watching the england game, it's just like watching wimbledon in the john fashanu days. So uninspired. I hope trinidad score to actually turn this shit into a proper game

Holy shit. Best save ever.

When the F.A. employed Sven Goran Eriksson, they had this World Cup in mind; the stated aim was that by 2006, England would be the 'number one team in the world'. All the requested preperation, training etc has been granted in the attempt to realise that goal. We are repeatedly told that there will be 'no excuses' if we fail this time. Owen stated yesterday that he will finish this tournament as top scorer.

I hope Sven's half-time team talk is something special, because it's been a drab performance so far. The team needs to come out for the next 45 minutes and play T&T off the park - for the points and for the morale.

COME ON ENGLAND!

PLEASE!!!

You know he almost started dancing. I read that he said he wouldn't but I can't find the article.

yeah, he did say he wouldn't dance unless he scored in the final, on the last two england games they've absolutely no chance of getting that far. They've been fucking terrible

yes, 3 goals from my captains in 3 days!

Aaron Lennon has been the only player that's looked decent enough today

They random picked up steam in the last 10 minutes. It seemed like Gerrard made a "just for fun" shot. They play better like that.

I feel bad for the guy that just made the offside shot...

Shaka got shocked. ulmer's detour must be happy about that Gerrard goal.

Relief.

At last we score. 2 - 0. Good cross and a good header by Crouch. Very nice strike by Gerrard (my captain today!). Aaron Lennon did well - he seemed to inject some energy into things.

from the fantasy football homepage, funny picture

Nice pic.

To be fair we did create some chances - there were five instances were our players had either an unoppesed header or shot right in front of goal, but only one was even on target (the Lampard effort)!

We are capable of much better than that, no question. On another day a few of those chances would have resulted in goals, but even if they had gone in today, it wasn't impressive overall.

I think T&T looked good against Sweden partly because Sweden forced them to play well - we did very little that was creative or dangerous.

I think this game will lift England in a way, build up confidence. A win is a win, and England have two of them.

Was anyone else starting to think Sweden was going to go without a goal again?

Today's matches:

Argentina vs Serbia and Montenegro
Netherlands vs Cote d'Ivoire
Mexico v Angola

Netherlands vs Cote d'Ivoire could go either way - it has to be the pick of the games today.

Ive got three strikers plying today, but looking at first game performances and managerial selection, I'm not confident...

If you are in the UK and at work (like me), here's the link to Argentina vs SErbia Montenegro, live on BBC

Riquelme as captain is popular today hehe

three to zip at the half

use the word

the word is

clinic

some of us (incl. myself) should have had more faith in Crespo & made him captain...yep.

& Tevez!
whoa!
5-0

and now

6-0...Messi bustin' that cherry

i didnt get to see the match but from the highlights i saw, it looked like riquelme didn't get the last pass/assist in any of the goals :( did he have any shots on target?

That goal with all the passing looked amazing

Atari's got 2 different scorers in the same game. He gave Cambiasso a try, he was the only one in our group. Bra-vo.
Luckily for me, Messi scored too.

Netherlands-Ivory Coast to go. What's it gonna be?

i'd say 1-0 or 2-1 to netherlands

My guess is Netherland will win, with a narrower margin than the wonderful game that has just ended.
And, look, what do I see?
_slavo_ running along the field, practising. Expect a new team in a short while.

I don't believe this - the company I work for has blocked access to the BBC web site!

That's a shame - I've heard a lot of places are doing that. Idiots.

All the live BBC games are live online from that site.

6-0 to Argentina, and my man Riquelme fails to score! Great win though - they utterly decimated their opponents. It would almost be wrong to call it a contest, it was so one-sided, but as an exhibition of footballing skills, it surpassed everything.

Van Persie just scored for Netherlands though, so that's a bonus.