Samba stars could
start slowly

THANK heavens for the BBC, eh?

Were it not for them, and their unquestioned knowledge of what represents good value for our licence fee, I might be missing out on watching Tahiti play football this summer.

Tahiti play football, you ask? Well, actually no one's quite sure, but a group of South Pacific islanders have definitely flown into Brazil this week purporting to be a football squad, presumably on the grounds that if England can get through customs at Rio masquerading as a footy team anyone can.

And there they are, outnumbered by BBC staff obviously, but Tahiti are in Brazil for the Confederations Cup, and after getting chinned 7-0 by a Chilean Under-20 side my hunch is they've travelled with limited expectations.

Still, you can sit down and savour the unmissable showdown between Tahiti and Nigeria next Tuesday thanks to the BBC, who are obviously using it as a trial run in the art of over-hyping the completely rubbish before their annual decamp to Glastonbury.

First up though is Brazil versus Japan, a clash between the first two teams guaranteed places in next summer's World Cup, and one in which the samba lads are comically short.

I'm not sure I'd back Brazil to beat Scotland at the prices available (alright, but I'd keep the stakes smallish) and the Japanese are a decent enough side, who will give it their all.

I'm all over the Japanese on the Asians and expect to record a tidy profit which will be played up on over 5.5 goals in any Tahiti match.