Open Thread

hey Shawn, so much for my England vs. Spain final huh?…there goes that $50.

FRANK LAMPARD is the one who let this english team down…..HE should never be selected to play for ENGLAND AGAIN….forget whatever he does with CHELSEA…..even if he scores 50 goals per season with CHELSEA…..bcoz he gives more priority to earning his bread with Chelsea than playing for English pride….but i salute the heorics of Stevie G. and the rest…..Lampard should be banished from English team forever

I’m just gutted can’t believe it has happened this way. Have just watched the match for the 3rd time. The guys played really well, personally I think the Rooney incident should have been a yellow card, think it turned to Red with the push on Rinaldo. However I feel Rinaldo should not have interferred the Ref was there. To think these two are team buddies for Man U wouldn’t like to be in the dressing room at Old Trafford when these two next meet up.
That said we had our chances and just couldn’t go that one step extra. As for the penalties we should not have missed 3 that was shocking. Well 4 years to wait new manager and sure some new players. I still don’t see why Joe Cole was substitued thought he was having a great game. Gerrard has to be my hero, well done mate.

Please wake me up and tell me this is just a bad bad dream!!!

I was THIS close to getting the golden boot, and to lose like this its just a shame. I could have worn that golden boot all around town and been the envy of everyone. Don’t blame rooney though, he only stepped on another players nuts. Its not like he did anything wrong.

This is the latest from Reuters News regarding Rooney’s red card:

“Mystery surrounded the dismissal of England striker Wayne Rooney in his side’s quarter-final loss to Portugal with senior FIFA officials unsure why Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo showed him the red card.

He was either sent off just after the hour mark for pushing Manchester United club mate Cristiano Ronaldo or for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho before England lost 3-1 on penalties.

The referee does not have to make public why he sends a player off but must include the reason in his official report which is scrutinised privately by the Referees’ Committee.

FIFA officials were surprised by the sending off and said they had not yet been informed of the reason by the referee.”

My ego is so inflated after my PK won the match that my head would not fit in the team bus to the hotel.
Maybe I can help the WAGS pack their BAGS – with the enormous amount of shopping they did.
I wonder how I will face Rooney at ManUtd when the season starts. He will give me a hard time and I will cry again.

Critiano, Peronally I think the fans and team mates of Ronaldo will give him a hard time when he gets back to the UK. His behaviour and the enjoyment he took from the sending off of Rooney turns my stomache. Every time I look at the match and newspapers and see that ‘wink and smile’ to his team mates when Rooney was shown the Red card will haunt me and I hope him. Don’t misunderstand I am not condoning Rooneys behaviour, he must learn discipline and to control his temper saying that he was under pressure from other players from Portugal at the time and I personally don’t think he did it on purpose. I am sure there are a lot that will not agree with me but hey this is just my opinion.

All the above said it doesn’t help the deep hurt I and I am sure lots of fans have I thought we would make it all the way.

England we are so happy that you will be going on the earlier flight back! You behaved like beast on the streets of Germany and you behave like beasts on the world stage. Shame on you English dogs. You should play the gentleman game you created and not the beasts game. You deserve to lose for putting your faith in an upstart like Rooney who is FULL of HIMSELF!
With Rooney around England will not win the world cup and neither will Manchester United win the European Championship.
That’s the way! England should have played Defoe and Crouch right from the start.
Too. bad English dogs played a beasts game. Aidos / Ciao / Bye to losers(England)

It is a pity that everyone chooses to be racist online. Just because they are posting anonymously, they feel no fear.

england showed they are the most overrated team they are talented but not a great team…
and it was rooney’s mistake in that red card
even though i dont like england but i m not telling anything bad abotu england as my own favourite argies suffered in same way as did england

Oh well, another World cup is finally over for England. We didn’t do to bad considering none of our players hit top form. We managed to last as long as Holland,Argentina & Brazil playing shit.

Sven’s stats look good on paper but i think someone like Venables or Robson would of took that group of players further. I think thats the last time we will see Beckham in a world cup, his performances were just not good enough by his own standards. Lampard had more shots on goal than any other player in the tournament yet did not score. I think he will come good for England.

