Segun Oluwaniyi

Disagree. He is a liability all over the pitch at this level. Perch is genuinely a great tackler and works hard enough, but these are his only acceptable skills. He's not a good enough footballer to be reliable against the level of teams in this league. He can't pass accurately or shoot at all, and isn't a particularly intelligent player defensively in midfield or defense, either.

This reminds me of the time when Real Madrid sold Makalele.

The whole spine of the team has been exceptional. I don't think I could choose a MoM. The referee has allowed them to foul rather consistently without retribution. You expect them to get decisions in that atmosphere, but it has been a great advantage for their back six, imo.

Been coming all tournament IMO, Spain have looked fragile defensively without Alonso alongside Busquets screening the back 4. Brazil just happened to be the first team who took their chances. We'll see in 2014. This is a bad litmus test. Playing one of the best sides in the world, in a stadium that is rocking to the brim (fans against them every match), against players giving 150 percent effort, when you are probably tired and don't care that much. It's a combination of factors. Spain, Nigeria, and Uruguay just didn't have the quality/execution to do it. La Roja will be an extremely difficult team to beat next year.

Whenever, Spain loses, VI just looks at the league table and starts smiling again. When Barca loses, he probably peeps at the FIFA rankings. The guy is in a cycle of ecstasy. It is the complete opposite for me, both the club and international level compound my deep depression.

That's never a red card, but I am too busy laughing to care.

Missed the goal reading about NBA trades. Mad at myself for it. I am thoroughly enjoying the beating Spain is taking here. Going to soak up every second of it,

Not really, always been a problem position. Arbeloa's by far the weakest player in our starting XI. He usually is still decent, until today. Both Carvajal/Montoya should be able to improve on him in following years. Your best right back is playing in the centre, but Azpilicueta is already much better than Arbeloa. I don't rate the latter as anything more than a average player going forward and defensively.

Feel like none of this s*** counted when it was us up 2-0 at HT in the last final. Now it's Brazil back on top. That tournament was terrible. This one just has more interesting sides (Even the four sides that were eliminated in the first round are interesting ) and more charged atmosphere. The best version of this tournament I can even remember. It has been fantastic.

If a 17 year old from Newcastle's academy did something like that in a league match, we would still be talking about, never mind forgetting if it was a first team match or not. Barca is just blessed with that pipeline.

You would think that means Ideye Brown (top scorer from last year) is probably off to one of the bigger leagues in Europe. Belhanda is a top class talent too. They should challenge Shakhtar more strongly this year.

Thought the game was pretty dire, apart from the FKs. Understandable given that neither side bar maybe Cavani gave a s***. >3 goals=good game to most football supporters. I don't really understand why.

McManaman and McClean have had an almost identical first season. and thus should be compared? Mcmanaman is a completely different type of winger than McClean. The reason Mcclean has been "found out" is because he is very one paced (quick, but poor change of pace/acceleration) and lacks the technical ability to get himself into threatening positions when he is man marked and shown onto his wrong foot. Essentially, he is a poor footballer with one or two decent skills. I don't think Collum has those deficiencies in his game. Infact, it is much the opposite for both and he is quicker and much trickier player, imo. To be fair, I didn't see much of James when he was meant to be a top prospect, but I just see any dynamism in his game. Reminds me of James Milner on his worst day.

Comparing Mcmanaman to McClean is like comparing Drogba to Ade Akinbiyi. I'm being facetious obviously, but the Mcclean to Mcmanaman comparisons are almost as lazy as the black, strong, fast African striker comparisons. I've already seen far mar from him than McClean, who I never rated. 7 million pounds is nothing for a young English player and frankly I think we should be interested of that is the sort of bid necessary to bring him here. Him and Haidara can live together and bond over the struggles of young life.

I definitely agree with this. Spain have some sort of juju around their goal. It incredible how many fantastic chances have been missed against them in the past two matches. They have looked nothing like the side that are champions three times over. I know this tournament is of less import, but the Spain sides of 2010 and 2012 especially were very defensively oriented. They have not allowed a goal in the knockout stages of any of the last three major tournaments, and in 2010 and 2012 it is hard to remember them conceding chances. Alba especially looks so frail on the counter. Is the absence of Xabi that crucial? We only play with one DM without Xabi (Martínez could easily fill in though). Thing is, that when Alba runs forward, Busquets is the one that covers, either by him moving to the left, or filling in as CB while Piqué drifts to the left. Either way he leaves a hole in the center that Alonso would usually cover. To be frank, I'm enjoying our matches more this way. I don't care that much about this tin cup, and I expect VDB going back to his usual more conservative self for the real cup. I usually find Spain in big tournaments to be sleep inducing, so the matches here have been an extremely enjoyable surprise. I can see why he approaches games that way though. Such an open style combined with a lack of a clinical finisher upfront and defensively questionable full backs is a bad recipe and extenuates the team's few flaws rather than their many strengths.

