Sven Eriksson, football genius? His smart decision to take two crocks, a kid and a statue seems to really be paying off

The Korean fans are fantastic

It's as if I should blame American for the Vietnam war. (or you, for the appeasement policy that allowed Hitler to expand in the first place!)

Actually that's the Yank's fault again for pulling out of the League of Nations, but I digress

On a related note, it seems like our lads are behaving themselves, which is nice to see.

Would that be the Lampard that was man of the match in the first game? The Lampard that was the player looking most likely to score for 75 minutes? The Lampard that was top scorer in the qualifiying rounds?

I sometimes wonder what game people are watching.

I'd drop him in a heartbeat for a defensive midfielder(in a midfield 4 ) - anything that frees up Gerrard is fine by me. Quite frankly I'm leaning towards a five man midfield with the team we have at this tournament, which incidentally is the only system I've seen Lampard suceed in.

Sack the Swede, utter @#/?. This side is pedestrian, the forward line is a joke and the centre of midfield can't play together. Not that anything will change at half time.

I think it sums it up that the hopes of a nation rest on the shoulders of a 20 year old, a crocked one at that.

Quite frankly the team is a disgrace right now.

As usual, your latest hobby horse is making you blinkered. Leonardo was back in the BBC studio for USA v Czech Rep with Lee Dixon and Alan Shearer - clearly the "B" team but they're all worth a listen - Dixon especially is worth listening to.

In the studio for Italy-Ghana the beeb have Marcel Desailly who has given a wonderful new perspective and some great insights. Not only that, but a significant part of the pre-match programme saw him over in Ghana at Abedi Pele's football academy. I bet your talk sport heroes don't even know where Ghana is.

I'd far rather see intelligent ex-players than publicity seeking journalist jokers like Balague - the only reason you've ever heard of him is because Tabloid TV (Sky Sports News) call him up on his mobile every time they want crap gossip from Spain rather than crap gossip from our own gutter press.

It's next to Togo and the Ivory Coast, a hotbed of football

I've been impressed with Desailly and O'Neill tonight, even if they still struggle to get a wold in edgeways. Mr Hansen has to have his screen time

I've got Togo!

You lot?

You've won then, they have Adebayor for god's sake

The has been and the never was - had to mute the game after five minutes.

I agree Rover6, O'Neill was the only one yesterday who knew what he was talkin about, unfortunately he was drowned out by Hansen and Shearer.

Utter garbage, once again the team hasn't played to the sum of it's parts. If you look at that team sheet (besides the @#/? forward line) they should be steamrolling teams, not squeaking out a fortunate win. Yet again Sven has shown his complete lack of tactical nouse, especially in his choice of forwards- Crouch has about as much mobility as a statue, yet he was upfront on his own, pure genius. Walcott wasn't risked, for reasons unbeknown to me whilst Owen is clearly still not fully fit (his match sharpness leaves a lot to be desired).

Overall we'll get fairly deep into the competition only to be comprehensively outclassed by quality opposition. Which is a shame considering the talent the England manager has available.

Jeez it's exactly the same incident - a tangle of legs whilst running down a ball in the right hand channel. He clearly has very fragile bones.

It's sad life being a scot.

If I was going to write a reply to this thread, it'd look something like Lathund's post. Well done sir.

The winner of Togo vs S. Korea

I actually quite like him as a player. Surprisingly good footballer for a big chap IMO.

Therein lies the problem. I agree he's a decent player technically. Unfortunately he's woeful in the air and has the upper body strength of a small child, probably their acceleration capabilities too. When you add it all together he's pretty @#/?.

I'd much rather have Ashton, Beattie, even Davis if you're wanting to play a big (ish) player upfront to support Owen.

Utter @#/? player, nice dance though.

I wouldn't mind the comments if he had any positional sense.

Absolutely no problems with selling him off now, it's clearly what he wants.

How long have you been sitting on that one AESF?

Riijkard (sp) came out as saying he was very frustrated with Henry, stating that they had a gentleman's agreement on the terms of the contract and he went back on them.

