney (Owen, ht), Welbeck (Diouf, 77). Subs not used: Lindegaard, Amos, Jones, Ferdinand, Carrick, Park, Berbatov, Macheda.

Barcelona (4-1-4-1): Valdes; Dos Santos (Muniesa, 62), Busquets, Fontas (Lozano, 73), Abidal (Balliu, 73); Keita; Afellay (Cuenca, 42), Thiago, Iniesta, Pedro (Espinosa, 86); Villa (Carmona, 62). Subs not used: Pique, Puyol, Xavi, Jeffren, Pinto, Riverola, Maxwell, Masip.

Yellow card: Dos Santos

Attendance: 81,807

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At least Lord Coe is up to speed | Victoria Coren

Sebastian Coe does not like the idea of gymnasts going to raves. He doesn't want them getting E'd off their faces in fields. He doesn't want synchronised swimmers slipping off their nose clips to wang a line of charlie. He doesn't want to see archers on speed.

With all this concern, it sounds like the London Olympics are going to be quite the party.

Michael Stow, head of science and medicine at UK Anti-Doping (the agency responsible for drug testing in British sport) has suggested relaxing the rules on recreational drugs in time for 2012. Good news for the nightclubs of Hackney, if not the street cleaners.

Athletes currently receive an automatic two-year ban if they are found using prohibited stimulants. Mr Stow thinks this penalty is a little draconian when the stimulants are not always intended for cheating.

"More often," he says, "it's a case of them being used in a social setting." That's a charming use of language. A "social setting"? One pictures an array of athletes taking tea on the lawns of a stately home, their muscles rippling under lace gowns and boaters.

"May I offer you a cucumber sandwich?"

"Very kind. Might I pass you the crack pipe?"

"Thank you, I won't. But I wouldn't say no to a spot of LSD and perhaps another slice of that wonderful Dundee cake."

Michael Stow argues that "social" drugs should not necessarily result in the same ban as the cheating type. Retired Olympian Steve Cram says he might be right.

Enter Lord Coe.

"There is no ambiguity," he roared. "You want to be part of this project then don't take drugs. Full stop. There is no place for drugs. You can't mix the message up. It is the morality of the knacker's yard."

Thrilling! I love his certainty, I love his rhetoric; I love his strong, clear, emphatic statement of principle. There is something incredibly seductive, in these nervous, non-committal and focus-groupy times, about a person who knows his own mind and is not afraid to say so.

Most of us feel confused, indecisive and slightly fraudulent as we scurry around pretending to be grown-ups. Lost, flawed and desperate for guidance (or is that just me?), we're suckers for someone who appears to know what's what.

We love the crisp, Tannoyed voice of an airline pilot, the busy sternness of a hospital doctor, the ethical clarity of a vicar or the technical know-how of a visiting builder – all of whom probably feel equally confused and fraudulent underneath, but God bless them for pretending otherwise. Someone in this mess has got to be mother. That's why, however strong the arguments for electoral reform, the British will never go for it because the one thing we don't want is an uncertain coalition. Lucky we haven't… oh.

Reading Michael Stow's arguments, I drifted in my usual fog of moral relativism (Sportsmen should be role models, shouldn't they? Or is that an unjust burden? Drugs ruin lives and bodies, don't they? Or is that hysterical? I'm allowed an opinion, aren't I? Or am I too drug-ignorant to be qualified? Should I wait until I stop waking up in the night in tears for everything I might be screwing up in my own life, holding on to heartfelt faith but doubting my own hopeful actions and inactions, staring my errors and fears and faults and massive life-gambles in the face, praying daily that this bumpy and winding path leads home, before I start judging other people?) until Seb Coe's fearless absolutism burned through like a shaft of sunlight.

For Lord Coe, it's simple. Bend the rules for Olympic athletes? That way, he knows, lies the coke-snorting, drunk-driving, tart-shagging, spit-roasting, injunction-shopping lifestyle of the footballer. No dice. That's one problem solved. Hurray!

Then I turned the page and read that activists are putting posters up all over east London which say "Shariah Controlled Zone: no alcohol, no gambling, no music or concerts, no form of prostitution, no drugs or smoking". I assume these are not intended solely for the incoming athletes.

And I thought: no drugs, I like that. No smoking: bit harsh, I wish they'd just kept it to restaurants. No alcohol: wouldn't be a big problem for me, might feel a bit sorry for those who love a pint, I'd be delighted to compromise on "No drunkenness". No prostitution: unrealistic, better to legalise and tax it for the workers' protection. No gambling: that would be bearable as long as people understood the moral and practical differences between poker, sports betting and casino gaming, which they don't. No music or concerts: don't be so bloody stupid.

And I realised: 1) politically, we all know exactly what we believe, even we limp-liberal relativists who like to see all sides; we cheer strong opining only when it's the expression of what we secretly or unconsciously think already, stated more bravely than we'd dare ourselves.

2) Governments operate exactly like we do, their certainties a boringly predictable product of their environment and experience. Being increasingly made up of career politicians straight out of university, they are rather particular: they do drink, they don't smoke, they fear drugs, they like music, they're deeply conflicted about prostitutes and they don't know the first thing about gambling.

So, I tell myself and anyone with a similar weakness: beware the yearning for clear leadership, for as long as Parliament is so stubbornly homogeneous. It's comforting at home. But until a wider range of social types is in that house, be grateful for every vagueness, every uncertainty and every law they don't make.

Having said that, Sebastian Coe is still right. Obviously the drug rules for athletes should not be softened up. I mean, like, duh.

www.victoriacoren.com

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Britain's Lawrence Okoye tipped for gold medal in London 2012 Olympics

Britain's Lawrence Okoye, winner of the under 23 men's discus at the Aviva U23/U20 Championships, has been tipped for gold at the London 2012 Olympics. Photograph: Mark Shearman

Among a swarm of holidaymakers at Gatwick airport Lawrence Okoye is initially difficult to spot – until he stands up, all 6ft 6in of him, and stretches out two enormous muscular arms. A wave of heads instantly turn to gawp.

What those holidaymakers will not have realised, however, is that they were looking at a potential Olympic gold medallist, a young discus thrower the likes of which Britain has never before produced, so prodigiously talented that his coach, John Hillier, has earmarked him to win gold in 2012 and one day break the world record.