Sven made some very odd decisions….The Arsenal player(that hasn’t played for Arsenal’s firsteam) was taken instead of a recognised striker like Defoe. Why did he not take more strikers??.

Rooney’s sending off was a joke, not because he did not deserver to go, but because the ref didn’t appear to send him off for treading on an apponent, a push on Ronaldo FFS, btw did anyone else see Ronaldo greet his Man U team mate with a headbutt before kickoff?

As usual im pissed off with some of the other teams because they cheat,now im not being racist here…I love it when we beat the Germans, but the Germans are not cheats!. Fifa needs to bring in video camera evidence NOW! to stamp out diving from players like C Ronaldo and Henry. The 4 officials should and must be able to revue video evidence while the game is being played. If a player is observed to have dived, the forth official could alert the ref, who could then yellow or red card the offender.

Any player sent off for a foul not actually comitted could be reinstated.3 dives and you are out of the tournament would be a strong deterent. Surrounding the ref and gesturing a card should be an instant booking! Surely this would stop the diving idiots who ruin games by getting people sent off.

Now that I’m not longer heartbroken and shellshocked over the loss, I think I can take some time to make some actually rational points. Perhaps those of you out there that are just screaming in all caps and generally spewing liquid ignorance might take some time to try and do the same.

First, I think all of us English fans are well over Erikkson’s coaching. I’m not against conservatism, for example, using the 4-5-1 when we only had three fit strikers is prudent in case something strange happens. But with one’s tournament on the line, maybe it’s time to be a bit inventive? As for having the striker situation, why name Walcott to the team if you’re never going to give him a shot? It’s either arrogance or stupidity that causes us to essentially throw away a roster spot.

Second, Rooney is immature, there’s no doubting that, but the same passion that causes him to be so excellent is the cause of his volatility. Hopefully with age he’ll mature (just as Beckham did for us). Still, if Figo headbutting a Dutch player is a yellow card, Rooney’s shove on an intruding, out-of-place, Ronaldo shouldn’t be more than that. Of course, if the ref decided that the boot to the portugese players most sensitive area was deliberate (which I can’t tell, no matter how many times I watch the replay), then the red is obviously warranted.

Third, Lampard must be more gutted than the fans. Knowing his skill level and then not being able to come through with anything, even a penalty kick that would have been crucial, is simply amazing. Watching him here versus his play for Chelsea is like seeing two different people. Will he return for 2010 at the age of 32? A sad way to end a brilliant international career otherwise.

Fourth, what will this team do without a star attacking midfielder? Hopefully there’s a 16 year old somewhere in England right now that can bend a ball like Beckham. Increasingly it seems that you can’t be a world class team without that special player in the middle with a magic boot.

Fifth, why does everyone hate Peter Crouch? Other than being a bit gangly, he did very well in his time in this match. He fought off the Portuguese defenders and midfielders to control countless balls that were cleared by the tired English defense, and not only held the ball but was key to many of the offensive chances England had while being a man down.

Sixth, Owen Hargreaves is a machine. He was lights-out at his own position, shutting down Figo countless times. Between his defense on Figo and Ashley Cole marking C. Ronaldo, it was no wonder that Portugal had problems getting chances. He even did his best to spark some offense, with that weird circuitous run right up to Ricardo’s doorstep. That kind of creativity seemed quite lacking in the Erikkson-designed offense.

Finally, I’m still looking forward to 2010, with Rio and Terry likely providing the same top notch defense as we saw this time, much of the midfield back, and hopefully stikers that are fit (Owen and Defoe) and have their heads on their shoulders (you know who), who knows what we can do? Also, hopefully Theo Walcott is as good as advertised, maybe Arsenal will let him on the pitch before 2010 so he can get some experience.

