watching the england game, it's just like watching wimbledon in the john fashanu days. So uninspired. I hope trinidad score to actually turn this shit into a proper game

Holy shit. Best save ever.

When the F.A. employed Sven Goran Eriksson, they had this World Cup in mind; the stated aim was that by 2006, England would be the 'number one team in the world'. All the requested preperation, training etc has been granted in the attempt to realise that goal. We are repeatedly told that there will be 'no excuses' if we fail this time. Owen stated yesterday that he will finish this tournament as top scorer.

I hope Sven's half-time team talk is something special, because it's been a drab performance so far. The team needs to come out for the next 45 minutes and play T&T off the park - for the points and for the morale.

COME ON ENGLAND!

PLEASE!!!

You know he almost started dancing. I read that he said he wouldn't but I can't find the article.

yeah, he did say he wouldn't dance unless he scored in the final, on the last two england games they've absolutely no chance of getting that far. They've been fucking terrible

yes, 3 goals from my captains in 3 days!

Aaron Lennon has been the only player that's looked decent enough today

They random picked up steam in the last 10 minutes. It seemed like Gerrard made a "just for fun" shot. They play better like that.

I feel bad for the guy that just made the offside shot...

Shaka got shocked. ulmer's detour must be happy about that Gerrard goal.

Relief.

At last we score. 2 - 0. Good cross and a good header by Crouch. Very nice strike by Gerrard (my captain today!). Aaron Lennon did well - he seemed to inject some energy into things.

from the fantasy football homepage, funny picture

Nice pic.

To be fair we did create some chances - there were five instances were our players had either an unoppesed header or shot right in front of goal, but only one was even on target (the Lampard effort)!

We are capable of much better than that, no question. On another day a few of those chances would have resulted in goals, but even if they had gone in today, it wasn't impressive overall.

I think T&T looked good against Sweden partly because Sweden forced them to play well - we did very little that was creative or dangerous.

I think this game will lift England in a way, build up confidence. A win is a win, and England have two of them.

Was anyone else starting to think Sweden was going to go without a goal again?

Today's matches:

Argentina vs Serbia and Montenegro
Netherlands vs Cote d'Ivoire
Mexico v Angola

Netherlands vs Cote d'Ivoire could go either way - it has to be the pick of the games today.

Ive got three strikers plying today, but looking at first game performances and managerial selection, I'm not confident...

If you are in the UK and at work (like me), here's the link to Argentina vs SErbia Montenegro, live on BBC

Riquelme as captain is popular today hehe

three to zip at the half

use the word

the word is

clinic

some of us (incl. myself) should have had more faith in Crespo & made him captain...yep.

& Tevez!
whoa!
5-0

and now

6-0...Messi bustin' that cherry

i didnt get to see the match but from the highlights i saw, it looked like riquelme didn't get the last pass/assist in any of the goals :( did he have any shots on target?

That goal with all the passing looked amazing

Atari's got 2 different scorers in the same game. He gave Cambiasso a try, he was the only one in our group. Bra-vo.
Luckily for me, Messi scored too.

Netherlands-Ivory Coast to go. What's it gonna be?

i'd say 1-0 or 2-1 to netherlands

My guess is Netherland will win, with a narrower margin than the wonderful game that has just ended.
And, look, what do I see?
_slavo_ running along the field, practising. Expect a new team in a short while.

I don't believe this - the company I work for has blocked access to the BBC web site!

That's a shame - I've heard a lot of places are doing that. Idiots.

All the live BBC games are live online from that site.

6-0 to Argentina, and my man Riquelme fails to score! Great win though - they utterly decimated their opponents. It would almost be wrong to call it a contest, it was so one-sided, but as an exhibition of footballing skills, it surpassed everything.

Van Persie just scored for Netherlands though, so that's a bonus.

worst world cup hair?





think he's a zoidberg fan?

haha yeah the rattail...the announcer mentioned the Angolan (as you know)

what about

Lee Chun-Soo from South Korea with his dye-job?

he's a contender for worst world cup hair too


fuckin' Akwa...he scores more than anyone in the qualifying rounds...then he misses every shot against Portugal & now today did very little except effectively help with the defense towards the end...