Those are huge statements for a 19-year-old who began training full-time last September. But his achievements in that short period are so staggering as to merit such predictions having already broken a senior British record, a world-age record, won an Under-23 European gold medal and with a throw of 67.63m earned himself a fourth-place ranking amid the world's best discus throwers this season.

On Sunday afternoon in Birmingham he will compete for his place on the British team that travels to the world championships in South Korea, which start at the end of August. Still, the Croydon thrower is level-headed enough to know not to get carried away.

"The first mistake people always make when they get a bit of success is to get over-excited," he says, matter of fact. "I've seen it before, a young sportsman doing incredibly well and then you don't hear from them again because fame gets to their head and they do things they shouldn't. I could go there on Sunday [the UK trials] and have a shocker and not go to the worlds so I've got to really stay on point and concentrate on what I'm doing. Although I've gone up very quickly, I could definitely come down very quickly as well."

Despite his young age Okoye has already witnessed how quickly sporting opportunities come and go in life. Regretting that he missed out on a promising rugby career with the very best clubs – although he was offered a professional contract at Esher – he is determined to grasp what he sees as a "second chance" to excel in throwing the discus.

"I joined the London Irish academy too late," says Okoye, who as a schoolboy was nicknamed Jonah Lomu. "I just didn't know. My mum's not from this country [she is Nigerian] so she didn't know the structure and system here. I know now what I should have done when I was 15 – try and get to an academy at a young age, but I joined at 18 and that's too late. I regret it in a sense, but I don't regret how things have turned out since."

His rugby playing friends were slightly bemused at his decision to switch to the discus – postponing an offer to study law at Oxford University along the way, and more recently declining an offer from Nebraska College, where his father played American football, for a track and field scholarship – but his remarkable achievements in the most ancient of Olympic sports speak for themselves and Okoye is now one to watch at London 2012.

While some teenagers may feel overawed at such an incredible trajectory of progress, Okoye takes it in his stride. "I never think you can't do something," he says, shrugging. "I've got that kind of delusional mentality, you think you can do everything, you think you're special. I heard Will Smith say that all successful people are slightly delusional. You've got to believe you can do things that maybe you can't do.

"No one's done what I've done. I'm a world record holder, I've thrown further than any teenager's ever done, I've broken the British record, I've won the European [Under23] champs. If I'd told someone I was going to do that last year I don't think they would have believed it. But that's what life's all about, shocking people and doing things that are out of the ordinary. Hopefully I'll keep doing that."

Despite his success, Okoye is acutely aware of his need to gain consistency and a better technical understanding of his event. He describes his gift like a magic touch. "I know it's in my back pocket but I don't really know how to reach for it. Sometimes I can get it out, sometimes it will fall out, but I don't always know what's coming. When I'm able to produce good throws on a week-to-week basis that's when things will really start to feel like they are going well."

Perhaps his biggest achievement to date has been to have invigorated a discipline that for so many years in this country has been wholly overlooked. Great Britain has never won a global or Olympic medal in the discus, and the event is rarely mentioned in the mainstream media. But on Sunday that is all about to change. Okoye has sparked a revolution in the discus – with three other Britons throwing personal bests this summer to post the A-qualifying standard for the world championships – promising a gripping contest at the UK trials as four throwers compete for three places.

His fellow throwers have certainly embraced their new star. Okoye is not just successful, image-wise he is everything the event has been lacking – fit, lean, highly intelligent and young with a Mohawk hairstyle – he is a marketing man's dream. But instead of swooning at these facts, Okoye is modest, stating only that he cares for the event and is determined to raise its profile. "For years British throwing has been very poor. Now it will get on the map. Everyone's been behind me, they want me to do well. They're just happy that a light's been shined on their sport. I want to bring change, it's inspirational for other people and that's what it's all about. I want people to care about discus throwing.

"I didn't know anything about javelin when I was growing up, but I knew Steve Backley. When someone does well you're interested in the sport. It won't just be me, though, Brett Morse is also up there in the world rankings and he's 22. Two British throwers up there, it's unheard of, I'm pleased with where the sport's going."

So how does Okoye explain his aptitude for throwing? Is it a natural skill that he has always somehow inherently possessed? He shakes his head and leans forward intently. "It's not a natural thing at all," he says, emphasising each word. "It's something you're taught, not something you do. It's a very, very technical sport, people underestimate that."

Despite having taken part in the odd schools competition, outside of the rugby season, Okoye says he has had very little experience in perfecting the discipline. "It takes lots and lots of lots of throws in the circle. Right now that's what I'm lacking to be really good. More practise, more training."

It is here that Okoye's scholarly vein becomes apparent as he talks about "studying" the discus. "In the past I wouldn't have been able to name a discus thrower or tell you the world record, but I could tell you every discus thrower in the world now. I've done lots of research and homework. I go on YouTube and spend hours watching throwers, analysing their technique."

The immediate future brings a chance to win a British medal in the discus at the world championships. But Okoye is taking it one throw at a time. "Of course I'd like to get a medal but I'm not going there with that in my head. People have had the world at their feet and then it's all crumbled. I want to go a long way in this sport and surprise a few people."

Okoye will compete at the Aviva London Grand Prix on Friday and Saturday at Crystal Palace. Final few tickets for Friday on sale at uka.org.uk/aviva-series or freephone 08000 556 056

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England avoid France in qualifying

England head coach Fabio Capello at the draw for the 2014 World Cup, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photograph: Nelson Almeida/AFP/Getty Images

Fabio Capello has warned England to "play every game like a final", following a World Cup qualifying draw in Rio de Janeiro that placed them in Group H with Montenegro, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova and San Marino.

The head coach, who will not be in charge as he departs his post after Euro 2012 campaign, said: "You have to be really, really focused and play every game like a final. England need to be careful, this will not be easy. Obviously we know Montenegro [from England's European Championship qualifying group], Ukraine we played in qualification for the World Cup in South Africa. Poland are improving, because they are one of the hosts of the next European Championship. I don't know Moldova, but San Marino will be easy again."

