Where to watch the key matches

BRAZIL V SCOTLAND

10 June, 4.30pm kick-off

Opening the tournament with a bang and a samba shuffle. The Salsa Club in Charing Cross Road are hosting a Mardi Gras style knees-up. The action's beamed up onto big-screen, there'll be a samba band, and lashings of caipurhina cocktails. 2pm-2am, pounds 4 entry.

ITALY V CHILE

11 June, 4.30pm kick-off

A guaranteed clash of Latin temperaments, there's no place better than Soho's Bar Italia to witness the passion, watch the skill, and feel the blood pressure rising.

FRANCE V SOUTH AFRICA

12 June, 8pm kick-off

Since most French places in Britain take themselves far too seriously, the best vantage point for this fixture is the South African Springbok Bar in Covent Garden. Not that you'd ever visit a back-packer haunt under normal circumstances, but this is the World Cup.

ENGLAND V TUNISIA

15 June, 1.30pm kick-off

Horse racing is the sport of kings, and now football's become the sport of city-types, employment consultants, and quantity surveyors. See them in action at the Soho Brewing Company in Covent Garden. have erected big screens specially for those whose hectic schedules can't manage an overnight stay in Marseilles for England's first game.

USA V IRAN

21 June, 8pm kick-off

At the Arkansas Cafe in Spitalfields Market., America's true colours abide - general apathy for soccer (they only have a 14in portable), but fine attention to their legendary rib-eye steaks. Booking by arrangement. 0171 377 6999

JAPAN V JAMAICA

26 June, 3pm kick-off

Escape the football philosophers and tactic bores and get down to The Prince of Wales pub in Brixton to soak up the party flavour.

COLOMBIA V ENGLAND

26 June, 8pm kick-off

Forget supporting our boys down your crusty old local, watching them at the El Barco Latino on Victoria Embankment is a much better idea. Novelty Valderrama wigs, salute Colombia's other greatest export, and shimmy the night away high and dry on a Latin disco barge on the Thames.