Rousseau

I thought the Argentina game would be tight. Iceland are difficult to play against. Messi's penalty was bad, but I think Cuevas has just beaten it for Peru. Terrible penalty.

Only Franc Ergs picked up a point in the Argentina-Iceland game. Latest Standings:

'Mon the Chevrons!

I interrupt this sub-forum for a message: It's 'Tragedy'; not 'tradegy' or 'tradgedy'. Thanks.

Cream always rises...

Argentina-Iceland up next. I don't know about this one. I'm looking forward to seeing how Argentina play under Jorge Sampaoli (fomerly Chile manager at the last WC and more recently Sevilla). I can see Iceland defending like hell, and making it very hard for Argentina, but can also see a real 'hummelling'. I've predicted a small, but comfortable Argentina win.

Ironically, I think they'll do better the further they go, going by the way they play (letting teams come on to them, and breaking with their pace) -- until they come up against a decent side!

All bar one got points. Most predicted the Correct Result, with Correct Scores for onevision, lenny3k, Franc Ergs, Gaffer and TheUKCrazyhorse. compo, Whosthedado, cooponthewing, BEARGER, TB and FS gained an extra point for their joker card. Incredibly, TheUKCrazyhorse gained an extra 3 points for applying his joker to his Correct Score, picking up 6 points from the match! Latest Standings:

We're on for some big score here...

Australia have been excellent. It's the perfect example of the difference between individual quality and set-up. France undoubtedly have much better quality individually, but Australia have the better set-up, in terms of defending, pressing and build-up. Their offensive tactic of long passes is perhaps letting them down. I am annoyed at the commentators moaning about France not pressing - it's a tactic, they want teams to come at them and open up because they want to use the incredible pace of mbappe, griezmann and Dembele. It's not a bad tactic, but perhaps not as useful against teams that are looking to contain. There's a bit of PSG about this France side: leaving three attackers up field all the time. I wonder if any of these Australia players are within our reach? @pete I think has mentioned Sainsbury a few times before; he's been immense, reading the game, passing out of defense.

We have FOUR games today: France-Australia, Peru-Denmark, Argentina-Iceland and Croatia-Nigeria!

For the MOR-IRN game, Rousseau, Malangsob got the Correct Result, with Craig getting the Correct Score. For the POR-SPA game, Bill, TB, FS, Lenny, Franc Ergs, dB and Johnnyk got the Correct Result. No Correct Scores. A couple of Joker cards were used but no one gained any extras. Latest Standings:

When you're enjoying flicking through the training photos then spot Harry Forrester...

Portugal-Spain up next!

0-1 Iran... without Nike shoes! I'll write it up properly tomorrow, but a quick glance has only myself and Craig gaining points from this one. A Correct Score from @craig !

Oh, Slaven Bilic in between Eni Aluko and Ryan Gigs like..

Looking through the Morocco line-up, they have some exceptional players. Morocco: 12 Mohamedi 16 N Amrabat 5 Benatia 6 Saïss 2 Hakimi 8 El Ahmadi 7 Ziyech 14 Boussoufa 10 Belhanda 18 Harit 9 El Kaabi Benatia (Bayern) and Saiss (Wolves) are solid. Ziyech (Ajax), Belhanda (Galatasaray), Bousoufa (middle east now, but formerly Anderlecht) and Harit (Schalke) are exciting talents. Harit has just broken through into the Schalke team and has been really entertaining. Looking forward to this! I wish I went with Morocco now... No, I think Iran are a more solid team.

Absolutely!

That BBC coverage was poor. Upson, Jenas and phil Neville are dull. The ITV coverage yesterday was better, with Bilic, Gary Neville, Ian Wright (think as mince, but funny) and Lee Dixon. Better analysis, and better 'banter'. I think ITV have Giggs and Aluko (his sister...) for the next match, which doesn't sound too great, though. I think the game, Morocco-Iran, could be good. Morocco have some good players, and I'm intrigued to see how Iran play, as they breezed into the tournament under Carlos Quieroz (sp?) and have good players too.

Latest Standings (after 2 games):

And now @Whosthedado is 3 minutes away from our first Correct Score...

0-1 Uruguay...

@cooponthewing's 3 minutes away from our first Correct Score...

Great. Like Craig says, will they be spending much more on anyone else? Doubt it. £9/10m to stay the same. Great for us.

Both Egypt and Uruguay are solid and well-organised defensively. Egypt have done nothing offensively, and the little Uruguay have done has ultimately broken down. Poor game.