´óÏó´«Ã½

We seethe with rage utill the next one. Yes the hype starts now, I feel more aggreved than ever. Italy are a good team but they only had one hard match. There's so much injustice the english team has suffered it's unbeleivable and now the foreigners hate us more than ever. But now we like the Germans, it's a crazy world. I just hope Theo doesn't break his metatarsal in 2010, I don't think I could take it...

Well,

I'm off on holiday - Turkey for 10 days. Then a week at home. Not long thereafter for the footy season. Get back into the swing of things with the friendly against Greece - if it still goes ahead and then onto the 2008 qualifiers. Another roller coaster???

To one and all, enjoy the summer, and who knows, maybe we will talk again during EC2008 (if the bbc do a similar thing). Pleasure talking to you all.

Greetz

Come on: Germany will play Ireland on 2 September 2006 in the Euro2008 qualifiers and France will headbutt Italy 4 days later. Start cooling the beers....

Oh yeah and we should hire Derren Brown to sort our heads out re pentalies. He could do one of his specials work his magic and bang 5 out of 5 pens guarentied or at least we'd have a fighting chance.

@OmegaSupreme:

Why would people from other countries now hate you more than ever? It doesn't makes sense... You behaved perfectly well, had a great team but a stupid moron as coach. Or do you think they hate you just because you call them "foreigners"?

And to all the others:
At least as far as partying and beer consumption is concerned it's only 66 more days until Oktoberfest kicks off! Come to Munich for the world's largest beer festival! Enjoy German hospitality once again. And make use of those remaining 66 days. Your liver might need it ;-)

when are you going to get over your idea that scotland are not up to the challenge of italy and france and look like slipping up with the faroes?

its this kind of comment that gets the scottish fans ranting they will support any team playing england.

this is the ´óÏó´«Ã½ not the EBC.

and the one thing you can do with the wworld cup finished is listen to the users and bring back the old message boards with some of the changes introduced during the world cup.

That's a really good question. Can't wait for Euro 2008 to happen, that's for sure. ´óÏó´«Ã½: please do another blog then. And let us have Fletch and Ricco again!

well, funny you should ask:
what you do now is start the hype for South Africa 2010.

"Will our boys raise the cup in Johannesburg?"
Joe Expert, senior sports writer,explains why England looks like a top contender for 2010

"Bring it Home, Becks, 37 isn't that old after all!"
Niall Pompous feels confident again and... he's not alone!

It'll be Maca-Rooney in 2010!!!
by Trevor Patriotson

" They're shakin' already!"
fear is the word as top teams' brass look at England's team for 2010
by Tony Failure

need more?
feel free to ask...

Great blog! Couldnt have put that any better.. esp. being in Germany, now that all the teams and fans and public viewings are gone its so weird! Yesterday night I didnt know what to do with myself lol, definetly not watching any tv since there is even less on here now than in germany (played football in the garden instead;)

cant wait for the Euro and next WC and of course the new Premier League, Bundesliga and Champions League seasons... and hopefully England wont get beaten by Scolaris next team in the Euro again, maybe he decides to manage a club now instead of a national side, my only hope ;)

@OmegaSupreme, have you ever been diagnosed of a persecution complex?

Why should England be hated by anybody? Your fans were great (seriously!) and your team, ...well, ...um, ...,was also here, so who could ask for more? You do have a striker who needs to watch his step a bit more, but apart from that, everything's fine. Hugs from your new friends - ze Germanz! If you ever fancy some sauerkraut - or are up for some marching... (ok, ok, I couldn't resist, I'll stop now).

Lets get some more football on the go. I realise that the euros arent for a month and a half but the coca cola leagues start before that! Score.

# Markus

LOL, I was posting with my tongue in my cheek somewhat. It's just on this blog we've had a few attacks from our foreign friends who seem to take our newspapers seriously which of course can create problems ;) Yes I do fancy some sauerkraut :P

I'm as gutted as everone else is that the World Cup is over for another 4 yrs, especially as an Englan fan. I just feel that I'd like to add my thanks to the hosts for a fantastic world cup. I've spent quite a few weeks but working in Cologne over recent years so knew all about the hospitality and friendliness of German people from those visits. But still it was nice to get on the Kolsch again! I was only able to get a week off work and so decided that I wanted to meet football fans from all over the world. My abiding memories, apart from being lucky enough to get Row 1 tickets for Portugal v Angola from the Fifa ballot, was the atmosphere in the fan-fest in Berlin. There could be no better way of watching a game with hundreds of thousands of football fans, with great beer constantly available, loads of great food, toilets close-by and on the biggest, clearest screens ever. Whoever came up with the idea of these fan fests deserves a massive congratulations. The parties afterwards til 4/5 in the morning will stay in my memory forever. I've emailed photos to all our new friends we met during those amazing nights in Berlin. Thankyou again Germany, and to all the other fans, for your incredible hospitality and for making my 1st World Cup trip such a memorable one. I saw no trouble in the whole week I was there and thats the exact way it should be. It has been horrible being back home and wishing I'd been out there for the remainder of it to continue the fun. Thanks aswell to Ricco and Fletch who have made being back at home seem slightly more bearable. See you all in South Africa in 4 years time.

