Rousseau

To be fair, I think he's been playing as a winger for his clubs, but as a striker for Wales. He needs a club that plays like Wales. I just goes to show how different player looks in different systems.

Candreva is still out too. The Italians don't really have a like-for-like replacement for De Rossi and Motta, so that, like you say, could be an issue. I have no doubt they'll be well-prepared and well-drilled. It'll be interesting to see what the Germans do, regarding strikers. They have played a false-nine in the earlier games and then went with a natural 9 in Gomez for the last two, I believe. A natural 9 will be easy fodder for the Italian back-three; they'll relish the physical battle. A false-nine may pose more problems for the Italians? Who knows? It is really interesting.

The Germany-Italy game looks really interesting -- I'm salivating thinking about it! We have two tournament powerhouses. Germany are undoubtedly the favourites, but Italy have been tactically superb throughout, so it's not a sure thing.

What a performance from Wales! As much as we are all delighted, I'm sure, for Wales, unfortunately their win completely screwed our predictions. In fact only BEARGER and gunslinger gained points for this game, correctly predicting the Wales win; no one gained full points. Latest Standings: IFRAME Not Available. Direct Link to Spreadsheet.

Warburton is pretty much echoing every single fan here. It's good to hear.

In principle, absolutely. In this case? It really doesn't matter too much as it's not as if they will ever play each other in a competitive match. It is unfair on the other A-League sides, however.

Only Little General, Germinal, blueflag and boabie gain a point for correctly predicting the draw; with both Little General and Germinal collecting an extra 3 points for correctly predicting the 1-1 scoreline! No change at the top, but Germinal and blueflag close the gap. Latest Standings: IFRAME Not Available. Direct Link to Spreadsheet.

My prediction was screwed after 100 seconds. Yes, that was comfortably one of the worst games I've ever seen. Dire.

I actually quite enjoyed that. Smith is portraying both clubs in a bad light, historically. It's quite interesting to see how it developed.

Have Man City got a link-up with an Australian A-League team? I cannot for a second believe this guy is good enough for Man City. They signed an Australian last season too (Brattan), form the A-League but loaned him straight back. Like the article says, they are not going to be part of Guardiola's plans. I mean, St Mirren, a few A-League sides to Guardiola's Man City in the Premier League? Unlikely. To be honest, I didn't think he'd be good enough for Rangers when I saw him play for Australia; miss-placed passes and looks a little clumsy. Edit: Yes, Al-Mubarak, the owner of Man City, does indeed own Melbourne City. They currently have 2 players (Australian) on loan from Man City. These guys were not bought for Man City.

Wee bump! You have until 20:00 tonight to get in your predictions! We are still waiting on: Craig, stewarty, thomasbee, trublusince1982, Pete, Mrs Craig and Germinal

Poland 0-1 Portugal Wales 0-1 Belgium Germany 2-1 Italy France 2-0 Iceland

Please post your predictions for the Quarter-Finals. Games are to be played over 4 days, from Thursday 30th June to Sunday 3rd July. The fixtures are: Poland - Portugal Wales - Belgium Germany - Italy France - Iceland You have until 20:00 on Thursday 30th June to make your predictions. Correct Result and Correct Score will be determined at the end of normal match play ( 90 MINS + Extra Time). Penalty results will not be considered when calculating the points scored.

Yesterday's results went against the majority of our predictions -- I don't think many minded, though! compo, gunslinger, blueflag and Mrs Craig got 1 point for correctly predicting the Italy win; no one got full points. Only BEARGER and Bearman got a point for going for the Iceland win; again, no one gained full points. No real change -- although the middle orders tightens up a little. Latest Standings: IFRAME Not Available. Direct Link to Spreadsheet.

He played for MK Dons in League One, not the Championship; but I still think that's a good strike rate in a competitive league.

If it wasn't for De Gea this game would be out of sight. Italy have been superb. A side without any individual 'superstars', but a group that play as a team; almost orchestrated by Antonio Conte -- it's a pleasure to watch. In this instance I'm almost happy my prediction is wrong.

HT 1-0 Italy!

Ooft! De Gea has just tipped another good effort onto the post this time. Italy seem to have a deliberate plan to get crosses into the box; the Spaniards just don't know how to deal with them! Combining this tactic with their direct play is causing all sorts of problems.

De Gea has just made a wonderful save from a goal-bound header. Great start from the Italians!

The conditions are atrocious, and we've already seen some players slip. This could be very interesting indeed.

Italy have named the same line-up that beat Belgium early on after resting 10 for the Ireland game. Spain are unchanged. This could be quite an interesting game.

Yes, it's the same table updated. I input the data into my spreadsheet and it updates all the tables I have linked to on this thread.

On paper at least, we have an absolute beauty today: Italy-Spain. England-Iceland is the 2nd game.

Lionel Messi announced his retirement from international duty after missing in a penalty shootout as Argentina lost a fourth major final in nine years. "It's not meant for me. For me the national team is over. I've done all I can, it hurts not to be a champion," the 29-year-old said after defeat by Chile at the Copa America. With Barcelona, Messi has won eight La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues. But his only major international honour is 2008 Olympic gold. Argentina were beaten 1-0 in the 2014 World Cup final by Germany before two Copa America final defeats by Chile on penalties. Messi was also on the losing side against Brazil in the 2007 Copa America final. "It's been four finals, I tried. It was the thing I wanted the most, but I couldn't get it, so I think it's over," he said. After Sunday's match finished 0-0 in 120 minutes, Chile won 4-2 on penalties. Messi's miss was Argentina's first attempt in the shootout and it ballooned over the bar after Sergio Romero had denied Chile's Arturo Vidal. Lucas Biglia also missed from 12 yards, with Chilean substitute Francisco Silva scoring the decisive spot-kick in the final in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Messi had scored five times at the tournament, including a superb free-kick in the semi-final against hosts the USA to become his country's record scorer with 55 goals. For Barca he has scored 453 times in 531 games, including a La Liga record 312 goals. He has won the Ballon d'Or award for the world's best player five times. Messi made his debut for Argentina in 2005, going on to make 113 appearances. In 2014 he was named as the best player at the World Cup, with then-Fifa president Sepp Blatter saying he was "a little bit surprised" and Argentina legend Diego Maradona calling the decision "unfair". http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36637591

The majority correctly predicted a German win, but only rbr, YB, gunslinger and Germinal gained full points from the 2nd game of the day. And, again the majority gained a point for correctly predicting the Belgian win, but unfortunately the unusually high scoreline had us stumped, so no one gained full points. No change at the top, but rbr, YB and, returning to the fold, Germinal, narrow the gap between the middle order and top. At the bottom, Craig finally overtakes the spouse. Latest Standings: IFRAME Not Available. Direct Link to Spreadsheet.