"We were playing six-a-side football."
Argentinian striker Hernan Crespo on making it look easy against the Serbs.

"It's an absolutely terrible result, the worst in our history, and I've got to take responsibility for it."
Serb coach Ilija Petkovic takes the defeat on the chin.

"Love is in the Herr."
British tabloid The Sun responding to German police praise of England fans' behaviour.

"Who made a World Cup baby last night?"
Germany's Bild newspaper , fascinated by the German players' night off with wives and girlfriends.

"It's more than disappointing. We had a lot of hope going into this tournament."
Ivory Coast coach Henri Michel on crushed ambitions after being eliminated after defeat by the Netherlands.

"Brazil don't ask themselves any questions, they just do it."
Striker David Trezeguet calling for France to throw caution to the wind.

"Anyone can wear whatever they want, but if a company tries to carry out ambush marketing, FIFA must prevent that happening."
FIFA communications director Markus Siegler after hundreds of Dutch fans are forced to remove dungarees bearing the name of a beer company.

"Special way? aw, kick 'em"."
Australian midfielder Jason Culina jokeing about how to stop Brazil.

"This is nothing like what happened in 1998."
Struggling Brazil striker Ronaldo after undergoing hospital checks.

"We have confidence in him and we are certain that he'll do all he can do to help us beat Australia."
Ronaldinho pledging his support for Ronaldo.

"It would be very fair to say that you haven't seen the best of us yet but we hope we have now put ourselves in a good position."
England captain David Beckham after the laboured 2-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago.

"I hope the worst is behind me."
France midfielder Florent Malouda revealing that he had an operation for haemorrhoids shortly after arriving in Germany for the finals.

"We have achieved our goal, and we have already reached the target the country set for us, but we want to reach greater heights."
Ecuador's Colombian coach Luis Suarez after his all-attacking team reached the last 16, proving to be one of the early surprises.

"I think you guys are always not optimistic ... so pessimistic."
Midfield star Hidetoshi Nakata calling for reporters to get positive as Japan's World Cup hangs in the balance.

"I'm extremely happy and I'm also relieved that the Rooney saga is over."
England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson after Wayne Rooney plays his first World Cup game seven weeks after breaking a bone in his foot.

"I want us to be more adventurous - I want to set the dogs free against Korea."
Beleaguered French coach Raymond Domenech.