im gonna be watching. (on holidays)

0-0 at the half, great effort from the Aussies. Brazil has only looked dangerous once or twice, mainly when Ronaldinho has the ball who is playing very well. For the Aussies Lucas Neil has been exceptional at CB and Viduka has put in a good effort up forwards, as always. I'd like to see Kewell come on for Cahill maybe around the 60th minute, and maybe a midfield change also. 0-0 at full time would be a victory for Australia.

Great result for Australia earlier in the day too, with Japan and Croatia tieing 0-0. Regardless of the result from the Brazil game Australia now only need to tie against Croatia to ensure a round 2 birth

Pretty impressive so far. The first 5-10 minutes, Australia were sitting pretty deep and I was starting to wonder whether they'd go for it, but they've had quite a few decent chances. Viduka's challenge towards the end of the half to keep his run going was great, it was a shame that didn't come to anything.

Brazil have had a couple of good moments, but overall they're still not playing the way they should, and Australia could certainly capitalise on that. But all Brazil needs is a second to totally change it. There was an Australian chance somewhere around the 40 minute mark, which they slowly built up, working their way up the pitch, but lost the ball on the edge of the penalty box. Literally a couple of seconds later Kaka was at the other end, and looked very dangerous. A great challenge from Emerton dealt with it though.

It did look like Australia had the most chances, but Brazil seem more dangerous with them. Australia's have mostly been long shots, with not much hope of scoring. They're having a difficult time breaking though Brazil's back line, but if they did, they certainly should get something from it.

I thought Kewell was injured?

nevermind.

76 minutes..

1 - 0 to Brazil afer 49 minutes, quite a shame. It didn't really look like a goal scoring chance to me, Australia have blocked better attempts earlier in the game, but then Adriano just slipped it through. After that Brazil looked completely different for a while, as one of the commentators said it looked as though they had a couple of extra players. But Australia have been back in it for most of the second half so far, and it's definitely not over yet. Kewell's really made a difference, althouh he missed quite a sitter the moment he came on, he's made up for it in creating chances since then.

Final score 2-0.

Probably the right result, but Australia played great and certainly have nothing to be ashamed of. Going on that performance I see no reason that they won't qualify for the second round

poor aussies

Yeah it was a great effort by the guys. A good performance if not a good result to be proud of.

Brazil definitely looked more dangerous going forward in the second half. It wasnt great defending by the Aussies when they scored their goal, Ronaldo drew 3 defenders and it left only the wing-back Chipperfield to mark Adriano. Wouldnt have been surprised to see Ronaldo called for offside either, but it was extremely close so no hard feelings there. Mark their second goal up to Australia pushing forward for the equaliser and being stretched at the back.

This was always gonna be a tough game for Australia, and realistically almost a certain loss. At least we've put ourselves in a great position. Croatia is goin' down

France - South Korea. This should be a great game.

Yeah, poor Australia. I definately don't think they deserved to lose 2-0.

Some of the shots they had in the last 15 minutes were unbelievably close. One barely went past the post, hugging the ground, another lobbed over the goalkeeper and just barely hit the top of the net.

Gah, France should have won that 2-1. That header from the corner in the first half was most certainly a goal. They'll still probably go on, as I don't see any problems with them beating Togo, but they should have gotten the 3 points today.

Zidane won't be playing in the Togo game, which is unfortunate because he didn't deserve the yellow he got. The Korean player initiated the contact then took a dive. There needs to be some sort of post game review of cards because it has been absurd thus far. I think the "non-goal" for France wasn't called because it was the linesman's call as to whether the ball completely crosses the line and his view had to have been blocked by the Koream goalie being in the goal. It may not have been the right call, but I think it was the right call as seen by the officials on the field.

i'm just really glad korea didnt lose

GO KOREA

Well, actually, they have a fairly good chance of being eliminated like in '02. Depending on how well the Swiss play against Togo, Korea and Switzerland might actually advence.

I'm not expecting the Swiss and Koreans to tie. I'm hoping Korea wins, giving them seven, France 5 if they win, and the Swiss 4. But yeah, you're right, nothing is guaranteed for France.

France controls their destiny. If they win, they go through.

Ukraine is not weak!

Amazing strike from way outside the box by Rebrov, and another goal for Ukraine.

Ukraine is game to you!?

The strike was hardly amazing. The keeper slipped.

It was probaby going in whether he slipped or not. Side net on the far side from that distance is damned impressive, and it had all kinds of power on it too. As a keeper, I know how hard that is to stop.

Edit: Shevchenko is good.

He sure is. That was a great goal.

Ukraine's almost had a couple more now. They are just far better than Saudi Arabia.

On to Tunisia-Spain. Spain is clearly the more talented team -- this game really isn't even close in terms of talent -- but Tunisia is playing great ball and so far deserves its 1-0 lead.

if Tunisia can hold on it'll make the outcome of that group rather interesting to say the least....

Woo! Another big victory for Spain! 7 goals in just 2 games, and only 1 conceded!

Spain spainked them

Looking forward to England v Sweden tonight, gonna get up at 5am and watch it. Should be a good game, the Swedes have everything to gain.

Heh, I got half the day off to watch Germany VS Equador.

Don't forget, England still have a lot to play for, too. We might be through to the next round, but this will still decide who we're playing in the quarter finals. Plus, England really need to break their record against Sweden and pick up a win for once.

I want England to win against Sweden without letting any goals in, and then T&T to beat Paraguay by a large number of goals (3-0 or more)... Unlikely to happen, but if it went that way, then the two teams from group B I want through will go on to the next round.

Germany got a good, strong win today. And yay for Poland. Though they're not going forward, they managed to get a little bit of national pride back.

I reckon one team will walk away with the win, as to who that is I don't know, I'm still not happy with our range of strikers, its good that Rooney is back but everyone knows about him and will be closely following him.

It's about time Walcott got some action, otherwise, what was the point in bringing him along instead of Defoe??

I'd like a 3-0 for England...as to whether that happens...

If Sweden pays a lot of attention to Rooney, it will fee up space for other players.

[QUOTE=James Bond]It's about time Walcott got some action, otherwise, what was the point in bringing him along instead of Defoe??[/QUOTE]He's our 'secret weapon' Presumably for the final round.

Not a great start for England. Within a minute, Owen has gone down with an injury and been substituted. Hopefully it's nothing incredibly serious.

amazing goal from J. Cole....absolutley amazing

CRACKER OF A GOAL, COME ON ENGLAND

1-0 to England! Fantastic volley from Joe Cole.

Also, I feel like I'm the only -ian watching the game from home today. Damned exams...

edit: I guess not

I'm watching!

Heh, I actually only meant the British -ians. I thought everyone else was down the pub