See you all in South Africa.

honestly, i feel that no matter what the circumstances surrounding the matter, the red card to Rooney was his own doing. many people talk about Ronaldo forcing the issue on the foul, making Rooney lose his temper and shoving him. i read much about how Ronaldo winked at his bench at Rooney’s send-off. at this point and time, all i can say is this: IT’S OVER AND DONE WITH; GET OVER IT AND LEARN. if Portugal and Scolari really planned it all, that’s their strategy (and a pretty well-thought out one, i might add), and the only counter to that would’ve been for Rooney to be more patient. unfortunately, that’s something he couldn’t do, so in the end it’s his own fault.

RL,
how can u expect a 20 year old full of testosterone to be patient. He only knows to be agressive, and ultimately that has cost them the cup.

After this, he will not be able to gel with C. Ronaldo the same team – easy for CR who wants to run off to Spain. Sir Alex should put them both on the bench for the first few games in the Premiership – knowing him, it must have already crossed his mind.

CR should learn from Zidane who does his tricks to pass the ball which benefits his team and not for his self glory.

Can’t you all see that both Rooney and Ronaldo are small kids.
They get distressed for what they sensed in their surroundings.
Rooney lost his head.
Ronaldo wanted to much to win the game, at all cost.
They both have a lot to learn before they can be real players.

I for one am proud to be English. Proud that we went the whole tournament without trying to get anyone sent off, we didnt dive and roll over 5 times, we didnt go down clutching our faces when we got a nudge in the chest. Did we recieve a single penalty? Nope.

There is all this talk of Rooney being sent off and how stupid he was. Give me a break, stop bashing and watch the replay again and if you can honestly 100% say that he wasnt fouled atleast twice with the referee watching and ignoring it before he reacted then you are either very bias, have no knowledge of what constitutes a foul or you are just a bit slow.

Then after he reacted the ref showed no signs off reaching for an instant dismissal, yet despite fifa saying players asking for cards and badgering the referee should be shown cards, Ronaldo ran up to the ref and no card was shown, he wasnt told to go away instead the ref suddenly reached for the red and off went Rooney.

Then the wink and the shush to his bench? Yeah so you honestly think there was no strategy to get him sent off? You honestly think the referee was unbias like he should have been?

Simple fact is, Rooney was fouled several times before reacting and the ref simply stood and waited for him to react before then deciding to jump in.

I wont go into detail about Caraghers penalty retake other than… Ricardo was ready and did try to save it, so there was no reason for the retake. Had he missed I bet everything I own that the ref wouldnt have ordered a retake.

Do you really believe that a *Portuguese* player may request a red card to an opponnent and the ref grant it? If it was a German, a French, an English or so, that could be possible: money talks. But a Portuguese? Come on. Rooney was sent off because he did that (stepping RCarvalho) right in front of the referee.

Dear Tony, I would like to fully support your filtering of postings. There is too much rubbish in these blogs that resemble childish playground squabbles (albeit with lots and lots of expletives). There is a great lack of intelligent _discussion_. I would like to participate more but I find that my voice is drowned underneath the roar of a mindless mob.

The mature and sporting thing to do to is respect all your opponents and their supporters and to respect the laws and spirit of the game. That’s what all people who really love football do. Those who don’t aren’t really lovers of the game and have some issues to work out.

Oops! Sorry, I meant, “Dear Shawn”.

I’m far from am England Fan, but they had their chances, and I think they played a better game.

It was ironic that the most expensive players missed the penalties. But it was on the cards when Lampard stepped up to take the penalty kick all the England fans in Sydney said ‘no’ as they put their hands in the faces.

I can imagine the entire of England and all their supporters around the globe standing in sheer shock. Cruel.

What the hell was Rooney thinking?

But their game plan and playing style was shite for the entire world cup. For the cattle England have I can’t believe that a team can play they way they did and that bad.

PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL
The press of uk try to win out of the four lines but the great team Portugal with the great coatch Scolari win inside the four lines….LONG LIVE OUR NOBLE PORTUGAL and f*** England

Rooney overreacted. He acyed in the heat of the moment and screwed up. He needs to learn how to calm down in order to avoid hurting his team. Hot head, and definately hurt his team big time.

did anyone notice how annoying fatso maradona was as he bounced up and down in his seat…

Sadly, I am not surprised by the manner in which many English fans vent their frustrations with this match (ie, finger pointing and banging on about injustice) and by how many non-English fans resort to personal attacks and taunting (sorry, calling Rooney and Crouch names isn’t a valid way to discuss football tactics in my book). What saddens me more is that having lived in this country for 4 years, I’ve grown to dread England winning or losing. I hate to generalize, but there seems to be a distinct lack of true sportsmanship in this country.

When they are winning, they can’t quite grasp the concept of winning gracefully, have no concept of a shallow victory, and refuse to take responsibility for the immature actions of their own players (come on, players on every team misbehave)

When they lose, they are quick to accuse anyone of conspiring against them (er, it is highly doubtful that a situation was orchestrated at great length with the sole purpose of “making” Rooney lose his temper or that the Ref was planted there to thwart the English advance), ignoring the fact that their team just didn’t deliver.

End of.

And when they are not involved, they find it impossible to support anyone else.

I know this is not true for every English fan, and I apologize for making sweeping comments. But there must be a reason why 4 yrs ago I was excited to support England because I had just moved here, but after living here and being exposed to the mind-set of the media and the team, which is reflected by the comments of many of the bloggers here (as well as almost anyone I discuss sport with in the pub), I find myself (shamefully, but I can’t help it) unable to support them.

And I am really sorry for that.

Tony from singapore. Please leave this blog immediately and never log back on. You are here prohibited from blogging stupid, girlish comments forever. You have been banned by your mamma!

To Joao

If surrounding the referee does not influence him, then why does your team and so many others practice this? Would you also say that diving does not get defenders carded or sent off? also FIFA said that players urging the ref to show a card should be booked.Im a United fan and as good as C Ronaldo is, i hope Alex Ferguson sells him as he is a disgrace to the club, head butting his own team mate before kick off!. I am sick of players diving, its a disgrace that needs sorting out. Another practice that Portugal used against England was faking injury, Argentina are also past masters at this. Portugal,Holland and France have skilled players but this diving & injury faking needs to stop. Ronaldo(diver) Robin(diver) Henry(Diver)

Hi guys,

Im not gonna pretend like I know lots about football, but I can give an outsiders opinion on my thoughts of the match.

Truth be told, i actually fell asleep on the couch during the first half!! I do feel sorry for the England players as the expectations have been high and they haven’t been able to respond. They are a talented team, but I don’t think sven got the tactics right.

As for Rooney, i am appauled at his behaviour on the pitch. he is supposed to be an ambassador for England and all he has bought is disapointment and shame. (but I still partly blame sven for putting him up front by himself) However he does need to learn how to control his temper!!

What irritated me most was Ronaldo, the comment in Rooneys ear before the match and the wink after he was sent off. It is sad that players stoop so low in order for their team to win, and it would only happen in a football game.
If Ronaldo does return to Man U, I feel sorry for him as certain players will be looking for revenge and I hope that it will not be in the form of Keane’s intending ingury on Halland.

There are some positives to take from the game, such as Lennons brief appearance, and Terrys and Hargreaves performance throught the match. I hope that next time around the team will bring up some new talent and pull together as a team.

If this makes little or no sense, I am sorry and I dont pretend to know that much about football, but thought I’d try to post a comment without placing the blame on the ref, because in the end england lost fairly to a side that deserved to go through.

At least not all of Englands sporting hopes were ruined last night as Murray made it through to the fourth round of Wimbledon.

Good luck to all the teams who made it through to the semi’s!

(If I did make any sense it would be great to know!!!)

Dissapointment doesnt even begin to describe it ….. but we were great …. our back four were sentastional, our midfield had true class.. but luck wasnt with us … and it takes luck and talent to win such a game!

The Germans have been fantastic … both in their play and their sportsmanship and what a display of professionalism in penalties!

