It may be the withdrawal symptoms of a curious gap in the football. It may be a righteous response to Salut! Sunderland’s ever-so-slightly tabloid lapse. But Bill Taylor has been out and about in Toronto again, snapping away at the flags and reflecting on the coming finale of the World Cup …

If he hasn’t been pulled over by the police for the potentially hazardous additions to his vehicle, this Toronto roofer is no doubt now flying his Portuguese flags at half-staff.
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A few of the happiest photos from South Africa 2010 have been the product of Radidgamer‘s seemingly one-track mind. All quarter finalist pictures here, with the exception of Stig Nygaard‘s woman of Ghana, are his work …

If you happen to be English, French, Italian or Portuguese, and like football, life could seem a little grim just now.
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Image: Rapidgamer

JOYOUS UPDATE from Le Cafe Marly, opposite the Pyramid at the Louvre, where I followed BBC coverage of the penalty shootout. Ha’way Paraguay – even if Maud, the Spanish waitress (really a student at the swish Science-Po happening to be doing a bit of waitressing), thinks they’ll be a pushover in the next round. My thanks to Peter Allen, who texted the Spain v Portugal score to my night train .

Sod’s law dictates that at kickoff time I’ll be inside the Louvre interviewing people about a forthcoming exhibition called Routes d’Arabie. I’d rather be watching Paraguay v Japan.
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Jeremy Robson ponders the list of possible contenders for the England job, if Fabio Capello does not stay on. He finds one omission surprising, though there is just a slight suspicion that he may be taking the Mick (and a much stronger suspicion about an SFR dongle’s ability to work on a French TGV, which explains why Jeremy’s piece was cut almost in half for most of the day …

Harry Redknapp
Roy Hodgson
Martin O’Neill
Stuart Pearce
Steve McClaren
Tony Pulis
Sam Allardyce
David Beckham
A N Other

These are the candidates for the England manager’s job. Well, at least these are the
names that The Guardian feels worthy of inclusion in its list of potential replacements
for the beleaguered Italian.
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It is no longer much use ranting at England, but we can still get hot under the collar about vuvuzelas. Should their inventor, along with whoever inflicted the Mexican wave on the world, be tied to a ton of stone and dropped into the deepest stretch of the Orange River? Probably, though at least L’Equipe’s cartoonist found a use for them after France’s exit (the caption, in case you missed the earlier reference, reads “Good riddance”). Here are some thoughts from Claire Thomas* …

The vuvuzela – South Africa’s pleasant sound, or just a noise?

If you have been watching the World Cup, you will have noticed the continuous sound of the vuvuzela buzzing all around the stadium like a swarm of bees. Does it make you want to throw your remote at the TV screen at any given opportunity – or do you welcome the sound with open ears?
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Anyone want to claim credit for this neat summing-up of England’s fate?

Meanwhile, Salut! Sunderland‘s friends at Football United tell me their mini Global Football Monitor 2010 survey is now live.

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There’s constructive criticism, there’s the occasional understandable tantrum, and there’s downright cruelty to footballers. I thought Pete Sixsmith had already been as damning as it was possible to be in his assessment of England at group stage. But comparing yesterday to our worst times as Sunderland fans – has the man no heart? …

As Joan Dawson put it when the fourth goal went in: “We’re Sunderland fans, we are used to rubbish like this.” It didn’t make the abysmal performance seem any better, but it did throw things into perspective a wee bit.

Terry and Upson as Breen and Collins; Barry as Shaun Cunnington; Rooney as David Rush; Johnson as Cec Irwin, Steve Whitworth, Bernt Haas and any other ineffectual show pony full back you care to name … this was a performance that had me looking into the past and being able to equate the national team with all the worst things I have seen at Sunderland over the years.
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We will never know whether Lampard’s goal might have inspired England to better things in the second half. Germans will counter that we’ll never know about Wembley 1966 either – in each case, of course, the match would have continued at 2-2. But Jeremy Robson has no doubt that such a spectacular error, compounded by the offisde Argentinian goal later, will finally force football to accept the inevitable …

Regardless of what Fifa might have been saying about the use of video technology, it’s a safe bet that there will soon be goal line cameras used to make crucial decisions.

Until now, there have been a host of reasons put forward to halt the use of technology in aiding assistants. The occasional decision in the odd game has never previously considered as providing sufficient weight to the argument for installing the nevessary equipment.

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The morning after a bad England performance is usually a good time to be out of England, or at least out of reach of the papers. Jeremy Robson is out of England, but it doesn’t stop him entering rant mode. Never mind the controversy, he says, feel the lack of depth …

This year, I will be 50 years old and, for the first time in my life, I have been humiliated by my country.

Not let down, or disappointed, but humiliated. It’s as simple as that.

I didn’t expect England to win the World Cup, far from it. My expectations were not high. I wasn’t optimistic when I saw Capello’s squad and witnessed the preparations he was making while banking 6 million quid for the trouble.
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Colin Randall watches another England dream fade …

At half time, we hoped the sense of injustice felt would impel England to victory after a calamitous error by match officials prevented a stirring fightback from 0-2 to 2-2. A bit like 1908 when, as every schoolboy should know, Sunderland were so enraged by an appalling penalty decision, which allowed Newcastle to go in 1-1 instead of 1-0 down, that we went on the score eight more in the second half.
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