Follow England's progress with the iPundit app

The chances of England winning this summer’s FIFA World Cup in South Africa, which runs from June 11th to July 11th, are the best in a generation.

Two-one against the USA on the 12th, a five-niller thriller against Algeria on the 18th and a nail-biting one-all draw against Slovenia on the 23rd and the lads might just do it.

With so much at stake this time around, everyone from football-obsessed blokes and ladettes to armchair fans who only follow England when they do well or who fancy a bit of that Frank Lampard will be plotting England’s path to the final on 11th July in Johannesburg.

iPundit, a new, free iPhone app developed for Thomson Sport, lets you follow that footballing dream. The app is part interactive wall-chart and match schedule and part social match predictor and footie banter network.

At the heart of the app is Mr Pundit, a cheeky and controversial fan with opinions on everything and who just loves a good (and sometimes not so good) joke.

Asked about the launch of the new app, Mr Pundit said, “My wife has said she’ll celebrate the World Cup by cutting her hair in the style of the winning nation. I’m cheering for the Brazilians.”

iPundit allows anyone, from scarf-waving “real” fans to England’s army of fair-weather armchair supporters, to predict the scores in each match of the tournament. It lets you share your predictions with the mates in a social networking “mini league” of mates who have also downloaded the app. You can also pitch your punditry and banter about your punditry prowess with your mates and up to 100,000 other users around the world.

As the World Cup progresses, iPundit users are awarded points for guessing the correct score, with seven points for guessing the correct scoreline, five for the right winning margin and four for getting the winner.

The distinctive artwork featured in iPundit is down to illustrator Mr Bingo, a person as mysterious and as creative as graffiti artist Banksy. Believed to live in Shoreditch, Mr Bingo has illustrated articles in GQ and Esquire magazines as well as for big companies like Orange.

iPundit is intended for use in the pub, on the train, in the nail bar, in the office when the boss isn’t looking and even on the terraces in South Africa.

Paul Burrowes of Creative Change, the company that led the development of the app, said: “Everyone loves to predict a winner, especially during the World Cup. It is the sort of banter that usually happens down the pub but iPundit lets everyone from football-obsessed blokes to fans who only follow England when they do well to extend that to anywhere they happen to be.”

Thomson Sport’s Lynsey Devon said: “I’ll admit I’m an armchair fan but I have already downloaded iPundit. I’m a bit partial to fit men running around a field in a pair of tight shorts and I’ll be sharing my views with the girls.”

She added: “Football fans love a bit of banter and the discussions about who will win the World Cup in South Africa this year will increase to fever pitch over the next few weeks, especially as England have their best chance in a generation to win it.”

The last words on the subject, as always, are Mr Pundit’s, who believes our lads will go all the wa-hey. He said “I’m backing Engerland in South Africa to end all those years of hurt. If you download my free iPundit app now, it’ll be back of the fishnets.”

iPundit is available from the Apple iTunes store free of charge and there is a chance to win tickets to a match next season.