Have a Good NEWS

• Capello insists England can reach World Cup final
• Explore the Fans' Network: read what the world is saying
• Relive the action with our Twitter replay interactive
• In pictures: galleries of the best action in South Africa
• Email sean.ingle @ guardian.co.uk from where you LL 'watch

11.25am: Japan coach Takeshi Okada is worried about Nicklas Bendtner when his side faces Denmark tomorrow, claiming: "I think Bendtner will be the key man in their attack. However Denmark coach Morten Olsen, a man who I certainly wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of, suggests that his striker is "doubtful" for the match - although he is "incredibly optimistic" his side can win through.

11:18 am: So how many of you don't want England to win today? Plenty, judging by my inbox: "I'm a Football fan and I'm English but have to say I'll enjoy the World Cup far more when I can finally stop listening to the half-baked opinions of England's part-time fans," says Ben Smith. "I think what really annoys me is that so many England "fans" are overly optimistic with their face paints and cheap flags until the team inevitably doesn't live up to these inflated expectations at which point they are labelled as 'rubbish and overpaid anyway'.

By the way, is anyone reading Why waste England and other curious phenomena explained Simon Cooper and Stefan Szymanski? According to the authors - who use multiple regression to compare each country 's performances, based on the population, wealth and experience - England actually perform slightly better than you might expect.

11:12 am: Argentina captain Javier Mascherano believes his side's top-heavy attack won't necessarily be a problem in the knockout stages. "Many think we remain unbalanced but that's also a benefit for us because if you put four or five players in the top half of the field your rivals have to defend with more men and will attack you less," Mascherano said. Mascherano also claimed that the only goal Argentina have conceded so far, after a mistake from Martin Demichelis against South Korea, can be "blamed on the vuvuzelas," because Demichelis did not hear shouts telling him he had a Korean on his back.

11.05am: Meanwhile your emails are tumbling in. Simon Foster says/l "As an English office worker, I've very happy to report that our boss is taking us to the pub at 2.30pm, which is very nice of him (even nicer if he's buying!). We've even got a special World Cup offer on our website so all the staff (even the Americans) will be cheering on the lads. Christopher Millross says: "I'll be skiving but only whilst still in the office as our boss is a power-crazed inadequacy-riddled fool who can't bare to think he's not in control for ninety minutes." Anyone else?

11am: Here's what fans around the world make of England

10.52am: A selection of your comments from below the line:

henryt: "England will be lucky not to go home tomorrow. Terry should be sacked. It would be better to have a team of unknowns who try to win than these spoiled babies who would sooner be elsewhere, resting up for the next gruelling Premier League season."

billysbar:

molefromtheministry: - "Here's a piece of information that might be revealing regarding the quality of Uruguay: Jorge Martinez, 27, for whose services Juventus have recently offered Catania the royal sum of 16 million Euros, was not considered good enough to be picked for their squad. They have a population less than half of London's. They're undefeated. They haven't conceded. They have the only active player to win the ESM Golden Shoe twice. They're England's likely quarter-final opponents (should Capello's men get that far).

10.45am: So, two questions:

1) Are any office-based readers either a) being allowed to getting out of work to watch the England (or indeed USA) match, or b) planning to skive off this afternoon? If there, please post below or email me at the address above.

2) Are there any English readers secretly hoping that Fabio Capello's team go out after grinding another dull draw today, so we can all forget about the grim fandango of the No Surrender brigade, St George bowler hats, ridiculous front page tabloid covers and all sorts of other England-related embarrassments for a couple of years?

10.40am: Meanwhile this from the Guardian's football correspondent Kevin McCarra

Capello's inscrutable when you try to work out his thoughts on team selection. None the less, there is a lot of talk about Joe Cole continuing to be left out. It's puzzling since Capello himself emphasised a few weeks ago that Cole is fitter and fresher than most players because he missed a fair bit of the season through injury. It would be disturbing if he continued to be left on the bench just so the manager could prove he is indifferent to public/media opinion. I think we already know Capello is his own man. Any way, I feel sorry for Cole so far.

10.35am: Fifa will not take action against David Villa after he raised his hand to the face of Honduras's Emilo Izaguirre on Monday. Fifa spokesman Pekka Odriozola says its disciplinary committee found no grounds to open a case.

10.30am: There are still nine hours to go until Germany v Ghana kicks off, but the media centre in Soccer City most have 150-plus journalists in it already. The food in these places is sub-school dinner - generally some sickly grey meat with a 'starch of the day' - but Soccer City is the cordon bleu of media centres by virtue of the fact it has a McCafe. I've come armed with about two dozen pieces of fruit ...

