Btw, can anyone tell me what tune is played at the end of every game in the world cup?

As close a game as any in this world cup, likely to be decided 1-0 on in penalties.

One thing is for sure though, Spain will miss a lot of easy chances

Feel bad for Neill

That was simply not a penalty

Wasn't as good as Joe Cole's volley

Tinted Glasses

It was every bit as good, in fact it was slightly tougher for Maxi as he had to spin 90 degrees after receiving the ball on his chest

This English jealousy you have is really unhealthy I must say.

If you cant see how much harder our group was compared to the Germans, then your stupid as well bitter. Every single one of those teams are better than the other in comparison

How were Englands rivals any better than Germany's???

Poland and Sweden both qualified as best 2nd place holders in Europe so they are roughly the same

Ecuador finished above Paraguay in South American qualifiers

Costa Rica finished above Trinidad in Concacaf qualifiers.

I leave it to any neutral observer to decide whether Englands group was "much harder" than Germany's when 2 teams in Germany's group are better than the corresponding 2 teams (from the same region) in Englands group, and the 3rd were almost equal based on European qualifiers.

How many goals did torres score last season a paltry 13 , rooney scored 20ish and he plays just behind the main striker. By the way rooney is also younger than torres and i watch la liga regurley . Torres is a quality player but there is no comparison to rooney who i rate in top 5 players in the world

Torres plays for a mediocre Spanish side, Rooney plays in the 2nd best team in England along with players like Saha, RVN and Ronaldo.

You can rate Rooney in the top 5 players in the world, no one is stopping you from that.

However, neutral observers wont consider Torres as much far off from Rooney.

Just because the British media hypes him up doesnt make him much better than Torres.

Its the thug English tinted glasses again.

Amen to that. Its frustrating to see people claiming Rooney as much better than Torres, Terry as much better than Puyol, and the English team as "the best side after Brazil" only because they watch the EPL more than La Liga

######. Germany, for example, had a far easier group than we have. So have Spain.

Far easier???

Ecuador = Sweden

Poland = Paraguay

Costa Rica > Trinidad

Italy look average at the moment. Pirlo, Gattuso and Perrota - is that a midfield to get you excited?

Doesnt matter whether it makes one excited or not as long as they get the job done, and IMO they have done a better job than Brazil's midfield so far.

Italy hasnt really shone, but they have taken their chances, and so have two very effective wins against Ghana and Czech Republic.

USA's first red card was a horrible challenge that could have broken Pirlo's leg as bad as Cisse's.

It doesnt reflect well on the EPL for fans to say , "such and such would never be penalised in England". That was teh case before when Keane and Gerrard got away with murder.

However, Referees have become stricter even in England, cue Ronaldo's red against Man City, Gerrard against Everton or Dickov's against West Ham. And why shouldnt they?

There's nothing "manly" about challenges which break legs. Such fouls deserve to be punished with a red card and nothing else.

There is a reason we rank above them on the FIFA list and without the ref, today's match would have shown that.

USA may have beaten Italy 11 on 11. But please dont bring FIFA rankings into this.

USA and Mexico are better than Argentina and Spain as well, and the Czech Republic is the 2nd best side in the world according to that joke of a ranking

There is no perfect team out there, but England are one of the top three and in my opinion those three are slightly ahead of a following pack which is then virtually impossible to seperate.

On what basis are you putting England over Italy, Spain, Portugal, Holland or Germany?

Has England performed better than those 5 in either qualifying matches, Euro 2004, or friendlies?

The Argies are 3-0 up and looking like world-beaters. The second goal was a work of art.

Nothing special. England are every bit as good as Argentina. Also lets not forget that its only Serbia that they are playing.

Iran Vs. Portugal, Saturday 17th June 2006, 1500 Local Time,

Stadium: Walstadion, Frankfurt

This is what I conjured up while watching Germany-Poland. I will expand on it sometime on Thursday

Where they stand: After a solid if unspectacular win over Angola, Portugal will be looking to almost guarantee qualification for the 2nd round with a win over Iran.

On the other hand, Iran has to win to have a chance of progressing. The defeat against Mexico was extremely demoralizing given that Iran matched them till the last 15 minutes when they ran out of stamina.

Formation:

Both teams adopt an almost identical 4-2-3-1, and both have keepers who don’t exactly inspire confidence.

Changes from Opening Game:

Daei is said to be injured a la Raul. And just as rumors abound that Raul’ injury reports were blown up to lessen the embarrassment at being dropped, similar stuff is being heard about Daei. To be honest, Daei was ineffective against Mexico, he is slow and many Iranian fans feel he should not be in the opening XI. However, Daei is immensely influential and gets picked on that basis alone.

As of Friday, its been confirmed that Daei will in the Subs Bench against Portugal. This should come as a relief and allow Iran to play a faster attacking game.

Many would also liked to have seen 2nd choice GK Roudbarian being brought in for 1st choice Mirzapour after his miskick allowed Mexico's 2nd goal, but is still not sure as to who will start

On the other hand, Cristiano Ronaldo completed only 15 minutes of training and is a doubt for the Iran match.

UPDATE

According to Branko, Daei will indeed start against Iran. I am not sure how many Iranian fans suffered heart attacks after hearing this news, but I do know Daei has to score or else..........

Prediction:

I just cant see Iran conceding less than 2 goals, however Daei's exclusion will mean their offence has more zing. If they can score off the chances they get, it will finish 2-2.

If they are wasteful (as is often the case when karimi plays in offence), it will be 2-1 to Portgual.

