I'll point out our mate has a wonderfull sense of humour

That helps if you are a Crystal Palace fan.

Hmm, have we gone too far yet?

Then of course there's the truly ridicolous;

"Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit Bravo Association Football Club".

It's knowledge bro'.

"Gedling Miners Welfare"?

Alberto Beneduce called his three daughters New Socialist Idea, Proletarian Victory and Liberated Italy.

On the other hand "Appleby Frodingham" would be quite nice.

His daughter has Crystal Palace as her middle names. Yes, fanatic. :)
Thankfully it wasn't West Bromwich Albion.

Or Arsenal

His daughter has Crystal Palace as her middle names. Yes, fanatic. :)

Thankfully it wasn't West Bromwich Albion.

Oh, how they suffered.At one point I felt sorry for them.
How many red cards now? Every game had one sent off, it seemed.As soon as it's one player down,... toast.

At least yer Aussies know how to take a defeat in good heart. None of this sack the coach,…

Australia's display was shameful

Oh, how they suffered.At one point I felt sorry for them.
How many red cards now? Every game had one sent off, it seemed.As soon as it's one player down,... toast.

The Portugal v Brazil match will be interesting.…

Here's an early contender for Rant of the Tournament. A BBC viewer is not happy.

(MOTD = Match of the Day)

I'm not supporting Australia anymore than the next Kiwi.

I lived in South Korea for 4 years and am married to one of em' and have been following Korean football closely for nine years, domestically and internationally.

The interest in the N Korean team is a curiosity thing,…

This time I've got too many teams to follow, New Zealand, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, England until they lose on penalties.

???
Tut tut. I know that rooting for the underdog is a noble endeavour, but really, North Korea? Give me a break. And after yet another sour performance from…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6YHr7jZsxg&feature=player_embedded

(As for "too much older our players", I don't know,…

Two Italian friends today opined that "Italia? No chance for us. Too much older our players!" and "this is the worst Italian team of the last 20 years".

That's what they said in 1982.

So Wayne Barnes was paid by somebody in 2007?

No. One thing doesn't follow from the other, but you know that. And honestly, I'm on record saying after the game vs. Italy that the somewhat rotund ref might have simply lost his capacity to physically keep up with the game…

Well that explains it :)

The feet first lunges didn't happen, but I'll grant that v Italy they were roughing the Italians up a fair bit, I've seen all those propaganda highlight clips of the games :)

Any mistakes that went…

The corruption stuff is just insulting though. It's easy to throw around when there's no proof either way.

There will never be proof. That doesn't mean there wasn't a crime – I think it was pretty obvious to anybody who knows football. And I'm not saying it's the bad Koreans,…

I thought they looked a bit shaky at the back though and against a more lethal side they might need a bit of luck. They can get round the park, control the ball, win the 50/50s and create…

The worst call that I saw was the offside against the Italian…

Refs made the calls, Spain and Italy had chances to win the game as did the Koreans on several occasions but blew it.

No, I'm straightforwardly alleging corruption. Other than the fact that the Koreans were allowed to foul at will the Italy game wasn't too obvious until it went…

Sofie with an f

Doh! Sorry.

'You can see the ball never went out on TV,' complained Carles Puyol afterwards. 'I don't want to think that the referee went out to rob either team but the pictures speak for themselves. It's clear the referee was not in our favour.'

Hiddink's riposte was bullish. For a start…

Had nothing to do with the Koreans. Refs made the calls, Spain and Italy had chances to win the game as did the Koreans on several occasions but blew it.

Unfortunately it's football. There will be…

Yeah, don't bring them up. The game against Italy was bad enough, but the one against Spain was scandalous. I still can't believe they got away with that.

nah it was a beat up by bitter fans.

Korea should have had a penalty awarded to them in the Greece game…

The Americans had been threatening with some rather good crosses and close calls, and I tweeted:

Kinda get the feeling that a #USA goal isn't too far away

I hit enter, looked up and they scored off…

Everyone's been pretty cagey so far, hey? England v USA has…

specially Korea dunting out the Italians and the Spanish muhahahaha.

Yeah, don't bring them up. The game against Italy was bad enough, but the one against Spain was scandalous. I still can't believe they got away with that.

2002, it strikes me, was unmemorable (Turkey made the semi-finals unless Wikipedia is having a laugh)

I kind of waited to see if this was going to be commented on, but... oi! Turkey had a very good team and was deserved semifinalist. What are you trying to say here?

(Bear in mind I'm still not allowed to tell Kyle who won the Stanley Cup in 2009).

Always the funny with you!

Since I discovered iraqgoals.net, I actually saw the winning game live.

That's going to make this a pretty dead blog, though. What's the statute of limitations?

what is Panini anyway?

It's... well, I'll leave it to Giovanni.

Just a surname. Franco Panini – an arts publisher – is the chap who started it all. The first sticker albums, in the Sixties, were about the Italian domestic football league, but by the time I was a kid…

New Zealand interest in soccer – novelty value or enduring love affair?

I'd say more media novelty value, but there has always been a hard core set of appreciation of the finest ball game that ever existed . Hello! this is FOOTBALL with a ball that is the right…

New Zealand interest in soccer – novelty value or enduring love affair?

what is Panini anyway?

It's... well, I'll leave it to Giovanni.