Well, that was a nice little break, wasn’t it? I decided not to waste your time or mine trying to fill the Villa void with too much guff. The preview for that little derby game coming up on Sunday will be following in the next day or two, but I thought I should briefly touch on one or two things that I didn’t deem worthy of a blog post in the last few days.

As expected, Curtis Davies has had his shoulder operated on and will likely be out for at least 4 months. It’s always a danger with shoulder dislocations that the ligaments and tendons around the area don’t heal properly and it can get to the point that the joint is popping out almost at will. The only solution is surgery and plenty of time.

Time is a luxury that Villa can afford at the back now due to the deadline day acquisitions of Richard Dunne and James Collins. If MON’s purchase of two solid centre halves had caught you off guard then you’ll no doubt now see what the manager had in mind. Maybe he does know a thing or two about this game after all, eh?

Speaking of James Collins, I had the Wales vs Russia game on TV and I tried to keep an eye on the game, but I have to confess that the England vs Croatia game monopolised my attention somewhat. However, I caught his goal on replay and would be quite happy to see the same in a Villa shirt. Without Laursen, our goal threat at set pieces has been reduced a little, so some more firepower joining from the back is always welcome.

While Wales are just making up the numbers in World Cup qualification at this stage, Richard Dunne’s Irish team are still very much in the hunt. Dunne scored an important goal in Bulgaria to earn his side a point and also played his part in a dogged win in Cyprus which keeps Ireland hot on Italy’s heels. Ireland’s final two group games will be at home to Italy and Montenegro next month and they have very real hopes of at least a play-off place.

The team that could dash Ireland’s hopes in group 8 is the Bulagarian side that Stan Petrov has played every minute for during their World Cup qualifiers. They’re 5 points behind Ireland with two to play, so will need to win both and hope that the Irish fair considerably more poorly. It’s not impossible, but it doesn’t look likely that we’ll see our own captain in South Africa next year.

It’s all over in five team group 9. Holland had already booked their place in South Africa, but they didn’t take their foot off the gas in the final game against Scotland and qualified with a 100% record. At the same time, the Norwegians were beating Macedonia at home to nick the runner-up spot from the Scots, so hopefully we shall have the pleasure of seeing John Carew on the biggest stage next year.

John Carew played in all 8 of Norway’s World Cup qualifiers, but didn’t manage to get on any of the score sheets. I wonder if anyone in Norway would doubt his contribution to the team in the manner that Emile Heskey has to endure in England. Heskey has managed to score one in his 6 competitive appearances for England too.

Luckily for Heskey, Fabio Capello seems to be yet another admirer of his talents. With England unusually qualifying with 8 wins out of 8, I would defer to the Italian manager’s superior football knowledge. That said, Heskey really ought to have done a lot better with at least one first half chance against Croatia, not that it really mattered in the end.

Although in the squad, Ash didn’t make the team sheet against Croatia, but James Milner again got a run out from the bench and once again it was on the left. There’s a fair proportion of Villa fans out there who would probably argue that Ash is the better player, but might perhaps concede that Milner’s attitude may well be giving him an edge. Hopefully the fact that both players can play on either side of the pitch will keep them both in contention for South Africa.

Despite not being close to getting in the first team at Villa, Salifou still manages to get selected for Togo and he scored the third minute opener in the 1-1 draw at home to Morocco. That was his second goal of the 2010 World Cup campaign and he’s played in all 7 of Togo’s games. After disappointingly only managing back to back draws against Morocco in their last two games, the Togolese will need to perform very strongly in their final two games against Cameroon and Gabon. As it stands, it appears unlikely that we’ll see the Togolese Zidane in South Africa next year. I know, I’m sure the entire planet are absolutely gutted.

And finally, Brad Guzan watched his countrymen from the bench as the US edged closer to South Africa with 6 essential, if slightly unconvincing points earned against El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago – the recently retired Dwight Yorke in attendance in Port of Spain. It’s pretty tight in the final stage of the CONCACAF competition, but if America can pick up 3 points in their final 2 games – Honduras away & Costa Rica at home – they’ll be assured of their place in South Africa.

So there’s a very real chance of half a dozen or more Villans heading out to South Africa next year which will make the tournament all the more exciting for us fans. Last time out, in 2006, it was just Milan Baros, Ollie Mellberg & Ulises De La Cruz flying the Claret & Blue flag.

Perhaps that’s one more reminder of how far we’ve come in the last few years?