I heard that the USA was on standby. Maybe through hope more than anything else, but they did it for the prestigious women's world cup a year or two back after China backed out. Apples and oranges though. it would be interesting to see fan mile's in America where public drinking is banned, but I'd think they'd try to make an exception for the World Cup. American, you live in Boston don't you? Was the WC Final big screen party alcohol free or did they have tents?

My design would have blue and white halves with a sponsor on the front and a club badge.

It amde me feel disappointed at what could have been.

I think Malouda dived for the pen, but did not get a stonewall one in the second half. Even Stevens. Latest reports say that Materazzi called Zidane a "dirty terrorist" just before the bizarre chest butt. He's come out and denied it obviously. I wouldn't put it past him. Can we get some lip readers to refute this claim?

I was only joking about Dunny chatting up DMF's bird. I've heard plenty of stories about lads getting the hump wth Dunn when he walked into a boozer. Most footballers are arrogant children in social situations especially when they are with friends/fellow footballers. Most are very nice and normal in one on one situations. They seem to revert to their pre-footballer persona. DMF is suffering from a case of East Lancs disease; success is frowned upon. A local lad makes it big, lives the dream, makes loads of money and he chastised for forgetting his roots/being big time. Should he come back? If he's on offer why not. We'll get him for free, offer him a Jeffers sytle contract and watch Tugay's replacement light up the place.

I really enjoyed it. The coverage in the USA was spot on. They made a decent effort of it and a surprising amount of people actually watched the games. That can only bode well for the future in my eyes as if FIFA can snag the USA they'll have done pretty well. As far as the actual games some were good, some were bad. England disappointed, the diving was awful, FIFA"s referring directives were way off as it gave ref's no choice. Maybe in 4 years it will all change, but we'll have forgotten everything anyway.

Owen sticks the boot in and the rest are to follow. No surprise there then. A new Premier League season is around the corner and these overpaid primadonnas want us all to forget their woeful England form and make us think that they play like heroes all the time. The players are in a difficult situation; if they don't like the manager and come out and say so, what chance do they then have of playing? What would the press have said if England's senior players had no confidence before the trophy? Football is a culture of "yes" men, you back the person in charge until they get the hoof then you get your revenge. It's all well and good us lot posting that players should have said it earlier but their international chances would have been in jeopardy. We had plenty of "yes" men when our old bosses were in charge: Hodgson, Kidd, Souness all had the backing of players and the board, until they were offed. The longer it goes on, and especially now that the World Cup is over it gets easier to see what happened without the emotion of losing. England were not good enough; fitness levels were sub par, tactics were way off, the manager could not motivate, players underperformed, and we couldn't score penalties as usual.

I agree with having them carted off for a while. Genuinely injured players need the time anyway. It doesn't happen in Rugby, why football?

How so? Did he try to chat your bird up down Accy one night?

The official WC squad. Most are consistent with with what has been posted. I don't agree with Totti.

Oklahoma, I hate diving. Portugal got the worst of the stick as they progressed the furthest and at times seemed to totally rely on "the dark arts". Those stats of yours don't paint Portugal in a favourable light. I will always feel more aggrieved when England are hard done by as they are my team, just as you are standing your corner now, but some of the actions really got my goat. One incident that really wound me up was late on. A Portugal player was "injured", our keeper had the ball in his hands. He threw it out so the lad could get treatment. What did Portugal do once their player was up and running again? Give it back to the keeper? As that is where the ball was before the injury. No, they booted it the ball out for a throw in near to England's corner flag. Sportsmanship? An old favourite that is making a comeback is when players automatically grab the ball when they fall over; the South Americans are good at this. The ref has to blow the whistle. I've yet to see one where the ref gives handball though.

Portugal weren't better than England. You can blame numerous people for the loss. It turns out that Ronaldo is not one of them. The ref sent off Rooney for stamping on Carvalho. If Rooney deliberately did it (I don't think he did) then he gets a lot of the blame. If not, the ref gets some for a bad decision. Next up are Lampard, Gerrard, and Carragher for missing penalties. After that Paul Robinson for not saving Portugal's. Ultimately the blame lies with the lot of them. A manager stuck with playing silly systems, players not playing to their club levels, coaches not preparing the team properly. I could go on. There is no jingoism here; just bitterness at getting beat playing awful football against a team playing awful football of a different brand. Oklahoma, read this board, we have non-English on here slating the Portuguese for starters. What about the French?