Zidane is, and will forever be, one of the greatest players of his generation worthy of being held in the same esteem among others such as Pele, Maradona, Platini, and Beckenbauer. For his actions in the extra time of the World Cup Final, although regrettable, hadly overshadow those of his counterpart, Materazzi, whose own unsportmanlike conduct, negative play, and gamesmanship equally contributed in casting a dark shadow on the final of the world's greatest sporting event.

Well Ed you may want to wait til 2010 for your next exciting game of footy, but the new season begins in approx 6 weeks, Premiership, La Liga, and who knows maybe Serie A, so forget waiting 4 years get ur ass in front of the telly with a crate and cheer your team to glory!

Zidane is, and will forever be, one of the greatest players of his generation worthy of being held in the same esteem among others such as Pele, Maradona, Platini, and Beckenbauer. For his actions in the extra time of the World Cup Final, although regrettable, hadly overshadow those of his counterpart, Materazzi, whose own unsportmanlike conduct, negative play, and gamesmanship equally contributed in casting a dark shadow on the final of the world's greatest sporting event.

Zidane is, and will forever be, one of the greatest players of his generation worthy of being held in the same esteem among others such as Pele, Maradona, Platini, and Beckenbauer. For his actions in the extra time of the World Cup Final, although regrettable, hadly overshadow those of his counterpart, Materazzi, whose own unsportmanlike conduct, negative play, and gamesmanship equally contributed in casting a dark shadow on the final of the world's greatest sporting event.

If accurate, what do the racial taunts used by Materrazi mean for the 2006 World Cup and the attempts of organizers to combat racism in football? Can Materazzi be left unpunished? Should he even retain the winners medal - there is no clearer sign to racists than to strip Materazzi of the medal and humiliate him and all that he stood for IF he made those comments. Personally, I suspect Fifa will take the easy way out as they so often do but now there is a real and necessary opportunity for them to take a bold and aggressive stance against that kind of conduct. Having played football competitively for over 20 years I can say that such comments are rare on a pitch but when they do happen they make you sick to your stomach - what festering toilet do this people crawl out of? Maybe an absence of football right now as exactly what the doctor ordered.

I actually am looking forward to the Euro 2008 contest, I sometimes find it to be more entertaining than the World cup.The fact that some matches will be in Switzerland gives me a good opportunity to meet up with my swiss pen-pal again too !

Try supporting Newcastle United - our Intertoto cup campaign kicks of this Saturday.

Hey Katie remember Liverpool's start to the season, they had to play Euro qualifiers at bout this date last year, their squad wasnt tha big but they managed a strong run in all competitions. I think Newcastle can do a good job in the Intertoto and Uefa Cup, Good Luck!

Honestly, our (Scotland's) group is just unbelievable. Two world cup finalists and a quarter finalist in the same group? How on earth were the seedings done? Has whomever was responsible subsequently been sacked?

In saying that, for all our chances of qualification are undoubtedly slim to none, I'd far rather see us fail gloriously in the face of overwhelming quality than stumble against some of the lesser lights as we have been want to do in the past. And of course we'll have the pleasure of seeing some truly top quality players at Hampden (insert your own 'for the first time in a while' joke here).

It's also true that we do tend to reserve our best performances for the teams that by all accounts we have no right to take anything from, so who knows? We just need a qualification campaign made up entirely of Holland playoff-esque performances... not the second leg, mind you.

This is the very question that has puzzled men since the world cup began. An the answer is....... carry on going down the pub and talking about football.

Now Italy has won, the US should feel happy because this is a team they stoped in its track. They should also kick themselves in the rear because if they had played the way the played Italy, they could have lost in a penaliyt kick out at the finals.
My hat is off to Zidan. I am sure it did not take a little word game to have him loose his temper.

Now Italy has won, the US should feel happy because this is a team they stoped in its track. They should also kick themselves in the rear because if they had played the way the played Italy, they could have lost in a penaliyt kick out at the finals.
My hat is off to Zidan. I am sure it did not take a little word game to have him loose his temper.

Still plenty of action going on in the not to mention the Copa Libertadores. Remember there is a World outside Europe...

Italians play dirty football. During the position Zidane got hurt form his shoulder, there should have been a foul and a yellow card to the Italian player. Also how many times Italians were on the ground, wasting time and laying there as if they were hurt just to slow the game and ruin its spirit. Italians are dirty football players. Unfortunately they won with their dirty tricks. We should be talking about not the fact that Zidane did what he had to do, bu the fact that Italians do not play the game in a fair manner and hurt the spirit of football with their dirty tricks like pinching other players, cursing and insulting them.