But some of the players have really turned me off footbal … any young guy (Ronaldo) who gets his team mate sent off and winks at the bench that his wind up has worked isnt an example to kids … unless the example is if your not as good as them … get them sent off …! The dutch , portugal games as was disgrace with someone like Figo as captain leading by example with a headbutt … so while i am disappointed we didnt win at least I dont have to be dissapointed in my heroes – Beckham, Gerrard, Rooney .. they played the game … rooney’e eyes were on the ball … a lesser sin than running to tell tales on your team mates … but rest assured … this time we didnt lose to the champions … ! Come on germany – lets have a team that plays football with passion win it .. instead of one with “mini me” referrees!

We are shocked that in other countries fair play is not the priority but winning is. England has the moral ground throughout the world. When we say something is right or wrong then others listen. It is very important for our nation and our citizens at this time not to descend to the level of believing that winning is everything, by any means, such as planning to provoke a player to get him sent off (Portugal); taunting penalty takers (Argentina); diving for penalties (Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, other latin nations and Holland). Already Owen started a dangerous precedent of diving to ruin the fair play nature of our game. Our hero should be Gary Lineker. Look, these games are being broadcast to over 170 million people. They are sending a message to kids that crime pays, that cheating is good, that feining an injury (Henry) is important for success. Our attitude should be to believe that we rather loose (narrowly loose in this case) with honesty than win with dishonesty. As in WWII we need to lead the world by example, even if we are alone. Eventually, FIFA will police the game but in the meantime we must not succumb to the peer pressure to be cheats. Who can enjoy a victory that was obtained by deceitful means? Only the Portuguese who lie continuously. You just cant imagine what sort of culture that is. They lie with a smile. They even have an expression in their language “Para Ingles Ver” roughly translated “For the Englishman to See”, it is a deception for show, that is what it means. Please let us not become such a nation.

hi shwan
dont woory mate the sun did rise today didnt it ..its ok
what i wanted to ask u is pardon me if its silly .. here in india EPL is huge .. and EPL stars are big are they now overrated i dont knw
guyz lampard etc i knw 10 -15 yeras ago football was sick with hooligons etc and the EPL has helped to do away with tht but how has it helped the english national team even english clubs have had mderate success in champions league this year arsenal final last year liverpool in dream match and some years back man utd in dream match also but has EPL helped throw up world class players for england or tht is tht besides the point and ht was not what EPL was meant to do
cheers

Yes! Frank Lampard was hopeless but the blame of England’s failure this time with such a great team must lie purely at the feet of the FA for choosing such an idiot like Ericsson no offence.

Shawn, one word or two about your introduction.

Quote “I won’t tolerate nationalistic bullshit…”/quote

quote “I will delete anything that falls afoul of my sensibilities…”/quote

It seems that the English love to bath in their chauvinism, especially against Germany, but when they got bitter defeats (like it nearly always happens *smile*), you kind of guys discover that nationalism is a bad thing.

Shawn – take it as a man. If you really have nuts, let all the Argentinians give their hate speeches at your blog. Give the comments to the English readers and let them think about the reactions a bit. The Argentinians tolerate the harsh contributions – maybe you like to take a look at them? The English there are fighting the Falkland-war again and again, as did the “Sun” in the good old days of English chauvinism.

I felt sorry for the English football team, because they lost Owen, Rooney and Beckham at World Cup, so they were not able to show the best. No sportsmen desereve that.

Let me tell you, too, that I felt such big satisfaction, that cocky England, the self-announced World Cup favorite, the “best team of last 40 years”, showed such a disappointing football at the World Cup and dropped out now against a team from B-category.

I left a party, returned to my computer and gave my first hate speech on internet after your loss. Read no. 2 in the “Early-reactions-blog”.

Don’t want to hear you whine, Shawn.
Don’t want to hear that chauvinism from England again.
Don’t want to have your hooligans here ever again.

Will I be deleted for telling the truth. Shawn, will you be my Murdoch, who gives Blair his agenda via page no. 1 of Sun every day?

cheers

Im english and have no problem supporting the team I think rightly deserve to win a game when England are no longer in the tournament. On those grounds I really do hope the Germans win it. Their hospitality was sensational, their perfomances have been entertaining and impressive and they have not resorted to cheating, diving or badgering the ref at all. Its good to see that at least one team that has stuck to “fair play” has made it to the semi-finals.

