Great game.

Cuckoo clocks 1 - 0 Tapas

What a great game that was and the biggest world cup shock I think in recent years.

Give Switzerland full credit, they demonstrated exactly how to play against the so called "elite"

I tell you what, after seeing every team in this tournament now with a bit of luck I think England actually have as good a chance as anyone.

Nurse, nurse!

I know this sounds perverse, but it could be just what Spain need to step up a gear though. They have to show some strength of character, the team that wins it (unless it's Brazil) quite often has had some stage in the tournament when they really had to dig deep to get through.

Im not saying they are going to win it by any stretch but from what I have seen so far I have yet to see anything that as an England supporter id be scared of going into a game.

A lot of teams just seem clueless at breaking down an organised team.

Well they certainly need to step up a gear because they looked laboured today - lots of possesion and aimless shots (apart from Alonso's belter) but they didnt look that threatening and Switzerland coped really well with them.

They are under pressure now with Chile and obviously Switzerland on 3 points. Chile could conceivably cause Spain problems and if the Swiss play like that in the other 2 games then they could easily pick up another 3 points.

Certainly makes that group interesting

I reckon a 1-1 draw against the USA wasn't such a bad result.
it seems this world cup is more tactical in the group stages, nearly every team wanted to settle for a point.

Me too. Lost a tenner on them Spanish bastards today. "They can't lose"!!!!!

Mugs game mate

Yeah, too right.

Good odds on over 3 goals or more on tonight's game on Betfair though (3.1 decimal odds).

chucked yer money away mate. this has 1-0 written all over it.

Who to? I might still have time to get a bet on.

Fixed

Forlan, WHAT A GOAL!

EDIT: Deflected

uruguay

Forlan absolutely bossing this game.

2-1 Uruguay would do nicely

The keeper obviously knew this ball does not dip

what do you call the south african player's wives?

Gollywags.

If we ever needed any proof how shit the Dutch league is then look no further than Luis Suarez 49 goals in 48 games for Ajax last season, in the 2 matches so far in this world cup he looks absolute shite, on par with Albert Luque. If big clubs really were interested in him I'm sure they'll now be looking elsewhere or be glad that his value is ticking down by millions each time he plays.

edit: expect me to retract this when he puts in a 30 yard screamer in 5 minutes!!

This Suarez lad looks alright.

Well it was a stone-wall pen, but he didn't half make a meal of it

He spends most of his time on his arse and throwing himself on the floor, quite some dive that to make sure of the pen but there was contact so I can understand him wanting to take advantage!

Definate red card.

You'll no doubt say he dived, but for me he's looked pretty tricky in this second half, could have already had a penalty (although he did dive on that previous one, but the defender did make contact and was holding him back), he looks like he's got some skill and good balance. I haven't been concentrating 100% but he seems to me to have caused South Africa quite a few problems.

I don't understand why he didn't keep on going, he could have done a forward roll, stood up for the judges markings and still had time to slot the ball into an empty net. A daft choice if you ask me, although he succeeded in getting a man sent off, i guess.

To be fair to him he has been slightly better than against France but that wouldn't have taken much improvement. To me it was a dive for the pen but im not saying it wasnt a pen, there was contact but Suarez made the most of the opportunity.

Thats the whole point to why they do it, scoring the penalty is a bonus but if they miss the pen, then at least they;ve got a man advantage to try and make up for it

i'd rather have a goal in a world cup, frankly.

Piles a whole load of pressure on Mexico. I had them down to qualify from this group, but if they don't beat France then they're in trouble. Uruguay look very solid, combative centre-mid and they know their gameplan with Forlan the go-to man at almost any opportunity.

Wahey! Some bets that have come off

Forlan first GS
> 2.5 goals.

I reckon I could get the hang of this Italian mullarkey. They just said something about it being all a bit too easy for Uruguay but it was a nice sequence of passes.


Context. It's a great aid to learning.

"eeez all-a bitto too easiiio. Mucho bello sequnzio passsisssimo"

?

Uruguay ........ 4pts (+3)
Mexico ........ 1pt (equal)
--------------------------------
France ........ 1pt (equal)
South Africa ........ 1pt (-3)

If France lose to Mexico then they're fecked as both Uruguay and Mexico will need just a draw from their game to both qualify, Austria/W.Germany in 1982 again anyone?

Not far off

Troppo facile, then I think the rest was something like bella sequenza di passe or something like that...

I've worked out that falla is a foul, pallone is ball. My powers of deduction are without equal.

Jumping the gun a bit there

Italian = Spanish minus 'e' plus 'o'

The plurals are a different, and actually most of the basic words are different (kind of makes it tricky when you have to ask people how to get to your train/hotel, but all the words are different) and the pronunciation is a bit different - c is "ch", "ch" is "k", "ll" is, uh, "l" etc. But most of the run-of-the-mill words are quite similar.

I doubt either team will want to finish 2nd to face Argentina, also if Mexico beat France they would not be able to finish below the French so would be looking good for qualification even if they lose their last game, so would have little to lose by going for the final game.

They'd still technically be able to finish 3rd if SA beat France in the final game.

Good on yer for learning the lingo, I went to Turin in 2005 and no fecker speaks English and being a typical Brit I knew no Italian, I just had been so used to being in Spain where you can always get by on English. I've since learnt my lesson and try to learn a few basics before I go (One to five, beer, please and thanks!)

Well, I used to know some Italian a while ago but have mostly forgotten it since I went to Switzerland. I didn't learn it just for this conference... though I'll be back in August for a wedding, I might try brushing up on it a bit if I've got time...

It's always worth doing - even the basics are just polite, but it hits home how hard it can be when you visit a country/area that has no english speakers whatsoever.

Pizza

Peroni

Fiat Punto

Ciao

Definitly, I went to Turkey a few years back, they understood English but I always ordered my drinks in Turkish with please and thank you it went a long way and put a smile on their faces as they were used to the ignorant Jormans and Russians that were there with no manners.

Tutto bene...

Russian, as Eddie told Richie in an episode of Bottom

"you just put the r's the wrong way round"

Instant expert!

I spent a good few days learning the cyrillic alphabet and figuring out how to pronounce what i was seeing. Whilst that made the place seem a lot less foreign, i still had no idea what half the words meant. Spent the entire time greeting people with the plural, even when there was only one person! I remember looking at how to get a metro ticket by saying "two singles to *somewhere*, please" and the women seemed to understand me perfectly.

It wasn't till later i realised you don't get singles anywhere, you just get tickets and you just say how many you want. All she must have heard was the "two" part and given me two tickets

Still, St Petersberg is an awesome city