October's meeting with Montenegro in Podgorica could decide who tops the Euro 2012 qualifying group, as the nations are separated only by goal difference. Capello believes a win there could prove crucial ahead of the World Cup campaign. "Yes, this will be very important for the future, for the next games we play against them," he said. Regarding the pivotal away trips, Capello added: "In Ukraine the stadium will be OK, in Poland things will be OK, Moldova I do not know, but Montenegro we know."

The Italian also believes enough new potential is developing to safeguard England's future. "It will be interesting to watch some of the players next season," Capello said. "I have spoken with some of the young players at Manchester United and Liverpool and with [Kieran] Gibbs, who will be in the first XI [of Arsenal] always. There is a chance that some of these players will be very important for the World Cup."

Rio Ferdinand, who was due to be England's captain at the South Africa World Cup last summer before he was injured, tweeted: "England WC [World Cup] qualifying group is similar to most qualifying campaigns, some tricky away games but have to be looking to qualify top."

Sir Trevor Brooking, the Football Association's director of football, also thought that England should reach the finals. He said: "We can't complain at the draw. We could have had a lot worse. I [think] we will qualify."

After England's hopes had been given a boost when they avoided being drawn with France, who were seeded in the second band of nations, the bookmakers immediately installed the 1966 World Cup winners as the favourites to secure an automatic berth. England are currently 2-5 to win Group H with Poland 5-1, Ukraine 6-1, Montenegro 12-1, 25-1 for Moldova and 5000-1 for San Marino.

Poland are familiar foes. Sir Alf Ramsey's side famously failed to reach the 1974 World Cup in West Germany after Jan Tomaszewski made several crucial saves at Wembley to prevent England achieving the required victory. But they also met at Mexico 86, when Gary Lineker scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 group win.

In all, England have won 10 of the meetings between the nations, drawing six, and losing only one, and qualified for the finals of the 1990, 1998 and 2006 World Cups, and the European Championships of 1992 and 2000 after facing the Poles. Aside from Ramsey's 1974 failure, only Graham Taylor's 1994 World Cup qualifying campaign has not ended in success.

Of the home nations, Scotland and Wales are in Group A, one of the more difficult divisions that includes Croatia, Serbia, Belgium and Macedonia, while Northern Ireland also face a tough challenge, being paired with Portugal, Russia, Israel Azerbaijan and Luxembourg in Group F.

Wales may feel they have the opportunity to gain revenge following a notorious incident in qualifying for the 1978 World Cup. In a home Wales match staged at Anfield, Joe Jordan appeared to handle the ball when jumping for a header, yet the referee awarded Scotland a penalty that Don Masson converted before Kenny Dalglish's goal to extinguish Wales's hopes.

Asked about meeting Wales, Stewart Regan, the Scottish Football Association chief executive, said: "They're all juicy fixtures. But yes, the home nations always provide extra interest."

Wales's manager, Gary Speed, said: "We have a chance of qualifying. We will have to be good and at the top of our game and have to improve from where we are now."

The Republic of Ireland may struggle to win Group C, as they will go up against Germany, but should fancy their chances of finishing second ahead of Sweden, Austria, the Faroe Islands and Kazakhstan.

Spain, the World Cup and European Championship holders, were drawn in the smallest group, of five countries. But they will have to overcome France, the 2006 finalists, if they are to qualify automatically.

The nine group winners qualify by right with the eight best runners-up playing off for Europe's last four berths in Brazil.

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Olympics Aquatic Centre – review

The London 2012 Aquatics Centre, designed by Zaha Hadid: ‘a space that can only be described as stonking’. Photograph: David Poultney

From the outside, it's a car crash. Or a UFO crash. Or, to use the watery metaphors that are de rigueur when talking about Zaha Hadid's ?269m Aquatic Centre, it is like a vast turtle waving over-sized flippers. A great roof, whose beauty should come from the way its great weight came down to the ground at three points is engulfed with even bigger temporary structures, blown-up, go-faster versions of what might be seen at a county cattle fair, needed to house the 15,000 temporary seats for the Olympic Games. They will be taken away afterwards, leaving a 2,500 capacity, which is the most that any non-Olympic swimming event is likely to attract.

Then, once spectators have negotiated the crowd management arrangements, which the building accommodates somewhat clumsily, they will enter a space that can only be described as stonking, a room big enough for more than 17,500 people. It is impressive because it is big, and purposeful, and will contain large crowds, but also because the architecture rises to the occasion. The architects' moves are confident and equal to the scale of the place. They don't fumble or tinker. More than that, the interior has a feeling of wholeness. It feels moulded or carved, not assembled. It looks like a body more than something constructed out of pieces.

The big thing is the roof, steel-framed and timber-clad, which floats and undulates, but is also palpably substantial. Officially, it's like a wave, but, with its combination of weight and agility, it's very like a whale. At either end a concrete bowl, containing the pools, the permanent seating and support spaces, rises to meet the roof where it descends. Along each side, in the gaps formed between the bowl and the roof, huge glass walls will be installed after the games, opening the space to the sky and the surrounding park. Now these gaps open to steep banks of temporary seats, contained within the great flippers that are so problematic on the outside. Inside, they are continuous with the rest of the space, and add to its drama.

The work focuses on the two pools, for swimming and diving, coming down to a few human bodies in water, small and fragile relative to the whole, a shift in scale that is somehow achieved smoothly. The diving platforms are moulded out of the same concrete as the rest of the lower structure, making them extensions of the architecture rather than additional pieces of concrete.

Another pool, for practice, would be part of the experience too, visible behind a wide glass wall, but International Olympic Committee (IOC) regulations have required an unfortunate temporary partition. It's something to do with keeping athletes and officials apart, which is clearly very important, but it blocks the view. Elsewhere the interplay of architectural and sporting demands is happier. The greys of the structure are offset by strong primary colours: the blue pools, the yellow and red of the lane markers, and an interesting pinkish light filtered from the outside through translucent walls in the temporary extensions.

The Aquatic Centre is the London Olympics' most majestic space: the most potent, the most charged. It is also 2012's most difficult child, the first venue to be designed, the last to be finished. It was accompanied along the way by stories of escalating budgets (nervous builders, and near abandonment of the design). Built, it has compromises, like the view-blocking partition and the flippers, about which Hadid does not even try to pretend to be happy. As originally conceived, the awkward temporary extensions would not have been there, as there was to be a roof big enough to cover both temporary and permanent, but this proved too extravagant.

