SO, I got Australia in the office sweepstake. As you might expect, I’m not optimistic.

However, it means that, despite the certain knowledge that they’re unlikely to even make the second round, never mind win the thing, I’m not going to be able to avoid taking an interest in say, the Socceroos versus Serbia.

And that’s the charm of the World Cup. Suddenly you find yourself watching the most unlikely of fixtures. The sort of thing that, had you stumbled across it late at night on Eurosport 2, you’d have lingered on for a couple of minutes at most before channel-surfing onwards.

Today, the tournament kicks off with hosts South Africa taking on Mexico. Who’d take the time on a Friday afternoon to watch that normally? But I will, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty of company.

And I’m actually quite excited about Uruguay-France in the evening. Not just for the usual reason that it’s fun to watch France lose, but also because with players like Suarez, Cavani and Forlan, Uruguay look an entertaining side.

See, the World Cup is all about being less parochial, about finding out who are the star names for sides you’d never normally see.

The big match, for Englishmen at least, is on Saturday, of course, but who won’t be watching Algeria and Slovenia to see how our next couple of opponents shape up?

If we get out of the group, and we really should, then it’s a tie against one of the Group D qualifiers. Could be Germany. Or maybe Ghana or Serbia.

But it might be Australia, which gives me yet another reason to watch their games, and hope for their success in the group.

I don’t think my loyalties will be terribly divided, though.