The UK is currently experiencing one of its famed heatwaves and has been since the World Cup started. As an exiled Brit, this phoenomenon is now but a marvellous memory to me as whenever I venture home it is either the dead of winter or the ususal rain. I was in London in 2005 for their "hottest May day in 50 years". My memories of "silly season" give me a smile every time I think about it. I've been kept abreast of the weather by a host of bragging friends and relatives who regail me with soundbites such as:

"It's too hot to work". You can also insert sleep/cook/eat/think and any other everyday habit here.

"It's hotter than ..... today" Insert exotic locale here

Add to this news bulletins on hosepipe bans, stay cool tips, rumours of pubs runnning out of beer, supermarkets out of sausages and you have the makings of a very British comedy.

pg got me onto this topic with his musings. Does anyone have any other observations/anecdotes on the British summer.

i will probably down a few in the greyhound prior to the match, and try to fit one in in the crown just before entry...

Is the Grey Horse still open? It's closer the the Greyhound.

Would you not want soemone who could do what you want but at a higher level? Jurgen could train up a young apprentice. I don't think the US has a suitable home grown candidate yet.

Arena was never up to it IMHO. It's one of those things that looks daft to say as the bloke has done well wherever he has been but I don't think he really knows what goes on. He got a university job during the years when no one else wanted them. Did well there and went to the fledgling MLS where he won a few cups, mainly down to his team. He took over the national team that bascially has an automatic berth to the World Cup and had a good 2002. This time out his tactics and personnel were very questionable. Then after the US was ousted he comes out in a press conference and says that he has "other options". Silly ar$e.

Klinnsmann is perfect for the job. US soccer needs an overahul, he has the experience and clout to do it.

There was an article yesterday pointing out that between 14 and 16, British youngsters are totally mismanaged compared with France, Italy, Portugal and Germany.

How? Do you have a link? I am interested in this as England did look way behind in the WC. We never have been the most technically gifted country and our schoolboy system was shameful but I thought that the Academy restructuring was going to help alleviate all our problems. Although I have heard horror stories of 1 year contracts being given to kids of 8 and then telling them at 9 that they are not good enough.

I stopped posting on this messageboard because of some of the ridiculous views of some of the English posters when it comes to world football.

...and the English are noted as being arrogant.

Latest reports ahve a verdict coming in at 6pm UK time. Probably to let everyone get over it during the weekend and have a sale come Monday.

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?

Why doesn`t BRFCs have it`s own comp & present the club with the best kit/ideas?

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

http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup200...1817543,00.html

The Guardian writers sum it all up.

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?

Keep the burnley rentboy at Birmingham

fat arrogant idiot

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

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.

Big Phil took a Portuguese side way their natural exit point in this World Cup and won the last World Cup with an inferior Brasil side to this year's.

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.

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.

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