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

So the end of the world cup signals 2 things.
A start to the euro 2008 campaign and the start of the bidding to host the 2014 world cup.
I have heard through the grapevine that Italy have already submitted a bid to Sepp Blatter to host the cup in 2014, and it is a very strong one. It includes 20 million euros in a Swiss bank account, unlimited weekend use of a castle in tuscany and 3 nights with a Playboy model of Sepps choice.
Meanwhile Zinadine Zidane has revealed that he only came back into football at the insistance of his sponsors, I can't believe its not butter.
The betting has started on Euro 2008, with England 4/6 to go out on penalties. A slightly more tempting bet is on England winning the handicapped version of the same competition with a line-up that includes Owen, with only one working leg, lampard, who officially has 2 left feet, Rooney under the mentally impaired rules and Ferdinand because all camels should have at least one hump. If the competition runs to form they may have trouble with a Portugese side if it goes to penalties because their blind goalkeeper does have one working arm.
In a strange quirk of the random draw for the Euro qualifiers, Italy have been drawn in a group that contains San Marino, Lichtenstein and The Faroe Islands, with all their games played at home. the referee in each match will be an official of the Italian FA.
Sepp Blatter was today unavailable for comment from the Yacht in Palermo, where he is staying as a guest of Mr Moggi.