As England march triumphantly into the final in South Africa, we’re very excited to reveal this… oh, wait, what?? They got beat by WHO? Something appears to have gone wrong…

Forming part of our series of guest blogs around the finals, we’ve collaborated with our favourite football cartoon Studs Up to create what we hoped was a celebration of English success in the tournament – a limited edition t-shirt, featuring an exclusive design from Chris Toy, the man behind the massively popular site.

As we know, you can’t rely on the England football team for this kind of thing, but we still have a terrific t-shirt featuring the design at the top of this page, featuring some of Chris Toy’s best known characters, that we want to offer to you, our readers. Perhaps we can wear them when we’re cheering on the England Under-19 team in action next week?

They’re pretty special though, so we’re not just going to give them away. To be in with a chance of grabbing one, we want you to add a caption to either of the special Studs Up cartoons below.

We know England didn’t do as well as we hoped, but we’re looking for people who can see the funny side and create something funny out of it – so submit your caption suggestions as comments here on the blog, as Facebook comments, or via Twitter and we’ll pick out the best ones to receive an exclusive, one off Umbro/Studs Up t-shirt. You’ve got until next Friday, July 16th to get your entries in, so get thinking and get your ideas down! We’ve put our best efforts underneath each picture to inspire you…

OPTION ONE:

“Don’t cry mate, if we win the bid for 2018 we’re guaranteed to qualify!”

OPTION TWO:

“Got my tickets ready for the big match, ready to support ENGLAND!!!!!”
“Erm, mate, we’re not in the final….”
“Yes we are!! COME ON HOWARD WEBB!!! WEBBOOOOO!!!!!!

We’ve been running our Crest Designer competition for around a month now, and we’ve had a terrific response from all around the world. The competition closes this Sunday, so we thought it’d be the ideal time to showcase some of the interesting designs that have been submitted, and to remind everyone of what you could win by submitting your ideas.

If you head over to the special Umbro Crest Designer site, you can use the template there to create a new badge to represent your club, your friends, or even just yourself! You can also upload a design of your own, and all of those submitted will be considered for the top prize – the chance to have your crest design crafted onto a limited edition Umbro shirt.

We’re sure you’ll agree that it’s a pretty cool prize, so if you want to be in with a chance to win, you best head over the Crest Designer site before Sunday. Speaking of which, here’s two designs that have obviously been created with Sunday’s big game in mind!

We’ve really enjoyed having the thoughts of comedian, author and football fan Mark Watson throughout the tournament, so it’s with regret that we bid him adieu here with this, his final guest blog. If you’ve enjoyed hearing his thoughts on the beautiful game, check out the football blog that Mark writes with his brother Paul, Back Of The Net. Here’s his latest thoughts on what’s been happening in South Africa:

“Since the beginning of the tournament we’ve been hearing, as we do every tournament, that the South American teams are superior to everyone else. Brazil, as in every competition staged since the 17th century, had praise showered on them by commentators: they played ‘samba football’, Kaka was the best player in the world, and their fans, to judge by the gaze of the camermen, were (as usual) all attractive women with painted faces.

The hype mounted as Brazil just about beat North Korea, overcame an Ivory Coast side whom Sven had successfully coached not to take shots at goal, and contested a match with Portugal so poor that even the players’ mothers had stopped watching by the end. By the time they saw off Chile, most of our commentators were starting to talk as if Brazil had already won the competition, and the games we were watching were to decide who came second. Only one section of the public disagreed: Brazilian journalists. They warned that this team was nowhere near as good as it claimed to be. This was generally ignored.

Meanwhile, Argentina were getting similar plaudits on the other side of the draw. Admittedly, they played some nice football, and Lionel Messi went on quite a few 145-yard runs with the ball. Maradona, who with his beard and suit looked like someone at a christening who’d never been to church before, had clearly built a decent team. But there were huge defensive problems. Again, people tended to overlook these. Argentina were on their way to the final where they’d meet Brazil. The South Americans, said all the pundits, are in a different class.

Well, the events of the past few days have showed how right the experts were. Brazil, Argentina and for that matter Paraguay were all in a different class from their European quarter-final opponents. It was a slightly worse class.