The obvious comparison is with the ?93m, 6,000-seat Velodrome, another wavy-roofed work completed last February, seemingly with the smooth precision of a high-performance bike. The Velodrome's roof required 300 tonnes of steel; the Aquatic Centre's – about the same size but with admittedly more difficult conditions – uses 3,000 tonnes. The Velodrome, trim and taut, is also a handsome building, and promises to be a powerful venue.

Part of the complication comes from the fact that the centre was designed before London won the bid. London was in danger of being seen as the safe-but-boring option, with dull buildings, and Hadid's design could be waved in front of the IOC as evidence of stardust. The problem was that the people who would eventually be the clients for the building, the organisations set up after London won the bid, didn't exist then, and the brief was not as developed as it would be later. When designs come first and clients second, there is often trouble.

But there may also be a mismatch between the processes of something like the Olympics and architecture as conceived by Hadid. Architecture, for her, is something that should make its presence felt, intervene, change things, perhaps get in the way. Her style seems to be about dynamism and weightless modernity, but her buildings are actually massive. They are slow, not fast. They reflect an old idea, common to Palladio and Le Corbusier, that architects sculpt and shape and compose. Hence her roof, which dips down in the middle to suggest two different spaces within in the overall enclosure, one for swimming and the other for diving.

What London 2012 wants is a great whirring delivery machine, driven by the inexorability of the project's deadline, where as many details as possible are determined in advance by specifications and regulations. They want architects to slip into the machine noiselessly, if possible with a bit of elegance, like Hopkins Architects at the Velodrome. With Hadid there is more of a grinding and crashing of gears, but she set out to achieve "a really great spatial experience", and did so.

I am sure that the Aquatic Centre could have been built more cheaply and easily, and without its crashes of permanent and temporary. It is a building that will be at its best after the games, when the flippers have been replaced by the great glass walls, although it will then face a new risk of being too grand for a public pool. The wavy roof risks being too small for the Olympics and too big for its afterlife. It can only be hoped that, whatever plans are made for its future upkeep, they are equal to the ambitions of the structure.

But, given that the whole ?9bn Olympic extravaganza spends money that could have had more prudent and practical uses, it does not seem so terrible that a small fraction of its extravagance should go on a space as magnificent as this. Many hundreds of millions will be flushed away on more boring things, such as consultants' fees and security that may or may not be necessary.

Lastly, a note to the IOC. While the Centre offers 17,500 seats for watching swimming, only 10,000 will be able to watch diving events. This is in accordance with IOC specifications, which seem to assume that people find diving a bit boring. Evidently, the specification writers haven't heard of Tom Daley.

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Is it fair for 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius to run in London Olympics?

South Africa's Oscar Pistorius competes in the 400 metres on May 31, 2011 at the Zlata Tretra (Golden Spike) athletics meeting in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava. Photograph: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images

Oscar Pistorius rose slowly from the starting blocks, like a middle-aged man with a dodgy back getting out of an armchair. As the athletes rounded the first bend in the 400m event at Lignano in Italy earlier this month, he was last. But down the back straight his powerful arms began to pump, his legs appeared to slice through the air and he maintained his speed through the final bend. Now he was leading the race and bombing down the finishing straight. He crossed the line and sneaked a look at the clock – 45.04 seconds, eventually rounded up to 45.07 – before bear-hugging one of the other runners and falling to the track laughing.

Pistorius, 24, who is South African, had not broken the world record – he was almost two seconds off Michael Johnson's 1999 mark – but he achieved something almost as significant on that balmy evening of 19 July. He had passed the qualifying standard that will allow him, if selected by his country, to race alongside the best able-bodied athletes at next month's world championships and at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. And he didn't just scrape through. If he had run that time in the 400m final in Beijing in 2008, he would have finished fifth; he would have done even better at the 2009 world championships, placing fourth.

It had been coming, but no one expected it so soon. In January 2008, the International Association of Athletics Federations deemed that Pistorius – who was born without either fibula, the bone that runs from behind the knee to the ankle, and whose legs were amputated mid-calf when he was 11 months old – was ineligible to compete in its events, notably the Olympics. The concern was that his carbon-fibre prosthetics gave him a competitive advantage: made by the Icelandic company Ossur, the Flex-Foot Cheetah weighs approximately half of a typical sprinter's lower leg.

Pistorius appealed, more professors and biomechanists were engaged, and in May 2008 the Swiss-based court of arbitration for sport overturned the decision. The "Blade Runner" (alias "the fastest man on no legs") was free to compete in the Olympics after all. The only problem was that Pistorius was running mid-47 seconds for the 400m, a significant chunk of daylight behind the world's best. He consoled himself by winning three golds at the Paralympics (100m, 200m and 400m), all in record time.

So while Pistorius was rolling around deliriously on a track in Italy, everyone else had a couple of minutes to make up their minds on one of the most intractable ethical conundrums in recent sporting history. The reliably erudite Roger Black, our greatest 400m runner, was one of the first to speak out. No scientific consensus, he pointed out, had been reached on whether the blades provided Pistorius with a benefit and until that was clear we did not have the faintest idea whether he was "an amazing athlete or a very good athlete with an advantage". Black also placed himself in the spikes of an athlete beaten – maybe even to a medal – by Pistorius. Would they think, perhaps even justifiably, that it was unfair?

There was concern, too, from the Paralympic community. Pistorius has always contended that he would like to compete at both the Olympics and the Paralympics, but some viewed the actions of the world's most famous disabled athlete as a defection. Tanni Grey-Thompson, who won 11 gold medals at five Paralympics, had already made her position clear. "I just don't think it is about whether he has an advantage or disadvantage; he's just too different," she said. "I can see why he wants to go to the Olympics, for the competition, fame and the money, but I'd like to see him get that at the Paralympics and I think London will be able to deliver that."

I put Black's concern to Great Britain's current king of the quarter-mile, Martyn Rooney, who finished sixth in the 400m final in Beijing. How would he feel if he were beaten by Pistorius in London? "I wouldn't be too bothered," he says. "I'd be a lot angrier if, say, someone who had failed a drugs test beat me. Oscar has not gone out of his way to cheat. This is his situation: he needs to run with those blades. He can modify things in ways that we can't, but there's things we can do that he can't, so it balances out quite well. The athletes who complain are the ones who aren't running fast enough."

