If USA were to draw then England could still get though with a draw if the England score was high enough. I think USA will beat Algeria meaning England have to win to go through. Theres no point in going through second as it means meeting the Germans most likely, even though they lost today. Any of the four teams could still qualify though.

I dislike Jack Layton intensely, I wish him autistic children. England I wanted to like but what a pathetic display. At half time my desk was surrounded by chuckling South Africans, Portuguese, Italians, Greeks, Americans and a Laotian who, having given up on France, is cheering for Mexico. Embarassing. I'm only glad I no longer work with an Algerian.

Flogger Neverlands 2 Japan 1
Flogger Ghana 1 Australia 0
Flogger Cameroon 1 Denmark 2

You're lucky. I was stuck in a meeting with 2 cradles, a Pakistani, a Russian and (here I'm guessing) a Malaysian. Since I was feeling no pain, I required no sympathy.

That is what I thought, but do you see England scoring 3+ goals against Slovenia? England will have to win.

Yes, that's correct. Even if they do they'll likely finish second in the group (dependent of course on the the other result).

After today's surprise loss by Germany, that means the master plan is working perfectly.

Lose to the Krauts on penalties at the first possible opportunity.

Job done.

Agreed. There's no reason why they shouldn't win but they will have to show a big improvement.

Back in 1990 England drew their first two matches with exactly the same scores as this time. They then won the third match and came top of the group. That will do this time.

The 1990 squad was half decent.

JamesM Netherlands 2 Japan 0
JamesM Ghana 1 Australia 1
JamesM Cameroon 1 Denmark 2

I'd swap Gerrard and Rooney for Lineker and Gascoigne anytime.

Steven Gerrard is the most over rated English player of all time. I can't think of one memorable international performance and how many England caps has he won?

Don't get me started on Fat Frank....................

What time did you fire the Algerian?

Ha! I left Hachimi, or Hibachi as the cradles called him, behind ages ago.

There were some good players and even the weaker ones played above themselves. At the time though, going into the world cup, expectations were quite low. Gasgoigne was the key then and he performed.

To be fair England are ranked 8 in the world because they have done reasonably well in the last 2 years. There are always going to be off days. If they can get going in the next match and get a bit of momentum in the knock out stages then the last two matches will soon be forgotten. But if they don't do any better I think the likes of lamps, jt and gerrard are finished - they've supposedly been going to fullfil their potential for the last 8 years and now they're hitting their 30s.

20 Jun...predictions before 8:30am AST please

* Slovakia 0 Paraguay 0
* Italy 0 NewZealand 0
* Brazil 0 IvoryCoast 0



I'm off out for a few hours (and didn't want anyone to miss out by me posting this later tonight.)

Took a drive out the Sunrise trail today... saw a lot of bloody Italian flags... sigh. Come on England geez... waves a tiny three lions flag.