Once again, I couldn't believe how poor France were. Their coaching must be attrocious to allow so many accomplished and experienced players to perform so badly at the basics.

As things look, if we had a decent coaching set-up, England look to have a decent run to the Final. Ecuador are decently competent but are completely managable, the Portuguese and Dutch have dangerous players but not enough overall whilst the Brasilians are mis-firing. Unfortunately, we have an absolutely terrible coaching set-up which doesn't know what it is doing.

The Ukraine v Tunisia game was a stinker by all accounts but that seems to have been the only truly bad match which is not bad for such a big tournament. However, I just don't get the sense that this World Cup has taken off. Maybe it is German efficiency, England being predictably under-coached or a lack of a fairy tale story to get the immagination going. Loking forwards to the last 16, there are 5 games with obvious favourites and only Switzerland v Ukraine, France v Spain and Portugal v Holland which look to be open fixtures. Probably one underdog will upset one of the 5 front runners. The World Cup needs a genuine shock. So come on Sweden, Ecuador, Ghana, Australia and Mexico.

From Sky News: Juventus, Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina have been ordered to stand trial over match-fixing allegations. Italian football federation prosecutor Stefano Palazzi confirmed the four clubs will face questions over match-fixing allegations and demotion is a likely outcome if found guilty.

From the (admittedly unrepresentative) cross-section of fans I've spoken to: Fiorentina- state of shock and we came back from one forced relegation to the bottom serie Lazio- resigned to relegation to Serie B AC- we are not as guilty as Juve, Berlusconi will save us; none expect relegation Juve- ranges from we'll be relieved if its only Serie B to "We only did what big clubs are supposed to do!"

Well you've got a keeper who can turn the course of a game on his own......

I tend to disagtee but I'ne not been watching that much. There have been far more entertaining games than I think we could have expected with only England in parts being truly boring. Sweden v T&T was bad to be honest apart from the increasing hope that T&T would pull off the draw. For me, there has been exceptional play: Ghana v Czech Republic Spain v Ukraine Argentina v S&M Argentina v Holland was a superb game for technical ability on both sides Most games including the dead rubbers have been pretty exciting.

Interesting comments in The Guardian's match report: The athleticism of Australia made their persistence feasible. Croatia were breathless in the face of it and Hiddink's decision to put the squad through a fierce fitness programme looked as if it was being vindicated, even if club managers might wonder just how depleted these men will be when the time comes, soon enough, to start a new domestic season. International priorities had consumed these players and footballers such as Blackburn Rovers' Emerton were at a peak of performance. The target was to sustain such commitment throughout 90 minutes against a Croatia team desperate to respond. Australia's domination did slacken for an interlude, but they fell behind again because of a grotesque mistake. Niko Kovac moved forward after 57th minutes to shoot weakly. The ball ran straight to Kalac but the goalkeeper, who is on Milan's books, went down and somehow bundled the ball over his own body. Hiddink's reaction was to introduce Aloisi, ensuring that Viduka had an outright striker to partner him. Understandably, the Croatian substitution was of a conservative cast, with the orthodox midfielder taking over from the more individualistic Kranjcar. There had been a contrast of that sort between these countries virtually from the start, but Croatia, to the benefit of this World Cup, suffered for it in the end.

Absolutely jbn, why is everybody pining for a Spuds sub? At least the barcodes are stuffed for next season.

Actually, we'll probably find that Inter won last season's title when all the dust has settled! This Times report says it looks bleak for Juve and that Galliano is one of the individuals charged in which case its curtains for AC as well: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2239475,00.html So which players do we fancy seeing in blue and white halves next season? Anyone got complete Juve, AC, Lazio and Fiorentina squad lists?

I am not surprised that Graham Poll presided over a complete horlicks. Is anybody? The lack of quality referees in the Premiership is rapidly becoming a crisis for our game. I struggleto think of a Prem ref I could nominate as being better than Poll who has clearly shown himself to be one of the worst refs at the WC.

I like the way the fixtures are falling apart from the way we will playing a load of relegation candidates in 4 of the last 5 games with- great if we are down there scrapping as we will have control over our own fate but no use otherwise.