Ade Adepitan, who competed in wheelchair basketball and now presents Channel 4's That Paralympic Show, has more conflicted views, but feels that Pistorius could be a radical role model for disabled athletes. "If he gets into the final it's going to send shock waves round the world, and if he wins a medal, wow," he says, with a mischievous laugh. "Picture a double-leg amputee on the podium at the Olympics. What doors would it open up? What implications does it have? None of us will know until it happens, but that's the great thing about what Oscar is doing: he's asking questions."

What everyone does agree on is that you would be hard pushed to find a nicer guy or better ambassador for his sport. Pistorius is known for telling children that his legs were bitten off by a big shark, or that they fell off because he didn't eat his greens – depending on whether their parents are around – and he believes it is his responsibility to educate people positively about disability. He is heavily involved in the Mineseeker Foundation, which supplies prosthetic limbs to the victims of landmines in Mozambique.

Pistorius was born in 1986 in Johannesburg to Sheila and Henke, who works in dolomite mining. After the amputation, Oscar was given a set of fibreglass legs and within six months he was taking his first faltering steps. He was a natural sportsman, playing rugby, tennis and water polo to a high level, but life away from games was less happy. His parents split when he was six and, when he was 15, his mother, to whom he was particularly close, died. He only started running in 2004, aged 17, but within a few months, using a set of prosthetics from Ossur, he was narrowly defeated in the 100m and won the 200m at the Athens Paralympics.

His progress has never been exactly straightforward though. There remains considerable scientific doubt over whether his crescent-shaped legs give him an unfair advantage; one report, in the Journal of Applied Physiology in 2009, claimed that the Cheetahs might provide him with as much as a 10-second boost over 400m. The legs have also caused him to be detained and handcuffed at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam in 2008, when police suspected him of being a terrorist. Worst of all, he was involved in a boat accident on the Vaal river in South Africa in 2009 that left him with a broken jaw, crushed cheekbone and 170 stitches patching his face together.

It was this last incident, however, that may be responsible for Pistorius's recent dramatic upturn in form. Having been convinced he was going to die, he now decided to lose weight, spend less time on his Yamaha superbike and not be "that crazy kid I was when I was growing up" (though he has kept the pair of pet white tigers named after underworld gods). He focused more than ever on his preparation. "I train harder than other guys, eat better, sleep better and wake up thinking about athletics," he has said. "That's probably why I'm a bit of an exception."

Rooney, who has raced and beaten Pistorius twice, most recently this month, agrees that there has been a dramatic change. "I was taking the mick out of him the other day. A picture came up on his computer from Beijing and I said, 'You were a fat git back then'," Rooney says. "He was a big lad, he didn't look like an athlete and that's when people got annoyed with the blades because they just saw this fat guy who was running fast. But now he's lean, he's built like an athlete. He's come a long way and he's coming to his peak."

Last week a billboard went up in Times Square, New York. It is for a new fragrance called A*Men from Thierry Mugler and shows a kind of Robo-Pistorius, his blades cast in chrome, looking like a superhero running to answer an emergency call – obviously someone needs a quick slap of aftershave, fast. The tagline reads: "A modern hero, an exceptional athlete."

It is hard to argue with either of those statements. Whatever you think about the ethics of Pistorius racing against able-bodied athletes, it sends out a stunning message of hope for people with disabilities.

"If you asked any sporting expert 15 years ago if Paralympians would be competing against Olympians, they would have laughed you out of the room," says Adepitan. "Oscar is inspiring amputees all over the world to say: 'Look, you can compete on an even level with anyone if you work hard enough.' And, for any sports fan, it's something you would want to see."

Blind from birth, the US swimmer is the most decorated Paralympic athlete, with 55 medals, 41 of which are gold.

Britain's most successful female Paralympian has won 16 medals from five Paralympics, including 11 golds.

Started swimming as therapy in 1971 and by 1976 was at the Toronto Paralympics, winning three gold medals. Won another 13 golds, making him UK's most successful Paralympic athlete.

Swedish shooter won 16th gold in Beijing. Currently competing for a quota place in London 2012 Olympics.

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Zara Phillips weds Mike Tindall but the royals keep it simple

Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall after their wedding ceremony at Canongate Kirk. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

The bride, as ever, looked radiant in a beautiful little off-the-shoulder number and the groom looked simply delighted. Then a white stretch limo pulled up and disgorged the ushers and a gaggle of bridesmaids, all pink and giggly. A lone piper greeted them at the door of the MacDonald Hotel then guests who had been sipping beers and Bacardis at the cafes on Holyrood Road followed them.

It was the wedding day of local couple Paul and Sharon, and they didn't seem in the least fazed by the thousands heading in the other direction for the union of a royal and a rugby star in the Canongate.

The Edinburgh Evening News had predicted a crowd of only 2,000, but there looked to be at least double that gathered 10-deep in the Edinburgh sunshine and stretching most of the way up the Royal Mile.

Earlier, I had sought to secure one of the little commemorative union flags that most people in the crowd seemed to be sporting. For this was Edinburgh's Old Town – perhaps the only place in Scotland where you can wave the red, white and blue without making an exhibition of yourself.

In the days before the wedding of the Princess Royal's daughter, some had tried to induce outrage at the cost of the event to the public purse. They had chosen the wrong target, though. Anne is Scotland's favourite royal and seems cast in our image and likeness. She doesn't seem to brook any nonsense and you can imagine her helping the servants bring the coal in of a winter night. Besides, she's patron of the Scottish Rugby Union and attends all Scotland's matches in a tartan skirt.

Zara herself seems a fresh and sonsie young woman who has emulated her mother as a world-ranking equestrian. The occasion had a down-to-earth feel – even, dare I say it, couthie. Two of Mike Tindall's ushers were family members while three came from his rugby background. One was Peter Phillips, Zara's brother. The groom's brother, Ian, was also among their number. And there was also a little human touch becoming of Anne: as she watched the couple set off for Holyroodhouse she firmly linked arms with Tindall's elderly father, Phil.

