I think they will as well. I can't see England not beating Sweden, and I'd make them favourites to beat Croatia. The real test will be the final. As you imply, they could well lose it. But whoever they play worse teams than England have beaten better teams than France, Belgium, Brazil or Uruguay in one off games before.

If you're looking for something not ridiculously expensive (around £30, give or take), try the Penfolds Kalimna Bin 28.

£30! I'd expect a case for that

M&S do a bog standard Aussie Shiraz for a fiver, or is it £5.50? Something around that. For the money it's not at all bad.

Not sure about your Croatia assessment!

At a bar b que I'd say anything goes Johnny Boy ...... beer , vodka , rum . wine , poitin , tequila .

I can see why that would be.

You never know what would arrive due to your pesky box-ticking gremlin.

Very good point.

I was drinking something that cost R25 a bottle called 'robust red'. It was.

It's that time of the month.

Imagine the horrors. You crack open the case to find that instead of the smoky shiraz, you accidentally ticked the box for duToits Kloof sweet red.

This is the interesting thing. Obviously world class stadium rockers aren't normally my thing but I quite like it - very listenable. Plus they're one of those ridiculously naff bands that you can't help having a soft spot for and joking about. Even calling them the Patrol endears them to me...

Currently really enjoying Chad Valley "Imaginary Music".

In your case preferably the whole lot mixed together in an old oil drum with a couple of unpeeled onions as a garnish for the ladies.

Nor me I think we are about the same level. I would have taken quarter-finals at the start of the tournament though - think it's about our level. Very pleased we didn't go out last night especially to that bunch who made Panama look dainty.

Also while not usually a conspiracy theorist I would be quite surprised if we were allowed to win the World Cup in Russia given that neither FIFA nor Putin are especially well disposed towards us...

Really hoping Croatia see off Russia as that game might be a little tense.

That big Columbian Mina looks a monster of a CB. Reminded me a bit of big Sol. I thought I heard them say that Barca might be looking to offload him due to none-EU restrictions.

Not bad as a makeshift centre-forwards too.

I think this has been a terrific world cup and I think one of the main reasons is that there are no great (maybe even very good) teams in the competition and thus almost every match has been fairly competitive and led to much excitement, tension and drama.

The quality has not been massively great but I think if you have become used to watching the top CL teams like Madrid, Barca, Bayern etc then international football by the very nature that most teams have no more than a couple of worldclass players and the players do not play together week-in week-out is always likely to be much more off-the-cuff, with less overall quality and fluidity but more errors, disorganisation and unpredictability about the play.

I think there are a bunch of good teams with some like France and Brazil (possibly England too) having showed glimpses of having the potential to be a very good team.

England are in the incredible position of being able to reach a World Cup final without having to play any of the major footballing nations in the knock-out stages, has that ever happened before? I seem to recall a fairly recent World Cup (or was it the Euros with Wales) where the draw became skewed like this but did one of the finalists reach the final without playing a big nation in the knock-outs?.

Enough of England's 1-1 draw with Colombia, isn't Wikipedia great?

During this time, [Alex] Manninger also kept telling Arsene Wenger that he was a huge professional wrestling fan, and that he was at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in nineteen ninety eight when the undertaker threw mankind off hell in a cell, and plummeted sixteen feet through an announcer's table.[citation needed]

Citation needed for sure.

That WAS a hell of a match though.

Something about my original post looks a little different from how I wrote it, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Move along nothing to see here sonny Jim...

I did a bit of a wine test last night , had a couple of glasses of Corban's Sauvignon Blanc then opened a bottle of Hardy's VR Merlot ..polished that off while playing chess and listening to some old rock n roll .
Went down pretty well so I opened another of the same , got rid of that too .

God knows what time I went to bed but I woke up at 1. 30 in the afternoon .
Said to Mrs Kiwi ....... sugar look at the time , did you check on me I could have been dead .

She replied " I don't care "

I guess listening to "That'll be the Day " at 2 am doesn't appeal to some .

