Dark Munster

That's possible. So if he picks the wrong loser in every match except the final ... it means the Dutch will still win.

But Paul gets everything right except the final (the Euro 2008 final was his one mistake). So that means the Dutch will win.

.... 1-0 they will have scored the fewest number goals by a World Cup champion. .... they will be the first World Cup champions to lose their opening match. Along with - First World Cup Champions from Europe to win playing outside the European continent. - Champions of the first World Cup in which the hosts didn't make the second round. - Be part of the first final without any of Brazil, Italy, Germany or Argentina. Any other firsts missed? (First WC in Africa is a bit too obvious).

Have a look at this comment from last year: :lol: blueballoo, Gosport says... 2:51am Fri 26 Jun 09 I am a Pompey fan but rather than indulge in pointless bickering I'll ask you a few questions: 1. Do you honestly think you could appeal that SLH is distinct from SFC when SFC was only able to pay last months wages owing to exclusivity funds from SLH? 2. Do you think a High Court Judge is going to agree that SFC is a solvent going concern when it has again failed to pay its staffs wages? The rule was created to stop solvent clubs being taken down by insolvent parent companies. Is SFC solvent? No. The bloke banging on about Delia Smith yesterday was hilarious - Delia Smith is a chef who publishes cookbooks. Does SLH publish a cookbook? No. Does SLH have any other business tthan SFC? No. Do the league have the right to interpret this rule according to the spirit? Yes. Would the High Court accept the right of an insolvent football club to escape a deduction because of 'natural justice'? No, because natural justice is on the side of the league - you ARE bankrupt. Secondly, you have to go the court wth clean hands to claim natural justice, you are trying to use a legal manouevre to avoid getting a penalty that APPLIES to you.

I think that's the crux of it. At the end of the day he may make, what, £20m at best once he sells (when he's in his late 60's or older). That's less than 1% of his current worth. He can make more than that in a few months of investing his fortune. He's probably got more than that behind all his sofas. He's in his 60's, has billions; if he were obsessed with making tons more money (which he doesn't need, anyway) he wouldn't be "investing" in a bloody football club. Call me mad, but my theory is he bought the club to give him (and others) pleasure, and if he can build it up without spending ridiculous amounts of money, that would simply be all the more satisfying. I doubt if he gives a shit whether he'll make a piddling profit or not when/if he sells in the future, or passes it on.

With an average of about 79 posts per day! Wow.

I reckon it's just a ploy to try to stop Arsenal asking for a ridiculous price for Fabregas.

That's strange, in the game I watched the Spaniards were frustrated by the German tactics, the Germans set out to wear them down and perhaps nick a goal in extra time.

Not looking too clever at the moment? Oh yes it does, it looks brilliant. We're already 10 points better off than last year! Woo hoo!

I have been saying for ages it's unfair that the people on the DFB are much more intelligent than the twats running the FA. It's been giving the Germans an unfair advantage for years. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/8787109.stm

Nice job Andy Lombardi (and a special mention to "SAINTPHIL", "goaleycoach", "saintinuk", "3Thinker" and "moleman".) http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jul/03/soccer-mad-city-shut-out-mls/

At least some skates have a sense of humour: Cotterill: "That's difficult to do at the moment, because there are a lot of balls up in the air and we are waiting for a few to drop." Comment number 3: Waiting for balls to drop??? Just how young is our squad?

That's easy to say with 20-20 hindsight. I bet if Crouch had known, at the time, about ML he wouldn't have backed Pinnacle.

Compare this to the Sweet FA's approach to youth football: http://www.klikfc.com/article/139292:1/world-cup-2010-how-germany-planned-a-flair-revolution--paul-hayward Niersbach says that after his country's early exit from Euro 2000 "the German FA has invested an annual €20m [£16.5m] earmarked for talent promotion in the widest sense of the word. At grassroots level, a nationwide network of 366 training centres has been set up, mostly using the infrastructure of local clubs with above-average facilities, where 14,000 youngsters aged 11-14 receive extra tuition by way of a weekly two-hour training session imparted by a DFB-appointed coach. This is in addition to the training they do with their respective clubs. It is more than likely that some of them will feature in the German national team eight years from now. "Further up the line there are 46 club academies. Twenty-nine German further-education schools have been designated Elite Football Schools. Students receive a perfectly normal education, up to the Abitur granting university access, but also benefit from plenty of football as part of the curriculum. "Finally we have made sure that all the DFB's junior national teams, from U15 onwards, benefit from basically the same level of support, the backroom staff including a sports psychologist, a physical fitness coach, as well as first-rate doctors and physios. An extensive database has been set up, allowing our coaches to access information – medical data, physical test results, performance analyses, personal characteristics – for every player. Obviously, the underlying purpose of all of this is that no player with good potential shall be allowed to slip through the net."

If not, he almost certainly told that to the local organisers.

A local rag journalist is getting excited that a Premiership club is playing a friendly here in San Diego, and has 4 world cup players. I wonder who should break it to him that (a) they are no longer in the PL, and (b) they probably won't have any world cup players left by the time whatever remnants of their squad turn up? http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/jul/03/soccer-mad-city-shut-out-mls/ Grasping this are Anthony Fernandez, CEO of Pazzo Sports, and Randy Phillips, president of FLIP Media and Whole Planet Media, who are bringing an unprecedented match between England’s Portsmouth and Mexico’s Club America to Qualcomm Stadium for a friendly on July 14. They hope to put on similar soccer events here twice a year. They get it. Portsmouth never has played in these parts, and Club America hardly is bush league. If you like the game, this is good stuff. “This is the first time an English premier team has come to San Diego, and Club America is one of Mexico’s storied franchises,” Fernandez says. “We have a capacity of 32,000 for this game, and we’re expecting at least 25,000. Portsmouth has four World Cup players representing various countries. We think we’ve found a niche.

Not just on the pitch, but off it too. Compare us to the Germans: who spent 6 months using the new ball in their league to get used to it? Who has perfected the art of taking penalties under pressure? Who takes a winter break to give players a chance to recover? Who learns from past mistakes? Not us.

You spelt "Emile Heskey" wrongly.

Schweinsteiger has been very good, but is playing in a good team. Forlan on the other hand has almost single-handedly taken a pretty average Uruguay team to the semis. So Forlan gets my vote for the player of the tournament (so far). WTF did Fergie do to him during his time at ManUre?

Well, if your other half is English, that half has no hope, so you might as well embrace the half that has at least a half a chance of winning.

Well, I don't think that's going to impress FIFA, who are considering extending the ban. If the Uruguayans had any sense, they'd at least pretend to show some remorse.

Being half-Dutch, I'm half offended by that. Come on you Oranje.