Damn, if only Mornar got that last goal... he missed for a full meter! But it was a nice game, with some hilarious scenes(Henry smacks into Barthez).

Spains problem is although they can keep the ball excellently they lack the clinical touch. Seems bizarre with a team with strikers like Raul, Morienties, Fernando Torres and Luque. In both their games they created quite alot of chances but only scored 1 goal in each game. I'm a big fan of Spanish football though(I have a Sevilla shirt,they are my favorite team)so if Portugal don't win it I hope Spain do. I like the way Spain play with wingers too.

I enjoyed the France/Croatia match. Best result for England as well. France should beat Switzerland and then England only has to draw against Croatia.

I don't really understand how such a small country as Croatia can do so well against France. France has over 10 times the population and thus a much larger player pool, it isn't even a fair match...

So according to you China should have the best papers to become worldchampions every 4 years ? Croatia, for some reason, always brought forth extra ordinary athletes. They are have excellent basketballplayers, and they came in third at the worldcup football in France. That Croatia is playing above expectation in Portugal, shouldn't really come as a surprise anymore, and England would be wise not to take them lightly.

Must be something in their genes, Croats are just good athletes.

Heh. Thanks, Johnny, but you obviously haven't met me...

Ah, we just don't have luck with France. Their first goal was more like an accident, and the second one should have been cancelled, the ball rebounded from Trezeguet's hand.

By the way, it was France who defeated us in semi-final at the worldcup in France.

I've always had a lot of time for Croatian football. They've got outstanding application. Compare that with Spain, who must surely be THE most overrated national team ever...

Acutally the Croats gave good players. Especially Dado Prso. He is a good goal scorer. Croatia should have won but that stupid judge Kim Nielsen was bling for Treteguez`s "hand".

But Zidane mad a nice pass with his heel right on Gallas`s head when they had a corner.

Spain’s lack of performance over the years has been more annoying than England’s. You only have to watch the standard of their Spanish league and compare it to the inferior Italian and French leagues to make you scratch your head and wonder why?

Spain’s lack of performance over the years has been more annoying than England’s. You only have to watch the standard of their Spanish league and compare it to the inferior Italian and French leagues to make you scratch your head and wonder why? </font>[/QUOTE]That's really not that hard to explain. Just take a look at all the spanish topteams. In most cases all the keypositions in the teams are taken by foreigners, which means that Spanish players for those positions don't see enough playtime to develop their skills. You see the same problem in Italy.

In countries like Holland, Denmark and Sweden you see exactly the opposite, every player with above average skills, is playing abroad in big leagues, which reflects on their national squad. They all have very experienced players who are used to performing under a lot of pressure. Not that it makes them titlefavorites, but they're all forces to be reckoned with.

Yeah Johnny I know that if you're basing it only on population, China should have the best football team, obviously it depends on culture and the amount of funding for the sport as well. But you have to admit that it is easier to find more good players among a large player pool in general. It's common sense and you can't argue with that. Therefore it'll always be more of an achievement for a small country to do well internationally (Holland included) than a large country. And yeah, as you say, it also depends on how many players play in high quality leagues.