Full grovel mode ...did the hoovering , went to the Op Shop brought home a couple of quilting magazines and a nice book , making salmon fish cakes , mashed spuds , brocolli , cauliflower , cabbage , peas , carrots for tea

sounds appealing , wonder if I should clean the residue from the drum first or leave it in .

I think so too and have loved every minute of it so far. Teams that should have been a lot better with the players they have and many other teams have been chomping at the bit to mix it with the so called bigger teams. Some great matches coming up and who progresses will be anyone's guess given what's happened so far.

It's a tough one. I take Bernard's point about not tampering with residue. It might affect the 'body'.* But I think the fossil fuel bouquet might clash with the onions. So I'd say either the onions or the residue.

* (not to mention the lining of the stomach).

[youtube]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cozw088w44Q[/youtube]

All the recent discussion of fine wines got me remembering this interesting guide. Perhaps a few tips here kiwi?

Hoy. If you are out there lurking I owe you an apology.

Maradona.

Forget the cheating, the mafia, the drugs, and the Chavista/Cuba nonsense.

He is an utter utter *%^@.

Give Goikoetxea a medal...

It's like a what if you could kill Hitler episode only in reverse. Goiko saw what had to be done in advance.

After watching videos from this week's training, I'm full of admiration for the new management set up,to see the players going through their paces , doing set plays with a manager who very vocal along with his coaches, who also join in it's a breath of fresh air, a complete change from the Wenger era.
It makes me feel very confident for the new season.

My sentiments exactly. Far too many overpaid, tattooed wallys with silly haircuts for my liking - Young? Dier? Sterling? Glad they don't play for us! While you have to admire Kane I'm not crazy about Alli and what about Trippier? How did he become the new Beckham? Stones and Walker? I can see how they got in the team but all in all there's far too many Spurs players most of them are just about OK but thats about it. I don't mind Vardy but he really hasn't done much so far. Other than Kane, who else in the team would you really want to see in an Arsenal shirt. I'm more that a bit surprised England have got this far - some praise must go to the manager and a of course, we have had a kind/lucky draw so far!

Yes those videos on the club site were interesting. Displays a total change in the regime. There was direct one 2 one coaching of defence happening to.

Nah you put your club allegiances to the side for the World Cup. As much as it isn’t great that there are a load of spurs players in the squad you have to support the country it’s great they are doing better. As for which spurs players you’d take in addition to Kane I’d have Dier and Trippier at arsenal but not Dele for obvious reasons. Decent players.

Couldn't care less which clubs England players come from, simply never think about it.

Trippier has been very good as has Kane. Alli is injured and playing on reputation, Dier isn't a major figure anyway. I like Rose and would happily see him replace Young who I don't.

Among the many foibles of our nation, simply being unable to settle down and enjoy the national team when they're good without sneering at them or trying to load them down with meanings and symbolism (please please please media pundits SHUT THE *%^@ UP about diversity and Brexit and just let them be) is one of the most strange. There really is no need for self-flagellation when there are so many out there - including the "Celts" and the anti-imperialist "Maradonas" who will happily do that job for you.

They're a decent young team with a bright and likeable manager who will probably go out when they hit really Blue Chip opposition.

Just enjoy it while it lasts.

Plus if Tottenham are supplying a large proportion of our national team that is hardly a fault of theirs.

On the subject of the training I just saw this tweet. Carcedo shouting at the players for not speaking to each other. Emery and him have their work cut out reversing the years of stupidity and mismanagement from Wenger


https://twitter.com/lazy_fraud_ozil/sta ... 85280?s=21

Couldn't agree more. This WC has been a blast and I couldn't give a flying one how many Tottenham players are in the England team. Shame there aren't any Arsenal players good enough to get in it at the moment. Anyway the longer England stay in the WC the worse it should be for Tottenham, in theory, if Kane et al have the FIFA recommended post tournament month long break they won't get him back until mid to late August, while our main players are already back in pre season training. Arsenal should hit the ground running this season, no excuses.