Shak

"Worth noting that a draw isn't the worst result you could have for your opening game." Good old Irish commentary.

Good defending there.

Shut up man, let's just take 1-1 and both be happy. That makes no happiness for me. Well fuck your happiness then.

Shut up man, let's just take 1-1 and both be happy.

Horns are back.

No more goals please.

Just ordered a vuvuzela from Amazon. Gonna take it with me to the pub for the final and let people take turns smashing it. Should be a bit of craic.

What a goal.

Did my tournament bets today. England, Holland, Argentina, Germany, Italy, Spain all to win their groups - £20 returns £198. Tenner on each of Higuain (18/1), Fabiano (12/1) and Torres (12/1) to be tournament top scorer. And £20 to win outright on... England. I actually think the US could give them some grief tomorrow, but all in all I'm finding it very difficult to see how they don't make the semis. And it'll be a 50/50 against whatever teams they face at that stage. Not sure why anybody would be downbeat about their chances to be honest. They're not playing football that's wonderful to behold or anything, but did anybody expect a Capello side to ever do that? They're basically a good Italian side. Disciplined, solid and hard working with a few players who are well capable of pulling a goal out of their arses at some point. I have them as second favourites, behind the Spanish. Aside from that, I'm just gonna try an accumulator on every game in any given day. Got £5 on a draw and a France win for today.

Cheers LLLO, very nice of you.

It's their country. They can do what they like. They can. Doesn't change much in regards to what I said though. Might invest in some Solpadeine shares over the next few weeks.

Watching some friendlies there during the week. I'd forgotten all about the stupid horns that the locals insist on blowing from start to finish of every match. Has the potential to really ruin this World Cup, like.

Really wish I still had the texts Wullie sent me while I was at work, breaking the news to me. 99% sure he used the exact words "jigging around the room with delight" to describe his emotions about it. Those of you who have met Wullie will be aware of what a startling image that is.

Carroll is good enough to be our starting CF next year. A real force in the air, and not awful on the deck either. I think he'll lead the line quite well for us and maybe get in the neighborhood of 10 goals in the league over the course of next season. He's good enough for where we'll be next year, and he's still only 21 so there's a chance he can develop into a very good player in time. Shola I think can be a capable back-up for Carroll, and maybe push him for the starting spot if he hits some form or Carroll has a bit of a struggle. Lovenkrands is a good player to have in the squad, but I wouldn't want him starting every week. Ranger has loads of talent but appears to be too much of a tosser to ever realise it. And Best is terrible and anyone expecting him to ever be any good is a wanker. Essentially we need a better version of Lovenkrands to start alongside Carroll or we're fucked.

Only seen him play a couple of times, so if we do sign him I'll wait and see how he does before writing him off completely. Must say though, I've never been impressed by him or gotten the impression that he'd have much chance of cutting it in the Prem. Scottish football is miserable, the step up for the guy is going to be massive. Obviously not expecting much more with Ashley in charge, but a signing like this would just reinforce what a tough season it's going to be next year.

The new David Villa. He's fucking 25 already, Villa can't be more than two or three years older than him.

I love you man.

Can you imagine Mike if the US won it? Scary. Mike is pretty much the exact reason why the US have ZERO chance. Sure their odds would be long even without Mike, but that guy is basically victory kryptonite when it comes to sports.

Surely they'd be the first country to win in which the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants think football is shite?

Can you imagine if the US won it?

I'm over it though, honestly.

http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/uploads/henry_aim.jpg

Ireland.

It's quite amazing that anyone would still hold Keegan's departure (the second time) against him after that court case.

Surely if they put the Puma cat where it should be then it would have to be black to stand out on the white stripe? I think that's their reasoning behind it tbh, don't see why we couldn't just have the crest and sponsor aligned down the centre like on last seasons strip though. Would have been the obvious thing to do, aye. Or even have a white cat with black trim or something, it'd stand out just fine. Ah well, the long wait for an actual nice home kit goes on I guess.