I'm amazed that several hours after the news broke, it is left to me to report that Juve, AC, Lazio and Fiorentina are all to be tried.

The Guardian on Michael Owen: Newcastle fear the fall-out from a year without £17m striker Owen has made only 11 appearances for the club and the fans must wonder if they will see him again Michael Walker Thursday June 22, 2006 The Guardian Sitting in a Jesmond hotel a couple of months ago, Glenn Roeder, then the future Newcastle United manager, leaned across his tea and sandwiches and said: "This whole idea that the club is cursed is ######." As he took his Pro Licence course yesterday, Roeder may well have felt otherwise. His thoughts will surely have been blurred by the news from Germany that Michael Owen's immediate future does not involve kicking a ball. Article continues -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since his £17m signing from Real Madrid in August Owen has done little of that. Owen has made 11 Newcastle appearances, and only four at St James' Park. The last time Owen was seen by a Tyneside audience was on December 10. Roeder, of course, has had to deal with this already. Owen played 29 minutes during Roeder's caretaker tenure from February to May, at Birmingham City. But he had Alan Shearer to call on then, at least until the veteran's knee gave way at Sunderland, and Roeder also had Shola Ameobi. When Shearer's career was ended prematurely there was then a call-up for Michael Chopra. Chopra played six times at the end of the season but last week joined Cardiff City on a three-year contract. So in terms of recognised centre-forwards Newcastle have only one available, Ameobi. However, that is not a straightforward situation as Ameobi has a long-standing hip problem. It may require surgery. Newcastle will see their Premiership fixture list this morning but that will not reveal their first big game of the season. It comes on July 15 in the Intertoto Cup -- 24 days from now. Regardless of Ameobi's physical wellbeing, the club need to have a fit and reliable striker for that occasion. That means Newcastle will have to enter the transfer market sooner rather than later. With the Football Association's insurance company taking care of Owen's wages until he is fit to return, the literal silver lining to the injury is that Newcastle are free of some £460,000 per month. Over five months that is £2.3m, over 10 months £4.6m. But even £4.6m might not buy Newcastle the level of quality they require both to compensate for Owen's absence - and Shearer's retirement - and to take the team on. Andy Johnson cost Everton £8.4m when he left Crystal Palace recently. Roeder has admiration for Jermaine Defoe and the two worked together at West Ham but it is understood that West Ham insisted upon a 25% sell-on clause when Defoe left for Tottenham for £7m. For Spurs merely to recoup their outlay any club wanting Defoe would have to come up with a sum around £9m. There is little indication that Newcastle have that sort of cash this summer, and any possible influx of investment from hedge funds would not come before July 15. The £17m paid to Real last August hurt finances and, though Newcastle would have moved for Fernando Torres had they not got Owen, Torres' World Cup displays for Spain will have made him a target for Champions League clubs. And Newcastle's £17m is spent. By comparison the Intertoto Cup is viewed as a Mickey Mouse competition but for Newcastle it is a route into the Uefa Cup and a European profile is regarded as essential to how the club's hierarchy sees itself. Even for relatively low-key Uefa Cup ties Newcastle are guaranteed 40,000 fans through the gate and there would be television rights sales on top of each game. A good run in Europe can bank a club of Newcastle's standing £10m. But progress of the sort Middlesbrough made last season is dependent on scoring goals and Boro had Aiyegbeni Yakubu, Mark Viduka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and, when necessary, Massimo Maccarone. But Boro paid over £20m altogether for those strikers. Roeder simply does not have the funds made available to his predecessor Graeme Souness. A concern for Roeder must be that today's Premiership fixtures' publication brings a hard August and September. It is unlikely a management course can cover how to cope with such a combination of pressures. Two years of hurt 2005-6 Minutes for Newcastle United 883 Minutes for England 722 Total minutes 1,605 (equivalent of 17.83 matches) 2004-5 Minutes for Real Madrid 2,372 Minutes for England 883 Total minutes 3,255 (equivalent 36.17 matches) Owen's injury nightmare began just weeks after his £17m move from Real Madrid to Newcastle when he was hit by groin and hamstring injuries. This added to the frustration of spending most of the previous season on Real Madrid's bench. Then, in December, he broke his fifth metatarsal in his right foot at Tottenham and his World Cup ended in heartbreak on Tuesday night when he damaged his cruciate ligament.

