Diego Maradona described Argentina's humiliation at the hands of Germany as the toughest day of his life.

Diego Maradona will demand his players give everything for Argentina in Cape Town this afternoon.

XABI ALONSO is desperate to play down the “euphoria” already engulfing Spain’s World Cup campaign as they seek to add the trophy to their Euro 2008 triumph.

SPAIN’S crusade to add the World Cup trophy to their Euro 2008 title continued last night with a closely-fought last-16 win over Iberian neighbours Portugal.

Spain 1 Portugal 0

IT HAS taken 30 matches and 11 long days but at last one of the Big Five has been spotted in South Africa; the prowling and preening Cristiano Ronaldo.

THE fan who walked into England’s dressing room and ranted at the dejected players was charged with trespassing yesterday and banned from World Cup matches.

South African police were today searching for an irate England fan who barged his way into the team’s dressing room last night but was let free before he could be arrested.

ROBERT GREEN could be the most scrutinised player at the appropriately-named Green Point Stadium when England face Algeria at the World Cup today, but he will have to survive an intense one-on-one interview with manager Fabio Capello to clinch his place in the starting line-up.

DEFENDING champions Italy had to come from behind to salvage a draw in their World Cup Group F opener against Paraguay in Cape Town last night.

Italy 1 Paraguay 1

An extra 900 police officers have been deployed to Cape Town and Durban to take over security inside stadia after stewards walked out over a wage dispute.

ITALY coach Marcello Lippi has dropped the strongest hint yet that his country’s best goalscorer will not start tonight’s World Cup Group F opener with Paraguay.

ONLY two teams, Uruguay in 1950 and West Germany in 1954, have won the World Cup using two goalkeepers during the tournament so England manager Fabio Capello faces a real conundrum today as he contemplates what to do with Robert Green following his lamentable error against the United States.

France skipper Patrice Evra has slammed reports of a rift in the camp as “bull” amid rumours team-mate William Gallas is furious he was overlooked for the captaincy.

France winger Florent Malouda admits he found it "frustrating" to be kept on the bench until the last 15 minutes of last night's World Cup stalemate with Uruguay.

World Cup Group A

France 0 Uruguay 0

CONTROVERSIAL French coach Raymond Domenech remains unrepentant about his side’s controversial qualification for the World Cup as they prepare for tonight’s opener against Uruguay.

World Cup organisers have admitted that the deadline for completing two of the five stadia being built for the 2010 finals in South Africa is “very, very tight”.