How many of the other teams there have got there without dives? Then theres two teams there who had players grab their faces pretending to be fouled when their faces werent even touched (portugal and france). Italy are not only famed for their willingness to go to ground without contact, but you only have to look at their game against USA to see how bad some of the players have been.

As I said, it is sad to see that to progress in the tournament it seems cheating really does prosper. I am just glad that of the last 4 we were lucky enough to get one team in there who have no resorted to that at all.

Congrats to the England team, at least they can go home proud knowing they played fair (Rooney was sent off for a push apparently not for the “stamp”. Pushing someone away has never been an instant red card and if they were stamped on, how come he got up so quickly and was completely fine?)

Congrats to Germany and good luck, hope they win the tournament.

I like your motivation Mr. “Wayne Rooney”, but you’re forgeting the essencial. It was a very disputed match and both teams would make excelent winners.
Your ressentment towards the portuguese and other latin countries is making you blind.
Try to climb out of your pedestal of superiority. At least aknowledge that your vision might not be 100% exact in every aspect.
As for Carragher’s penalty, the referee as to whistle first in order to the penalty kick can be executed. Ricardo didn’t hear the whistle so he didn’t jump. He was very concentrated. It didn’t cross your mind that Carragher might be just a little to nervous in the ocasion?

Melissa,

you represent the true English sportsmanship that everybody arount the worlds looks up to.

Can I quote you?

“Dissapointment doesnt even begin to describe it ….. but we were great …. our back four were sentastional, our midfield had true class.. but luck wasnt with us … and it takes luck and talent to win such a game!

The Germans have been fantastic … both in their play and their sportsmanship and what a display of professionalism in penalties!”

best

To Chuan

(You need to research more before you assume that all English are dogs) as you will see below violence amongst so

called football fans is not just a British problem. And as race riots often get mis interprated as football

related… you will also see that singapore has had a very famous race riot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Race_Riots
he 1964 Race Riots were a series of riots that took place in Singapore during two separate periods in July and

September between Chinese and Malays groups. The first incident occurred on 21 July during a Malay procession that

marked Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. In total, the violence killed 36 people and injured another 556. About 3,000

people were arrested

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5081684.stm

Dortmund police said there had been 429 arrests in total, including 119 from Poland and 278 Germans.

http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/51/06-14-2006/3e0e000466e66615.html

An Italian freelance television crew has been arrested for groping female soccer fans in front of a running camera

at a World Cup party in Munich.

https://www.internationalsos.com/members_home/FIFA2006/index.cfm?content_id=212&language_id=ENG

As predicted, there were several hundred arrests of German and Polish supporters in Dortmund yesterday, as rival

fans clashed approximately two hours before the match.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/4439601.stm
But the relaxed response to the violence of the Inter crowd, many of whom cheered when Milan goalkeeper Dida was

hit by a flare, was indicative of an on-going problem in Italian football.

http://www.worldcup365.com/story/0,16726,8501_1305443,00.html

Spain are at the centre of another racism row after it was claimed their fans taunted the France squad as they

arrived for their World Cup last-16 match in Hanover.

http://www.farenet.org/news_article.asp?intNewsID=691

Far-right acts at Italy – Ghana
During the national anthem at the match Italy vs. Ghana in Hanover dozens of supporters in the Italian sector

raised their right arm to show the fascist greeting.

In Leipzig when the Netherlands played Serbia-Montenegro a banner with a Celtic cross was displayed by Serbian

fans. The Celtic cross is a popular racist symbol in the far right „White Power“ movement.

Xenophobic Merchandising
After the match France vs. Switzerland anti-Turkish t-shirts and scarfs were sold at a stand outside the Stuttgart

stadium. A scarf carried the xenophobic expression “Bye bye Turkey – Turkish man stays at home”

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1531870,00.html

A “friendly” weekend soccer match between Germany and Slovenia quickly turned sour as before, during and after the

game, German fans participated in racist violence, prompting fears of a revival of hooliganism.

