We always lose to Pompey.

i think your user name tells us everything we need to know about your grip on reality ( give you a clue - the americans won the first one and the russians the second one) Ahem. In the first one the Americans turned up in 1917. To say they won it is a little disrespectful to the hundreds of thousand...

OK, they beat us soundly, but they also conveniently changed their laws to allow non-nationals to play for them, eg So, when you think of the following players who were born in Germany, appreciate that by law 11 years ago, some of them would not have been able and be allowed to play for the German t...

Could the one silver lining be that we sack the lot of them and start again with youngsters? The only problem there is that every top team only has a couple of good young players - and they are alaways out on loan. It's the bleeding Premier League - about 75% foreign. Just no room for good young kid...

This group became officially dead when Portugal beat NK 7-0. If the uber-defensive cheats had had IC up their arses they might have tried to win the game because a 0-0 coud easily go wrong. With the 7-0 they knew they were safe whatever happened, so 11-man defence it was. None of the pundits seem to...

And any way, whether Kaka deserved to go or not it was nice to se Karma at work- albeit 8 years on. Rivaldo hit in the knee (by a ball FFS) and falling down clutching his head was maybe the most obvious and embarrassing play-acts of all time. He got away with it in the game and the Turk was sent off...

Our English disease was encapsulated by a coach within the professional game who a little while back told my kids and I that nowadays clubs tend to look for the physique of young players first and foremost and then consider whether they are any good as players!! The English mentality is that they c...

He did touch it, making it offside, therefore no penalty and no sending off and only 1-0 instead of 2-0 and 11 men still on the pitch. Match not over. A huge wrong call from the ref/lino. First big ref boo-boo of the tournament. What I couldn't believe was that Mowbray and Lawro both pontificated aw...

Portugal are the world's worst team at breaking defences down. Very low scorers. Coudn't break 10-man England down when Rooney was sent off and they had an hour to score. I can see them struggling to score against N Korea unless Ronnie manages a cheaty free kick.

PEARCEY Its pretty cold tbf. Its winter I suppose in South Africa.

The commentator said Brazil V N Korea was the coldest match ever played in the World Cup Finals.

I think the issue with the ball is not the erratic flight sideways, but the impossibility to keep the bloddy thing down from distance. Ronaldo today was the first player to keep a long shot down - and he has special skills in this deparment. All the others have hoofed it and it's gone straight up in...

I feel a bit sorry for the N Korean players. They have been chosen as skilled practitioners of their art, but now they are stuffed. If they had not qualified they would have been "diasappeared" by now, but now they are even more high profile. The whole world is watching, not just SE Asia. ...

The ball thing. Apparently it was to reward skilful players and cause more excitement, but how many long range shots including free kicks have sailed miles over? It will be interesting to see if Ronaldo, as a free kick specialist, will be able to keep it down.

Ian Royal Deutchland, Deutchland uber alles!

Pedant alert: Deutschland.

How can you choose? It's like having to choose between Pol Pot and Stalin.

Agreed. I was confidently predicting that the refereeing would be rubbish, but the first two lots have been excellent. The lino's spot for offside for the first Mexican goal was stunningly good - the goalkeeper being in advance of the last man was so unusual that it could easily have fazed him, but ...

The awful standard of refereeing in general. Just a few examples from the recentish past: Rivaldo's extravaganza - it was the match ball FFS, so why wasn't the ref or linesman watching it? Brazilian penalty saved, but rebound knocked in by another player who had been standing two yards behind the ta...

I know I'm a little late with this one, but WTF? Portugal are now (end of April) third, despite having to play off for World Cup qualification while England, who lost just one game, are 8th. And Croatia, who didn't even qualify, are 9th. On top of that Capello has an excellent friendly record, so wh...

Who do they face if they end up third, ahead of Arsenal?

I think they will play their socks off to try to prove they are still a force. . I think you're wrong. I think in their minds they are already on their millionaire-style holidays LOL.... OK, I should have kept my mouth shut. No CL money for the second (all right the one and a halfth) season. With t...