The choice of the Canongate Kirk as the venue for the nuptials struck some as unusual and iconoclastic, but it wasn't really. This 17th-century chapel, one of the most handsome in the city and commissioned by James VII, is the parish church of the Palace of Holyroodhouse and of the Scottish parliament. Indeed, did the Queen not worship there just the other week? She was also welcomed to this church 59 years ago, not long before her coronation.

In the Canongate kirkyard, perhaps one of the most beautiful urban resting places in Scotland, lie the remains of David Rizzio who loved a queen once then paid for it with his life. There, too, are the bones of Robert Fergusson, a great Scottish poet who inspired Robert Burns, and the philosopher Adam Smith is interred just ahead of him. One of the best views in Edinburgh lies just beyond.

The spirit of another, whose remains do not lie in the Canongate, nevertheless haunts the Royal Mile.

Before his life of Samuel Johnson, James Boswell wrote his Edinburgh Journals based on his nocturnal adventures in this most historic of streets. This was 18th-century Scotland's Sunset Strip and housed many of the capital's shebeens and whorehouses.

Boswell, it seemed, visited every one. He would have chuckled at the procession of Daimlers ferrying the entire top tier of Britain's aristocracy to a church he once sashayed past while royally inebriated.

I digress. Across the road, Caroline and Lesley from Kirkcaldy were enjoying their day in the sunshine. Like many others in the throng, they would not regard themselves as great supporters of the royal family, but when the Queen whisked by with a wave, there were tears. "She's a lovely woman, I hope she enjoys her granddaughter's wedding," said one.

Thomas was there with three young children, his bronzed features belonging to someone who works outside for a living. Did he not resent the reputed ?500,000 cost of the occasion? "Not a bit of it," he said. "This is the Queen's parish and she does a lot for this country. I wouldnae begrudge her a penny."

It had just gone four o'clock when Zara and her new husband emerged from their nuptials. Everyone cheered. Soon she would arrive back at Holyroodhouse and be serenaded by the Royal Scots Association pipe band. As a sidenote, though, she will not take her husband's name and become Mrs Tindall. Zara Phillips it was, and still is.

"Who do you think made the dress?" asked Lesley. I told her it looked suspiciously to me like a Stewart Parvin number, having seen the couturier's triumphant 2010 show at London's White Gallery. She regarded me with renewed suspicion. "Are you havin' a laugh?"

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England breathe a sigh of relief at World Cup 2014 qualifying draw | Paul Wilson

England manager Fabio Capello talks to the media after the preliminary draw of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Photograph: Julian Finney - Fifa/FIFA via Getty Images

England, second last to be drawn, landed among familiar foes in a far from unfriendly World Cup 2014 qualifying group, narrowly avoiding the fate of being placed in a five-team group with France, which fell in turn to World Cup holders and current European champions Spain.

The draw in Rio de Janeiro was made in reverse order, with the top seeds allocated to their groups last, and England and Spain were the final two balls to be pulled out. England came out next to last, to be grouped with Montenegro, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova and San Marino, while to Spain fell the decidedly trickier task of negotiating a group comprising France, Belarus, Georgia and Finland.

While both Group H and Group I ought to be winnable for their respective top seeds, there is no doubt England will have been relieved to have avoided the final group.

Montenegro drew at Wembley in a Euro 2012 qualifier last October, and England face a return in Podgorica this autumn to determine which side qualifies automatically from Group G for next year's finals in Poland and Ukraine. Both of those host countries managed to end up in the same World Cup group before England joined them, and Fabio Capello's side encountered Ukraine in the last World Cup qualifying cycle, with Andriy Shevchenko's side successful in the most recent encounter, albeit after England had qualified. Poland have also crossed England's path on a regular basis in the past, though are not the force they once were in European football.

The other two opponents in the group will also be recalled with affection. Moldova was where Glenn Hoddle took charge for the first time in 1996 and where David Beckham made his competitive England debut, while San Marino will forever be remembered for the low comedy of England's visit with Graham Taylor in Bologna in 1993, complete with "Do I not like that" and "What sort of a thing is happening here?"

At least Capello will not have to worry about a repeat or a return to his native land. The Italian coach will depart after the European Championship next year, and a new man will be in charge by the time England embark on the qualification process for Brazil. Group H should not deter any potential candidates, far from it, though it is unlikely to set anyone's pulse racing either. Sven-Goran Eriksson suggested this weekend that Jose Mourinho would be the ideal contender to follow Capello, though it would be something of a surprise were the Portuguese to tear himself from the excitement of managing Real Madrid and trying to become the first coach in history to win European Cups with three different sides for a leisurely trek round the Balkans and central Europe.

Elsewhere in the draw, Scotland and Wales were drawn together in Group A, which is neither particularly glamorous nor particularly easy, with Croatia, Serbia and Belgium fighting (hopefully not literally) for the top spots and even the makeweights of Macedonia no pushovers. Northern Ireland face some long trips in Group F, with not only Russia but also Azerbaijan and Israel, with Portugal and Luxembourg at least a little closer to home. The Republic of Ireland avoided France, to everyone's relief, though drew Germany and Sweden, along with Austria, Kazakhstan and the Faroe Islands in Group C. That is quite a tough group, though with Germany clear favourites to win the Republic have at least a chance of clinging to runners-up spot and a play-off place. The nine group winners qualify automatically, while the eight best runners-up play off to provide a European contingent of 13 for the finals.

Norway's charmed life continued with an astonishingly favourable draw in Group E, where the only real threats are Slovenia and Switzerland. Considered lucky to be seeded in the first place, especially at the expense of teams such as France and Russia, the Norwegians could easily end up qualifying for a tournament for the first time since Euro 2000. They are unlikely to be too worried by Albania, Iceland or Cyprus, and ought to be able to achieve one of the top two positions.

Greece, the other surprise seeds, also have little to complain about. They avoided the bigs guns of pot two, drawing Slovakia instead of France, Russia or Turkey, and should be able to progress from a group that also includes Bosnia?Herzegovina, Lithuania, Lativia and Liechtenstein.

That's how it appears from this distance, at any rate. By the time these qualifying matches begin to take place, just over a year from now, a European Championship will have been concluded and much will have changed. When the last draw was made, for the Euro 2012 qualifiers currently taking place, everyone said England had dropped lucky with an easy group.