Hey, if any of you also get ESPNC espn classic, they are rerunning the games right now...the ARG vs SMT replay just started

im scared of this dude

Well at least Angola maintains its chances to qualify.
Some savings from the keeper. One-handed ones.

Angola actually has some good chance to qualify: if they beat Iran, and Portugal beat Mexico, the goal difference will decide which team goes through... and i wouldn't be too surprised if Portugal manages to beat Mexico by a 2 goal margin...

i only saw one one-handed save, but it was nice...

Joao Ricardo did well in goal at times, although he rode his luck a bit too!

My man, Borgetti, didn't play for Mexico tonight! He's the kind of guy who pops up with a goal or two when it's needed.

MEX is wasted without Borgetti
ANG is an okay defensive team...it's just that Portugal (hence their win over ang) & is in top form which makes them a shoo-in for that group & a bit dangerous in round 2...

another hair club finalist
Danijel Ljuboja from Serbia & Montenegro

Huge game for the USA tomorrow. They have to decide on a course of action; Should they go all-out for a win against Italy, or try to grind out a point, hoping for a good result (ie a draw) elsewhere and a good final day? The Czechs are quite likely to beat Ghana tomorrow though, and if that happens then USA need points tomorrow or they are out.

A good chance for my Portuguese players to get points against Iran tomorrow. So expect a shock result!

USA coach Bruce Arena publicly remarked (grain of salt there) that his strategy would be to hold back & calculate their offensive attack if the Italians held back (which they are expected to do).

I think that for the US to stand a chance they must just go all out to the point in which their limit is felt & even though that is risky, it is the course they must take to possibly get the first goal (which they probably essentiallly need)=

It's not without possibilty that the US could win, so they have earned that much respect, but I don't expect them to be able to tie or win tomorrow. I do think that they'll score a goal; whether it comes from Donovan, Johnson or Reyna is anyone's guess.

great start for ghana there! 1min 7 seconds and a goal straigh away

portugal-iran was a bit boring but i had ronaldo as my captain and he got me 36 points

oh the pain...

i chose Kinsky as captain

i always choose the wrong captain

such is my malaise

byt

Give it up for Ghana pulling off the upset

screwed me up terribly, but Ghana has emerged as the African team to be reckoned with after all signs pointing initially to Angola...

what an ending with the Czechs taking 3 noneffective shots successively...too much German beer & whores for the Czechs or what? At any rate, it shows how that first goal is crucial.

Way to go Ghana - 2-0 up, makes for an interesting fianl day in the group (especially if the US pull off a similar result tonight). I see Portugal beat Iran 2 - 0. Did anyone see that game to knoe if they were impressive again?

I haven't actually been around today - the computer must have not logged out properly last night! Bizarre.

portugal's match was alot like englands, wasted the final ball everytime until the last 15 minutes or so and got a penalty to finish it off. Good goal by deco though

Thanks. I like Portugal (England's oldest ally, historically, apparantly). I'd like them to go far in this tournament.

It has to be said that Ghana have missed at least 5 golden chances - they could have absolutely routed the Czechs.

USA vs Italy later. My team needs some points!

This tournament desperately needed that Ghana upset. Things were getting way too predictable.

Imagine the final day of play for Group E if the States can get their stuff together and win today!? (wishful thinking)

Ah, anyway. Kick off shortly...

I'm loving this game so far.

I'm glad McBride's back in, too. He's I think my only player in this game.

what the hell just happened? did the u.s. get another player sent off? I missed whatever happened. The first u.s. red card was only a yellow, I hope the second was for something more substancial

the states wus robbed

that was a dramatic game wasnt it?

First off, I'm semi-pleased with the result, considering it keeps us very much alive.

Second, the ref needs to die. States fans, and Italian fans should feel robbed for the fact a physcial, tense, and important game was tarnished by AWFUL calls.

Third, the Italian football team should also become the Italian diving team.