Beckham. His performances were only half of what he could do.

When English players dive it is looked upon with scorn for the mostpart. I reckon that if the English played like the Portuguese the fans would be happy but there would be a bit of shame about it. As I've said before England is miles behind in the theatrical stakes. Until FIFA do something about it we will have to play catch up in order to progress. Portugal garnered their reputation way before the England game. The group stage was a prelude, the Dutch game was a horror show, England was the zenith, and France was the fall. The fact that the crowd booed every time Ronaldo got the ball said something about the following Portugal had. Many neutrals wanted Portugal out as they weren't very appreciated for their constant tactics. I do believe that the worst single game was USA-Italy. The Italians completey bewildered the very honest Yanks. However they've picked up since then, the Portuguese did not. What really cuts to the bone is the fact that a bad Portugal put an inept England out. They won an easy group, resorted to attrition against Holland, scored more penalites than useless England, and finally came unstuck. If they'd have played a team with any attacking nouse before the semi's they would have gone home as they never looked like scoring. Scolari deserves credit for making them organised, but you have to wonder why he's now played 2 tournaments with toothless Pauleta up front whilst having decent strikers keeping the bench warm. I think Ronaldo has played well this WC, unfortunately everyone in England will remember his winking. If he does leave it will be a shame for the Premier League as he is a genuine talent who is only 21. Carvalho is the bigger villain in my book. His constant pulling, holding, arms wide in innocence poses grate me. He put in an awful tackle for his booking last night. It was his just dessets that he caught Henry for the pen.

Phillip, why do you continually spell Brazil with an 's'? In English it's a 'z'.

The ref has come out and said that he sent Rooney off for stamping on Carvalho. You can argue until the cows come home about the deliberateness of it but shouldn't people now leave Ronaldo alone... ...and start on Carvalho for being a big puff.

Knowing that 5 of the French side, including Zidane, are on yellow's I have a sneaky feeling that the Portuguese will be on fine form trying to get them all banned. This may backfire, if a player is going to miss the WC final they have no reason to hold back. France 4-6 Portugal (bookings) At least 1 sending off. No bitterness here.

I agree. It must be all the reactionary press they read.

It is purely psychological. Mourinho is in the papers today saying what everyone else thinks; England were done for as soon as "England's finest goalscoring midfielder" rolled one to Ricardo. Every player had either experienced the loss before, and definitely remembered our previous cock ups. It has been said that they practiced penalties every day, why? It wouldn't do them any good as you can't replicate emotion. Why didn't all the players take the same pen; go up and blast the ball. The sheer power should beat the keeper. Also Robinson should have taken the first, he likes kicking it hard.

Good signing. Sounds like he won't cost much unless he scores a hatful of goals; oh no! Some of you are unbelievable. 300 pages of tripe about who's signing, 30+ pages lamenting Bellamy, then Dickov's replacement gets slated based on the fact that they've never seen him in a Rovers shirt. If Jeffers hasn't done anything by FA Cup 3rd round day, then you can have a complain. The lad is back north, he's working with a man who saw him when he was younger, and he certainly does not have "Matt Jansen syndrome"; Jeffers never fell off a moped and ruined his psyche.