And as race riots often get mis interprated as football related… you will also see that singapore has had a very

famous race riot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Race_Riots
he 1964 Race Riots were a series of riots that took place in Singapore during two separate periods in July and

September between Chinese and Malays groups. The first incident occurred on 21 July during a Malay procession that

marked Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. In total, the violence killed 36 people and injured another 556. About 3,000

people were arrested

Melissa, well said girl, I hope Ronaldo has nightmares about going back to Man U, he is not a sportsman, I think England did fantastically well holding off this ‘great team’ from scoring and with only ten men, we couldn’t have asked for more. Thought Gerrard was fantastic but o\OH guys the penalties, I know the pressure, but surely at this standard of the game we shouldn’t have missed 3.

Well, it`s sad but true, England is out. It`s always the same thing, England can`t win with penaltys. But it`s also very sad that comments must be closed or deleted because people never learned how to be just fair.

Don`t worry England, Switzerland stands behind you and crying with you!
At the Euro here, England will win, I hope so.

Switzerland stands behind you!
ENGLAND forever!

Just take a look at my house in the swiss alps here http://www.flickr.com/photos/20023534@N00/173930008.

come on people…we all saw how rooney stepped on that foul, when you ar trying to keep balance you just don’t step on someones croutch…ok…beside rooney pushed ronaldo…are you people blind????

whenever the european player fouls that is nothing…

in the france brasil match we all saw how having a graet player in midfield zidane won the game for france, maybe we should use rooney in this position with his skills it was such a shame to waste him as a lone striker.
Hopefully now that sven has gone we can get back the passion and excitment that we enjoyed under more pro active managers( venables, robson).
also i would like to thank beckham for the service he has done the team but now i belive it is time for him to hang up his int boots and pass the captincy over to gerrard.

Hey Rho, nice house…
Will you be renting it out at any time ‘cos me and my husband are looking for a quiet retreat away from football-crazed Berlin;)

Nat he was actaually sent off for the push, a straight red for a slight push? When Figo headbutted a guy he got a yellow card.

I dont think Rooney standing on someones balls is ok at all and yes that was deserving of a card. But considering the ref didnt see or card him for that, it shows that something is wrong when the only thing he got a red card for was a push after he had just been fouled multiple times before he did anything back.

@mellisa

english team is not great only english players are great…and english team just pretends to be great

go rock in epl english players

See you all in the euro and 2010

To the Mr. Wayne Rooney up there: get off your pedestal. Do not be a bigot. If you don’t like Portuguese, it will be best to return home to fair England (even if you’re just here on holidays), or you’ll catch that nasty Portuguese plague called “niceness”. We do not lie with a smile, we are polite. In fact, we are so nice that I know several English that live in Portugal for years now, and that never bothered to learn our language because we are nice enough to speak in theirs for them, and not find it odd or slightly arrogant… Can you do that in the UK, never learn english and not get ostracized for it? Well, here you can, and we really don’t care; not a lot of nationalistic egomania here, you see. We don’t need it to feel alive.
I’m smiling to you as I say you do not know a lot about Portuguese expressions, do you? That expression you mention is an irony that has nothing to do with mocking the english in particular. You know, we do know how to laugh of ourselves…
We also have another expression, one in common with you, I believe: pearls to pigs. After writing this, I feel that’s what I’ve just done, Mr. Rooney. But, as a Portuguese person, I’m just trying to be nice

“”or you’ll catch that nasty Portuguese plague called “niceness”. We do not lie with a smile, we are polite. In fact, we are so nice that I know several English that live in Portugal for years now, and that never bothered to learn our language because we are nice enough to speak in theirs for them, and not find it odd or slightly arrogant… Can you do that in the UK, never learn english and not get ostracized for it? Well, here you can, and we really don’t care; not a lot of nationalistic egomania here, you see.”"