Don’t get me wrong, Brazil and Argentina showed genuine class, but when it comes down to it, they succumbed to the same leaky back four, the same dodgy discipline and the same lack of a tournament mentality as a load of ordinary, mortal teams. At the last World Cup, exactly the same happened – again, both of them went out in the quarter-finals, and European sides slugged it out for the biggest prize.

It’s time we all stopped being awed by teams just because their players have single names which look cool on the back of their shirts, and look up to Heaven when they score. God has seemingly become a Germany fan. Just like a lot of other people who massively underestimated the European sides at this tournament.

And, yes, Messi was heavily marked and hacked at by opponents, Kaka was below full fitness and was wrongly sent off, Robinho was out of practice because he could never quite be bothered to play for Man City, and so on. There are always excuses, just like there are excuses for the likes of Rooney and Ronaldo and pretty much anyone else who was meant to be good before the World Cup, and didn’t do the business. The fact is, it doesn’t matter if you’re the most glamorous side, the one that people choose on Pro Evo, the one whose players are in adverts. You either get it right at the World Cup or you don’t. It’s Germany and Holland and Spain who have managed that, and now one of them – not one of the South Americans – will be World Champions.”

Mark is touring the length and breadth of the country in the forseeable future. For details of tour dates, head over to www.markwatsonthecomedian.com

Here’s Alan Shearer giving his verdict on the quarter finals – and who he thinks will make it to Sunday’s final showdown.

“I thought the quarter finals showed just what football is all about. I was at the Germany versus Argentina game – what a performance from Germany. I thought they were brilliant, from the goalkeeper right through to Klose up front. Every one of them won their personal battle, and you’ve got to give them credit for that.

The Uruguay versus Ghana game was just incredible drama, with the penalty for the handball and then the shootout. It was terrific to watch as a neutral, I’m not sure what it would’ve been like as a fan though!

Suarez went from the villain to national hero in a couple of minutes, but I think he just did what any one of us would’ve done. It’s just a natural instinct to be honest, and I don’t think he should be blamed for anything. He’s kept his team in the World Cup, and who knows, they might make it to the final.

After the South American teams had dominated the early stages, the European teams have come on a lot stronger and there’s three in the semi finals with only Uruguay keeping South America in it.

I don’t think Spain have really hit top gear yet but they’ve still been winning games, it’s the same with Holland, Germany have been brilliant and you just don’t know what team is going to show up with Uruguay, so it’s really open at the moment. Germany are probably the in-form team at the moment, but you have to wonder if they can keep that up.

Germany against Spain should be a great game, like I said Spain have yet to really hit their full potential so it should be a close game. I tipped Spain before a ball had been kicked in the tournament, and I’m not going to change my mind on that, so I’m going to go for Spain versus Holland in the final.

Looking at England, I was slightly surprised at the way that Fabio Capello was confirmed as the manager last week, just because the FA said that they were going to wait two weeks, which didn’t look good for him. Now that he is staying, that’s great, because it means we can move forward.

There were huge mistakes made in the World Cup both by the management and the players, but if we can learn from that, then we hopefully move forward. I think it’s fairly obvious that some changes need to be made, such as freshening the team up with some youngsters. People like Adam Johnson, Jack Rodwell, Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott – but these guys also have to be playing regularly for their football clubs and doing well. Until that happens, Fabio can’t pick them.

It’s our last week here in South Africa, we leave the day after the final. I’m looking forward to getting back home, but I’ve really enjoyed it and Cape Town has been magnificent. It’s been a great tournament, and hopefully there’s a couple more good games to come.”

Thanks again to Alan for taking the time to speak to us – we’ll have one more guest blog from next week, looking at the final and the tournament as a whole.

Almost as popular as the game itself, football computer games are big business. Nearly every fan will have played, or watched someone play one at some point, and will know that they can be frustrating, hilarious, and ever so slightly addictive. We’re certainly big fans of them here at Umbro, so that’s why we decided to host two tournaments down at our Dale Street studio as part of our summer of football-related celebrations.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve had two days of FIFA World Cup South Africa action. To make it even more tasty, we invited down some of the UK’s top FIFA players to compete against some of our friends and a couple of us Umbro staff. Needless to say, they were head and shoulders above the rest of us! I managed to get both teams I was playing as into the second round, but my excitement quickly faded as they were both knocked out instantly in the knock-out phase.

