The dining chair?

Suarez reported to be worried about a ban as he was looking forward to facing Germany and tucking into a shoulder of Lahm

[courtesy of BBC Live]

I think England, on paper anyway, had a more difficult group this time than they had in South Africa 4 years ago. My feeling was that in this World Cup, England would have done well to have got second place (I thought the Italians would win the group and England would be battling it out with Uruguay for second spot). If England had performed to anything like their best 4 years ago, they should have won their group quite easily. They only secured their way through when they beat Slovenia 1-0 in their final match, who didn't even qualify this time.

Yes. It happened during a Rangers v Raith Rovers match at Ibrox, April 1994.

As for Hodgson, he got England to the last 8 of Euro 2012 when many thought they would strugglein their group, and this was after he'd only been in the job less than two months after Capello's resignation.

England did worse under SBR at Euro '88 (lost all 3 group games) but still reached the semis at the World Cup a couple of years later. Should SBR have been sacked after the debacle in 1988? If he had been dismissed, England may not have done as well as they did at Italia '90. Also, look at the Dutch. They had a miserable Euro 2012, losing all three group games (must have been their worst performance at a major finals for many a year), but have come back strongly in this World Cup so far.

Seems like the FA have launched a PR drive to keep Hodgson in place. I'm guessing this I because they'd have to go foreign again to find a replacement. I noticed that Prandelli has rightly resigned. Will Hodgson do the same? Not a chance.

The circumstances are different. There were greater expectations for Italy to get out of its group. Of course Prandelli had to fall on his sword.

We shall see what England has to offer on September 8th Sept with Euro Qualifier against Switzerland.  Pdf available on uefa.com..

They must have been dancing on the streets of Raith after that

...   San Marino will be the next.....

Electric start to the Argentina Nigeria game! 

LOL, at this rate it's going to be a 10-10 draw.

We shall see. I remember thinking that the Argies had a great chance of winning the tournament during the group stage in both 2006 and 2010 and then when they beat Mexico in the 2nd round in both tournaments, but then they came unstuck against the Germans both times.

My gut feeling was this is going to be the Argies year. They are long "overdue" a big success unfortunately

I sure wouldn't bet against a Brazil v Argentina final. They've never met in a World Cup final before but neither had Spain and Holland before 2010 and neither had Brazil and Germany prior to 2002 (they had never played each other at all in ANY World Cup match before that bizarrely!)

Further to my last post, the 2010 Final was only the third World Cup Final since WW2 which didn't have either Brazil or Germany (West Germany as they used to be) in it; the previous two were Argentina v Holland in 1978 and Italy v France in 2006. Spain have the distinction of being the first and so far only European team to win the World Cup on an occasion when it was played in a non-European country. Italy (1970), Holland (1978), West Germany (1986), Italy (1994) and Germany (2002) all reached World Cup finals on non-European soil but were ultimately unsuccessful.

Sublime from Messi. Much as I despise the little toerag he is still the world's best footballer, despite what the diving cheating winker might think.

No doubt in my mind that Messi's the best there is right now; Ronaldo doesn't even come close for me and is no better than his now retired Brazilian namesake was at his peak.

Ronaldo for me is a showman more than he is a naturally gifted player- that's always been my view of him. Messi is 100% naturally gifted and for me is the best player I've seen since a certain other Argentine that used to wear No.10.