Chelsea still have a full team in the tournament and have players in each of the World Cup Quarter Finals


Ballack's Germany takes on Crespo's Argentina in what looks like the game of the tournament so far. The bookies are evenly split in what should be a very entertaining game and one I will definately be sneaking away from work to watch.


The afternoon game sees Shevchenko's Ukraine taking on diving specialists Italy. Ukraine have failed to impress so far but then so have the Italians - but unfortunately I see the steely defence of the Italians winning this one. Our only hope is that the Italians fancy themselves and come out and attack otherwise this will be the drab game of the quarters.


England versus Portugal could pit up to seven Chelsea players against each other. I actually expect this game to be exiting as Portugal's style of play will encourage a more lively performance from England. It's going to be a really exiting game, close and could well go down to penalties - I hope for our sake England have been practising them.
Lampard is overdue a goal, Joe Cole is the second most fouled player at the World Cup and John Terry needs to have a leader's performance to thwart the pacy Portugese attack. For Portugal Carvahlo will have his work cut out at the back by Rooney. Ferreira and Bridge are likely to watch this one from the bench.


In the last game Gallas and Makelele will need to be at their best to stop the marauding Brazillian midfield and Adriano - but Gallas speed will nullify Ronaldo.

This too will be a great game of soccer and will give Brazil its first real test of the World Cup. If Brazil win the World Cup they now have to beat three very good sides in succession and maybe even have to win a penalty shoot out - so if they win it they will deserve it.


So by the end of the weekend we can hope that England will have reached the semis and therefore guaranteed to do better than they have done for 40 years. Chelsea will have at least four players in the Semi finals and as many as eight could still be in the competition come Saturday evening.

Watching England play is definitely not good for the nerves and it is quite understanding why we England supporters are all driven to drink too much


Another good day for Chelsea and England with Chelsea players picking up both FIFA man of the match awards - John Terry for England and Maniche for Portugal.


England 1 - 0 Ecuador
John Terry almost cost England dearly with his header which almost gave up a goal to Ecuador - but he made amends with good tackles, leadership and took on the mantle of Captain after Beckham left the field for the last 10 minutes.

England were woeful in the first half, but picked things up in the second and Lampard should have scored a couple of goals - once (and if) Frank & England start firing they are going to be capable of beating the better sides which they are going to meet in the rest of the World Cup.
England did a good job of stifling the Ecuador midfield and attack and while it was not pretty it was effective.


Portugal 1 - 0 Holland

Maniche scored a well taken effort taking a pass in the area jinking past the defender and coolly slotting home.
Carvahlo had a great game martialling the depleted Portugese defence and was one of the few players on the pitch not to get a yellow card. Robben looked lively for the Dutch but for some strange reason Van Basten dropped Van Nistelroy and it probably cost them the game.


Portugal looked very dangerous even playing with less players than Holland for large stretches of the game until the referee evened things up with his second and fourth red cards.

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It would seem that not only Spurs ate something dodgy on the weekend - Sven Goran Erikson must also have been taking mind altering drugs.


Genius or Fucking Mental?
Now given his track record, (by and large) and the intense pressure he's been under, he deserves some respect, but has he finally cracked?

Whatever possessed him to choose a squad with so much inconsistency is truly mind blowing and barring the unlikely event that England actually do well in the competition, he is going to be raked over the coals for his decisions well into the 22nd Century.


I feel sorry for Shaun Wright-Phillips mainly - he played well against Uruguay, helping to save the game and an embarrasing result. He has created well from the wing, although admittedly has not found his scoring touch this season. And contrary to most press coverage he has started 15 games for Chelsea this season and come on as sub in 24 other games.


England's squad is made up of 3 goalkeepers, 7 defenders, 9 midfielders and 4 forwards, with Rooney very unlikely to take any part in the World Cup and Owen still not playing.
Why do we not have Defoe or Bent (the Premiership's top-scoring Englishman) in the squad, and Wright-Phillips with his speed would have caused mayhem.

England look like they are going to have to rely on good defence and should start practicing penalties as they will need them if they get past Paraguay and Sweden - even Trinidad must fancy their chances of a 0-0 draw.



Interesting Point

A mate of mine has always said that whatever the tournament, England should always have Matt Le Tissier on the bench. Why? Because he's got the greatest penalty record in football, scoring 49 of the 50 penalties he took during his career (click here for more info). Considering how often England end up on penalties..... :)





Chelsea in The World Cup


Well being a Chelsea fan there are ten teams with seventeen of Chelsea's 23 player squad likely to take place in the World Cup. So even if England do not do well there are other teams we can take some interest in.


Chelsea players likely to take part in World Cup are:

Persons missing out are Cudicini (Italy), Carlton Cole (England U21), Wright Phillips, Pidgely (England), Duff (Ireland), Diarra (France U21), Gudjohnson (Iceland).


Anyway I will still be cheering England on and hoping that Rooney gets fit, Walcott suprises us all and does a Pele, that Lampard and Gerrard somehow get it right together and score a goal a game between them.


Dreaming is what can make football great - ask Greece, Porto, Liverpool or Arsenal - miracles can happen.