Anyone watching the World Cup? Whats your predictions for the winner? Anyone going to dare to say that it's England's turn again?

I'll support Rutland

Ah, btw, if you think you've seen Shakira in the opening, you're wrong... that was really Eric Idle in disguise

My money's on Spain, though... but I'm not exactly famous for becoming rich by betting on football

Smithy Meets the England Football Team

Well at least we can remember the name of the game.. football... we didnt have to shorten it to soccer as an 8 letter word is just too much for americans to remember (after all, they had to borrow a language) lol... oooh.. we're all friends...

Yes, but without that... lol

I have always wondered why they call their 'football' football... looks like ego to me, they have to have something THEY invented... look at baseball.. .we were playing rounders in school many years before lol

Now, now... it's still some 20 blokes running after a ball in their underwear, shouldn't be taken TOO seriously...

That said, it doesn't really seem to me that the demi-God Capello has actually solved any of the age-old problems with England, haven't seen much of it earlier, but I read a lot on the Italian press, and what I've seen tonight is that a replacement for Alan Shearer still hasn't been found, and that putting Lampard and Gerrard on the pitch together, AND having both of them play at their best, is indeed not an easy task... they not only trample on each other's feet, but on Rooney's as well...

Still, I'd have put Crouchy in quite earlier tonight, me... but what do I know? As much as Capello, I sometimes suspect...

You've all gone quiet here... c'mon, it was just the first match, it's still a long way

We haven't seen all the top teams yet, of course, but as someone who cares less for the competition itself and more for the chance to watch some top-class football, I am a bit disappointed, too.

First match is always tricky, sure, but I expected more from teams like England and Holland, and Argentina too, although of course the latter two won, at least, but not very impressively against quite inferior teams.

Italy, I guess, will never change... old curmudgeons are, VERY slowly, replaced by young curmudgeons, but the nature of the game never changes, they almost always get to the final phases of international competitions, and pretty often win, by sheer willpower rather than talent and skills, and they always are slow starters, so yesterday's match held no surprises...

Germany, now, that WAS rather surprising... I would normally have described them pretty much like Italy, but there's no curmudgeons there these days, it's a team of young and very talented players doing VERY nice... sure, Australia's not a team on which to measure how far Germany could go, but what about the U.S.A., then?

However, if Germans start playing good football, there are portents in the air... the Earth might invert its course around the Sun next, it's just not natural...

The way we played yesterday we don't deserve to win.  But it's early days yet. 

44 years of bitter disappointment, another 4 wont hurt... lol  ah, the joys of being english!