The other world cup

As armchair sports fans all over the world are settling down to enjoy the rugby in France (come on Portugal!), or the Twenty20 cricket in South Africa, or the vital European championship qualifiers, or the finale to the Formula One season, we should not overlook another sporting event taking place in China this month.

The women's football World Cup got under way yesterday and, unlike in the rugby, Argentina had a dreadful start. In fact they lost by a rugby score, 11-0, to Germany, who underlined their status as one of the favourites. The only representative of the home nations, England, are in the same group and will be looking to start with a win against Japan later today.

Happily all England's matches will be shown on TV, so it gives the uninitiated a good chance to find out about women's football, which has improved a lot in recent years. England are ranked twelfth in the world and have a decent chance of progressing from the group stages. Let's just hope they have a better opening match than the rugby boys did.