Nobody put a bid in for him, and if I was Barca boss I would stick to the winning line up of Messi and Eto'o, with Goofy behind.

Real Madrid would have had him, but would he go there?

Tried it in Italy, failed.

That leaves Germany, Holland, Scotland or back to France for a holiday.

So it looks like staying in London with his English wife and probably a rather tasty pay rise and a brand new spanking ground to play in.

Never in doubt.

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Rubbish mate. Barca were desperate to sign him, y'know the champions of Europe. He 'failed' in Italy as a winger and no other league is good enough for him. I was never in doubt once the order went out to rough him up in the final.

I might have to give him a little clap when he comes to Ewood next year, showing my appreciation of his play/the fact he's staying.

Probably still a better player than Pongolle due to the fact he can control a ball. His moaning won't be missed, but his work rate will. Good luck Paul, just don't score against us!

It's pitiful that - even on a usually balanced and sensible football discussion forum such as this - the match officials are taking the brunt of negative comment.

Terry Henry joined the party, freely slating the match officials in this showpiece final in his post match interview.  Henry himself - when he watches the video - should replace his bitterness towards officials with self criticism.

Crucial chances were missed - and always will be.  Henry creates so many chances for himself that he is allowed to miss a few.  Those misses are mistakes by Henry.  He has no right to slate the ref at the end of this game - at least the ref was putting some effort in.

With 10 mins to go, with desperate Arsenal attacks being reliant on long balls, Henry never moved from a central position - never chased, never harried, never cared!!  He was wearing the armband FFS!  Leave the refs alone and **** off to wherever you want to play.

Lehman's (?sp) sending off was totally deserved, and when you look at the game objectively there is no argument about which team deserves to be Champions of Europe.

The lunatic goalie and the wantaway captain have cost Arsenal.  It's almost a shame that Spurs let them in to the Champs League for next season, but on the plus side they will be screwed when the spine of their team isn't there any more.

Wantaway Terry will have gone, Dennis the Menace will have retired, Pires the puff won't perform, Sol the unbalanced will shoot his last bolt at the WC .... Loony Lehman is probably already in rehab ....

I'd rather be supporting Rovers, to be sure ......

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One of the most honest interviews I've ever seen. Not quite sure which game you were watching, Tris, but once Lehman was dismissed, Henry, was kicked off the park. When we try that (FA cup semi final) we're villans, but when, Barca, try that it's brushed over - double standards.

As for his lack of workrate during the last ten minutes, well it's the catch twenty two situation there. He'd led the line admirably all night with little support from his midfield and, in my opinion, was carrying a knock from an earlier challenge in the game (ironically one of the few that weren't cynical attempts to injure him). Now as, Wenger, do you take your best player off the pitch, when we're all fully aware what he can do given the chance, or do you replace him with an inexperienced youngster who will defend from the front for ten minutes? Not a decision I'd like to make.

I'd also put money on him staying at, L'Arse, but that's just a hunch

Poor officiating ruins another game, it's beyond a joke now.

We were talking about this at work today and someone mentioned that his weekly tax alone will pay for a nurse for a year.  So in effect, Michael Ballack's signing will fund 52 nurses for 3 years!  All in all, the tax paid by the Chelsea team probably pays for a full hospital!  Looking at it that way I'm glad Abramovich wants to waste his cash in this country and not in Spain or Italy...

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You don't happen to work in PR do you

Yeah, either/or - just sign me up for whichever one you like.

SGE has shown a certain genius here. Faced with two of the better strikers England has had in the past 50 years both injured and all other striking options so poor they wouldn't have been selected in any of the other World Cup squads in the past 50 years, he has pulled a master stroke.

All the press can witter on about Walcott and let Owen and Rooney recover/moulder in peace. When the press get bored with Walcott, Lennon can go in the firing line.

At the World Cup, facing a 17 year old kid who is so raw he doesn't even feature in Prozone could be a terrifying prospect for any ageing defender with a reputation at stake.

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Or he'll get dicked on as he's just a raw talent, and not a very productive one at that.