Graham Poll is not from Singapore Claim

If Graham Poll was from Singapore, the phone-ins and back pages would be full of people saying it just proved that giving key matches to referees who have no experience of the 'big leagues' was a mistake. He managed to book one Croat defender three times, he missed two obvious Australian penalties and then allowed their equalising goal when Harry Kewell was a yard or two offside. This match went from an interesting first half to a very interesting second half as the two teams realised exactly what was at stake. Kewell and Viduka who generally swan around like a couple of big time Charlie's actually decided to play on the big stage at last and their reward is a match against Italy in the Round of 16.









This afternoon I watched Italy beat the Czech Republic 2-0 to win their group and Marcelo Lippi's side kept their remarkable unbeaten run in major competitions going, 1986 was the last time they lost a tie in normal time. Italy played a basic 4-5-1 formation and for long periods they seem to be toying with the Czech's who came to this tournament with a lot of promise but ultimately looked short on class. Pirlo and 'four lungs' Gattuso were peerless as always and I don't think the Azurri will have any problems beating the Australians.









Fatboy equalled Der Bombers record of 14 goals in World Cup Finals tonight when he scored two in Brazil's 4-1 victory over Japan. Brazil seem to be building up a head of steam, despite the fact that only Kaka and Robinho seem to be playing to their full potential, they will be playing Ghana who beat the U.S.A 2-1 courtesy of the dodgiest penalty in the World Cup so far. I'm not usually one for having a go at the referees but I have to say some of the decisions have been dreadful and not all of the poor ones have been made by Graham Poll.