If England survive against Ecuador, we "only" get the winner of Holland v Portugal. Whoever wins that tie will be odds on in footballing terms to sort out the winner of England v Ecuador.

From the Times of Malta: Italy's football federation (FIGC) will announce today the names of any clubs and individuals to be charged over allegations of match-fixing. In brief remarks to reporters in Rome, president Guido Rossi said the FIGC would make an announcement "after the stock market closes as (bourse watchdog) Consob has requested". Any clubs charged would face trial at a sports tribunal next week in Rome's Olympic Stadium. Champions Juventus, Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina, among the elite of Italian football, have been investigated. The stock market closes at 5.30 p.m. which today will also approximately coincide with the end of Italy's crucial World Cup match against the Czech Republic. Thirteen of Italy's 23-man World Cup squad play for the four clubs that have come under scrutiny. Separate criminal prosecutions could follow the FIGC trial which is expected to deliver its verdicts between July 7 and 9, the weekend of the World Cup final. Two of the clubs that have been investigated are traded on the Milan bourse - Juve and Lazio. Milan is owned by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, head of the Fininvest media empire, and Fiorentina by the Tod's footwear tycoon Diego Della Valle. No one in the affair has admitted guilt and the FIGC's prosecutor Stefano Palazzi might decide not to press any charges, though this is considered highly unlikely. If clubs or individuals are found guilty they could face bans from the sport, fines, relegation from the top flight Serie A and be stripped of trophies won. Charges are likely to centre on sporting fraud and/or violating fairness and probity in the game. Palazzi, who is not expected to recommend penalties before the trial, received the findings of the FIGC's chief investigator, Fran-cesco Borrelli, on Monday.

No- with Bellamy at Liverpool he will be struggling to be on their subs bench next season.

I've been really imporessed by the Portuguese; they are a team nobody wants to play. Portugal to go all out to win as I cannot see the Dutch getting ahead of Argentina.

A huge test of whether Ghana can put successive great performances together. If they do, the weakened US defense is in for a torrid time.

The defensive disorganisation was worthy of Boro losing 7-0 to Arsenal, 4-0 to Sevilla and being terrorised by Kuqi twice in six days at the Riverside. That was an attrocious performance at the back- nobody knew what they were doing and Ashley Cole couldn't even cover the back post properly. As for Hargreaves, he was terrible. I watched him for about twenty minutes and I'd say every passing decision he made was wrong and he got caught in possession twice (including needlessly losing the ball which lead to the corner for Sweden's first equaliser). Utterly depressing situation for England. By the way, Italian TV followed Rooney throwing a complete paddy on the bench over being substituted.

For you betting types, Shevchenko is probably at much longer odds than either he or Ukraine should have been because of that exceptional Spanish performance.

http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup200...1801690,00.html Meanwhilst back in Italy, football is not corrupt at its roots but it has some corrupt branches.... like Juve, AC, Fiorentina, Lazio????

Rooney and Owen, if fit, would be contenders to play in any England side in the last 50 years. All other English-born forwards currently available would not only fail to get into any of the last dozen England World Cup squads (including the years we did not qualify), they would not even be contenders for inclusion. That is the problem in a nut shell. At least Crouch got the first decent header in his life onto the cross from Beckham to avert a T&T embarassment and for that we should be grateful.

There were some horrible fluffs by the Aussies from promising positions and must be a huge sense of what might have been against a Brazil which hasn't clicked and is showing little sign of doing so. I guess Ronaldo has to be left in a McDonald's a long way from any football ground if Brazil are to look like WC winners. Well done Neill and Emerton- excellent performances!

Blushing- I had got the Group A/B matches mixed up so we could well get Germany in the last 16 and something less intimidating in the QF. Still, we might see teams trying to throw matches when the last Group stage matches are played as countries try to avoid a half of the draw of death if other results throw up some unexpected second places eg Oz ahead of Brazil.