World Cup: The Last Sixteen

I think the upper half of the board looks clear: italy
and argentina in the semi. the lower half is really
difficult to predict, but I will go with portugal and
france.

Short and sweet Kenn ;-)

Think you're on the money re Italy v. Australia. The Azzuri just don't look anywhere near as good as the individual talent suggests they should be and Kewell could well be the man to upset them if he's on his game as their full backs don't inspire confidence. As for Totti - well, what has happened there?

The Owen injury, unfortunate though it is, might just be the shove that Eriksson needs to reshuffle the pack favourably. I like Carrick, the only concern is the lack of experience on this stage (and the fact that the system with him anchoring it is relatively untried). Ecuador are good down the flanks - Ashley Cole isn't yet on form and Hargreaves is a better holding midfielder than he is a right back, so this is where England could have problems. Still think (hope) they'll do it though.

I shall be heading to Dortmund on Tuesday, disappointed not to see Essien play on the world stage but very happy to cheer on the underdog (and hope they don't take too much of a beating).

Quite fancy Portugal over the Dutch and unless Zidane wakes up, Spain over France. Argentina is virtually a given and Switzerland aren't spectacluar but very efficient and might well overcome Andriy's boys. Losing Senderos will be something of a problem for them though.

Germany are looking rather ominous...

So far Chelsea tally in this World Cup is really good 8 goals scored: Crespo - 3, Shevchenko-2, Drogba -1 , Robben -1, Joe Cole -1.
Does anybody know if there is a club whose players scored more?

Don't think there is Mike. FIFA seem to have credited Crespo with Argentina's equaliser - looked like a fair amount of Borghetti's head, but we'll take that one!

Arsenal must be there or thereabouts the next best; Henry 2, Rosicky 2, van Persie 1, Senderos 1.

MikeL - SoccerLens is keeping a running tally of goal scorers.

Kenn - Germany v Sweden: Germany. ;-)

Argentina v Mexico: Argentina. ;-)

England v Ecuador: England... just. They'll have the heat to blame again.

Holland v Portugal: Portugal.

Italy v Australia: With a good referee Australia could nick it. With the usual, Italy will be too cynical for the Socceroos.

Switzerland v Ukraine: Hopefully Ukraine. Would love to see Shevchenko score a few more.

Brazil v Ghana: The lack of Essien and the fact that Brazil seem to be hitting their stride will see them through.

Spain v France: Definitely Spain. Different class. And for the first World Cup since 1990 I haven't backed them. Bound to win it. ;-)

Thanks Jonathan and Nick,

I hope today Chelsea goal tally will go up and finally Frank and JT say their words.
Come on England!!!

Nick,

After the first half performance of Mexico yesterday, I grudgingly began placing a large order of humble pies, but Mr Rodriguez’s wonder strike saved my blushes! Gawd! I never knew Mexico had it in them to be party-poopers! Senor La Volpe had staked his reputation on leaving his expectant country in a puff of acrid smoke, and he almost succeeded! Phew!

As for England, the heat is already an issue even before taking to the pitch. One good news for them is that Mendez may not be fit for the match. He’s a huge component of how the Ecuadorians play.

With the loss of Senderos, Switzerland will struggle. He’s a real leader on the pitch and without him Switzerland will find it difficult to deal with the power of Voronin or the guile of Shevchenko - that is if the Ukrainians play as they should.

Spain flatters to deceive at every World Cup. Admittedly, this one has been different so far, but you just get the feeling that the ‘real’ big-game Spain will soon show its face. France is just that kind of team to bring them down to earth. So, go on, back them as usual, because the result aint gonna be different this time around! Whatever the result though, a great game is seemingly guaranteed.




Jonathan,

Yeah, go on and cheer Ghana my friend, even though we aren’t giving them a whiff of a chance against the perennial favourites. I’m hoping they put up a real fight though, like the Mexicans against Argentina.

Enjoy your trip and make sure you tell us about it on your return!



All,

Chelsea players are easily the dominant players at the World Cup. We are the world and we better begin to get used to it!

Mexico are a good team and very very fit. still you could not see them winning. australia facing italy is a no brainer: one of the most impressive teams so far against one of the weakest. spain will tonk, they have been struggling already and their idiotic coach is getting ready to replace senna, by far their best player in midfield.

In spite of the win one more poor display for England. We are going through, but it can not be like this for a long. Next round we are going to play either Portugal or Holland and one of them can punish for such poor performance.

