Right, first up, this here piece is as a result of a response to this.

I received the following email yesterday from a regular correspondent -

I agree it is pointless during a summer off (albeit a good small dry run for the riskiest World Cup on record) but maybe you can factually point out to Gooner 48 and readers why the eight teams are there.

There are eight teams participating in this edition, with South Africa taking their place as hosts and Italy as 2006 World Cup winners.

The following champions are also present: Spain (Euro 2008); USA (2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup); Brazil (Copa America 2007); Iraq (2007 AFC Asian Cup); Egypt (2008 African Cup of Nations) and New Zealand (2008 OFC Nations Cup).

Ok, well I suspect that Gooner 48 knows damn well the pretext of the tournament, but declined to mention it because he still considers the thing a waste of time regardless. And I agree with the sentiment.

However, that hasn’t stopped me watching many of the matches, and I have to admit, I’ve quite enjoyed it. This is partially shaped by an interest as to the feel of internationals in South Africa due to my own plans to attend some of the World Cup in the flesh next summer. On which note if there are any South African-based Gooners, do get in touch as it would be good to meet up with some Arsenal fans while I am out there.

The real benefit of the tournament is that it’s a dry run for the real deal, and I’d say that in South Africa, this is a lot more of a useful exercise than it was in say Germany four years ago.

And as a waste of time, it’s a much briefer one than following Big Brother, which, with a fascination for wannabe human lab rats having their minds f***ed with, I admit to doing in previous summers. The current bunch are so dull though that once Sophia – the only character of the remotest interest - was booted out after two weeks, I opted to watch the football instead.

And there have been some decent matches – all of Brazil’s for starters. None more so than Brazil 4 Egypt 3 which was a bit of a classic. And seeing Italy perform so badly also had a peculiar fascination.

But what has made this tournament interesting for me is that the countries are all fielding the strongest teams they can muster. No-one is sitting it out, so we are not watching half-baked sides as often has happened in the past. And the reason is possibly because the Confederations Cup is in fact a decent piece of preparation for the real thing, both on and off the pitch.

Semi-finals on Wednesday and Thursday are Spain v USA and Brazil v South Africa. Both on BBC3, 7.30 kick offs. I’ll be wasting my time watching with a beer in hand.