Apology

[Artisan]

I watched the faces of the England team just prior to the penalty shoot-out. They had given up already as they new they were going to lose the shoot-out. They looked tired, dispondent and completely disinterested in what was about to happen and there was nobody around urging them on. Eriksson (Mr. Personality himself), lacks the physical and emotional flair needed to encourage a team that was about to be eliminated. In contrast, the Portugal team, although tired also, appeared bouyant and confident.

[Artisan]

World Cup football has to be the greatest spectator sport ever. But why won’t the organisers, the field officials and the players recognise this? People come from all over the world to watch their heroes, spending lots of money in the process, and then these heroes get sent off, or prevented from playing in the next match, because of questionable decisions by the referees, strict orders from FIFA to the referees to punish those who are guilty of infringements, this leading to harsh decisions by the referees. But, most of all, these blokes who are out there playing football are paid huge sums of money to score goals, which they don’t. The spectators lose out in every way and football would be nothing without its spectators. Where I came from, if you didn’t or couldn’t do your job, you were out!

Take note Messrs. Gerrard and Lampard.

[aaaaaa]

Considering the weak teams that England were lucky enough to be drawn against to get this far, they haven't exactly been a goal scoring machine, have they?

Three missed penalties? They deserved to lose!

Crap team + Crap manager = Crap result.

well, Beckham is captain no more.

“Our performances in this World Cup have not been enough to progress further and all the players regret that and are hurt by that more than people realise...."

Sven looks like will go soon too.

now, this would be an interesting if Scolari coaches them :

Scolari says would not rule out England job one day

although :

"English fans must be sick of the sight of Luiz Felipe Scolari. For the third major tournament in a row, Felipão is set to lead a team out against England in a decisive quarter-final showdown."

perhaps Scolari can lead "heroes" to victory then ?

under him Portugal knocked out England 2 years ago from Euro Cup, in exactly same fashion: on penalties ! may after all be he'll be the one to teach them how to NOT miss while convert the penalties ?

[Pink Mist]

Bit of a bugger that you lads didn't go further. You do have the Rugby World Cup.That's much more important. We would kill for that.

not for much longer chucky, nor the ashes

[mrbojangles]

I hope Ronaldo never steps foot on English soil again, it was him who got Rooney sent off and then he gave a sarcastic wink to the sidelines.

If he does come back to Man Utd, i hope Rooney gives him a big slap in the chops.

[Pink Mist]

lets give credit where it's due chaps, rooney did kick him in the goolies

[opothai]

I hope Ronaldo never steps foot on English soil again, it was him who got Rooney sent off and then he gave a sarcastic wink to the sidelines.

If he does come back to Man Utd, i hope Rooney gives him a big slap in the chops.

spot on mr B, until ronaldo came over the ref was doing nothing no card at at all.

the one positive we can take from this is sven is no more,

his choice of team and tactics took us back to the italian way of football of 2 decades ago, get 1 goal and defend it, and we are simply not good enough to do that.

i still maintain we are an attacking side or should be,

here's hoping mclaren has learnt that svens tactics do not work.

[Pink Mist]

take it on the chin guys we had to against the iti's

[OneeyedJohn]

Hear Hear!

An end to the griping , everyone ( country ) has a story.

I still hope that Wayne kicks the <deleted> out of stepover next they meet

[aaaaaa]

Sven - no more too :

Sven-Goran Eriksson ended his reign as England coach

By falling for the third time at the quarter-final hurdle, when pitted against the same coach, Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari, Eriksson failed to exploit the potential of a talented squad.

[kayo]

i ain't sorry for this hottie!!

back on topic (ahem): I thought Portugal played well. England was kinda lackluster, even without the red card.

Lady in Red, I´ve spotted a couple of your posts here, and I like your light hearted jesting and humour.

I´d just like to mention, though, that footie is about putting a ball in a goal. Taking shirts off is actually banned during game time, and besides, erm.... It´s not a live 22 man Playgirl magazine.

it´s about a ball, and two goals.

Now, as for the offside rule....

[Insight]

I think the Rooney incident was unfair, but his temper will never serve him any benefit, as was seen last night.

Rooney incident aside, we still weren’t half of what we could have been. This whole argument I’ve heard a few times about how England need to be “physiologically” prepared for the biggest teams – its complete <deleted>! Did Argentina have any problems against a “weaker” side like Serbia? Did Germany have any problems against Costa Rica? No. Why? Because they were the better team and performed like it. We didn’t, at any point during the whole tournament.

The bottom line is that if it comes to penalties with England, you might as well forget about it. We can’t find the back of the net, as was clearly demonstrated made last night.

Sorry if this sounds unpatriotic. It’s just a little difficult to feel proud of what we achieved this World Cup.

