Hammers in South Africa
Rob Green, Matty Upson, Jonathan Spector, Valon Behrami and Guillermo Franco (I guess we can count him) were all in their respective nations World Cup squads. But how did they all do?
Lets start with our number 1, Rob Green.
I think its fair to say he didn’t have the tournament all of us hoped he’d have. He played the full 90 minutes in the first game and pulled off a great save to earn us a point, but by then the damage was already done. The England midfield failed to close down Dempsey who unleashed a ferocious left-footed shot on 40 minutes, which Green could obviously do nothing about…
Also in action was our Skipper, Matty Upson.
He failed to get onto the pitch for England's first two games but played the whole 90 in our final two games. He made a superb tackle against Slovenia to win us the game and finished England’s joint top scorer with a great header against the Germans. Lets leave it at that ay?
Next up is fan favourite, Jonathan Spector.
Just like Matty Upson he failed to get onto the pitch for the first two games, but unfortunately also failed to get on the pitch during the final two games. It’s a shame really; England could have done with him playing the first game.
Spector's the name, intimidation's the game. 
Valon Behrami, the Swiss midfield maestro, also played a part in the tournament.
Valon missed the first game with injury and then missed the final group game through suspension. He got a solid 30minutes under his belt before being red-carded for erm… actually I still don’t know why.
And last but not least this brings us to our newly acquired goalscoring sensation, Guillermo Franco.
The talismanic Mexican played approximately 254 minutes of football, and gave a reasonable (ish) account of himself.
Franco: Cheeky and dangerous. 
Probably more interesting to focus on another Mexican that the papers have linked us with on several occasions this summer: Twenty-three year old Pablo Barrera. Pablo made 3 appearances all from the bench, bagged an assist against the Argies, putting in a great cross for new Man Utd signing Javier Hernandez. I look forward to Pablo laying on more of the same for Carlton next season.
It seems the Hammers didn’t have the best of tournaments, but still we won the World Cup in 66!!
Submitted by George Bischoff
16/7/2010
