In my view Cole is not on the level of Zambrotta or Lahm.

Especially when it didn't matter for when Totti spat on the Dane at Euro 2004.

Basically what I think: http://www.eurosport.com/football/worldcup...sto929153.shtml

He has titanium plates in his head - he said he didn't even feel it.

If McBride believes it wasn't malicious, I'll believe it wasn't malicious.

I've read that Zidane has been given a "three match ban" which he will serve by doing three days of community service, while Materazzi has been banned for two Euro Qualifiers. Personally, I think this is absolutely ludicrous - Zidane and Materazzi both agreed that his comments were defamatory but not racist, and to be given 2/3 of the suspension for saying something is absurd. The only reason this became an issue was so Zidane could go out with part of the blame shifted. There was no excuse for the headbutt, and a "three match ban" is a laugh - De Rossi got 4 WC games for a non-malicious elbow.

From official website:

Sounds like Gallagher is playing well ...

"In view of the pitch" means as long as nobody on the pitch can see you drinking, you're okay.

I'd go for Peter Nowak, personally. Just keep plucking coaches from DC United and we'll be top of the world soon enough

"Open wager." Anyone who wants in.

LeChuck, they won't have 3 of 4 world cups in Europe either.

Do more Serie B teams get promoted or do less Serie A teams get relegated?

They let other Italian teams that finished lower in the league in.

They're all the same race anyway!

Well ... http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=373767&cc=5901

I don't see how AIDS could be a reason to move the World Cup.

Italy 2 - France 1

What Pauleta was protesting when Miguel went down was not for a foul, but the fact that the French wouldn't kick the ball out of bounds.

How many goals did England score from open play this WC?

I don't know, I like it. It's a chance to bond with people over soccer that you wouldn't normally get to watch/talk about sports with. Even if I'm only one of couple of friends that actually liked the US national team.

I don't see how you can say that France haven't been good in the elimination stages. They ran Brazil ragged and had a huge shot advantage. Zidane was masterful and Ribery was impressive too. The rest of the midfield and defense did excellently to shut down Brazil's midfielders and forwards/forward.

People talk about betraying a teammate, but Ricardo Carvalho is his teammate too, and blood (country) is thicker than water (money/club).

So, what specifically did he do to get you riled up? Ratting out Wayne Rooney for an offense that should get him at least a 3 game suspension? Or flopping? I haven't seen any calls to run El-Hadji Diouf out of England, and he's worse on all accounts.

A repeat of the Euro 2000 final in the cards?