The centre-back owns two restaurants in the city, Cafe Sports England and Cafe Sports Express, the latter complete with mascot Sporty Star wearing Carragher's number 23 who mingles with diners and performs sporty stunts.

But not content with running the businesses it seems the 32-year-old is game for a laugh as well, and sometimes takes a turn inside the costume.

"Jamie puts in so much time and effort and he's such a good sport," a source told the Liverpool Echo.

"Customers are often intrigued as to whether Sporty Star is Jamie Carragher ... and every now and again it is!"

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It has not been a good week if your name is Robert Green but those blessed/cursed with the moniker can get a little light relief tomorrow.

In the hours leading up to England's second Group C match against Algeria in Cape Town, when the West Ham goalkeeper will nervously be awaiting news from coach Fabio Capello after his blunder against the USA, theme park Alton Towers is offering free entry to the first 100 Robert Greens who turn up.

It's difficult to know which is more nerve-wracking: standing in line waiting for your go on Oblivion or 90 minutes watching to see if Green can avoid another mishap.

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Considering the England coach's outburst at photographers recently it seems his fiery temperament has been suitably reflected by an Indian restaurant on Tyneside which is serving a Capello curry.

Advertised as twice as hot as a vindaloo, the dish is free to anyone who can finish it at the South Shields establishment.

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Figures coming out of South Korea reveal, somewhat unsurprisingly, that captain Park Ji-Sung pays the most income tax of all the players in the national team.

According to a posting on the Ministry of Strategy and Finance blog, the Manchester United midfielder contributes an estimated £1.6million to the Exchequer.

A long way behind in second place on the list is former Middlesbrough flop Lee Dong-gook, now at Korean K-League side Jeonbuk Hyundai.

His income tax contribution was estimated to be in the region of £128,000.

It is safe to assume the idea of the authorities publishing players' tax liabilities is unlikely to catch on in the Barclays Premier League.

***

New Zealand's draw against Slovakia may have been a landmark moment in the nation's footballing history, it being their first World Cup point, but the enormity of the occasion was lost on some Kiwis.

Take, for instance, Wayne Smith, assistant coach of the All Blacks - by far the most dominant of all New Zealand's sporting enterprises.

The rugby team may be preparing for a Test match against Wales but they sat down to watch the game, although the 10-hour time difference to South Africa did not help.

"I might have dozed off at the wrong time," admitted Smith.

"I was struggling at one point and I missed New Zealand's goal. I woke up and saw the result and slept a bit better for it.''

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Spain's surprise defeat to Switzerland yesterday completed a woeful first round of games for the world's top-10 ranked teams.

Only four - Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Holland - registered a victory.

A lack of goals has blighted the early matches with only 1.56 goals per game scored in the opening round of fixtures, well short of the previous worst of 2.21 in at Italia 90.

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World Cup stat-attack

:: Greece defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos has the longest surname (16 letters) of any player in the tournament.

:: England'sAaron Lennon and Peter Crouch are the little and large of the World Cup. Lennon is 36 centimetres shorter than his 201cm-tall Tottenham team-mate - the biggest difference between two players in any squad.

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TV commentator John Helm did his bit for international relations during the Argentina v South Korea game: "Yeom tackles you know who (Lionel Messi)...that's not a Korean player by the way".