Andy

Casillas Maicon -- Lucio -- Chiellini -- Lahm Xavi -- Essien -- Iniesta Villa -- Drogba -- Messi Lampard would be nowhere near my Fantasy XI. I remember having an argument on here before world cup 2006 with someone (who shall remain nameless) who told me quite insistently that Gerrard and Lampard were far better footballers than Xavi.

The stupid thing about Keita's theatrics is that his country will probably need Brazil to beat Portugal on Friday if they're going to stay in the competition, and now they're going to be missing one of their key threats (out of form or not, he still creates goals). Wonder how his countrymen feel about that?

No it isn't Italy = shirt pulling. Kaka = lifted his arm to nudge away a man who was running straight into him, as anybody would in order to protect themselves -- it's an instinctive, uncontrolled reflex reaction. Let somebody walk directly into you from an angle where you can see them in your peripheral vision and you'll do exactly the same thing. Kaka punched him in the face.

No it isn't Italy = shirt pulling. Kaka = lifted his arm to nudge away a man who was running straight into him, as anybody would in order to protect themselves -- it's an instinctive, uncontrolled reflex reaction. Let somebody walk directly into you from an angle where you can see them in your peripheral vision and you'll do exactly the same thing.

Did you not watch the first 80 mins? Brazil were the worst cheaters I've seen so far. Handball for the goal, rolling around after every challenge etc. Six and one half a dozen of the other, to be honest. For every Brazil player that rolled around, there was a tackle like the one on Elano, which should have been a straight red itself. The goal was obviously a double-handball, but it wasn't exactly a "cheating" handball in the Maradonna sense, it just happened to hit his arm when he was tussling with the defender.

No it's not. It's a minor nudge -- the kind that you see continuously throughout every single game of football played. Never a booking. Minor nudge? He waited in his path and purposely put his shoulder/elbow into him. Clearly a booking. Keita walked directly into him, then he brushed him away with his elbow as anyone would. I dunno which replay of the incident you're watching?

No it's not. It's a minor nudge -- the kind that you see continuously throughout every single game of football played. Never a booking.

Jesus christ, he has been pretty crap, but he's not in a wheelchair dribbling into a plate of soup while shouting at mice. I just meant compared to his former mobility. Just looks like he's lacking match fitness and confidence, really.

Much as it was a harsh penalty decision, if you pull players shirts in the box you're always taking the risk, especially in the world cup where the referees are shit-hot on shirt pulling. Stupid defending.

He's right though, France have been shit. The only thing that's making this a better match than the Uruguay one is the fact that Mexico have been a bit more open with their play than Uruguay were.

You surely know you're going to look even more ridiculous very soon. It would be nice if he didn't need his fanboys to defend him. I think his goal scoring record defends him, to be fair.

Your post works in response to mine, making you look like a lightning fast typist.

Why do people keep missing out Chile?

Me too. Probably the only two. It's not the most popular opinion. Have England ever played in the Azteca? fyp Yes, Dave, I guess you could say his grammar there was an "epic fail", huh?

Always going to be hard to stay on his feet when he's turning at pace and his ankles are clipped like.

Wouldn't say Argentina looked "average". They could have scored six on another day. Chile weren't average, either. In fact, if you dressed the Chile players in yellow and called them Brazil, people would have been jizzing at their performance today.

http://www.vuvuzela-time.co.uk/newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,69768.msg2365971/boardseen.html#new

Players are blaming the ball... All I've seen so far is a lack of real effort and urgency, in a lot of the matches.

Wouldn't say this has been a particularly bad game. It's fascinating, if nothing else.

http://tvcatchup.com/watch.html?c=3

Better in the second half life. And Paraguay aren't exactly mugs. What's Gordon Freeman got to do with it? Like. Fuck you.

Better in the second half life. And Paraguay aren't exactly mugs.

England will get to the quarters. The prospect of a Brazil/Spain final is awesome, assuming they both make it. Argentina vs Spain has epic written all over it, too.

Well it's real, but obviously they wrote it with their tongues wedged firmly in their cheeks.

http://webmedia.newseum.org/newseum-multimedia/dfp/jpg13/lg/NY_NYP.jpg