World Cup: Diary

AFTER LEAKING eight goals to Mexico and the Netherlands, South Korea may wish they had toned down their advanced publicity. They have yet to win a game in the finals, though to read their media guide one might assume they are a global power. Alongside their statistical profile runs a one-line cameo. Kim Tae-young is a "Sticky defender in an incredible fight", Choi Sung-yong is, confusingly, "the witty little giant" and Seo Yung-won has the unfortunate moniker "Son of the Wind". The squad are collectively described as the "Invincible Korean Warriors" which ironically was the very adjective used by their now-sacked coach Cha Bum-kun, to sum up the Dutch.

WHEN A German voice got through on the telephone to his room at Scotland's hotel in St-Remy-de-Province, Paul Lambert assumed it was a colleague playing a practical joke. The caller claimed to be a dentist offering free dentures to Lambert's room mate, Craig Burley, who bared a toothless grin after scoring against Norway. In return, Burley would visit the dentist's neighbourhood to coach local children. Lambert, who gained a European Cup winners' medal with Borussia Dortmund, considered the German spoken to be so good he advised his Celtic colleague that the approach was genuine. Burley certainly looks the part, a change of hair colour from brown to bleached blond giving him a timely Teutonic look.

PAUL McDAID and his new wife Mo Casey, England Travel Club members honeymooning in France, have been rescued by the FA after only Paul gained a ticket for today's game. His wife wrote to the FA asking if they could also find her one and eventually they did, even rearranging their allocation so the newly-weds could sit together. However not everyone is happy. A friend of the couple has sent off his own missive to the FA saying: "Have I got to get married to see England?"