Group Situation:

Yesterday's surprise draw between Mexico and Angola means the group is closer than before and a Iran-Portugal draw today will mean all 4 sides will have a chance of qualifying going into the last round of games.

A portugal win takes them to the 2nd round and eliminates Iran

Lineups

Surprise, surprise, the week long saga ends with Daei dropping to the bench after a back injury

Ricardo,

Miguel, Meira, Carvalho, Nuno Valente,

Costinha, Maniche,

Figp Deco, Ronaldo,

Pauleta

Simao is dropped for Deco with Figo returning to his position as right winger. Costinha and Maniche are also both back replaing Tiago and Petit

Mirzapour,

Kaabi, Golmohammadi, Rezaei, Nosrati,

Nekounam Teymourian,

Mahdavikia, Karimi, Madanchi,

Hashemian

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. They were only playing Ukraine and everything went their way.

while I don't believe you can say their squad of players is as good as the England team.

Only Ukraine? You mean the first European team to qualify for this World Cup from a group having the European Champions, Denmark, and Turkey?

And who did England play and yet scrape through 1-0?

Casillas > Robinson

Defence England>Spain

Midfield: Xavi, Fabregas, Alonso, Senna, Albelda = Lampard, Gerrard, Beckham, Cole

Attack: Villa, Torres, Reyes > Half-Fit Owen, Rooney & Crouch

Do you still think Spain is not as good as England?

Just to think that some here were dismissing Spain as weaker than Englandrolleyes: , when by all accounts they are at least as strong. By their performance today, Spain should be considered greater favorites to reach the final, unless they meet an in-form Brazil of course.

How close was Farhad Majidi to being in the squad? Seeing him play week in and week out, I feel he would have been very useful as he offers a different dimension than Daei or Hashemian, he is pacy, can finish very well, can run with the ball, good in set pieces, the complete striker

A Hashemian - Majidi partnership would have been great...

You have to visit the south and midwest on a Saturday during college football season to truly appreciate the passion. It is on par with soccer worldwide.

I have been to the Longhorns against the Aggies which is among the top 2 or 3 games in College football in terms of passion and rivalry. Yes, everythings painted Orange in the UT campus, and 80,000 fans are yelling hook 'em horns on their way to the game. But IMO it doesnt really beat the passion and rivalry between Iran Vs. Saudi Arabia in a World Cup Qualifier or even a Wahda vs. Al Ain derby here in the UAE. Its a lot like the latter, but few college football games reach out to people across economic and social classes the way soccer does.

Did he try and fool the officials? I didn't see any attempt at an appeal, he simply went to ground.

he simply went to ground.....and his face gestured and winced that he was in pain. People fall over all the time in football. However, if he just went to ground, why did he use such facial expressions, which are generally by players who, 1) are injured, 2) trying to con the referee ?

1958 - Brazil 2006- ?

1962 - Brazil 2002- Brazil

1966- England 1998-France ( European team winning for first time on home ground)

1970 - Brazil 1994- Brazil

1974-Germany 1990-Germany

1978-Arg. 1986-Arg

1982-Italy

If the above trend continues, Brazil winning in 1958 should mean that in 2006 the winner is

either 1)Brazil , 2) A nation winning for first time ever

However, given that the host is Germany, the perennial party poopers, they wil probably shred the form book as well as the sequence book, and go on to win a 4th title.

This BBC article has some surreal bits

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/w...006/4973552.stm

When you talk about Cafu and Roberto Carlos you have to remember their ages - Cafu is 36 now and doesn't play all the time for AC Milan, while Carlos is only three years younger.

They are both still great at going forward, we know that, but we think we have wide players who can hurt them in their half of the field.

We've got Scott Chipperfield and Brett Emerton on the wings and they have the pace and individual quality to make a real difference.

If Ronaldinho is drifting out to the left he'll come up against Emerton, and he has certainly got the pace and physical ability to keep up with the Brazilian.

So we have a winger who can hurt Roberto Carlos down the wings and mark Ronaldinho all in one match.

Compare that to his club form, I cant think a better player to term "erratic" than Emerton

No worries. I'll take Mexico vs Iran.

DONE.

I thought Bobby G took that

Dont think they have a chance personally. Although nobody thought Germany would do aswell as they did in 2002. But they did have a fantastic keeper and a world beater in their side to carry them. Spain, have neither IMO

Casillas is among the best keepers in the world today.

I agree that Spain dont have a world beater in their side, but by that token, neither does England, Portugal. Italy or Holland.

The reason referees are so biased is because they are hardly punished. When was the last time you heard of Poll/Riley being punished for sucking up to Chelski or the scum?

D'Urso was considered to have made the ultimate refereeing mistake, i.e. not sending off a Blackburn player. However, week in week out we see similarly atrocious decisions favoring Chelsea and Manure, but no referee ever gets punished.

Coupet is definitely better than Barthez, I just dont know why people love that fat, clumsy and balding GK

Another surprise is the absence of Giuly.

On the whole though, its a pretty strong squad, I cant see many European sides apart from England, Italy and Spain who are better than them

Sagnol Thuram Gallas Silvestre

Makalele

Vieira Zidane

Wiltord Henry

Saha/Trezeguet

Svens lost it, he doesnt have the guts to say no to any Arsenal/Spurs propsect, wtf is Jenas doing in there?

And Walcotts an allright gamble, but not when your only other fully fit striker is Crouch.

Bent should be in there instead of Jenas, and not sure whether Sol should have been picked ahead of Wes Brown