A Newcastle-supporting journalist at the World Cup almost committed the ultimate sin by claiming to be a Sunderland fan to get a story.

Trying to chase up the latest on Jon Dahl Tomasson's injury, he eventually managed to track down Danish team-mate Thomas Sorensen by phone at their hotel.

The Sunderland keeper insisted they were not allowed to talk about the incident, but then recognised the North-East accent.

''Are you a Sunderland fan then?'' asked Sorensen.

''Em...............no, not a chance actually,'' came the reply.

SING-A-LONG-A-FRANCE

France are home, the songs are already out.

How about this to the 3 Lions tune?

They're going home,

They're going home,

They're going...

The French are going home

Isn't it great, thank God it's true.

Although they missed Zizou,

It won't do.

They're not through.

The Froggies went and threw it away.

At the end of the day

They forgot how to play

Now we're all singing...

Not a single goal -

Frank Leboeuf still moaning.

Lemerre on the dole,

No more Gallic groaning.

All of your taunts, all of your jeers,

But who is staying here?

You were poor,

And it's clear.

There's no use blaming

The referee,

Or the pitch, or Henry,

Or Zidane's dodgy knee,

You're just plain rubbish.

Bunch of whingeing frogs,

Team of graceless losers,

Treze-goal my a**e,

Heading down the boozer.

Their mascot's a hen,

They elected Le Pen.

They're going home,

They're going home,

They're going...

The French are going home

OVER THE BORDER

This World Cup has been fantastic - and few can argue. Except, of course the Scots.

Scotland don't like England. In The Daily Record, according to James Traynor, a headline of 'If Rio Ferdinand is world class then Gazza is Parkinson' sets the tone.

And according to columnist Jim McLean there's been: "No flair, an emphasis on defence, not enough goals...this World Cup is really boring. The first two weeks of this World Cup have been a huge disappointment,"

And it's not only columnists.

Letter writer William Sharkey of Rutherglen notes that David Beckham hasn't yet kicked a ball with his left foot (because he's right-footed, perhaps?), helpfully adding: "I just wanted to point that out so Denmark can exploit it."

Yes, The Danes will be looking forward to the Daily Record landing on their hotel door mat in Niigata for clues.

Bill King, (Glasgow), complains "my enjoyment has been spoiled by the ITV coverage.

"It's been nothing short of disgraceful because of its bias towards England. Scottish fans who want to watch other nations have been short-changed as they only showed two minutes of the Sweden game and half an hour of the England."

Never mind Bill, the second round of a major tournament is alien to the Scottish nation anyway.