I definitely agree with this. Spain have some sort of juju around their goal. It incredible how many fantastic chances have been missed against them in the past two matches. They have looked nothing like the side that are champions three times over. I know this tournament is of less import, but the Spain sides of 2010 and 2012 especially were very defensively oriented. They have not allowed a goal in the knockout stages of any of the last three major tournaments, and in 2010 and 2012 it is hard to remember them conceding chances. Alba especially looks so frail on the counter. Is the absence of Xabi that crucial?

The problem is that Cech is still too good to just get rid of, especially as he is one of the faces of the club and the leaders of the team. I actually think he might be the better keeper for a few more seasons.

Maybe half of that. The other half was Liverpool cancelling the fee of a player that Portsmouth had previously bought from them as their club was heading towards financial ruin.

Moyes's first signing. Captains his country from the bench. Marvelous player.

No, the qualification is the same as now, except there are eight extra spots. 24 spots are automatically guaranteed entry to the group stages. This will be done based on continental distribution and the rankings within that continent (the top 3 ranked CAF qualifiers, top 7 ranked UEFA qualifiers, etc.) The remaining 16 sides have a playoff to be inserted to already decided groups. I want to be the biggest man here.

Do it with gusto in Germany n all. Sounds class but everyone has to be on board, they tried and failed with it at Arsenal. Arsenal did it when I went to watch them against OM at the Emirates. It was atrocious. GERVIN....HOOOO!! I was laughing at them. Their support was very poor anyway, maybe because it was a European match and not the usual supporters.

They should keep the one that qualifies for the Confederations Cup and consolidate the other tournament into a new 16 team Copa America featuring the ten members of the South American federation and the six teams that makes up the last round of North American World Cup qualification. Also, the World Cup should move to 40 teams, with 24 sides (a certain number from each Confederation, maybe the highest ranked teams from that federation in addition to the host) given automatic passage to the group stage and the remaining 16 made to play single match knockout games to determine the remaining 8 places, whose placement in the group shall be decided beforehand. More nations, more knockout football, more excitement, longer World Cup. I am a revolutionary.

They all live and train in Moscow don't they? Fly in with armoured guards on match days. Sounds like a treat What, living in Moscow and being paid in blank cheques? Sounds good to me. I wouldn't want to be an African in Moscow either.

You don't need to be perfect to win a World Cup. All that is required is high level talent, cohesiveness, and luck. Look at Italy 2006, France 2006, Netherlands 2010 and tell me that these are sides without major deficiencies. One won the cup and the other two came as close as you possibly can without doing so. Brazil are one of about ten teams that have enough of these things to consider themselves top contenders. Many more sides potentially will have enough of those elements to make knockout stage runs. This is what makes international tournaments exciting, especially in the modern era where there should not be any truly weak sides unless we see Jordan/Uzbekistan win the playoff, the Oceanic side winning its playoff, or upsets in African and North American qualifying. If you factor in the home advantage for Brazil, I think they must be considered second favourites at this time.

Ten years ago today, Marc Vivien Foé collapsed in the centre circle during a Confederations Cup semifinal and was taken from this world less than an hour later. Though I was only 13 at the time, I vividly remember watching that match and seeing the replays of Foe as he lied on the pitch. What struck me at the time was his eyes. They were lifeless, as though his soul had already left. You hoped he would recover, but from the moment you saw his eyes you knew that the situation was incredibly serious. However, those we have lost should not be remembered for the nature of their demise, but the nature of how they lived. Foé was like so many of the players from the Cameroon sides of the late 90s and early 2000's in that he truly embodied the form of an Indomitable Lion through his sheer physicality, aggressiveness and sheer will. That was a great team and they inflicted one of our greatest defeats in the 2000 ACN final in Lagos. I recall Foé missing a kick to give them the title, but it was still theirs in the end. It was a dominant side that inspire respect much more than hatred from bitter rivals, and Marc was one of the catalysts. I just really cannot fathom that it was ten years ago. This makes me feel old in the sense of how much time has passed, but at the same time makes me feel young because it seems like it happened last week. From all that I saw of him as a player, and all that we have learned about the generosity of his personal life posthumously, it is just a shame that we only given twenty-eight years of him. I hope he is resting well. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IZXAMfIUWFs/SDE4i1R0tYI/AAAAAAAAAkk/CD7H-6oGlf8/s400/Marc+Vivien+Foe.jpg