"I wasn't that surprised that Australia beat England 3-1 this week in a friendly international. But it must be tough on English fans - first Australia beat them in cricket and now they beat them in football - never mind tennis!

Australia have a number of good players in England and the rest of Europe - especially Harry Kewell who scored for Australia. I knew that Australia would be a formidible opponent for England and everyone knows what Kewell can do.

Some people knocked England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson for completely changing the side at half time and bringing on the youngsters - many who had never put a senior England shirt on.

But if these players are going to play for England in the future you have to use them in friendlies - that is where you can experiment.

It is no use for Eriksson to go into a game that counts and not know how some of these young players will react at that level. Playing at international level is such a big difference than playing at club level. I am sure the manager got what he wanted out of the game - although he obviously did not want to get beat!

England are always going to have a bit of a tough time playing Australia because not only do Australia have good players, they always love to beat England - no matter what the sport.

I understand that Australia are thinking of playing many of their friendlies in England because most of the players are based over in Europe. That does makes sense however it would also starve the Australian fans back home. It is an odd situation to be in.

Brazil drew with China 0-0 in their friendly in China and while the players may have been tired from the long trip over there, at the end of the day they still have to play strong. And they didn't. I believe that game was played in China for purely economic reasons. They (Brazil) probably made a lot of money out of it.

Spain's Raul showed how good a player he is by breaking the record for the number of goals scored for his country. He scored two goals against Germany in a 3-1 victory and now has 31 goals. It is a great achievement especially since he has so many years left in him. Spain were obviously on form to beat Germany and it always seems that they play very well in friendlies - it is the important matches where they can slip up. I don't know why.

Holland beat Argentina 1-0 but that is not bad for Argentina because I believe they were trying out a younger team - they are in a building stage. To go to Holland and only get beat 1-0 with the team the Dutch have is not bad.

The same goes with Portugal losing to Italy 1-0 in Italy - Portugal are also were trying out some new players and they have a new coach.

It was however a shock to see France lose 2-0 to the Czech Republic in Paris. The Czechs have been known to play some good stuff over the years and perhaps this was one of those performances.

Wales drew with Bosnia 2-2 and now have a good string of unbeaten games. You have to take your hat off to their manager Mark Hughes - all the players seem to like him and they are getting results.

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LARSSON

Celtic's great striker Henrik Larsson is again way ahead in the scoring tables in Scotland having scored 24 goals - his nearest rival is Rangers' Barry Ferguson with 15. But now Larsson will not be scoring goals for quite a while since he broke his jaw last weekend.

The game in Scotland can be pretty physical and Larsson is a slight player. I am surprised that a Premier club in England has not come in for him - I think he would do well down there.

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KAHN

Another player who is way ahead of many is the Bayern Munich 'keeper Oliver Kahn who everyone knows about - especially after the last World Cup.

Kahn has helped his team to lead the German league by eight points and last week let in the first goal for Bayern since early November - that is long time and I believe a record.

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SPAIN

Real Madrid are closing in on Spanish leaders Real Socieded who only managed a scoreless draw against Espanyol last weekend.

Meanwhile Real beat Real Betis 4-1 to go within two points of the leaders and you couldn't ask for a better list of goal scorers from Real - Raul, Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo - what a line up!

However Barcelona let a two-goal cushion slip and drew with Athletico Bilbao. I suppose their new coach Radomir Antic is settling in but they still remain in danger although I can't see them going down.

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ENGLAND

Manchester United must have breathed a sigh of relief when Newcastle held Arsenal to a draw last weekend after United drew with rivals Manchester City. In fact I feel that perhaps Newcastle and City should have won their games. It is still tight at the top between United and Arsenal.

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FA CUP

And now Arsenal play at United in the FA Cup this weekend. It should be a very good game and I think that whoever draws first blood will win it.

It is nice to see some of the lesser teams still in the FA Cup - teams like Crystal Palace, Walsall, Sheffield United, Watford and Norwich. I would like to see Palace get to the finals of the FA Cup after beating Liverpool. It would be a great reward for them.