-TSS-

Have any under 18's demanded that they should also be allowed to vote? Very few 16-year olds live independently or earn their own income.

England in a quandary now as practically one man beat them as they lost to Uruguay 2-1. Luis Suarez is just world class. England can still qualify but it's not in their own hands any more.

Perhaps the recent days divulge of news about ISIS is meant to prepare the public for an intervention.

You don't have to play outstandingly every match especially in the group-stage. It is enough to play well enough to get out of the group. When the elimination-round begins Brazil is still definitely the biggest favourite to win the tournament.

Good for the sport that once so dominant champions have been toppled. Bad for the tournament though. It seems that Italy is the only team which has a realistic chance of beating Brazil; especially as Brazil will certainly get assistance from referees as well. As for Spain, they have a new era beginning in their football. I guess they had not renewed the team enough. It was too old and the all important hunger for success just wasn't there any more as almost every player of that squad had both world cup and European championship gold medals in their cupboard.

More of PC gone mad in American professional sports: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/us-patent-office-cancels-redskins-trademark-registration-says-name-is-disparaging/2014/06/18/e7737bb8-f6ee-11e3-8aa9-dad2ec039789_story.html

Brazil still hasn't convinced but they have played well enough to make through the group and that is enough. No team can play seven consecutive outstanding matches therefore the teams that peak too early in the group-stage always tend to fall flat in the elimination round. South Korea- Russia starting. Two teams I'd both like to see lose. I've hated South Korea since 2002 how they blatantly cheated in their own tournament.

It was in the news today that Brazil is going to make a nice profit out of this tournament. The world cup is always good business. What will happen to the profit? Benefit the ordinary people? Don't be silly! FIFA will take a nice chunk and the rest will disappear into better pockets. In two years time Brazil will host the Olympic games. That is always bad business. Really unfathomable why do cities across the world always compete so hard to host the event which costs a fortune and brings no profit. There will be nothing left of the world cup profit to cover the losses of the olympics.

Why exactly is partition of Iraq out of the question? Is it only because the oil-resources are located in certain areas?

If Scotland votes for independence they still wouldn't become independent until 2016 due to various reasons. That means that the Scots would still be able to vote in the UK-parliamentary elections next year. Of course when Scotland then becomes independent in 2016 obviously those Scottish MP's would withdraw from Westminster, which could turn the balance of power.

Indeed, I'm sure England will get out of the group and the round of 16-match will most probably be against Colombia which is a tough nut to crack but still beatable but then comes Brazil and, sorry to say this, England can't beat Brazil: They're just not good enough. perhaps a team like Italy could beat Brazil. That remains to be seen. Funny how you still seem to talk about England as "we" as IIRC you said you have lived in Canada for 30 years.

Tonight's match reminded why Uruguay are despised internationnally because of their reputation of being rats. When they are losing they start deliberately injuring their opponents by kicking in the feet. Very glad that they lost and will most probably not advance from the group.

Every continent or football-federation has its quota how many teams it can send to the world cup. Europe has a quota of 13 teams and CONCACAF, the federation where Canada plays, sends four teams. Unfortunately the quota-thinking seems to extend to refereeing too. Such substandard refereeing thus far that they must be some quota-referees. If the number of teams for each federation were based on real ability Europe would send at least 20 of the 32 teams.

I know that the referee and the linesmen have to make their calls based on what they see with their naked eyes, they don't have the slow motion-replay technology in their use, but still wrong calls can ruin a game like what happened yesterday in the Mexico-Cameroon match.

Australia are clearly tourists, agreed, their prowess is at tougher games bit I wouldn't underestimate Chile. Besides, the trouncing Spain received tonight can't not have some effect on the psyche of the players. It wouldn't be the first time the defending champions have totally collapsed in the following world cup. France won in 1998 but were total rubbish in 2002. Ditto with Italy winning in 2006 and flopping in 2010.

The defending champions are getting trounced. They will have a real uphill battle after tonights inevitable defeat. Good for the sport though.

I feel sorry for Mexico. The refereeing is absolutely dismal by any standard and this is the world cup. Mexico have had two perfectly acceptable goals disallowed. Well, as I'm writing this Mexico scores and this time the goal stands.

Any invidual match can end whichever way, anything is possible, but in the long run there are 6-7 teams which have a realistic chance of winning the tournament.

Do you think Qatar will be divested of the tournament? There has been a revelation of irregularities in the bidding-process whn Qatar was awarded the games. Oh dear, who would have ever thought of that. My view is that the issue is taken up again must be because the associations of big countries have told FIFA they're not going to play in Qatar in summer in a possible 50-degree heat. Edit: Just saw your post being edited. However, it is worth pointing out that Qatar was rather ominously awarded the tournament in 8 years time.

Brazil are definitely the biggest favourites to win the tournament on their home-soil but at the same time the pressure on them is enormous. I'm sure that most Brazilians think that if Brazil doesn't win then Spain, Germany, France, Italy; any of those will be ok but absolutely not Argentina or Uruguay. Either of those two teams celebrating winning the world cup at Maracana would be nothing short of a sacrilege.

Has there ever been any serious talk in the NHL that the season should really end a bit sooner? perhaps then start earlier? After all, even though hockey is nowadays an indoor-game its roots lie in the outdoor game played in cold temperatures and on natural ice. That's why teams from cities like Boston, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal etc are considered as the traditional teams when as teams from places like Carolina, Nashville, Miami as plastic teams. The season ending in mid-June is therefore just against the ethos of the very sport.

The current guys in power in Kiev are clearly SOB's but from the view of the EU and the USA they are our SOB's.

The euro has been a cause of chaos for the EU. According to many conspiracy-theorists however this was the plan from the outset. Another thing which may even have longer term consequences as a cause of chaos has been the creation of the Schengen-area. It goes without saying that if you create a zone of freedom of movement in an area where the differences of wealth are enormous it is bound to lead to migration of millions of people. In many Eastern-European countries the average wage is lower than the level of unemployment benefits in many Western-European countries. Just imagine what would happen if the US and Mexico had a similar arrangement. That is practically what is happening in Europe because of Schengen. Another sly plan of the federalists to create chaos and destroy the cohesion within the nation-states.

Indeed Germany is the only country in Europe for whom the Euro is not too strong a currency. The euro was a political project to begin with more than an economic one. The apparent grievances of many countries joining the euro were overlooked because it was politically important to introduce the currency in as many countries as possible. Of course reverting to the old currencies now would help none of the euro-crisi countries, otherwise they would have done so long ago. If Greece reverted to the drachma their currency would not be worth the paper it is printed on, no matter what it is printed on. Greece, Cyprus and most recently Slovenia are manageable from the point of view of the euro but if Spain or, God forbid, Italy run into similar troubles as Greece is in now it would be a catastrophe. Wanna bet about this? Given all the bail out-packages the so-called old EU-countries, Sweden, Denmark and the UK have been vindicated in their decision to stay out.

A country like Finland which is very dependant on export-earnings was very foolish to adopt the euro. Sweden, a similar export-driven economy, was much wiser in this sense and kept their national currency. If there is no alternative of devaluing the currency then something else will have to give in order to maintain competitiveness. That something else is usually employment. It is worth a mention that the euro has been subject to a referendum in two countries: Sweden and Denmark. Both of them soundly rejected it. In other countries there have been referenda on treaties which include the use of the euro but a direct question on the curency has been placed only in Sweden and Denmark.