10:25 am: \\ "Two good omens (or urban legends, if you want!) To date," says Paul Hayes. "England play better on the BBC in England to play better in the red. Not sure about the red pants idea, but ..." In fact, 's been estimated that Britain received 62% of their games on the Beeb and only 30% in ITV, and, as Marina Hyde said today , they've even lost six of the eight games when Clive Tyldesley has been commentating.

10.17am: Just a quick reminder that you can still sign up now and play daily competitions with our Fantasy Football game, the most exciting of its kind on the web. Oh, it's free too.

10.15am: While the fall-out from France's early exit continues apace, the fall-out from their failure to even reach the tournament in 1994 ... continues apace. David Ginola has threatened to sue Gérard Houllier after the former France manager once again blamed him for Les Bleus ' failure to make the trip to the USA.

\\ "It 'Enough!" Until my death, they would talk to me about it! "Bog Ginola. "This affects my personal life, my children, it affects a lot of things, it 's unbearable. Now that' enough. I 'm so tired ... I have decided to charge."

10.10am: Barry Glendenning's paper view has arrived to round up the Fourth Estate's perspective this morning:

10.05am: "I think Yakubu's miss was definately worse - the ball wasn't even bobbling!" declares Calum Johnston. "Plus I'm Scottish, so I'll take the opportunity to thank you for bringing up Iwelumo's miss!"

England fans, meanwhile, will be able to sun themselves at Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage later today and take in England v Slovenia on its big screens. Should they win today, their second-round match will also be screened at the festival, albeit not at the Pyramid Stage. A spokesman said no other games from the World Cup are due to be shown during the festival.

9.55am: "Yakubu's miss last night was epic," writes Mike Wilner. "Afterward, he stood rooted to the spot with a grin on his face. I had the impression that he wanted to blame someone, but there was no one else remotely at fault." No doubt about that, but was it worse than this?

9.50am: Sad news from South Korea where, according to AP, a man has drowned after jumping into a river to celebrate the national team's progress to the last 16.

9:40 am: If you haven't seen Yakubu's miss for Nigeria against South Korea last night (sorry, Nigeria fans) ...

9.25am: I'm currently making the drive to Soccer City, where I'll be reporting on Germany v Ghana later today. The match is intriguing for all sorts of reasons - Germany could go out in the group stages for the first time ever in World Cups, Ghana are probably Africa's best hope of getting a team into the last 16 and history is also likely to be made as the Boateng brothers - Kevin-Prince of Ghana and Germany's Jerome â€" become the first siblings to line-up against each other in a full international.

9:10 in the morning: This from our sports news correspondent Owen Gibson, via Twitter: "A nervous looking David Baddiel and Frank Skinner on our flight to Port Elizabeth. England coming home? Let's hope not."

9.05am: And there's more:

• France Football: "Easily beaten by a very modest South African team, Les Bleus left the tournament by the same way they came in: by the back door. After spending the weekend playing at being trade unionists and special agents, they forgot to play football. Physically and psychologically unprepared, they simply couldn't put one foot in front of the other."

• Le Monde: "France are out … the World Cup has lost its jesters. For the first time in Frnehc history, the public and the players greet an exit with relief. Jean-Paul Sartre wrote that "in football, everything is complicated by the presence of an opponent" but this French team showed you don't necessarily need an opponent â€" they were able to sabotage themselves. To all the questions that teams are asked in this sort of tournament, Les Bleus â€" the players, the staff and the FFF â€" gave the wrong answers, and ended up in a total fiasco … ... We must turn the page. Or rather, rip it out."

• Le Parisien: "Pitiful, ridiculous, shameful … it's hard to find the words to describe this France team in this World Cup. South Africa were hyperactive despite their limited ability, while France were without desire, answers or a clue. When it comes to identifying those responsible for this fiasco, the list is almost endless. But Raymond Domenech tops it … with his incoherent selections, inability to mould a group and publicity skills that make him one of the most unpopular men in the country, the manager leaves his post after six years with one highlight â€" a World Cup final appearance in 2006 for which stalwarts such as Zidane, Vieira and Makele deserve more credit that him ….. Laurent Blanc will
arrive in a few days on to a field of ruins. What a waste."

9am: Anyway, it's not all about England. Here's some of the reaction in France to the national team's humiliating exit yesterday. And 's not much.

