England Thrash Jamaica

I've have nothing really constructive and worthwhile to say about England's 6 - 0 demolition of Jamaica, but it's my blog, so I feel it is only right and proper to say :

Come On En-ger-land.

Mouthy Manc Out of Jamaica Game

Every England fans' favourite mouthy Manc, Gary Neville is out of tonight's England match with Jamaica due to a hamstring injury. According to Eriksson "it is more of a precaution than anything..." but then he would say that, wouldn't he.

Despite the fact that Neville can never shut up and the fact that his hatred of Scousers verges on the pathological, he is a pretty good player. And England have no like-for-like cover at right back. So, just until the end of the World Cup, let's wish the sour faced old sod a speedy recovery.

Quick Results Round Up

Yesterday's games produced few shocks, though Ukraine's very solid display against Italy is encouraging for those of us who believe they will be the 2006 World Cup's surprise team. Also, I noticed a distinct lack of moaning managers after the match, which is both surprising and disappointing.

Anyway the results are these :

Italy: 0 Ukraine: 0
Germany: 3 Colombia: 0
Sweden: 1 Chile: 1
Turkey:3 Angola: 2
Uruguay: 0 Tunisia: 0
Togo 1, Liechtenstein 0

Moaning Manager of the Day

I hope to make this a daily award during the Finals themselves, but the inaugural winner of the 'Moaning Manager of the Day' is one Marcello Lippi of Italy, who complained last night after Italy's 1-1 draw with Switzerland that the Swiss side was playing far too competitive football.

Lippi said: "We came here for a friendly but we met a team who wanted something more...We wanted to verify the condition of a few players but found a different kind of atmosphere and had to adapt...."

The Swiss Manager, unfortunately, wasn't able to comment on this but I'm sure he would have been shocked and embarrassed by his failure to realise that the match should have been all about Lippi checking the condition of some of his players and nothing to do with Switzerland's own World Cup preparations.

Don't Laugh...It's A Serious Problem

Look, this football stuff is a serious business. More important than life and death and all those other cliches. So, no laughing when you read this warning from an Animal Welfare group not to paint your pets in your national colours. OK ? It's not funny.

Change The Working Day During The World Cup

In a move of startling populism, the Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuri Yekhanurov has urged bosses to change the working day during the World Cup so that people can watch the matches.

In a rare burst of commonsense from a politician, he said "... we can expect an epidemic of unknown diseases. People will call in sick en masse...We recommend all administrators adjust the working day by... installing television sets where possible..."

I commend the Ukrainian Prime Minister and urge other governments to follow their lead. Are you listening, Mr Blair ?

FREE BEER

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Let me recap just so you know what a good offer this is - sign up at SportingOdds, bet £10 on the World Cup:

Click on 'Free Bet button' on the homepage (an image on the top right of the screen)

Place your free £10 bet on the winner of the World Cup

On placing your Free Bet you will automatically qualify for a free 6 pack of Budweiser. A voucher for you to claim your Budweiser will be sent to the address you have registered on your account within 7 working days.

So Sign Up For An Account at SportingOdds today

World Cup 2006 Warm Ups - May 30th

The results of yesterday's matches are as follows:

England: 3 Hungary: 1
(Luckily I managed to stay awake for the second half and saw some pretty good football...and Owen Hargreaves)

Ivory Coast: 1 Chile: 1

Germany: 2 Japan: 2
(A more accurate reflection of Germany's real strength as a soccer team than their 7-0 victory over Luxembourg)

Argentina: 2 Angola: 0
(Messi features for last 15 minutes or so and Heinze plays for over an hour as Argentina return to something like full strength)

Poland: 1 Colombia: 2
(Weak performance from the Poles - not very encouraging ahead of the Finals)

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What Is The Point of An Owen Hargreaves

I'm told, by people whose sanity I'm beginning to doubt, that the Owen Hargreaves who plays for Bayern Munich is actually a pretty good player.

This must, of course, be a different player from the one who played right-back for England B vs Belarus and the one who played in midfield for England v Hungary last night. Because that Owen Hargreaves is, frankly, rubbish.

World Cup Warm-Ups Round Up

Yesterday's results:

France: 1 Mexico: 0

Spain: 0 Russia: 0 (Spain in their usual good form before a major tournament, then)

Portugal: 4 Cape Verde: 1 (Pauleta looking good, but Cape Verde is hardly worthy opposition at this stage)

Serbia & Montenegro: 1 Uruguay: 1

Switzerland: 1 Ivory Coast: 1

Germany: 7 Luxembourg: 0 (this really doesn't mean Germany are going to win the World Cup, you know)

Holland: 1 Cameroon: 0

Trinidad & Tobago: 1 Wales: 2

Denmark: 1 Paraguay: 1

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Pity The Poor Saudis

If you have ever spent any time in expensive London hotels, then you'll have seen many Saudi businessmen going about their, um, business. They're often the guys in the bar drinking the 25 year old single Malt, enjoying £400 per hour 'companions' and smoking Cohibas the size of my head.

Now, I'm sure that this is just a minority of Saudi Arabians and most are very devout, but it is with a great deal of sympathy that I read in today's Sunday Times that staff at the hotel the Saudi World Cup squad are staying in "....had trawled through each room, clearing alcohol from the minibars, blocking any adult entertainment normally available on the TV channels and even removing some pictures in the fitness area that showed naked flesh..."

Bad luck, guys.