That was before not just Montenegro but Switzerland came to Wembley and escaped with a point. England are still joint top of the group, on goal difference from Montenegro, but the game in Podgorica this October now looms even larger than before. If England win, they will qualify and the future will look secure. Lose, and the next England manager will know he has to negotiate the same opponents. It was exactly the situation that greeted Capello when he took over from Steve McClaren and then faced Croatia. He dealt with it remarkably well, and if he can do the same in Montenegro all should be well. Should he fail, the main problem for the next man will be taking over a team whose nemesis is no longer Germany, or even Croatia, but a team that have yet to make their first appearance in a World Cup tournament.

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Olympic Games: A golden legacy | Observer editorial

London's Olympic team has spent a year working with botanists at Sheffield University to ensure that the flowers planted for the new Olympic Park will bloom exactly on time. A similar remarkable attention to detail, plus professional rigour and drive, has ensured that all six of the permanent venues have been built on schedule. In the process, the industrial wasteland that blighted part of the East End of London has been transformed. The site, to be named the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has, in addition to venues, 35 new bridges, housing, train stations and walkways, setting fresh standards in sustainability and accessible design. Lessons have been learned from previous Olympic Games in Greece (white elephant stadiums), Atlanta (rotten transport) and Barcelona (a catalyst as London hopes to be).

The London Olympics has its critics. However, only the most curmudgeonly would deny that bouquets are due in particular to those who do not normally share the limelight, namely, the engineers, construction workers, architects and others who, in five years, have physically performed a modern miracle .

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AFC Wimbledon feel 'sense of wonder' after odyssey to Football League

Erik Samuelson, AFC Wimbledon's chief executive, left, talks with the manager, Terry Brown, on the training pitch. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Observer

Nine years ago AFC Wimbledon began a story that continues to flare as a beacon in football's era of greed and commercial imperative. When Terry Brown sends out his side against Bristol Rovers for their debut in the Football League on Saturday, a quest that was dreamed up in the Fox and Grapes on Wimbledon Common on 28 May 2002 will have been achieved.

The odds they had to overcome were immense, but the determination of hardcore Dons fans was unbending and the mood of the sporting gods favourable. AFC's passage to League Two was secured on 21 May when Danny Kedwell, the captain, thumped home the deciding penalty to defeat Luton Town 4-3 in the Blue Square Premier play-off final at Eastlands, following a goalless game.

That Tuesday nine years ago had begun with a Football Association commission voting two to one to allow Wimbledon FC, the alma mater of the Crazy Gang and the 1988 FA Cup winners, to be ripped from south London where they had been since 1889, and relocated to Milton Keynes as the MK Dons.

The bitterness regarding a decision taken by Raj Parker, a solicitor, and Steve Stride, a former Aston Villa director, still lingers (FA Council member Alan Turvey voted against). Adam Crozier, then the FA chief executive, described the decision as "appalling".

Dave Boyle was recently forced to resign as the chief executive of Supporters Direct after sending offensive tweets to Parker when AFC's promotion was confirmed, with the Premier League threatening to withdraw its ?1.2m funding to SD due to the row.

Yet beyond the disgust is the glow of deserved satisfaction. Erik Samuelson, the club's chief executive, says: "Looking back I feel an immense amount of pride on behalf of everybody involved. And a sense of wonder: that we did it, somehow. If you think about where we started, on Wimbledon Common, and ended up, about to step out for our very first game in the Football League."

AFC's first match was a friendly on 10 July 2002 in front of 4,654 at Sutton United's Gander Green Lane. It featured Glenn Mulcaire, of phone hacking infamy, who is feted as the scorer of the club's inaugural goal. The starting XI sent out by the manager, Terry Eames, in a 4-3-3 formation reads: Andy Hunt; Drew Watkins, Simon Johnstone, Kevin Tilley, Dave Towse; Neil Northcott, Mehmet Mehmet, David Fry; Joe Sheerin, Dean Martin, Mulcaire.

AFC lost 4-0 but the result hardly mattered. Tilley, then 43, recalls: "I'd played for the side in the 70s that had kicked, bollocked and bit and got itself in the Football League. Terry called me out of the blue and asked if I could help out. I did a bit of pre-season training and then played at Sutton. It was really just to get the club going, proving the name doesn't die."

They began in the ninth tier of the pyramid, five promotions from professional football. How did the club rise so quickly? "In the early years we were [one of] the most powerful clubs in the Combined Counties and in the two leagues of the Ryman," Samuelson says. "We had financial muscle and we were able to build a really strong team. In the first season the original budget for the team was ?700 a week. Our average crowd was 3,000 and the adult cost of getting on to the terrace was ?9. It doesn't take you long to work out we had quite a lot of money to spare. We got 111 points that season and didn't get promoted because two other teams outspent us.

"In the second season we weren't extravagant, but thought: 'We are not having this.' So we made sure we won the league. When we started to stall [between 2005 and 2007] it was a combination of getting the right manager [Brown], making sure that he felt absolutely supported, and that the fans understood completely what we were trying to do so that everyone stayed on board.

"One of the things we said all the way through was that we wanted to do things properly. Whether it be getting into the Football League: get in through the pyramid. Or when dealing with the fans and public: do it properly."

Brown has guided AFC to three promotions since taking over in May 2007, with AFC still playing at Kingstonian's old ground, Kingsmeadow, which they bought after initially sharing. Samuelson says: "It was obvious that we would only really thrive if we owned our own ground. We paid ?2.4m for an established stadium that was capable of being upgraded to league standards."

Kris Stewart, AFC's founding chairman, who will be at Kingsmeadow on Saturday, speaks of the "weird" and "sad" atmosphere on that evening at the Fox and Grapes before the crusade for renewal replaced potential oblivion. There are now 2,500 members in the trust who own AFC, so could another club ever be uprooted in a similar, harrowing fashion? "Probably not. But then it probably wouldn't have happened in the first place. There was a very unusual set of circumstances that allowed it," Stewart says. "There is still that culture that exists [at the FA] of the independent commission nonsense that says: 'Here is an important decision about football, let's find people who don't really know what they're talking about and devolve our responsibility for running the game to them.'

