World Cup predictions: Paul Thomson, Franz Ferdinand

Who would you like to win the World Cup?
Our country hasn’t qualified - thanks for the reminder! At least we won’t have to suffer the humiliation of being eliminated at
the group stages. I don’t really know who I’d like to win. Even though I’m married to an English girl, proportionately our band is more English than Scottish and I happen to live in England, hard as I try, I still can’t bring myself to support Sven’s men! So my loyalties are split between Trinidad and Tobago, Sweden and Paraguay... oh... and Germany of course!

Who will be the competition’s key player?
We all got to see Barcelona play at the Nou Camp last year and watching Ronaldinho play is just incredible. As soon as he gets the ball your heart stops and you can’t look away. I recently read an interview with Zidane and he says that as soon as he gets the ball he’s already visualised what he’s going to do with it and I think all the great players have that gift and that definitely applies to Ronaldinho. He outclassed everyone on the pitch that night, granted they were only playing Celta Vigo, but still, he’s a genius. Plus he plays with a lovely goofy smile.

First And/or Most Abiding World Cup Memory?
a) Watching Gazza cry and laughing my ass off.
b) Watching Maradona score against England with his hand and laughing my ass off.
c) Watching Beckham getting sent off against Argentina and laughing my ass off. Will I be exiled after this? Will I get my windows panned in? What have I done?