Col moves closer to claiming Cup place

It was our boys wot won it! A potential pair of places on Argentina's team bus to South Africa, that is. Diego Maradona's partiality to Spidermag has been well documented, but he's also sprung something of a surprise by picking his Toon team-mate Fabricio Coloccini ahead of Barcelona's Gabriel Milito and other established stars of the world stage like Inter Milan duo Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso.

I'm not questioning whether Coloccini's had a good season - he certainly has - but Maradona's willingness to overlook the quality of the opposition he's faced is intriguing. Perhaps he's been swayed by our tousle-haired defender's newly discovered goalscoring form?

Of course, this was only the provisional 30-man squad, so Coloccini could yet find himself one of the seven left out from the final group. But from our perspective it would be interesting to get the opportunity to see him in action against the world's best, if only to get an indication of whether he really has improved during his season in the Championship or whether we can expect him to be exposed again next year.