Neil

I've just triple-checked the scores to make sure they were definitely right. Just says "pending". Vital update: they're now all down as "win" but no actual payout!? FUCKING PAY ME!

Miniero -1 and Nautico double. Still not fucking paid me. They finished an hour ago ffs.

Had some luck in the Norwegian 2nd division () but they're taking a while to pay out and I have my eye on some Brazilian games at 8.

Does seem a bit mental. For no real reason, I've always thought of Chilavert as being the superior keeper. Ceni has played over 1000 games?

I think players like Bale are a fucking disgrace and should be ashamed of themselves. Not that I think they will be. The issue is, the cycle is infinite. Players like Bale will have seen players when he was growing up, fall to the floor and win their teams games and he will now think, wow, that's great. Now, kids will be watching Bale - hell, fellow professionals who are older than him will be - and coming to the conclusion that flinging yourself to the ground wins your team games and ultimately garners success. The disease of diving, or to give it a more general but equally accurate description, cheating, is being accepted as part of the game. It's almost 'glamourised'. It's what we seem to be talking about every weekend, how the referees are dealing with it, what punishments are being handed down. It's what kids are seeing on the TV. It'll start on the playground, through youth football and beyond. It will be copied because that's what's cool. Players like Bale are seemingly devoid of any notion of responsibility about what their actions mean. All they seem to care about is the short-term gain of scoring a goal and getting a fellow professional sent off. There is little punishment if they are caught out. They'll be tamely recognised as "going down easily" and it'll be swept under the carpet. They might get booked. Like they care. Players like Bale are both improving and destroying the game. To see him produce electrifying runs and tear defenders apart is great to watch. Yet it's almost as though he thinks that talent can be used as some sort of cover for when he feels like throwing himself to the ground. The media are, by and large, afraid of saying much out of line. But where do you draw the line? Do players like Jonas and Pienaar cheat when they "win" free kicks? Sure they're not flinging themselves to the ground as such but they're making little effort to do anything productive with the football. Or is that just gamesmanship? For all of Bale's skills, he, and players like him, need to be recognised as cheats. In particular, British cheats. Get rid of the tag of foreigners being the only ones who do it. It's prevalent in our country and it's systemic now. It's seeping into all levels of the game. I think it's only inevitable until red cards are introduced for simulation. I admit that there will be a lot of issues with this and how exactly you qualify what is worthy of a red card but something, even if it's not a long-term solution, needs to be done as soon as possible. It's a big part of why a lot of people are increasingly disillusioned with the game - particularly at the top level - combined with astronomical wages which show no sign of being kept under wraps.

Somewhere, Sewelly has lifted his head from what he was doing, and is now making his way towards the nearest internet cafe. The Standard Liege forums won't hear the end of this.

Messi next.

For some reason I thought Zidane was seen as a bit overrated by some, obviously not.

What a fucking depressing weekend of football.

Looks like the Marty Party only has J2Os and mini sausage rolls on the go. They seem to fit the description of "mediocre" in every way.

For what it's worth, I think it'll be 1-1. Sunderland will look to scrape out a victory but they won't be good enough.

A half dominated by Senegal?

That cross was soul-crushingly bad.

This is really bad. Well, beautiful I suppose. Fucking international breaks.

This commentator seems to think good goalkeeping and defending is beautiful. A lot.

Drogba's still got it. Gervinho still doesn't.

Tiote.

Interesting attempts at goal so far.

Zokora is Ivory Coast's most capped player?

Next up, Zizou. http://soomaalidamaanta.com/ciyaaraha/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/zidane1.jpg Seems to divide opinion. I thought the way he controlled the ball and moved on the pitch was a joy to watch, but sometimes he wasn't that effective despite his brilliance.

John O'Shea. Just generally, John O'Shea.

Something I read about TV power in Norway.. I'm sure Kaiz et al will know more but it seems Brann fans in particular have been actively protesting at games about televised coverage of games - i.e. moving it to stupid times, moving it at late notice and the such. Something appears to have worked as there won't be any Monday matches anymore for the 2013 Norwegian season, the last Sunday match won't start any later than 7pm and all TV games must be announced a minimum of 6 weeks beforehand. I think that's the case anyway - any Solskjaers know more? Also, with the chaos in Spain with all games kicking off at a different time over the course of Sat/Sun/Mon, I wonder if we'll start to see stronger calls in this country about televised coverage of games fucking fans over? Or are Sky etc just too powerful?

Class win that Kev. Best not to imagine what it would've been with Holland -2 and Belgium -1. Got a high stakes fiver on Stevenage, Brentford and Swindon-Coventry draw. I'm doing better not actually looking at form and the such and just going for my instinct.

2-0, guess who scored. it won't be a shock if you tell me Falcao lol Couple of lovely goals n all. Bloke is on fire at the moment, hope Atleti can keep him 'til summer. What was it his teammates said - you can hoy a fridge at him and he'd put it in the back of the net? I'm not sure they used the word "hoy", mind.

2-0, guess who scored.