Jermain Defoe; not feeling as knackered as Herr Beckenbauer had hoped!
England striker Jermain Defoe revealed his diplomatic side whilst batting away crude jabs from former Germany player and coach Franz Beckenbauer.
Der Kaiser had claimed England are showing signs of "burning out" and had made a "big mistake" by qualifying in second place, to face the Germans on Sunday.
However, Defoe was only positive about his side's chances: "I don't feel tired. I understand the Premier League is the hardest to play in. The lads are putting the work in and if you're doing that work on the training pitch then you take that into the game."
BUFFALO BILL CELEBRATES US WIN
Former US president Bill Clinton was so vociferous in support of his country during Wednesday's 1-0 win over Algeria that he lost his voice for over an hour afterwards.
Clinton had to drink hot tea with lemon to regain his vocal capacity, after Landon Donovan's 91st-minute winner.
No news on how Monica Lewinsky celebrated.
LIVE TODAY
- Korea DPR v Ivory Coast
- Portugal v Brazil
NATIONAL HOLIDAY DENIED IN NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand's Labour Party minister Trevor Mallard was strongly rebuffed in his attempts to introduce a public holiday for the country's people, as a reward for the loyalty of fans who stayed awake into the night to support the All Whites in their fated match with Paraguay.
ENGLAND FANS FLOCK TO ELIZABETH
Port Elizabeth has become a popular destination for many English football fans.
Over 20,000 are estimated to have visited 'The Friendly City', situated in the Eastern Cape Province, and more than 15,000 of the 36,000 fans at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Wednesday were English. Yesterday's edition of local newspaper The Herald proclaimed: 'Bay becomes Little Britain'.
Let's hope that doesn't mean our social misfits have headed out to populate the city.
HENRY MEETS SARKOZY
Thierry Henry met France President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday, to discuss the national side's disastrous World Cup performance.
"Henry called the president from South Africa to tell him that he wanted to see him on his return," read a statement from the presidential palace, L'Elysee.
Henry landed at Le Bourget airport north of Paris, before heading straight to the palace, which he entered by a side door. He is rumoured to have left by the rear entrance, in keeping with the national team.
NZ 0-0 PARAGUAY
Despite a valiant effort, New Zealand's World Cup is over, after a goalless draw with Paraguay at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane. The South Americans topped Group F after a comfortable performance of adequate quality.
ITALY 2-3 SLOVENIA
Reigning World Cup holders Italy were dumped out by relative minnows Slovakia, who claimed a place in the last 16 as their prize from the Group F showdown at Ellis Park, Johannesburg.
Slovakia's Robert Vittek smashed the opener in on 25 minutes, after Danielle De Rossi had miscontrolled. Fabio Quagliarella's volley was blocked by Martin Skrtel's goal-line clearance midway through the second half.
Marek Hamsik's low cross was dispatched by Vittek for his second after 73 minutes. Antonio Di Natale halved the deficit on 81 minutes, before Kamil Kopunek just beat Italy goalkeeper Federico Marchetti to a bouncing ball, which he looped under the crossbar. Quagliarella's sublime stoppage-time chip was in vain, as the Azzurri were sent home, while Slovakia finished second in the group.
JAPAN 3-1 DENMARK
Japan scored two glorious first-half free-kicks as they beat Group E rivals Denmark 3-1 at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg.
Keisuke Honda smashed the first in on 17 minutes with his left foot, as Thomas Sorensen grasped at thin air. Per Kroldrup tripped Yoshito Okubo on the half-hour, allowing Yasuhito Endo to saunter up to the ball before bending it delightfully into the corner for Japan's second.
Endo nearly did the same from just inside Denmark's half after the break, as Sorensen fumbled onto the post before gathering.
Jon Dahl Tomasson and Christian Eriksen both went close for the Danes, before Japan captain Makoto Hasebe's push on Daniel Agger was deemed deserving of a penalty kick. Tomasson converted the rebound, after his initial spot-kick was saved by Eiji Kawashima. Substitute Shinji Okazaki's late tap-in sealed the win for Japan, who qualified in second place.
NETHERLANDS 2-1 CAMEROON
The Netherlands maintained their 100% record at South Africa 2010, by beating Group E rivals Cameroon 2-1 at Green Point Stadium, Cape Town.
A slick one-two with Rafael van der Vaart set up Robin van Persie's sweet 36th-minute strike, his first of the tournament, and bucked the trend of a dreary first half.
The Indomitable Lions emerged a different beast after the break, with Samuel Eto'o scoring the penalty kick (65) awarded after van der Vaart handballed Geremi Njitap's free-kick. But Netherlands continued their winning run as Klaas-Jan Huntelaar stabbed home the rebound from Arjen Robben's vicious drive late on to top the group.
Don't order pizza today; the country formerly known as World Champions go home
Meanwhile, the Italy coach Marcello Lippi took full responsibility for his side's World Cup exit, admitting his side had played with "terror in their heart, head and legs".
Lippi, who had always planned to stand down at the end of the tournament, was shocked his side had fallen at the group stage after a 3-2 defeat to Slovakia which meant the eastern European side reached the last 16 in their World Cup finals debut.
Lippi, who is set to be succeeded by Cesare Prandelli, said: "I take all responsibility for what happened, because if a team shows up at such an important game with terror in their head, heart and legs and if the team is unable to express its abilities it means the coach didn't train that team as he should have done, psychologically, technically or tactically."
- Slovakia 3-2 Italy
He added: "I would have expected anything except to see a performance like we gave in the first half of the game, not to mention the second half.
"I am sorry to see it end in such a fashion because I didn't expect this. I take on all responsibilities for the choices I made and the way I introduced the team to you. I wish the best to my successor, best of luck to him and thank you all for these four years, part of which were fantastic and part of which were not."
Slovakia, whose coach Vladimir Weiss described this as the second-best day of his life after the birth of his son Vladimir junior, led 2-0 with goals from Robert Vittek before Italy hit back through Antonio Di Natale and then had a Fabio Quagliarella effort ruled out for offside.
Substitute Kamil Kopunek then made it 3-1 and although Quagliarella pulled one back with a brilliant chip, the Azzurri were dumped out of the tournament.
Weiss and co now take on Holland in the last 16 and the coach said: "It was a fantastic day for us. We had good preparation for the match with the staff and the players, and, after the birth of my son, it's the second-best day of my life.
"I want to say thanks to the people of Slovakia who followed us to South Africa.
"I am very proud of my team, they played a very high level for 80 minutes. There was big pressure in the last 10 minutes but we played a fantastic game and the better team won."
(Articles and photos supplied by http://worldcup2010.football.co.uk/)
- World Cup fixtures
The Guardian - TV Fixtures
FIFA's official World Cup 2010 site here:
www.fifa.com/index.html
Articles and blogs from the Guardian newspaper:
www.guardian.co.uk/football/worldcup2010
For the latest news from the England camp, go to our sister site here and post your views on how things are going on their exclusive message board:
www.england-mad.co.uk/
And finally, remember, on the S24 front pages are regularly updated videos giving you all the latest tournament news.
www.southendunited-mad.co.uk/
The gorgeous Ms. Casta puts on her mournful face as France go home even before Italy
Finally, for the World Cup action that really matters, go here:
www.whoateallthepies.tv/babes/29911/the-stupendous-supermodel-world-cup-2010-uruguay-barbara-mori-v-france-laetitia-casta-group-a.html