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

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.

ooops!!! forgot about these two.

first teams to qualify for the quarters.

well nothing cagey so far. two absolutely cracking games, especially the argentina v mexico match. what a superb, highly entertaining game of football. what a goal by maxi rodriguez !!!!

Couldnt agree more bos excellent game got a bit of a sore arse watching all this footy though I never watch it normally more of a snooker and boxing man myself.

Argentina were made to look ordinary by Mexico who just didn't have the finishing touches, but if they meet Germany or Brazil they will have to step up a gear,
especially now Ronaldo has woken up from his sedentary mode.

oh dear!! i thought that was england's worst performance of the tournament!! they're very fortunate it was against piss poor opposition. big plus point was rooney getting through the game and getting stronger but there's now a bit of a question mark over robinson who doesn't look confidant. england need a big improvement if they are going to get past either holland or portugal.

Although they didn't set the world on fire Bos, I actually thought that was a better performance than the Group matches. England are not playing well, but they are doing just enough. Quite a few passes that would have been defence splitting, suffered from a marginal lack of accuracy, that on another day would have resulted in a much more comfortable scoreline. Robinson is a concern, he seems to be having a confidence crisis at the worst possible time. Rooney looked much better and I will be surprsied if he doesn't score in the next match. Personally, when Becks was sick I would have taken him off straight away. Although he had a better game, he will be significantly more dehydrated now and will take longer to recover. Seems Sven just won't take him off, even when the obvious is staring him in the face. However, England are gonna thump someone soon, they have too many class players not to click sooner or later. I would be quite happy for them to limp through the next two matches and then win the final in style. I can dream.

pth

I refer the right honourable gentlemen to the team I posted some days ago.
I think the performance was only just enough, and almost any other team in the last 16 would have whipped our arses.
4-5-1 is just too easy to defend against for world class opposition, and Rooneys great strength is not his ability to hold and wait.
In truth, world class striker that he is, Rooney would play better in that formation as the man running on rather than the lone striker!!
Joe Cole was a little disappointing, as he was over cocky given the way the team was playing, but I thought Lennon showed his class again for the few minutes he was on. Carrick had a good game and even Hargreaves was a little better, though I thought he was a bit ordinary and gave up possession too easily on a couple of occassions.
Lampard seems short on confidence and Terry had a nightmare by his own high standards.
It doesn't look very good for the next round, but please Sven, play the 4-4-2 that we always look comfortable with. The players will play with more confidence and we will look a threat going forward. The 3 teams we are likely to face from here on in are not going to be cowed by a 5 man midfield, and are certainly not vunerable to a counter attack.

I fell a sleep six times I'm going of this footy stuff.

alan, i don't think the system was to blame. if individual players don't perform then it doesn't really matter what the system is. england performed poorly and should be grateful it was against ecuador. if england play like that against portugal ..........then again , do the portugese have any players left after that shambolic refereeing tonight!!! glad to see the back of the dutch, another very much over-rated team although i feel for marco van basten. now, he was a great player!!

portugal through but handicapped by a shit ref!!