Having watched all the games and finally got over England's "demise", I feel quite lost and not even my friends' happy outburst that they can now talk to me again cheers me up. Oh well - am now looking forward to the new season in England and especially to watch "OUR" Arsenal!

Having watched all the games and finally got over England's "demise", I feel quite lost and not even my friends' happy outburst that they can now talk to me again cheers me up. Oh well - am now looking forward to the new season in England and especially to watch "OUR" Arsenal!

Summer is the hardest time out of the whole year. We talk about transfer gossips and gossips and gossips and check the news every half an hour but still nothing big happens. We are like waiting the paint dry, when it is an invisible paint.

Aside from the football, a german blogger somewhere on these blogs after the portugal game who posted something along the lines of " for you tommy ze war is over, but zis time zer vill be no escape because ve haf sabotaged ze motorcycles und you are condemned to four more years of vot might haf been!" I think it was marcus. So funny and maybe they are even winning in the humour stakes. Thank you that man!

dont forget newcastle kicking off things in the inter-toto cup on saturday =D
inbetween these games i will keep myself sane by playin pro evo...

And of course there is always the fun of all the transfer rumours to follow until the season gets going. The more unlikely they are the more entertaining it gets!

Even the anticlimax seems anticlimactic. The "void" was already palpable part way through what turned out to be one of the dullest and dirtiest tournaments in recent memory. Zidane's ignoble exit unfortunately, personified the whole sorry, lackluster affair, which admittedly, had been so overhyped in advance, that it couldn't possibly have lived up to it's inflated billing. But it most certainly could have been much better played. It was distinguished by the twin detriments of unsporting conduct, rife from start to finish; and a glaring deficit - void if you will - of imaginative, attacking football. Sadly, instead of attacking the opponents goal, most teams seemed to spend most of their time attacking (physically and verbally) each other. The sooner we put this ragged tournament behind us the better. The new world champion comes from a culture of corruption that may come to symbolize what's happening to big time football in general. Let's hope not, but the signs from this rancorous affair don't look good.

Hi folks,

first of all Fletch and Ricco, really great pictures from the WC or better from the party around the WC. Do you have any more which you will publish maybe inside a book?

Yes, all empty, no English guys arrived by a cheap carrier line at the middle in nowhere airport Hahn asking for Frankfurt and how far it is. And no Australian fans presenting their plastic animals German beer.

It was an outstanding party, for the host (us) everything was perfect, it wasn't raining at any game (up to a few days before wc, it was a really cold and rainy spring). For out team which we weren't sure about, the first goal within the first six minutes of WC 2006 and the spirit to do everything they can. Most important, so many fans were able to support their team at least at a publinc viewing area in Germany. Even the US team played a home game at Kaiserslautern, surrounded by maybe 50K US soldiers and their families. Gelesenkirchen occupied by 70k English visitors without a ticket, Leipzig in orange and so on with the Czech Repulik, Poland, Croatia, France, Italy and of course our favourites, Sweden. The German beer was so cheap, that they never had the idea, to bring back the cups and get the 1 EUR toll, amazing sponsoring for the host nation!

I am sorry for South Africa, for the most of us, it just will be to expensive. I cannot be the same.

Premier League, Champions league, bundeslige whatever isn't the same. An American asked me how much money the winner got. Just peanuts, it's the honor to play for your country. Okay not the English team, I think they just were busy with their busty chicks and the latest stock market news, so no time for a team spirit.

Anyway, the 2008 givs a small ration of WC 2006 for an addicted (I don't watch any club football at all). But at the moment the days are just long and grey without any use :)

bobbylebonfire, I´m really sorry to hear that anyone wrote such drivel Appart from the fact, that it isn`t even remotley funny (which is an offense in it`s own right) it is somewhat foolish.
Why foolish?
Well, if there is anything I have the highest respect for, it is the English fan, still rooting for his team after all this years. Unbaffeled, undaunted, ready to brace himself for a new disapointment, but never beaten.
And if there ever has been something that embodies the spirit of this game, I think it may be Englands love for it`s team.
It`s one of the things I try to remember when my team is loosing.
¶Ù³Ü°ù³¦³ó³ó²¹±ô³Ù±ð±¹±ð°ù³¾Ã¶²µ±ð²Ô.
Staying power.

Oh, and to the actual toppic:
Mawn the lawn, seeing our friends and loving our Wags.
Simple, isn`t it?

