Yngwie

What a terrible game. Both sides deserve to be out.

That's exactly the problem! They don't want to be up against any other televised football.

ITN jnr, what you fail to realise is that England have scraped through every stage of this competition despite getting the luckiest draws in the history of football. You cannot say they have exceded expectations when they have not faced any strong teams yet. Their highest ranked opponents have been Sweden at 16 (aye right, above Germany?!) and they didn't even beat them. Here are the rankings of the teams they have faced, and made very heavy weather of. Find me another team with such an easy route to the QFs, ever! Qualifying tournament 29 Poland 41 Slovakia 74 Wales 79 Austria 96 N Ireland 112 Azerbaijan (Your Dad might be old enough to remember any of those teams qualifying for anything!) Group stage 16 Sweden 33 Paraguay 47 T&T Last 16 39 Ecuador This is supposedly a tournament for the best 32 teams in the world, and England have got this far without beating a single team ranked in the top 32!! I expect them to go further, as they play a team that really has had to battle against good teams to get this far and is weakened as a result. But there is no evidence yet that England are a good team.

Interesting. And we have 4th best goal difference!

Whilst it is a real shame for him to pick up a major injury, is there perhaps some irony in the fact that it is the 3rd World Cup in a row in which he has thrown himself to the ground without contact from the opposition?

Which team has the best supporters then? I'd go for South Korea, followed by Poland (shame they're out, it was great to see so many of them invade Germany)

Jilted John is a comedian, I think it's John Shuttleworth.

Adam and the Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier

First game : Caley 0-2 Hibs, pre-season friendly 1980 First senior game : Hearts v Aberdeen, mid 80s First ICT game : Dundee Utd 1-1 ICT, Scottish Cup 1998. I missed the early seasons due to living in Engerlundshire and then France. First Scotland game : Scotland 1-0 Holland, 2003 I think

Sorry to go slightly off topic, but I read in a paper at the weekend that we are taking a couple of Sheffield Utd players on trial. After 6 years, are things starting to come from the supposed link with them?

The league table never lies, and we are very much a mid-table side. I don't think we can expect to compete with the OF, Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen over the course of a season, but everyone else is there for the taking.

One of the best bits of commentary in football history!

I see Brewster is taking Utd on a similar pre-season to the one he took ICT on last year. Friendlies lined up against Herfolge and FC Nordsaelland.

Well that's England through their p1sh easy group as expected, and I believe they are likely to meet Ecuador in the last 16, Andorra in the QF, and then Liechtenstein in the semis. The national heroes will be presented with their knighthoods the day before the final as the whole of the UK revels in glory and salutes the world's greatest team since 1966. Until they get to the final......and face Northern Ireland! :D

Felt a bit sorry for the Poland fans, they were great.

Just paypalled you Guzz.

Was it not Burley that scored v Norway (France 98)? Or are you thinking of Coisty v Switzerland (Euro 96)?

Is anybody in this one? http://classic.fantasyleague.com/worldcup Mates have invited me to join their league, but I don't have much time to pick a team before tomorrow and I know very little about most of the teams taking part. Any advice appreciated!

To be fair, C4E was just quoting what Shabaz said about himself.

On a similar subject, consider the amount of UK media coverage that gets given to England's selection of a new manager, compared with any other nation. I even remember when Scotland appointed a manager (Craigie Broon I think it was) and the BBC evening news did not even mention it at all. Both BBC and ITV networks have various English regional news programmes, why don't they use them more for stories that are only of interest to people in England?

Latest news on BBC website - Rooney's plane has taken off.

Wayne Rooney's UNCLE has just been interviewed - despite the fact that he never sees Wayne, and has absolutely nothing of interest to say.

:evil11:

Djebi-Zadi has gone to SC Paderborn, apparently.

Very interesting - although I don't think Charlie will be persuaded to take the boys there on a pre-season tour.