Draws out then....
will be a good time pass during the summer as always..
First thing's first, hope the United bunch come back fresh and injury free..


France to be out in the first round I think, Luis Fabiano with the golden boot...
Let's hope we get to see a few underdogs do well...

Shame the draw hasn't really thrown up any interesting ties... the only group that might be difficult to call is Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast and Portugal.

France could have been in trouble but seeing as they've been drawn with the hosts South Africa and not one of the real top seeds they should get through to the next round.

Good draw for England, probably a draw with the USA, win against Algeria and then scrape through with whatever they need to get from the Slovenia game... scrape past one of Serbia/Ghana/Australia in the last 16 and then start to get tested come the quarter finals.

Spain to win it for me. I think only Rooney would realistically make it into their starting 11 and even then would be a tough call as to who you'd leave out, Villa or Torres.

It surprises me that most of the pundits and journalists seem to have picked Brazil to win it. Spain look far and away the best team to me. Villa, Torres, Fabregas, Xavi, Iniesta, Silva is an incredible collection of attacking talent. Englands pool of talent is pretty thin, so unless we get major luck with injuries i can only see semis or quarters at best.

If they manage to avoid each other then that would be a great final. Think Germany and Italy will probably scrape their way through to the latter stages as they always seem to play well or at least get results once the tournament starts and then there's Portugal and Argentina who just got through but will likely have improved for the World Cup. I'd put England and Netherlands in the same category of sides that have potential but just don't have the depth to go all the way and I think this tournament will be the same.

France though looks awful and although I think they'll get through the group stages, can't see them getting past one of the good sides (or even an average side).

Apparently Rio has suffered an injury after a tackle from Emile Heskey in training.

It will keep him out of the whole tournament. Hopefully this means he'll be nice and fresh for next season.

Gutted for him personally though. And with the very small chance of England actually winning the World Cup it would have been nice to have a United player lift the trophy. Oh well...

I'm gonna go with the Germans. It would be easy to pick Spain or Italy...

Don't care who wins it, as long as the winner isn't from the following teams..

Spain, France, Argentina, and maybe England..



if any of those teams don't win it..I'll be happy...way too many twats for my liking in each of those teams for me to wish them much success.

Once more always hoping the underdogs do well...and from the big teams, would hope Italy or Germany do well...

I would love to see Spain win it, for me they play the best football in the world. With the best players (Pique, Fabregas, Torres, Villa, Silva, Xavi, Iniesta, Alonso, Casillas, Ramos).

Wouldn't mind Spain, Argentina & Portugal doing well; their quality of football is worth it..

Germany too, for their efficiency...

Abner, dude, you seriously got tickets to the World Cup Final?!

how?!

Today's Sun..lol

^Yeah, lol

Seriously, as regards the England game tonight, i think that you lot are going to encounter a tougher game against the USA than probably most English fans and media think. Don't get me wrong England will win this game but you can forget about any goal-fest unless Rooney is in the mood and the Americans decide to self-destruct.

The USA will be well organised and i think the English players will be feeling the pressure of having to do well on the first game.

Anyway, interesting day yesterday, some goal from South Africa, only saw the highlights and saw Javier Hernandez being challenged on the ball (that was really about it). A blank between Uruguay and France also.

I think Ji-Sung Park will be in action against Greece, so i'll have a look to see how he gets on. Interesting game between Argentina and Nigeria today.

I actually think the USA will get a draw against England. The performance against Mexico was poor especially in the first half... Japan could quite easily have won had it not been for the two own goals and the recent friendly wasn't anything special. Having said that, friendlies probably aren't much to go on as players won't be wanting to get injured in them but there were places up for grabs in the squad so thought they'd try and put on a bit more of a show. Like Geoff says, USA will be organised and chase everything and I think England will struggle to get into the swing of things right from the word go. They'll still qualify but I think a draw today, win over Algeria and then whatever is needed to top the group from the Slovenia game.

Mexico looked good against South Africa but couldn't find the net... they could have lost at the end though so will probably be happy with a point but will find it difficult to qualify with what's on paper the easiest game of the group played.

Watched the France game last night and although the commentators were all coming down on France, I actually thought they looked a lot better than I was expecting and made Uruguay look very ordinary. If they can put the right team out from the start with Malouda on one wing and Ribery on the other with Henry and Anelka up front then I'm sure they'll come away with wins against Mexico and South Africa. They just looked a bit like Arsenal and tried to walk it in every time and weren't creating any chances but if they get a bit of width then they still look like a decent side.

Park Ji Sung has just doubled South Korea's lead against Greece..great composure for the finish..

Was a very nicely taken goal by Park.

I agree with Dave, I think it will be a draw tonight. USA showed what they can do in the Confederations against sides substantially better than England, they are definitely capable of nicking a goal and unless Capello has saved some managerial genius for the tournament itself I can't see England being particularly impressive.

Can't wait until this circus is over.

Roll on next season...

Robert Green's value has taken a dive...!

He certainly didn't get the Rob of the Green.

That's one spill the Americans ARE thanking the Brits for

really like that one