FIFA World Cup group stages

[Durhamfootman]

good to see Argentina fans sweating and chewing their nails............. reminds me of England fans

[Durhamfootman]

I've no idea who he is, but Pjanic has been terrific tonight.

[SaintPowelly]

Twice in the last 2mins, Messi had easy passes open for Higuain to have a tap in, and hes lost the ball.

I think hes the best ever, but his non-right foot and selfishness is frustrating.

[sussexpob]

I've no idea who he is, but Pjanic has been terrific tonight.

Very highly rated Roma player, DFM, supposedly one of PSG's big targets this summer.

Lovely little footballer.... I am still surprised that Puel let him leave Lyon a few years back, they considered him to be their star youngster, but played in the same position as Gourcuff, and Puel chose him to keep in the team..... big regret, Gourcuff is terrible, Pjanic is becoming an inmpressive player.

I did read on one of the lead up to the World Cup's "players to watch" that Pjanic's brother was killed fighting for the ISIS last month, that group that just invaded half of Iraq, but haven't found any English language stories.

[mikesiva]

while I'm in glassishalfempty mode............

10 day world cup for England. I won't be surprised if we finish bottom of the group. I'm not sure we'll even beat costa rica in the heat.

I've been hearing stuff about humidity in the north of Brazil.......... are we playing in the north?

Just the first match against Italy.

The temperature varies considerably across the country....

Bearing in mind that Brazil's a big country, and that most of it is below the equator, and that these are the winter months in the south of the country, it can be considerably cooler in the south. For example, France played Honduras in Porto Allegre, where the temperatures have been below 20 Celsius, and Curitaba, where Iran play Nigeria today, the temperatures are the same. In Rio, where Argentina played yesterday, they've been in the low 20s,

England's next match is in Sao Paulo, which is in the low 20s now, but should plummet to about 16 Celsius on Thursday, which is the day we're scheduled to take on Uruguay.

[sussexpob]

The heat doesn't mean anything, its the humidity which kills the guys out there, and in Manaus that was up to 88% on game day.

Germany have the worst hand in the competition. They have to play three games in areas of supreme heat and humidty. It was saying the other day there second game is expected to be plus 33 degrees and humidity in Forteleza topped 95% this weekend.

[mikesiva]

good to see Argentina fans sweating and chewing their nails............. reminds me of England fans

The difference is that they were nervous while leading....

Argentina did enough to win against a very good team. It will be interesting to see how they look when they switch gears.

[hopeforthebest]

Dalek Phil Neville raises storm.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27867939

[Gingerfinch]

Dalek Phil Neville raises storm.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27867939

I expect Lawrenson will be doing the Uruguayan game? Not that he's much better.

[mikesiva]

No doubt about that penalty...that was really blatant from the Portuguese defender.

A header from Hummels makes it 2-0...Portugal look poor so far.

Pepe gets sent off for being an idiot!

[sussexpob]

Id go back into the dressing room at half time and tell Pepe to get to the hotel before the team, and get on a flight to Lisbon...... such a massive idiot

Would never play for me again if I was manager

[Gingerfinch]

Pepe is a dirty t.at

[SaintPowelly]

Had Pepe not gone back to headbutt him, Mueller would of been booked.

[mikesiva]

Another goal for Mueller...3-0 at half time. A massacre in the second to come?

[sussexpob]

Nah, I think they will take players off early and take a breather