The papers seem quite calm, more sympathy than vitriol. My personal favourite is Joe Cole banging on about stopping diving. I agree with him, but it's like the pot calling the kettle black. I do believe that for England to further their chances on the international stage we have to adopt the Portuguese way of playing (why don't all English players go to play in Portugal? They will learn quickly there); cheat, dive, con, and generally annoy our opponents. England's finest hour in that department was Rome before 1998. We had Sol Campbell and Tony Adams diving like swans, it was comical to watch, but it worked. This goes against our Bulldog spirit, but unless the laws are changed and postgame bans based on TV evidence are handed out to n0b's like Maniche we will have to play along. I would like to see a highlight reel of all this WC's greatest dives. It will wind everyone up but may show what we need to do or help the powers that be react. I still haven't changed my mind; Sven's the man to blame. As long as Steven Gerrard is fit Frank Lampard should be a sub for England. Beckham stands down as skipper but wants to play on. What will the new captain think? How will having the old captain still playing help matters? Beckham was never a captain, he doesn't have the personaility. Someone mentioned our players lack of fitness. I wouldn't say that but I would say that they could have been a bit jaded. Gerrard has played for 12 solid months, he was still going, but had no energy to kick that ball just a bit harder, and futher toward the corner. The media praised Lampard's consecutive game record; it really helped England. Beckham had a Christmas break but was barfing against Ecuador. Incidentally, the FA told UEFA to bog off last month about lowering the Premier League to 18 teams. McClaren has a job to do. England needs to find a new striker to partner Rooney as I fear Owen will never be the same again afer this injury. He was already crocked before this one, he will get slower and slower. His only saving grace will be if he manages to retrain his game. Our keeper will be around for a while, I think our back 4 won't change as Gary Neville will continue as he can't lose any pace, and the other 3 are still young enough for another 4 years at least, and we have ample replacements. Midfield? Gerrard definitely has 4 years, Lampard see earlier, we need a left winger, Lennon maybe, and a couple of strikers. What was our 11 v. Brazil 4 years ago? Seaman, RB, Campbell, Ferdinand, A Cole?, Beckham, CM, Scholes, LM, Owen, Heskey. Will we have another wonderkid in a few years? The beauty of this is that come August we will all have got over the disappointment and be looking forward to a good season of Premier League and European football down at Ewood. What may grate is when Frank Lampard scores his 15th goal in his 10th game for Chelski's rampant side and he is again voted in the top 5 for European player of the year, with World Cup flop Ronaldinho winning it.

Absolutey sick. Was not feeling too good after the England game then I watched France maul Brazil and felt worse. Just skimmed through a couple of posts and there are some I agree with and some I don't. Ultimately the blame for our exit in this tournament has to be at Sven Eriksson's door. His tactical stupidity, squad selection, ba!!less substitutions, and lack of motivational skills have cost us big time. The only time in this tournament we started playing was when Beckham was off and we were forced, because of 10 men, to link up with the lone striker. Sven seems like a very charismatic bloke, he got the players to believe his system, unfortunately it was the wrong one. Why play sit back and wait when it goes against the way these players are? Our defence is one of the best in the world, we don't need to protect it with 6 players. France proved that by outplaying Brazil with attacking football based on a decent back line. That is what is so frustrating; knowing what we could have done. 1 striker? Please. Lampard and Gerrard cannot play with each other; I think two wasted tournaments have proved this. These two are miles better for their club sides, but put on an England shirt and it makes them invisible. Lampard was woeful every game. I said drop him earlier but it didn't matter, he was anonymous for long stretches. You cannot play two similar players in different positions, they end up getting in each other's way.Scholes quit because of this. If we had 2 world class goalies would we play them both? No. So why play two similar midfielders? Greaves was dropped in 66 and we won. England is a team not a collection of good individuals, like Brazil. Do England's players/agents/ club managers weild too much power? How many times have we heard that we have numerous world class players? How many of them proved it? My only hope is that in the future, McLaren is able to pick the best team regardless of who they are or where they play or even how much money they make for the FA. We always hear stories of football going down the tubes, can it be saved? My guess is that the press will leave the players alone and stick the boot into Eriksson as he's off into the sunset. He can leave with a great record as an England manager, us fans are left with yet another bitter end to a pumped up tournament. Penalties are not our cup of tea, and never will be. Lampard looked like a deer in headlights walking up. That set a precedent for the rest of the lads, with probable sighs of "here we go again". We managed to get lucky, but got crocked again. Compare our pens to the German ones yesterday; night and day. The bright spot about today was watching Zinedene Zidane showing the everyone what world class really is. He ran all over Brazil and put more light between himself and thes rest of this generation in my eyes. Unlike our hopeless heroes.

Phillipl's quote from a few days ago Pity Pekerman chose to bring on Cambiasso, Gonzalez, and lampost Cruz. He played for 1-0 and came unstuck. A boring game, both teams were too hot. The Germans' were out of sync, the Argies played to hold on. Pleasure got something right. Oh no he didn't. Sorry lad, just having a laugh.

Grab your luggage lads As expected Poll has been given his marching orders, as well as the mad Russian. But Markus Merk stays; probably to wind the Yanks up.

An excerpt from Soccernet's players who are out article. How much can we get for him?