DoofersDad

He already has.

Some intersting stats on Germany's games against the English and the Argies. In both games Germany had less possession, fewer shots at goal, fewer shots on target and won fewer corners than their opponents and yet were comfortable winners looking very much the better side. The thing is that they are playing really well as a team and that is good to see as football is at it's best when the team works as a unit. They are well organised and force their opponents to shoot at distance. They are then counter attacking well, keeping their composure and actually looking to find their team mates rather than shooting speculatively. Much as it pains me to say it, I'm almost wanting Germany to win this now. Argentina were poor. They relied on their stars to do individual bits of magic. There was no plan B when the Germans snuffed out their threat and Maradonna was revealed to have a coaching brain more in line with his right foot than his left. Hopefully that will be the last we see of him.

I agree with most of what Renegade says but an interesting point here is that the referee took play well beyond the allotted added time before all that last gasp drama. There had been no reason to stop the watch after the 2nd 15 minute period had been up. You don't stop the watch in normal time to allow corners to be taken so why do it at the end of the game. Had Ghana scored, Uruguay would have been right to feel agrieved and in any case are now without one of their best players for the semis. I am also not convinced that the handball by Suarez was malicious. It was head high so my first reaction was why did he not head it clear because he would have got much more distance. I think the fact that it was going straight for his face means that it was an almost instinctive reaction to protect his face. I think it was in the zone where there was not quite enough time to head the ball properly but there was just enough time to withdraw the hands from the initial instinctive reaction and move the head slightly so that it hit him on the forehead rather than the face. Definite red card but I don't think the guy should be pilloried. He's had a great world cup and has shown a lot of good honest endeavour - they'll really miss him in the semi-final.

They have their uses. It depends how you blow!

I see Beckham was at Wimbledon. Clearly he had the same inspirational effect on Murray as he had on the England football team.

I always thought there was something not quite right about him. I wouldn't worry about it. He'll be fully Scottish again tomorrow once he's lost to Nadal.

Here's a suggestion to address the problem of footy free days. After the group stages and each subsequent round they could have separate knock out competitions as a mirror image of the main competition for the winners. Every team would end up in a position of 1 to 32. This would allow good teams who disappointed to restore some lost pride and play some more relaxed and attractive football. Games could be scheduled so that there were matches on every day. Venues could be used in towns where folk don't normally have a chance of seeing international football and prices could be set to allow local folk to watch the matches. Rooney might even get to score!

Arguable . England are currently ranked 8th in the world and Scotland 43rd. Scotland are ranked 13 places below the lowest ranked team in England's qualifying group. Despite England playing well below the level they did in the qualifiers, none of the 3 teams in their qualifying group beat them and neither would Scotland. Anything can happen in a one off game but there can be little doubt that England are a very much better side than Scotland at the moment.

Check the thread title. If we are going to keep on subject then it's a bit unrealistic to expect many English supporters to wax lyrically on the subject. Now, if it was the Greatest Ever Goal by England there would be a few more to chose from

I hope the Japanese lad who missed his penalty has not fallen on his sword.

Brazil were impressive tonight. Defensively they were everything that England were not and despite a lively and committed Chile side trying all they knew, Brazil never looked like conceding. With that solidity at the back and the obvious ability up front I think it will take something exceptional to beat them. Now that England are out they've got a real chance :(

Less than that! MJ Lives! Heard the women who runs this site being interviewed on the radio last night. Totally barking mad. Apparently Jacko's coming back at some point to warn us all about the Illuminati and the Anti-Christ that's going to take over the world! I wonder if he'll have news about England winning the World Cup in 2014 :(

Oh well, I guess it's thick skin time again for the English amongst us - but then we're used to that. At least we have done better than the French and Italians. It's difficult to understand why England have been so bad. Everything has been so inept from tactics through to performance and substitutions. Why did Capello play players out of position in a system they don't like? Why did so many top quality players play so far below their club form. Gerrard, Rooney, Terry and Upson have been poor all through the competition and would be lucky to get in their clubs' reserve teams on performances like that. Playing out of position is a factor but only up to a point. Why, in particular was the defence so poor? The way they were pulled out of position was schoolboy stuff. Why did Capello take off the two outfield players who might just about have got pass marks today and replace them like for like? And why did they not go for more than a one nil win against Slovenia to top the group? Had they done so they could have expected to avoid Germany and Argentina and would have had a real opportunity to get players playing to their potential leading into the semis. It's always disappointing to lose, but if you go out being beaten fair and square after giving your best then fair enough - going out with such a display of managerial and player ineptidude is deeply frustrating. Of course, had England not been cheated out of a perfectly good goal just as the team was beginning to click, the whole momentum of the match and the campaign would have changed and we would probably have gone on to win the competition.

Someone remarked today that the World Cup was turning out a bit like the 2nd World War. The French were defeated early, the Italians are running off home having achieved nothing, the Yanks have left it late in getting involved and so it's down to the English to take on the Germans.

That sounds like a Marathon headline to me

New Zealand could do what Scotland did a few years ago and become the only unbeaten side in the competition. I hope that doesn't happen because that would probably mean Germany would win the cup.

Enjoyed watching Japan tonight.

You got the numbers right, just a little bit jumbled up - final set finished 70 - 68. The equvalent of playing roughly 18 sets of tennis in 11 hours 5 minutes. Mahut looked fresh right through until he lost when the big Yank went from looking dead on his feet to being full of it, til the commentator asked him how he was looking forward to his doubles match in 30 minutes. Thanks for the correction. I can't cope with such big numbers.

Isner won today 78 - 60. I don't think Mahut had time to warm up properly.

59 games all when bad light stopped play. Apparently the final set alone has lasted longer than any other entire match in the history of the game. It's quite astonishing. I watched quite a bit of it and the quality of the play was remarkably high. The French guy must have put more effort into this single match than the entire French World Cup squad combined put into their 3 matches.

Slick England slam slovenly Slovenia to progress from group of death.

I feel a bit uncomfortable about the mixed messages this gives. One the one hand we tell children not to talk to strange men and then we tell some poor kid to hold hands with Wayne Rooney! Whatever the arguments about that, I just don't see the point. If the idea is to give the kids a great memory then why not let then run onto the pitch a couple of minutes before the teams appear and kick a ball into the net in front of 60,000 supporters who would cheer each time the ball trickled over the line. That would be much more fun than holding hands with Wayne.

I look forward to spending many a happy hour with that. Will we get a choice of North and South Korean shirts to put our hilarious names onto?

Vuvuzela is a strange name for a horn. In case anyone was wondering where the name comes from, it is in tribute to the former German international Uve Zeller who used to make a similar noise in the dressing room as a result of pre match nerves.