During the Chelsea v. Man. Utd game, back in April just after Luiz Felipe Scolari had turned down the job of England manager, I said to a friend that it's set up for Scolari to knock us out of the World Cup. I may well be proved right after tonight's fiasco.

Figo's a head-butting cheat, deserves to join Deco and miss the quarter-final.

Kuyt was less than useless; God knows what poor old Van Nistelrooy must be feeling like now.

The referee made Graham Poll look good. Enjoyable to watch, though. I was rooting for extra-time.

The less said about England, particularly Lampard, the better. But it should be a cracking quarter-final.

Strange. I think Deco deserves to join Figo and not miss the next one, hopefully fifa will feel the same. Shameful display by the Dutch. No football, just lobbies to the box, pretty pathetic. Worse, no sportsmanship.

Weibe,

I doubt very much that FIFA will do anything about anything that happened tonight. That's FIFA's way I'm afraid.

Portugal lacked just as much sportsmanship as Holland, although they didn't dive as much as the Dutch. Robben was shameful at times, but not as shameful as the ITV commentator who seemed to derive great pleasure out of ripping into him.

I think we saw Van Basten's lack of experience as a coach tonight.

I'm glad Deco will miss the QF, for obvious reasons, but also because he would have made Lampard look poorer than he already has been during the tournament.

Did I read that Barca want to give us £20m and Deco for Frank? ;-)

Nick, one thing is your usual scuffle in an important game. another is to show your desperation by ignoring the most basic rules of fair play and try to score when the ref has stopped the game and spared you a goal.

That one example of a lack of Dutch sportsmanship pales into insignificance when compared with the number of offences committed by both sides. It would take all night to list them.

Deco was your typical common sense deficient footballer diving in to earn his first yellow card after the Dutch failed to give the ball back to Portugal. He won't have his red card rescinded.

Figo should be banned as well - Essien was retrospectively punished and although Figo was punished, the camera doesn't lie. His head butt was blatant and obvious. If Fifa let him off the hook then it's a bloody disgrace and an already incompetent and corrupt organisation underlines its pathetic failings. Deco was unfortunate to go, but frankly if that ref gets another game...well see my earlier comment about Fifa. He lost control by booking van Bommel (I think) after 1m 45s instead of issuing a warning. He was everything that is bad about bad refereeing, pedantic, petty, autocratic and blind. Utter garbage from him, but it lead to an eventful game.

As for us, well Germany had the same heat and conditions but it barley affected their game, so why we keep harping on pathetically about this is beyond me. They've been there 3 bloody weeks, so they should be acclimatised by now. Joe Cole was quiet by his standards and seemed bothered by the close attention of the Ecuadorian defence - Hey Joe - get used to it mate if you want to flourish at this level. We were bitty and disjointed and Ecuador were poor. We should be burying teams like this. Lampard played the ball well but for fuck's sake Frank, find the shooting boots. His confidence is so low at the moment and this showed when he tried to play Rooney in with a poor pass when the Frank we know would have taken the shot. I can see him being dropped if this continues and maybe that would be a good thing. JT looked shaky to start, especially that dreadful header to the Ecuadorian who should have scored. Top players for us were Carrick and Ashley Cole, closely followed by Rooney with Lennon looking excellent when he came on. Anyone doubt he should be there instead of SWP now?

Lastly I'm glad it's Portugal and not Holland. I think we can play Portugal and we owe them for Euro 2004. With any luck Figo will be out as well, so they'll be depleted especially if Ronaldo fails to recover (bloody cry baby). Just one thought...if Scolari beats Eriksson for a third time does he get to keep him for good? GJ

At this level one missing player is very difficult to make up for, you cannot occupy all the space. holland do not have the individual quality to use all that space, but I was telling someone today that every game will be decided by a random red card here and there. something has to be done about this, of course. head butt? I saw van bommel having a sudden drop in blood pressure and fall to the ground without anyone in the vicinity. in fact this is a player I have grown to dislike. deco saw an absurd yellow for being grabbed by the neck and thrown to the ground, the first was, on the contrary, typical of his intelligence. I liked the old holland better. as for england, it was dismal. I went to the buffet to get some breakfast and missed the goal. and why does your assistant coach wear those shorts. he is no young girl anymore you know

GrocerJack,

You’re surely going to kill me! The thought of baldheaded Scolari carting off the baldheaded Eriksson for keeps had me in stitches for quite sometime. Seriously, I agree with every sentiment expressed, except that bit about Lennon and SWP. I don’t think it is fair to compare what Lennon has achieved with what SWP could have achieved, since the latter was not given the opportunity anyway. In other words, I think it’s quite alright to appreciate that Lennon is bringing a new dimension to England’s attack without concluding that SWP couldn’t have done same or better.

