Group F (Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia)

[Neil Young]

You are insulting my country, anglo.

I may only have become one recently but I am proud to be a Paramedic.

[-V-]

in honest truth V do u think cannavaro had even heard of the club before they approached him... or if he had, did he know they were a big club in dubai?

To be honest mate considering YOU wouldn't recognize our own chief executive or chairman if they were in the same room as you then i don't really expect you to know any football clubs from dubai

[Fernandinho]

haha i knew broughton i just didnt know the other guy... and play fair :P i live overseas so i dont see pictures of these people ever, they arent in the news at all, i only keep up over articles, games and the forum

[Mattshark]

Italy don't have a good time in their penultimate friendly, losing 2-1 at home to Mexico.

[Craig_H]

My boys are gonna romp home in this group

[SK]

Italy don't have a good time in their penultimate friendly, losing 2-1 at home to Mexico.

i watched the 2nd half of that, and Mexico were briliant. I couldn't belive Cuhautemoc Blanco is still playing but when he came on, he was a class above the rest, such a talented player, shame he didn't have a better career in europe.

[Craig_H]

Italy's potential problem, along with a pensioner riddled squad, is their 'do just enough and no more' philosophy. Sometimes, you aim to do just enough, get it wrong and then before you know it, you're out.

[SK]

Italy's potential problem, along with a pensioner riddled squad, is their 'do just enough and no more' philosophy. Sometimes, you aim to do just enough, get it wrong and then before you know it, you're out.

well england do have the oldest squad in the tournament

but yeah, their game style is made for knockout matches and if they manage to get through the group they'll probably make it to the final.

one more thing about them, apart from the first team, which has played together for the last 36 years, the rest don't have that much intenational experience, so they lack a bit of depth and experience there.

[Shaggy]

i watched the 2nd half of that, and Mexico were briliant. I couldn't belive Cuhautemoc Blanco is still playing but when he came on, he was a class above the rest, such a talented player, shame he didn't have a better career in europe.

Is that the same Blanco dude who did that trick? Was it in 2002? When he trapped the ball between his two feet and hopped over the fella's foot?

[Matt]

The Mexican Jumping Bean, you mean?

[SK]

Is that the same Blanco dude who did that trick? Was it in 2002? When he trapped the ball between his two feet and hopped over the fella's foot?

that's him yes, and i think he did it both in 98 and 02

[Craig_H]

The Mexican Jumping Bean, you mean?

[Reece]

Sounds like Skrtel might now be out through injury

[Exiled_red]

http://www.skysports.com/football/wo...192793,00.html

Skrtel scare for Slovakia
Defender suffers ankle injury in friendly

Slovakia defender Martin Skrtel has been taken to hospital for scans on an ankle injury.

Skrtel was substituted after just 13 minutes of his team's World Cup warm-up game against Costa Rica on Saturday.

He was immediately sent away for tests and Slovakia are now facing an anxious wait to discover the extent of the damage.

The Liverpool centre-back is one of his country's most important players and if he is ruled out of the tournament it would strike a major blow to their chances of progressing past the group phase.

Skrtel has 10 days to recover for Slovakia's opening Group F match against New Zealand, while they also face Paraguay on 20th June and Italy on 24th June.

[Mike]

Hope Skrtel pulls through, i like him and a good world cup could push his value up.