What's Miccoli up to? Another possible target.

He has a deal with Benfica and he is trying to solve his problems with Juventus, which is hard considering the situation Juve is in. Benfica is trying to get him for free.

I want 120 minutes of play, players sent off and njured and some post-game fight.

I guess the 2006 title will be to Inter.

And maybe the 2005 too.

But it is not for sure.

That's what the prosecutor wants.

For what I've checked, Trinidad and Tobago's substitution were midfielder for midfielder and striker for striker.

But anyway, what did they have to lose?

Nothing!

If Sven risked to put a second striker (Walcott) and lost the game due to it, you would all be complaining that he shouldn't have put a second striker.

Another positive side:

since this teams won't be in European competitions next year, Inter and Roma will secure a direct place in Champions league, Chievo and Palermo will be in the 3rd qualifying round for the CL and Livorno and maybe Parma will be in Uefa Cup.

This will make italian participation in the Uefa Cup weaker which could be good for Rovers.

Italian football federation prosecutor Stefano Palazzi asked for this penalties:

Juventus: seria C1 with 6 points deduction (for the next season, I assume), loses 2005 title and the 2006 won't be "accepted"

AC MIlan- last place in the league, seria B and 3 points deduction

Fiorentina and Lazio - Seria B and 15 points deduction.

He wants a lot of penalties for the indivuals as well.

If this happens, Inter are champions.

What's Scolari's obsession with Pauleta? He plays well for PSG and scores a bundle of goals. Statistically he is good for Portugal, but at the last two tournaments, he has been woeful. with Portugal only playing one man up front, with two wingers, you'd think a player like Nuno Gomes would be more suited to the lone striker role because of his size. However, it seems that Postiga is even ahead of Nuno Gomes in the pecking order.

Have no idea why he prefers Pauleta. But even before him it was like that. We were lucky that in 2000 Pauleta got injured before the beginning of the WC otherwise we wouldn't have made such a great run.

Pauleta is good against really small teams, that's how he beat Eusebio's record.

Postiga is another one. Don't like him. Don't understand what he sees in him.

As for Nuno Gomes being 3rd option, maybe it's because he was injured before the WC and might not be at 100%.

Fortunatelly, Pauleta will probably retire after this WC. Btw, there's an article in a portuguese newspaper asking "Pauleta, can we count on you?"

Just a final thought... Portugal doesn't have many strikers and the ones we have are not that good. My hope is that Bolton's player, Vaz Tê, might be a solution to our problems.

Must admit that when I first saw this topic I thought:

"Oh no, not Robert (as in Laurent Robert)!!! I want him to go out of Benfica but not to Rovers".

Scolari made a similar substitution in both cases (taking the striker off, putting a midfielder) but I guess he was only right in the first one.

In the game against Holland, Portugal was winning and the lack of striker made Portugal play in a 4-5-0. However, when attacking, Portugal could create danger as they have some fast players and Holland defenders missed a opposition reference to follow. While defending, everyone got behind the ball. That is understandable, as Portugal was winning.

Against England, I guess Scolari decided too soon. England were down to 10 men but he should have waited a little longer to make the substitution. If he was to make it then, he should have put another striker (I prefer Nuno Gomes) as Pauleta was playing really bad. So, for a while, Portugal had no reference in the front.

Sven opted, well I think, to put in a striker to make two defenders stay there. I wouldn't take off Joe Cole in that ocasion, I would probably take off Lampard or Gerrard.

No manager would put two strikers while down to 10 men, unless they are losing. English players were great after Rooney was sent off but they were playing a close game while trying to counterattack and a free kick or corner to Crouch to score/play with his team mates. With 2 strikers, it would have to be a more open game where the missing man might make a diference.

There is an excellent article by James Lawton in the Independent. It should be read by everybody who is an England fan, remembered by them and acted on by the appropriate people.

Is it this one?

James Lawton

Rooney said: "I want again to thank my team-mates for the unbelievable effort they put into the game and for all the support and encouragement they gave me after it."

He even thanks CR!!

Where are the supporters in these moments?

They should have assaulted Cristiano's family that lives in England by now.

Quite disapointed with the level of lazyness of the supporters.

All they do is a website....

I'm wondering when will the death threats start.

Astonishing the number of people who know better than Mark Hughes, keep faith with the Manager, give the player a chance.

Same old Rovers fans, one long whinge.

~

All football fans are like that.

They are all managers that know more than the actual manager of their club.

Hope Neill is included in the official WC team.

It would make his price raise and Real Madrid would buy him.

Sad to hear that, Waggy.

Well, not the player I wanted for Rovers but I trust Hughes can make him be what he used to be.

I think it comes down to just one penalty: Lampard's.

If you noticed the way Gerrard reacted, he was disapointed and also looked scared in a "If he failed, how are we gonna score?".

The player that takes the first penalty should be the best one you have (Simão is definetly the best in Portugal) to build up confidence to the rest.

Cause in this case, loads of players are not used to score penalties for real. They can spend months or years without scoring one.

With Sven, it seems he always went the other way. He picked his best players then tried to develop a system around them. He was still trying on Saturday night.

More or less what Parreira did with Brasil.

The way I look at it , it makes no odds how good a player is ; if they act the way Ronaldo acts then they should be driven out of the English league .

Please do!

And do it to all the ones that do it, the other leagues will be happy.

Ronaldo has bucked the trend his performance will get him a cut price move to Madrid

whatever!!

Pavel Pardo and Ricardo Osorio from Mexico signed for Stuttgart!

Looks like Ballack's ready to play for Chelsea. From Soccernet's commentary:

"99 mins -- SHOCKING DIVE! Ballack throws himself to the ground as he and Ayala tussle for a cross; a dreadful act of deception from the German captain."

Sorry but that is impossible.

Only portuguese players do it.

Sorry but those stats are wrong.

It only has 11 dives for Portugal, the same as England.

So, it is wrong!

I think Guus didn't risk as he should have. With one more in the pitch, Australia should have gone forward before.

Don't think it was a penalty.