Having said the above, I thought he should have been brought into the game earlier. Beckham was clearly out shortly after he scored the goal. If Lennon had come in say ten, fifteen minutes earlier, England would most probably have had another goal via his contribution. He brought an urgency and energy into the game that startled the Ecuadorian backline.

As for the Dutch-Portuguese affair, it was a disgrace. As you’ve rightly observed, the referee lost it from that moment he booked van Bommel. Every other thing that happened in the game was a reflection of the referee’s loss of grip. It became a case of shameful football, shameful players’ conduct and more shameful refereeing.

Marco van Basten’s inexperience began off-pitch and that set the tone for the game and possibly contributed to the Dutch losing. A more experienced coach wouldn’t have had to come publicly to explain his disagreement with Ruud van Nistelrooy to the press on the eve of such an important match. And, having explained, he made the wrong decision to drop him for the largely untested Kuyt who’ve had no experience of top international football on a similar or near-similar level. That he didn’t bring in Ruud after the hour mark says more about his arrogance than inexperience though. The atmosphere in the camp was already polluted before the game and that showed in the way the players related on the pitch. I never thought the old Dutch curse would do them in again. Pity.

I would be surprised if Marco van Basten does not resign immediately or get the sack in the next few days.

I think you are being too generous on the dutch. they went into the pitch with a deliberate policy of taking ronaldo out of the game. I blame van basten for that and it always angers me. It is just so low. It also tends not to pay because you show your fear and lack of confidence in your own game. which the dutch do not have, although they showed a bag of tricks worthy the worst argentinians of past world cups. van bommel in particular should long ago have been made to find some other job.

Weibe, you said...

"head butt? I saw van bommel having a sudden drop in blood pressure and fall to the ground without anyone in the vicinity."

I suggest you watch a re-run or get your eyes tested. It was clear and blatant and if you didn't see it then you are either

a.)blind
b.)portuguese
c.) have a surname of Figo
d.) have a pseudonym of Valentin Ivanov and was wearing a yellow shirt in Nuremberg last night

Was there a football match last night? I remember drinking quite a lot after the England game (it's the only way) and later on there seemed to be a lot of chaps on TV, some of them in 1970/80's Crystal Palace retro kits, fighting with each other and another bloke waving some cards around. Was he trying to get a five-a-side game going?

All very odd.

Yes, very odd, Mr Dyer; very odd indeed (sighs…).

GJ - on the subject of beating one opponent three times and then being entitled to keep them, it'd never work. Imagine how many times we'd have been awarded Spurs in recent years?

;-)

JD,

I never thought of that...........perhaps I shall suggest it to the EPL.....but what would that mean for Arseanal and us?

maybe its best left alone :-)

You do not know what a head butt is, which is all to your credit, grocerjack.

Figo cleared for England showdown

Luis Figo can play in Saturday's World Cup quarter-final against England after Fifa ruled out further action for a headbutt on Holland's Mark van Bommel [emphasis added].

It's all semantics. Maybe Figo was just delivering the Lisbon version of what is referred to north of the border as a 'Glasgow kiss'. Hopefully by escaping punishment Figo will be arrogant enough to try the same again on Saturday. On JT, for example...

thankfully the pic bbc sport put up is quite elucidating. figo grinded his teeth at van bommel in a comical slash menacing style. he got booked for that, which is a bit harsh but acceptable. I just wish we could go back to the eighties. The rampant commercialism just americanized his beautiful game.

Weibe, maybe I should come over and demonstrate what a head butt is because you patently have no idea. Hmmm....teeth grinidng huh. I never knew teeth existed in ones forehead.

I will pass, grocer. There was no impact, only contact (how is that for a catcy slogan?), so it could never be a red. maybe you dont like figo or your england affiliation is getting the better of you. in any event, that bastard van bommel actually spit on figos face before the incident, as I found out after finally having access to the footage.

Did anyone else find it hilarious that Mr. Ronaldo (the fake one) wants a beautiful game against England?

By all means if you...

a) Stop diving when tackled by blades of grass.
b) Kicking people a la Pires v. Pompey to get players booked in a disgusting dive attempt.
c) STOP CHEATING AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY
d) STOP CHEATING...

Oh, and did anyone else notice Brazil being booed off at half time today?

-Tweeds