During the World Cup in 1998, a sports equipment manufacturer asked the rather strange question to several of the sponsored players: “Do you kiss football?” The players replied: “Yes of course!”

Well, today I saw players not only kissing football but also eating football and balancing a football on their necks and noses! Occasionally, some would even kick the ball. The players seemed to treat the football like their best friend. Maybe coach Parreira had read the book by the legendary great Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough, who would tell his players: ”Here’s the ball, it’s your friend, now go and play with it!”

Judging by the amount of fun and laughter I saw today, there are a lot of good friends out there. Robinho was back to his hilarious self and there was no one more pleased to see him than his partner in fun, Roberto Carlos. This pair, in the company of Cincinho, I am sure would have carried on playing till it was dark and then asked for the floodlights to be put on!

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Sometimes it’s a struggle to capture any action shots from the England training sessions. After covering 17 or more of them in Baden-Baden I can talk you through the first 15 minutes or so with no problem. What happens after that is anyone’s guess!

The players take a slow walk from the coach to a tent (about three minutes). They spend about four minutes putting on their boots and monitors to check their fitness levels. After, they gather around Sven, while he gives them a pep talk (allow two minutes for this).

Once he’s finished, the team runs around the pitch and stretches for approximately six minutes, (waving their arms in the air as they go!). They then group into two circles and kick a football around for a few minutes. That’s when my time is up and the media and photographers are moved onto the press conferences.

Sven meanwhile is left to weave his magic behind closed doors. He must be getting the job done though as England are in the quarter finals, with a great chance of going through…

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It was quite a serious afternoon of training today (with a little fun thrown in for good measure!). Our joker, Robinho, returned after a couple of rest days and treatment to his leg injury. Although his training session was much lighter than the rest, you could see he was itching to have ago. When he came onto the pitch in Munich against Australia he didn’t so much arrive, but exploded into action. Any team that may have to play Brazil in extra time will find his energy very hard to contain.

Juninho finished his training a little earlier than the other players and he was joined on the pitch by his two young daughters who had immense fun running around and kicking a ball. When Juninho started to do some press-ups, his youngest daughter joined in as well to help encourage him. Then Fred came over and started kicking the ball around too. It was a great sight to witness and I find it hard to imagine any other team where the coach would allow this. Some cynics may say that it’s easy to be so lenient when you coach the best team in the world but I would say that coach, Parreira and his team have a great attitude as well as a very balanced approach with the players. This, I am sure, is a reflection of Brazilian culture. Coach Parreira believes in family and believes in fun. Who could argue with this approach when they are so successful?

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So the great news today is that Elvis is a Brazilian fan and is alive and living in Germany. It’s true! I saw him with my own eyes and he was holding the World Cup too! And, the other great news today is Ronaldo, with his fifteenth goal, is the all-time leading scorer in the history of the World Cup. When history is made like this, it’s always nice to say that I was there and even better to be able to record part of the action.

The match itself was a physical affair and one in which Brazil appeared more focused and very much in control. From a photographers point of view, the matches are just warming up and the quarter final match against France, which is a re-run of the final in 1998, should I hope, be one of the best from this tournament. I have good memories from the final in 1998 as it gave me one of my best football pictures ever – a collision between Ronaldo and Fabian Bartez. With the added genius of Ronaldinho and Zinadine Zidane, it’s a match that I can hardly wait to capture.

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Stadium Cologne is a really good setting to capture images like this one. Just before kick-off, I watched the sun set through the large gaps at the top of the stadium, behind the Swiss fans. The light filtered in with just enough light on the national flag to make it stand out from their silhouetted bodies. I shot the picture on a 400mm lens with a tele-converter – so about 600mm lens in all.

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