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Very nice opening game by Germany *small applause*

USA won't win it. Naaaaaaaaaaa.

Opening match made a change from the usual 0-0 draws of opening games..

Yay Trinidad and Tobago!!!

That was really cool for them.

Dunno what Cyd Gray was all about, but good work from Trinidad and Tobago, particularly considering they only had 10 men for allmost the entire 2nd half.

England 1 - 0 Paraguay

First half decent, seccond half, not so.

But did anyone see that ref? What an eejit. Expected though considering where he's from +___+

Sweden 0 - 0 Trinidad & Tobago

.___-

And bad luck for Cote d'Ivoire against the Argies. 2 - 1 to Argentina...

I'm supporting England. Although I'd like to see Auss do well and same goes for the Ivory Coast. ^^

Yeah, the ref was nuts. He stood on someone's foot too! I can't remember which player it was though...damn memory.

England played like absolute drains in the 2nd half, but they played like drains for most of the 1966 tournament.

The weather is a bother for England though.

It's because it's not raining, foggy, and apologetic.

Is anyone else pulling for Angola today, or is just me?

GO ANGOLA.

I support all the African and small South American nations.

Not me..I have Portugal in a sweepstake

USA play tomorrow, and this is an analysis I posted over at IDB (I love football and watch every match

likely starting line-up for Czech Rep. is

--------------------- Keller
Cherulundo---- Onyewu----Pope----Lewis
----------------------- Mastroeni
O'Brien -----------Reyna --------- Beasley
--------------Donovan
----------- Brian McBride

The big question is whether Beasley or Convey will get the call at left-wing

But I think (at least for the first match) Beasley will start, but if he plays badly or gets tired, Convey can run at the (hopefully) tired defence and provide the same quality of crosses that we've witnessed all season in Reading.
Convey has been absolutely amazing this season, and when we played him in the Donovan attacking midfield free-role, he played his best match of the season and was absolutely everywhere, eventually scoring the winner and getting MoM

But unfortunately despite his brilliant performances in friendlies Arena doesn't seem to be praising him, just simply saying he was good, but then pulling criticism out of nowhere. This could either be a tactic to try and concel him as a secret weapon, or just that Bruce doesn't rate him (which I;m sure is not the case because he even picked Convey when he was langusihing in our reserves)
Beasley is also far more established at international level, and performed superbly at WC2002, and is the only american to have played in a Champions League semi-final, although his form of late has been nothing compared to Convey

I definitely agree about Ching not being in the squad, I was following the announcement and I really thought Twellman would get picked considering he scored a hat-trick in a friendly. I actually think E.Johnson might have a good world cup, but the guy who has really impressed me is Dempsey I've seen quite a few goals where he's just managed to sneak onto the end of a cross with a late run (vs England, Venezuela, Poland) and he could really make a difference for the team, its just where do you play him (I don't think right-wing is his natural position, is it?)
Defence looks great with Onyewu (hopefully coming to Reading) and Pope, while Mastroeini provides DM cover that all teams seem to play nowadays (again he's been linked with a move to Reading )

I'm worried Reyna isn't 100% fit because you can't drop your captain, and he could end up being the weak link in the chain

The tactic USA really really seriously must use, is get lots of crosses into the box because McBride is fantastic with his heading - and thats the case for Bobby Conveys inclusion, along with Lewis and Beasley, so that as many crosses as possible can be played into the box.

To all those doubters over Convey: I've watched him all season at Reading, and if you have come off the back of a record-breaking season, in which we only lost twice when Convey played, your confidence is going to be through the roof, and his display against Venezuela 1st half showed this was evident

Czech Republic are a very strong team though with some VERY established world class players, and if USA are to win, they're going to need to shackle Baros and Nedved, who will cause you lots of danger if they have time and space. So Onyewu and Mastroeni better be on form tomorrow if the US are to get off to a good start

Then next Saturday, I'm off to Kaiserlautern for Italy vs USA

Holy cow.

Australia vs. Japan was very interesting. I think it may have been a little payback for the ref's awful decision with the Japanese goal.

Go Aussies!

HA! That was the most Ausome game!! GO Australia !! (I was on the edge of my seat...)

Australia is going well, which is good to know. d("d)

Australia weren't playing all that well, though.

Definitely excited about Brazil tonight... I've been backing them to retain the cup, and I love watching Ronaldhino. Well, sometimes he's quite annoying.

Gerrard I think it was... not sure though..

I thought it was Joe Cole, actually. Meh, whatever.

Gerrard's a prat, I've no time for him. Good player but argh...idiot.