germany 2006 begins in a few weeks. time to get a thread going for anyone's thoughts and opinions.

all the latest world cup news




ah ......the beautiful game!! joga bonita!!

tables and results

Braz showing a bit of quality.
Unlucky Bos, I feel for you. Totti is quite possibly the most overrated player in the world. And many may argue but I had a smirk when Owen went down, he was playing so poorly he deserved it. Lets just hope that hargreaves and Totti can do the same.

no arguement form me about totti, mr potts. bring on the aussies!!!

New nickname for hargreaves. Slinky spring. Useless and pointless but great fun to watch it falling down stairs.

Ooops

Top Italy teams charged in scandal Thursday June 22, 10:13 PM

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's football prosecutor on Thursday ordered four top teams, Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina, to stand trial in a match-fixing scandal that could see them thrown out of Serie A if found guilty.

The Football Federation (FIGC) said its prosecutor, Stefano Palazzi, had charged a total of 30 "subjects" - the four clubs and 26 individuals -- for sporting fraud and violating fairness and probity, offences that can be punished by fines, bans and relegations. FIGC chose not to identify any of the individuals who will face a sports tribunal next week, but leaks to the press showed officials from all four clubs, top referees and the former head of FIGC itself would stand trial.

Juventus issued a statement saying Luciano Moggi -- the club's former general manager sometimes called "Lucky Luciano" who is at the centre of many of the allegations -- and former CEO Antonio Giraudo had been charged.

AC Milan said on its website that CEO Adriano Galliani -- who on Thursday resigned as head of Italy's soccer league -- had not violated the principle of fairness, an implicit acknowledgement that he had been charged.

ANSA news agency issued a list of all 26 of the individuals charged, including former FIGC president Franco Carraro, Lazio president Claudio Lotito, Fiorentina president Andrea Della Valle and his brother Diego, the Tod's luxury footwear brand tycoon who owns the club.

All involved have denied any wrongdoing in Italy's biggest sports scandal in a quarter of a century. The trial will be held in Rome's Olympic Stadium and broadcast by closed-circuit television to journalists from the world's media.

PLACE SECURED

The FIGC statement was issued after Italy secured a place in the second round of the World Cup by beating the Czech Republic 2-0 -- timed to avoid hitting morale in a game that could have seen the national side ousted from the tournament.

Fourteen players in Italy's squad play for the four teams that face trial, with eight of them, including captain Fabio Cannavaro and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, in Thursday's opening lineup.

Ironically the first player to comment on the news was Juventus midfielder and Czech playmaker Pavel Nedved.

"Whoever did wrong must pay and must go down to Serie B or even Serie C," Nedved said after his national side was bounced out of the World Cup after losing to Italy.

The scandal erupted last month when newspapers published intercepted telephone conversations between Juventus's Moggi and senior FIGC officials discussing refereeing appointments during the 2004/05 season.

MEDIA SPECULATION

Media have speculated that league champions Juve could be demoted to Serie C1 -- Italy's third division -- and be stripped of the Serie A titles they won in the last two seasons.

Milan also risk sanctions after phone taps showed one of its officials discussing referee appointments with FIGC staff.

The club's owner, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, said he was sure Milan would not be penalised "because the accusations are based on phrases that might be said in any conversation".

In an affair that bridges sport, politics and finance, FIGC was asked not to release the news during market hours to prevent disorderly trading in Juventus and Lazio.

Since the scandal broke in early May, Juventus shares have lost half their value.

Juve shares closed up 5.9 percent on the day at 1.329 euros while Lazio shares, which only price once a day, added 4.32 percent to 29 cents, according to data on the Bourse website.

Any club or individual who is convicted can ask for an appeals trial which FIGC has promised will end by July 27, in time for FIGC to tell UEFA which teams will compete in next season's Champions League and UEFA Cup competitions.

When you think about it, the England team must be being run by a loony left council, hell bent on "embracing diversity".
The team manager and coach are Swedes. An injury to a Welshman has forced the Swedes to consider playing a Canadian from Germany, much to the amusement of ITV's chief analyst, a Croatian called Adrian.
Meanwhile, the Welshman coming off after a minute led to an apparant half gorilla missing link creature by the name of Rooney being partnered by a Pole.
At the back we are playing a camel with a drugs problem.
Amazing that we got this far.
;-)
Alan

- - - - - WORLD CUP PROBLEM PAGE - - - - -

Dear Deirdre,

A young German lady who I am keen to impress has invited me to accompany her to watch Germany vs Sweden on the big screen on Saturday. Being a true Brit, stranded in World Cup Land for the foreseeable future, should I

a.) excuse myself by pleading a prior commitment?

b.) go, and support Germany for the sake of making a good impression with said young lady, whilst inwardly unable to live with my treachery?

c.) go, and support Sweden on the basis that 1) I'm a tourist in this country and therefore not obliged to support the home team and 2.) somebody has to, in the hope that the young lady might find this very foreign and sophisticated and endearing?

d.) turn up draped in the St. George flag and fuelled with copious quantities of John Smith's, boo any goals regardless of whom they benefit, cheer all fouls and sendings-off and take whatever comes to me by way of physical violence (FYI the young lady is about to complete a doctorate in medicine and would therefore be excellently placed to take care of any resultant injuries)?

Other suggestions welcome.

Yours in the spirit of promoting international relations,
Soul Traders.

Go dressed as a Swiss (you know, lederhosen, chocolate, cuckoo clock etc.) and tell her you are trying to preserve your neutrality.

alan, i wish you hadn't put chocolat and lederhosen in the same sentence ........



best get the plasters ready ......

soul traders, to put it bluntly, a knock is a knock. do whatever you need to do :))

chocolat, with all this going on in the background it does make the italian team's performances more impressive. the pressure they must have been under in yesterday's game would have been incredible. it was probably a relief for them to get out on the pitch and play football. forza azzurri !!!!

Er.......wheres the clock and the knife with the special attatchment for extracting the kernel of truth from a philosophical debate??
Can't really be Swiss.

next two qualifiers

ha

LOL - Great advice, "Deirdre"; thanks to all contributors!

Tonights next 2 qualifiers.................



Thats right, isn't it Jimmy??

Looks like Owens little brother has stepped up as the new forward!!

Oh Kylie , its enough to make the city rumble !!

last two

knockout stages begin today. i just hope we don't start getting cagey games. it's understandable if teams do play cagey but it's been such a fantastic, open tournament up to now it would be a shame if it didn't continue to excite.