...a glowing light will see you through, it's your day, shining day, all your dreams come true

With the start of the Euro 2012 footie tournament Young Ben and I were picking our Fantasy Teams last week

This is a task which takes hours of preparation, careful research into squads and fixtures, plotting out the results all the way to the final with the added restriction of only being allowed two players from any one country and being Scottish, obviously having no England players in my team



My team reflected this deep analysis and understanding of the tournament, Ben's team less so

My team had Casillas of Spain in goal and a back four of Corluka (Croatia), Pique (Spain) Boenisch (Poland) and Boateng (Germany). I then had a midfield three of Polanski (Eugen not Roman) from Poland, Sneijder (Holland) and Khedira (Germany). The strength of my team was up front with Arshavin (Russia), Jelavic (Croatia) and Van Persie (Holland) although after watching last night's performance Robin has a lot of making up to do.

You have a budget for your team so that to be able to choose stars like Sneijder and Van Persie for your team you also have to include players you have never heard of from Poland. It is a highly skilled delicate, balancing act

Ben's team did not reflect this

In goal he went for Daddy Pig, father of the more famous Peppa.
I think he thought Mr Pig's considerable girth would fill most of the goal making it difficult to get the ball past him

A goalkeeper in the mould of Tommy Lawrence who played for Liverpool in the 60s

At right back was Goofy, a 'dogged' defender

If you are planning to play defensive and 'park the bus' to quote Mr Mourinho why not just pick a bus as one of your central defenders. Hence the inclusion of Hippobus from Jungle Junction

Melman from Madagascar was his other central defender. If you are looking for height at the back you should always have a giraffe in your team. It certainly worked for England with Jack Charlton

At left back was Curious George. He just likes George so he had to find a place for him somewhere in the team

Wide right of a midfield four was Postman Pat. If you are looking for a player to put crosses into the penalty area Pat always delivers

He wanted a hard working central midfield with a strong engine so rather predictably he went for Thomas and Edward. Not a lot of creativity there though. It's like playing De Jong and Van Bommel in the same team. Are you listening Mr Van Marwijk?

Completing his midfield was Pluto. His skills are simply out of this world. I was going to say he was on another planet but we all know that is no longer the case and "he was on another dwarf planet" just doesn't quite work

Star striker is Fireman Sam. He is on fire at the moment, which is a bit worrying for a fireman but he is the hero next door so I am sure he will save the day as always

Completing his forward line was Zooter from Jungle Junction. Zooter has a terrific turn of pace. I guess having wheels instead of legs helps with that. A striker in the style of Craig Bellamy and almost as annoying

He wanted to play his Special Agent Oso Jigsaw up front but I managed to convince him he always goes to pieces in the box

He chose a joint managerial partnership of Mickey Mouse and Peppa Pig who are both equally adept at bossing people around and giving orders

Ben's mum seems to think that Ben already has an unnatural interest in football thanks to his dad and his grandpa. I really don't know where she is coming from there