However, there was a competitive edge to the rest of the proceedings. We invited FIFA pro Michael Barrett along to the first tournament, but it was actually his younger brother (above left) playing as Argentina who won the competition! At the second event, Scotsman Lewis Orr (below right) won the tournament comfortably, and to make matters worse he played as Germany. And beat England in the final – talk about rubbing salt in the wounds!

If you fancy seeing more of the action, you can see plenty of pictures from both events over on our Flickr stream. And if you fancy yourself as a bit of a FIFA fan, let us know and we might get you down to our next event…

As we take another breather for a couple of days after some truly epic quarter finals, we thought it’d be an ideal time to check in with our team over in South Africa to see how they’ve been enjoying the action. Here, Carl from Umbro’s South African team tells us about his favourite match in the tournament so far, and showcases some pictures he’s snapped of the fans on the ground in Cape Town…

“All South Africans’ hands were placed firmly on their hearts as Bafana Bafana took to the field in a packed Bloemfontien stadium to face rivals France. The South African team has brought a nation together with their great football and fighting spirit, and to the fan’s delight beat the French with a final score of 2-1. Making history with South Africa’s first World Cup victory! Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to take them to the next round, but keeping it proudly South African we kept smiling and blowing the vuvuzela in support of our team. We are all proud of you Bafana Bafana.

The sites here in Cape Town have really been amazing – blue skies, lush green playing surfaces, packed stadiums and smiling faces. The vibrant fans have definitely been something to talk about, with every goal Portugal scored in the Cape Town stadium the cheers resounded, keeping the Mother City buzzing. It was also great to have all the England fans here in Cape Town, brightening up the city.”

Thanks to Carl for giving us an insight into what it’s all been like in Cape Town. His photos have all been included in our Spirit Of South Africa group over on Flickr, which captures how people have been celebrating the football all around the world. Don’t forget that you can win a fantastic Sony camera and the chance to be Umbro’s official photographer at an England game by submitting your photos to the group.

It’s been a while since we had a Back Of The Net round up of all the best stuff we’ve found on the internet, so we thought we’d pick out some of the finest stuff that’s surrounded all the action in South Africa. As you’d expect, the web has been going wild for the big tournamnet, so here’s some of the finest things we’ve uncovered…

EPL Talk have always got their eye on the ball when it comes to football matters, and they’ve produced plenty of good stuff throughout the tournament. Today, they’ve come up with a pretty nice list of seven things they’d like to see in the seven remaining games of the tournament. Some might seem a little bit like wishful thinking, but it gives a good impression of how the tournamnet has gone so far and where it could be heading…

It might be another list, but the weekly rundowns posted by Some People Are On The Pitch are very different to the usual ‘top players’ type you’ll see everywhere. One of the finest they’ve done recently is a list of the songs that were number one in the charts on the day that World Cups started. What’s interesting is that, with a couple of notable exceptions, they’re nearly all terrible! Obviously, football spectaculars bring out the bad taste in anyone!

Twitter has been one of the big names at this tournament, with plenty of people trying to think of ways to represent what people are tweeting about in innovative ways. Two of the best we’ve discovered – aside from our own, excellent Terrace Tweets of course! – take very different routes to success. The Tweet World Cup, which tracks mentions of all the players in South Africa and lists who is mentioned the most, is a nice, simple idea done really well. As you might expect, it’s the Brazilian names that are cropping up the most.

Another great one is over at The Guardian, where they’ve produced these terrific Twitter ‘bubbles’ that expand as certain player names are mentioned in every game. Take a look at England vs USA, and wait for Rob Green to appear to see what we mean…

Another list, but this time in picture form – Who Ate All The Pies are examining the really important issues, by counting down the 20 Crazy World Cup hats. Sterling stuff.

Finally this week, some more deadly serious action spotted by Off The Post. With a two-day gap without football, Brazilian blog Bola nas Costas wondered what football stars would look like with an emo makeover. The results, which you can see here, are genuinely terrifying.

With so much football being played at the moment, it can be hard to keep track of what exactly has happened over the past few weeks. Thankfully, there’s plenty of statistics to keep us informed, but it can be hard to translate them into something meaningful.