Had watched all 64 games once&some good matches 2 3 times like Argentin serbia,Spain-Ukrain,Czeck-US orItali German,it is enough football for now.The Z.Ziadan incedent was heart bricking &spoil all the pleasure of the final.It was`t fare for great player like Z,Ziadan to go out like this.M.Lipi`d been Ziadan Maneger for 2-3years in Juv.so he will know his weekness very well,may be he`d used it this way?
S.watanabe japan

Had watched all 64 games once&some good matches 2 3 times like Argentin serbia,Spain-Ukrain,Czeck-US orItali German,it is enough football for now.The Z.Ziadan incedent was heart bricking &spoil all the pleasure of the final.It was`t fare for great player like Z,Ziadan to go out like this.M.Lipi`d been Ziadan Maneger for 2-3years in Juv.so he will know his weekness very well,may be he`d used it this way?
S.watanabe japan

How about blogging about football? Contact me if you're interested :)

Dear all ,

Thanks for your suggestions on how to beat those World Cup blues. Rest assured, Katie and Mattag, that I will indeed be following Newcastle's adventures in the Intertoto, although it's still not quite Germany-Argentina in the World Cup quarter-final!

Cheers for the tip about mowing the lawn, Falk. I thought I'd got away with it for this summer until my better half spotted your post and agreed it was a splendid idea!

As for Nil Satis Nisi Optimum's suggestion that I am anti-Scottish, that is is well wide of the mark. My grandparents were both Scottish and although my dad was born in London, he took great pleasure in walking into the pub during England's World Cup games wearing his Tartan Army shirt (the locals refer to him as 'Jockney')!

I think the suggestion Italy and France might prove tough opposition for the Scots is a fair one and given that Scotland have twice been held to a draw by the Faroes, you can bet they won't be taking their games with them lightly.

Anyway, my favourite suggestion on how to get over the World Cup came from Greetz - holiday in Turkey, back in time for the Premiership - if you've got a spare ticket I'm there!

And finally, Matt C advises me to get "your ass in front of the telly with a crate and cheer your team to glory!" Nice idea, but a) I'm a QPR fan so there's no chance of any glory and b) I'm a QPR fan, so they're never on the telly!

Um, sorry.

dear falk..sorry you didn't find it funny, i certainly did, and i'm an england fan..we have to laugh when the grmans take the piss out of us a la great escape, it shows its all over now, redemption has happened for everyone and we can just have a good laugh, move on, and have other good laughs in the future..is this blog going to continue in some form? if so we'll catch up later!

DIARY OF A DIRTY WORLD CUP

The post World-Cup hangover is not over yet...Just by grabbing today's paper and TV sets, believe me. So you better grab your laptop and handle the Zidane-gate with the necessary cautious approach favored on the other side of the Alps.

Those events just showed us that words can be as hurtful as actions. From Aragones the Spanish coach calling T. Henry a 'N...r' on a training pitch, to R. Atkinson leaving a mike opened at half-time of a game and delivering the 'N...' word again...to Matterazzi saying whatever he said, probably in the heat of the moment and ZZ reacting probably in the heat of the moment, the way he did...

Football and its rulers are not under scrutiny. The racists and closet racists are not safe anymore. What was tolerated decades ago is no longer and the son of immigrants will not accept any tempering with their rights and pride.

Having said that, I don't like the press game, which is trying to stir a story not out of the two main men, who both seem to regret what they respectively did, but through relatives, friends, lip-readers, anti-racists campaigners, far right so-called 'leaders' etc...
Also go to:

Yes Italy plays dirty but so did Portugal and other nations and France wasn't that clean either. This World Cup will be remembered as a 'morally dirty' World-Cup from the negatives tactics, to the poor refereeing and now racism...

FIFA has not been able to restore its dwindling image and proactive attitude in all those areas, as it is done in US sport on a regular basis, need to take over.

The football authorities have to seriously start clamping down on racist behaviors or I can guarantee you that this is not the last incident of such nature we have seen on a football pitch, parole!

Regards,

HD.

Having said that, watch this hilarious piece on:

You might suggest to your colleague that he arrange a venue for all England players except Hargreaves, both Coles, Crouch, Lennon, Gerrard and the subs who didn't see any game-time be made to attend and watch replays of each of their five games on this WC campaign 50 TIMES EACH so a) they might reflect on and learn how the beautiful game is NOT played and b)they get a feel for what we fans had to put up with in watching such gross ineptitude. Shouldn't be too difficult to arrange, after all these bloated divas really are proud to play for England....right? As for SGE, I presume his presence in Germany was solely to help Ronaldo feel he wasn't the only winker there. It should be a condition of any football-related job interview Sven ever seeks in the future that he insist prospective employers view copies of these same five matches to drive home just how well qualified he is for whatever position it is he seeks to fill. Upon re-reading this lot, I can't really see it happening for surely in PC England, such treatment would be seen as 'cruel and unusual punishment'!

Trevor, Vancouver