"One of the most annoying things was that those people who made the decision will never have to account for it. The FA should have the guts and the balls to run football in this country."

Now, though, an odyssey can be enjoyed while Brown blends his summer recruits Max Porter, from Rushden & Diamonds, Jack Midson (Oxford United), Matt Mitchell-King (Crewe Alexandra), and Charles Ademeno (Grimsby Town) into the squad.

Sheerin, part of that original AFC XI and rated the club's finest player, suggests the heritage of the Crazy Gang is intact: "The spirit was what kept me at the club for three seasons – we probably got away with more stuff because we were non-League. I'm trying to think of something that's not X-rated. We did once have a naked protest on the back of the coach because the driver wasn't allowed to stop at the off-licence after a match. I don't think that company used us again, and the chairman at the front was not too pleased."

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England v India - live!

England's Stuart Broad acknowledges the applause of the crowd after his hat-trick against India at Trent Bridge. Photograph: Jon Super/AP12th over: England 24-1 (trailed by 67 on first innings; Strauss 6, Bell 9) Sreesanth bowls the first over of the day, trying to draw Bell into driving outside off stump. He doesn't, so it's a maiden. "First! (Sorry)" says Ryan Dunne. "Do teams still get the giant mace if they become No1 team in the world? Would it be put on display on Lord's or the like, or would Swann be allowed to play about with it for cool Twitter photos? I remember when Duncan Fletcher said (well, he would) that his achievements with England in the 00s far dwarfed anything the country managed in the 80s; could a case be made that England deserve serious plaudits (including more gongs from the Queen) if they reach No1, or has Test cricket overall declined too much from the heady days of 2005?" I think it'll be a huge achievement if England manage it. Fletcher was right; England were often hopeless in the 1980s. Scyld Berry wrote a fine piece on that subject in the very first edition of The Wisden Cricketer. And yeah, they do get the mace.

"Good morning," says John Starbuck. "It's been announced that Trott will bat though no-one knows what position yet." Crikey, that is a surprise. No10 or 11?

Thought for the day This series is going to kick off very soon, isn't it?

Trottwatch He faced only two balls in practice this morning before going off for an injection. It seems very unlikely he will bat.

Preamble Morning. These days everyone wants to be FIRST! We're a culture obsessed with the first: first impression, first match of the season, first meal (Paulie Walnuts says breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and wise men don't argue with Paulie), first date, first injunction, first pint after eight hours kissing the feet of The Man. In some contexts, however, the second is far more important. For example, a monstrous slab of lunchtime meat at The Hawksmoor trumps Frosties anyday, although you can tell Paulie that. Similarly, the second set of a tennis match is surely the most significant, when the contest is almost completed at 2-0 or comes alive at 1-1.

That's the scenario we have at Trent Bridge today, where an excellent Test match will probably be decided, if not actually completed. Either England go 2-0 up or India level it at 1-1 with power, Sehwag and Zaheer to add. The English cricket lover in me is desperate for England to win; the Test cricket lover in me is equally desperate for India to win. Think about how empty 2005 would have been had Australia gone 2-0 up at Edgbaston, and not just because England were losing.

Six years ago we had the best of both worlds – an epic series and an England win. So this time we want India to win here, England to win by one wicket at Edgbaston and then by one run at The Oval, thus clinching the series 3-1 and going top of the Test Championship. Is that so much to ask?

All that said, I suppose we could live with England winning by 114 runs here after a staggering 121-ball 132 from Eoin Morgan.

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Stuart Broad a class above after his first hat-trick since schooldays

Stuart Broad of England celebrates taking his hat-trick with the wicket of Praveen Kumar of India. Photograph: Tom Shaw/Getty Images

Stuart Broad said Saturday's hat-trick meant more to him than the last one he achieved – for Oakham School Under-15 side.

"The atmosphere wasn't quite as good at school, with the parents watching," he said, after performing the first hat-trick against India in Test cricket. "But it won't mean much if we don't go on and win this Test match. Tomorrow [Sunday] will be our biggest test in this match, to see if we can get 300 runs and put the Indians under pressure on the last day because I think that wicket will be pretty useful to bowl on for the seamers, with variable bounce."

Broad delighted his own home crowd for the second day in succession, following up his counter-attacking 64 on Friday that kept England in the Test.

"India had three-quarters of the day – I said this after the first day – and we nicked the last session. We're fighting hard and tomorrow is going to be a huge day if we can bat big. We need one guy to go and get a hundred, and a big hundred, and we're right in the game. And bowling last on that wicket could be an advantage for us.

"We dropped Yuvraj [Singh] on four which was a concern when he and Dravid were playing brilliantly," he said. "We knew the new-ball period would be a huge hour for us. Straussy asked us at tea if we could all raise our intensity in that hour to put some pressure on the India batsmen and fortunately there was a little swing with the new ball and the edges came our way. So we have got ourselves back in this game."

Broad admitted that he felt the edge of VVS Laxman's bat after the player had survived a strong appeal for a catch behind. HotSpot did not show up any contact and there were mischievous rumours that there may have been Vaseline on the edge of the bat.

Broad said: "Sarcastically, I had a cheeky feel of his edge the ball went past. But I just felt the edge. There was no Vaseline or anything there so I think it was just HotSpot not showing the very faint edge. It's HotSpot. We found that the really faint edges don't show up."

There was a scare for England when Jonathan Trott left the field after taking a heavy fall on his left shoulder while fielding. He tried to save a single at wide mid-off, and his team-mates called immediately for medical assistance as he lay prone. He left the ground with his arm in a sling and though a scan ruled out bone damage, he may not be able to bat on Sunday. He was receiving further treatment on Saturday night and his situation will be reassessed on Sunday morning.

Rahul Dravid, meanwhile, reflected on his second successive Saturday century in this series. It moved him level with the Indian great Sunil Gavaskar on 34 Test hundreds.

"It is fantastic to share something with the legend," said Dravid. "I don't compare myself with Mr Gavaskar – he is an absolute legend of the game – but I grew up as a kid in a generation where Gavaskar and [Gundappa] Viswanath were big heroes for us.

"In all my backyard games of cricket, I was either a Gavaskar or a Viswanath. So for me to be able to equal something that he has done is truly fantastic."

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