World Cup Countdown: Casillas claims England lack 'top level' goalkeepers

4 days to go

Spain captain Iker Casillas believes England's goalkeepers could cost them dearly in the World Cup. La Rioja's number one has pinpointed England's goalkeeping trio as their biggest weaknesses due to their lack of big match experience.

"Their goalkeeping situation is a real problem," said Casillas. "None of the keepers have played in the Champions League and if you have never played at the top club level in the world, you are going to find it hard to perform at the top international level when even more eyes are on you." As a number of teams await injury news on their top stars, Italy will be without Andrea Pirlo for at least the first two games, but coach Marcello Lippi is still willing to risk taking the Milan playmaker. "Andrea will come with us. We will try to get him fit for the third game, maybe the fourth," he said. After losing talisman Michael Essien, Ghana are sweating over the fitness of midfielder Sulley Muntari, who sat out of training with a thigh strain, while Honduras' Wilson Palacios' hopes hang by a thread after he injured his shin in Saturday's 3-0 defeat to Romania.

Highlights of the day

Quote of the day

"The path we chose for the World Cup has been proven to be the right one," said South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira – whose side qualified automatically as hosts.

Suck-up of the day

"I am a happy Paraguayan and there is nothing more beautiful than that," said recently converted Argentina-born forward Lucas Barrios.