• Libération's front page reads "And again bravo!" followed by "Beaten 2-1 by the South Africans, Les Bleus are out of the World Cup. The tragi-comedy is finally over".

• L'Equipe's headline, "The end of a world" leads into a plea for the French government "to go to the end of their powers so that the FFF (French Football Federation) is not any more in the hands of dummies".

• Sud-Ouest declared its delight in the misery being over at last: "Rarely would defeat have been welcomed with so much relief. It would have been better if Les Bleus had never gone to South Africa."

• "It's over and so much the better," cheerd La Provence. "Calamitous on the pitch like off it, Les Bleus have to move on to rebuilding."

• Le Progrès didn't mince its words: "Bye dummies!"

• And Le Journal de la Haute-Marne was almost as dismissive: "Failing to give good performances on the pitch, the French players still achieved a good feat: becoming the laughing stock of the entire world."

8.50am: ... and making some very interesting points about the Jabulani. "Listen the pitch and the ball are for both teams, but there's one specific issue: both teams don't have the same feet, so who is really affected by how the ball pitches and rolls across the grass? We have lots of former players inside Fifa â€" Platini, Pele, Beckenbauer - who should concentrate on making a ball that really helps the players. This ball goes round the corner. If you want to kick the ball to the second post it just drops. It just wobbles from left to right and we're not going to see any good moves at this World Cup that's just the way it is."

8.46am: ... Rightly pointing out that most journalists had written off his team before this tournament "I think we're right now showing what we are able to do. Many of you were saying things. You were wrong, really wrong. Because there was also sometimes a lack of respect towards the players. I really believe now that the journalists who wrote this nonsense should apologise to the players. They are making our country proud and we are defending the colours of the country of Argentina" ...

8.42am:

8.37am: Still, it was worth it to watch Leo Messi in action and to hear Diego Maradona hold court afterwards. It's hard not to get sucked in by the kiddish enthusiasm around this Argentina team and among the supporterss - but while I'd love to see the Albiceleste go all the way, surely any defence with Jonas Guttierez at right-back will be found out at some point?

8.30am: Forgive me, by the way, if this live blog flags at any point in the next eight hours. I was in Polokwane last night to watch Argentina beat Greece and I didn't get back until 3.45am this morning.

8:25 am: And what of 'Plucky' Slovenia, to give them their official tabloid title? I've seen both their matches at this World Cup in the flesh, shot the breeze with many of their tiny press pack - just 15 print journalists and five web reporters - written several pieces on the team (including 1,400 words for last Sunday's Observer) and it wouldn't shock me at all if they got a result today. They're technically better than England and certainly more together as a team. They struggled against the USA, however, when the tempo was pushed up to Premier League levels. It seems crude to suggest England should roll back the clock and pump balls into the box, Graham Taylor style, but that's what seemed to trouble the Slovenes last Friday ...

8.15am: The bookies, of course, make England eyewatering huge favourites to win. Then again, they almost always do. But does Steven Gerrard sound like a confident man to you? "The fear of not winning drives you on," he said yesterday. "The last thing you want is to go home after the group stage. We've come here to stay in this tournament
to the end and it would be an absolute disaster for the players home after the group stage. I admit that on paper, we again 'massive favorites. They re 'small nation compared to us, but only need to do. The pressure on us, because we need to win the game. "

8am: so, decision time ... Imagine it's you wearing Fabio Capello's black Zerorh glasses, gazing downwards at England's squad sheet. Who do you start with? What formation do you play? According to Dominic Fifield, Capello is considering making three changes, with Jermain Defoe partnering Wayne Rooney, Matthew Upson slotting alongside John Terry and James Milner on the right of midfield. And, yes, that means no place for Joe Cole.

Welcome to guardian.co.uk 's daily live World Cup blog, where you are in the world ... Our hope is that this blog will provide all of the following: breaking news, predictions, pontifications, colour from our 13-strong team in South Africa, plus lots of pointing outwards; to your comments below the line, to the best things we'ven seen on the web, to various World Cup randomania.

Our plan is to update the blog from from 8am-6pm UK time, however the posts will come faster between 9am until around midday, when our minute-by-minute reports will kick-in.

As there's no point in duplication from that point on, we'll ease off slightly after that, posting the best bits of the minute-by-minutes, and bring you updates from our writers in South Africa and Fans' Network members across the globe.

Today '", because if you have to say: England v Slovenia and USA v Algeria from 3pm, followed by Germany v Ghana and Serbia v Australia at 7.30pm.