Yeah, I'm wondering about that too (I'm not watching the game), and whether or not payback against Croatia plays a little role in losing there today...
Just watched highlights on MOTD and they raised a few points thats worth Capello thinking about. Who cares how Heskey helps Rooney the lad is not playing for Villa and its showing. He is not match fit and it will only get worse between now and June (he's not as mobile as he was at the beginning of Q/F) For me I think Rooney can play with some one like Gabby Agbonlahor who is fast, strong and can hold up the ball since hes used to being a lone strike for U21 & Villa in recent times. Heskey is only 3 inches taller than Gabby so its not a massive loss in height and then we have two strikers who can actually score. Also we need to produce new CB's because I've never seen Rio have such a poor start to a season with club/country.
I wonder what light punishment Ukraine will get for attempting to burn down England's penalty box with all those flares after all if we did it then we would probably been chucked out of the World Cup. Denmark secure there place in the World Cup so Sweden are all but out and Portugal are set make the playoffs. Also today France also secure a playoff spot along with Ireland... Argentina are the luckiest cunts ever they were drawing 1-1 in the 93rd minute Martin Palermo scored the winner though right after the restart Peru hit the crossbar with last kick of the ball. So 3 teams fight for the last 2 places (1 auto and 1 playoff) Argentina 25, Uruguay 24, Ecuador 23 and on the last day... Ecuador play Chile who have nothing to play for and if they win then the loser of Argentina vs. Uruguay go out. Dam a draw would of meant Argentina would of been virtually out due to there crap goal difference.
Is it just a coincidence that Liverpool's club shop are currently selling their Liverpool Beach Set (including towel and beachball) for half price? Rafa should probably buy the beachball in January. Cheap and has a better shot than a lot of his players... sorry, I just can't resist. I'm not sure I've ever laughed so hard at anything in a game of football. I do appreciate, though, how Benitez didn't use it to mask his team's performance or blow it out of proportion unnecessarily. Nice change from the usual manager whinging. Be interesting to see how they react against Lyon and United now.
Agreed. Balloon og did change the game, but it was early on and Liverpool didn't make much of the rest of the 90 minutes.
Interesting results in yesterday's Champions League... Barcelona loses at home to Rubin Kazan, Liverpool loses against Lyon, Rangers get smashed by Unirea in Ibrox, Dinamo Kiew gets a point against Inter and Alkmaar against Arsenal.
All hail the minnows! Finally, some of the groups will actually be interesting! Rubin Kazan though - incredible.
I dunno it's looking okay at the moment - only Sevilla and Arsenal look like they're through already, though I anticipate United's group will be settled after the two games against Moscow. Liverpool have to win all three remaining games to be certain of going through, Chelsea haven't been playing at all well and their opponents are pretty equally matched, the Inter/Barca group is wide open and the Milan/Madrid group could be very open after they've had their double header. Basically this is the most interest I've seen in a group stage for a while.
I think my problem is the level of football seems quite poor and I do misis the good old days when you would get real big games in the group stage and teams would go for it 100%. I just think players coast in the group stage until they are in serious trouble look at Liverpool now. UEFA point of putting in so many teams in the CL was too make it exciting but now for me its making it more boring.
The organisers are charging $20 USD for the cheapest tickets to the U17 World Cup here in third world Nigeria and are wondering why the attendances are so bad. *golf claps*
Pretty amazing match in the U17 world cup last night, Germany v Nigeria. In the first half I had pretty much give up on Nigeria since they were 3-0 down. Was pretty sure the same problems that plagued our senior players plagued the youth setup as well (lack of technique, calmness on the ball etc). Like I said, I'd given up, though I thought the fans booing a bunch of 17 year old kids was a bit harsh. Next thing you know, it's 3-1, 3-2, and then it ended 3-3. Amazing stuff. Now if Liverpool can just somehow beat Manu, Fullham hold Man City, and Arsenal slaughter West Ham, the perfect weekend will be complete.
And it was on TV as well Fantastic game to watch. Next up for Forest though... a trip to free-scoring City. Looking forward to it a lot, hopefully I'll be at the game next weekend as it has the potential to be amazing. Can Forest stop Peter Whittingham? Can anyone?
Gosh, what a great news day! Both the soap opera clubs of the world have put out some excellent news - Newcastle hire Chris Hughton permanently, take the club off the market and float the idea of selling the naming rights for St James' Park, and Real Madrid get beaten by the Spanish equivalent of a League One side, Alcoron. Not just a 'cupset' either, but a proper humiliation, 4-0. What a brilliant day. I think Newcastle will definitely be closer to relegation than promotion now - I always said they'd be in trouble if they didn't sort themselves out by November and this isn't what I'd call 'sorting themselves out'. And Madrid... well, what can be said about them? Does anyone not love seeing them crash and burn?
^ Current estimates pinpoint the end to be at approximately 1945 Sunday. Why this game is on at 5pm on a Sunday is beyond me.