[redrus]

I hope Ronaldo never steps foot on English soil again, it was him who got Rooney sent off and then he gave a sarcastic wink to the sidelines.

If he does come back to Man Utd, i hope Rooney gives him a big slap in the chops.

I'm in agreement with you once again Joe, let the <deleted> <deleted> off,.

I have no time for those that think they are bigger than the club. I did report this a while ago.

Setanta Sports:

European Soccer Correspondent Graeme Hunter explained the incident that caused Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to drop his star striker.

"In January, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo, who literally cannot stand the sight of each other, traded punches in training, and van Nistelrooy left Ronaldo with a broken face.

"On Sunday, van Nistelrooy was not named in the Manchester United team, and as we all now know, he walks out.

"The roots are from a serious bust-up on the training pitch the day before, over a perennial row between the two. Ronaldo held onto the ball too long in training, and van Nistelrooy asked again: "Why do you keep onto the ball, why don't you pass to me? I am in position, I am the striker. Get the ball to me."

Hunter went on: "Ronaldo gives van Nistelrooy some lip, it ends up in a fight, and van Nistelrooy as he always does, needles into Ronaldo, and says "Yeah, yeah, go running to your Dad."

"He means Carlos Quieroz, Ferguson's assistant. Ronaldo's own father had died during the season, and finally, in the face of this abuse, Ronaldo burst into tears on the pitch and shouts "I don't have a Dad, he's dead.

"It is not necessarily the end for van Nistelrooy, because he is the goalscorer, and Ferguson still wants four strikers at the club.

"What Sir Alex may not know is that Cristiano Ronaldo is dead set on leaving Manchester United this summer, if Madrid will buy him. He personally has had enough of Manchester United, and English football. So, it may be that we are left with Ronaldo saying that he wants to go, and that van Nistelrooy and Ferguson may make their peace."

redrus

[kayo]

I hope Ronaldo never steps foot on English soil again, it was him who got Rooney sent off and then he gave a sarcastic wink to the sidelines.

If he does come back to Man Utd, i hope Rooney gives him a big slap in the chops.

"In January, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo, who literally cannot stand the sight of each other, traded punches in training, and van Nistelrooy left Ronaldo with a broken face.

"It is not necessarily the end for van Nistelrooy, because he is the goalscorer, .....................

"What Sir Alex may not know is that Cristiano Ronaldo is dead set on leaving Manchester United this summer, if Madrid will buy him. H"

redrus

Which just goes to show, the dutch are well harder than the portuguese (makes me suddenly wonder if the holland-portugal wrestling match wasn´t in part because of the bad blood of this incident. Even though nistleroy (regrettably) didn´t play, you know what latino´s are like, they´ll gang up and consider all the northerners as one nonetheless....????)

Great, send c.ronaldo to madrid. In fact, give him to the poofiest squad in the Spanish league. (apart form zidane). They are worthless pieces of crap anyway, esp. when compared to the slightly less expensive, and far more fruitful Barcelona.

[bendix]

Those who call the sending off unjustified are kidding themselves, I think. My reading of the situation is that the ref was waiting for the chaos to calm down before handing Rooney a yellow card. Then Ronaldo stormed in and provoked Rooney into pushing him, another yellow card. Two yellows make a red.

Rooney's a bloody fool.

Frankly, with one or two exceptions, the whole England squad needs to take a good long hard look it themselves.

None of the 'stars' showed up. Beckham was a pale imitation of his reputation. Joe Cole ran around a lot, and delivered next to nothing; Gerrard flattered to deceive. Terry at least made an effort in this game after a poor start to the tournament. Lampard is out of form and should have been dropped, and SGE should have had the balls to do it. Rooney? Well, what can you say. His entire tournament was a disaster. Robinson looked like the entire tournament terrified him. Ferdinand showed what an unimaginative player he is . . .

The only players to come emerge from this debacle with any credit are Lennon, Ashley Cole and - to a certain extent - Owen Hargreaves.

At 1am on Saturday night I told myself I no longer care about football.

36 hours later I'm feeling better, but how many more disappointments at underachieving can we put up with?

[aaaaaa]

The bottom line is that if it comes to penalties with England, you might as well forget about it. We can’t find the back of the net, as was clearly demonstrated made last night.

not only that night - it is the "life story" of England team - they left many more tournaments loosing on penalties.

but you are right stressing the importance of team play. Brazil's players after defeat said simply : France has been a better team in this match. no bullsh1ting, no tears, nor excuses about "psycology". Zidane has managed to make his TEAM play better - never mind that it was Henry who scored a goal. as he admited himself - he just was in right place at right time, nothing more. well, of course many others might be in right place and at right time and ... not score - yeah, it depends on individual players too. but ultimately even great players as Ronaldo (Brazilian) won't be able to change the events if team plays not good enough.