That’s where infographics come in. We’ve enlisted the expert hand of top graphic designer Michael Deal to bring the data from South Africa to life. Using info supplied by data experts Opta, Michael has crafted these beautiful ways to analyse the action from the 48 group games.

By simply looking at when successful passes (green lines) have been made in the game, alongside shots (blue triangles) and goals (red circles), you can build an intriguing picture of how the match progressed. For instance, the detail of Spain’s surprise defeat to Switzerland comes to life in the graphic at the top of the page, while an overview of all the action can be gleaned by looking at data from all the matches so far. Click on the picture below to see all the group matches in all their glory, looking more like a musical store than a football report.

This is just a snapshot at the half-way point of the tournament, and we’ll have the full picture once the champions have been crowned. Michael also analysed the data around England‘s qualification for South Africa for us, which you can see here.

Perhaps the best place to get over England‘s disappointing result, this year’s Glastonbury was awash with fabulous sunshine and great bands all weekend. Umbro managed to make a couple of appearances as well, spotted being worn by bands such as Roll Deep (above) and Groove Armada (below).

That’s not to say that Glastonbury was the only place where music and football have been mixing – Umbro have also been staging a few of our own summer fixtures recently, screening the big games alongside performances from the best local bands and DJs. The matches against Algeria and Germany might not have been great, but our parties more than made up for it, with our friends Same Teens organising the first party and local band The Heartbreaks soundtracking the second. Here’s some great pictures from both parties, to see more click through to our Flickr page….

Here’s our second guest blog from Tom Parry, best known as one third of sketch troupe Pappy’s. He’s got his football head on here though, and is giving us his unique take on what it feels like when England crash out of a tournament. Take it away Tom…

“So, what to say really? What can you say?

My first reaction is I don’t wanna talk about it, leave me alone, I’ll be in my room. My initial desire is to curl up in a ball and wallow in self-pity. I can remember exactly the first time I felt like this. This listless, despairing, rubbish feeling. I was fourteen years old and it was the day my first ever girlfriend Shelley Walton dumped me.

And I don’t want to talk about that either.

Because who the hell does want to talk about getting dumped? And when England go out of the World Cup, that is exactly how it feels, isn’t it. Like a break up. It feels like you’ve been dumped by football. In that most horrible personal way it feels like the entire sport that you know and love so much, that thing that you’ve pinned so many hopes on, given so much of your time and thought and attention, has suddenly turned round, looked you square in the eyes and said “I’m sorry, but this just isn’t working out for me”

Heartbreak.

Now with Shelley Walton, I never saw it coming. I had no idea she’d taken a shine to the short and irritating tennis team captain Lewis Taylor. But, and perhaps this makes it worse, if we’re honest we all knew that this World Cup and England were on rocky territory from the start. With two shaky draws and one unconvincing win in the group stages, we were going into the second round desperately papering over the cracks. We kept telling ourselves it’d come good. We’d click if we were only given time. But you know what- it wasn’t to be.
And to be honest I don’t want to talk about it.

And so where does that leave us and the rest of the World Cup?

When you break up with someone the best thing to do is not see them for a decent amount of time. Have some time apart- really concrete the break up. If anything, it’s healthy to get yourself out there and meet other people. And it’s easy to consider that temptation. Yes there is the brilliant series of one day internationals where the England Cricket team are soundly smashing the Australians, and yes Britain’s Andy Murray is the only male player still in the draw at this year’s Wimbledon who is yet to drop a set, but with or without England- there really is nothing like the World Cup.

And even if it doesn’t want us anymore, how can you resist his festival of brilliant, exciting attacking football as it really starts to come to the boil. It may have dumped us, but look who for – the Argentineans look scintillating, the Germans deadly on the counter attack, a Brazilian team that can combine organisation at the back with flare upfront and a Dutch team that finally look capable of fulfilling their potential.

When you’re ditched for the better man, it’s difficult to complain.

Although, just for the record, If Shelly Walton happens to be reading this, Lewis Taylor was not that better man…. Not that I want to talk about it.”

If you want to check out what Tom and Pappys are up to, take a look at their website. We’ll hear from Tom once more at the end of the tournament in a couple of weeks.