Dont know about anyone else, but in my opinion that all sounded very fake to me. First of all, if it never bothered you or anyone else over there, then why even bring it up?
Secondly, English is most spoken language in the world, you can go to most countries in the world and find people that speak english. Considering england is also one of the worst countries in the world for foreign freeloaders, there is a big reason people in England get annoyed with people who cant speak English. I am sure if the non english speaking people living in england didnt recieve all the benefits and NHS service and everything else that the born and raised English pay for, then there wouldnt be such dislike for those who live in England and dont even speak the language.
England has terrible taxes, far far far far higher than Portugal. How would you feel if you paid ridiculous taxes to support those same non portuguese speaking people that move there?

Anyway my only other concern over your post really is that the vast majority of people from other nationalities that watched that game and also the holland game have complained about the cheating and unsportsmanlike play of the portuguese. Unfortunately because they are your national team, their actions reflect on your country. So now people associate portuguese as cheats.

Obviously 11 men on a pitch shouldnt lead to you judging a whole country, but thats what happens when they represent you on a global stage such as the world cup.

Thank you very much Shawn!

English or not, you’re a better England fan than alot of the people I know.

First of all, I am tired of reading racist comments such as, “latin countries are cheats divers”. The truth is 3/4 semi finalists are latin, and it would be naive for one to state that they got there simply by “diving and cheating”. Also, I am fed up of English conspiracy theories blaming everyone but themselves for their defeat. If anyone is to blame it’s the English press for builiding them up as the greatest team in the world. Granted, Portugal didn’t play amazingly, but the same goes for England. To blame Ronaldo for Rooney’s foolishness and immaturity is preposterous… any player in Ronaldo’s position would have done the same thing. On the pitch the only team you belong to is your country, so don’t say Ronaldo “betrayed” his team mate.
As for Carragher’s penalty, there is nothing to say. Just another English excuse. Ricardo did a superb job saving three penalties, thus giving Portugal a deserved victory.
This “trash talk” undermining the Portuguese team is really uncalled for and only demonstrates the lack of elegance coming from a few bitter England supporters.
I think England fans should learn how to lose with dignity, like their team did.
Cheers England! Make all the excuses you like, but on the 9th of July someone else is lifting that trophy!

Ricardo did do a superb job I am not debating that.
But yes only Germany of the 4 teams in the semi final so far has not cheated.
Italy – Did you not see the best example of this in the USA vs Italy game? It was dubbed as one of the most disgusting displays ever seen in a world cup group match. But they have also dived, faked injuries, etc in several of the matches so far.
France – Henry has always been someone I admired, thought of as an honest person aswell as a footballing genius. But to see him go down clutching his face in an attempt to get a player booked when his face was never touched was just disgusting.
Portugal – Headbutting? Begging for players to be sent off despite fifa supposedly cracking down on that and saying players should be booked for it. How many dives did they take in that game? How about Maniche doing exactly what Henry did and grabbing his face acting like he was in pain when it wasnt even touched in an attempt to get a player sent off.

Fact is, the Germans are the only team there who have not done any of this. So I do hope fair play is the main winner in the end in this tournament and Germany lift the world cup.

Good luck Germany.

And just to lighten up everybody’s spirit, here goes something I’ve found on a portuguese blog.

http://futebolez.blogs.sapo.pt/57499.html

Cheers to all

Beautiful game, No

Fifa, Farcical

Well Shawn, I’m not English, my country (not Filnand) didn’t play along, and I sure hell am NOT blind. So, to set the record straight: to all blind TV viewers, I have to say that KICKING AN OPPONENT IN THE BALLS WHILE HE’S LYING ON THE GROUND AND WITH THE REFEREE JUST BEHIND YOU is stupid. That’s why Rooney went off, and if you’re still wondering go to an optician -it took me JUST ONE replay to ‘discover’ Rooney’s kick…

Cmon fellas. Let’s quit the racism and enjoy what is left of the World Cup. Didn’t we just hear Beckham and Figo preach the same thing before the match started. Hats off to England who played majestically with only 10 men. As for Portugal congrats and good luck against France.

A couple of points:

* england played the better football in the game and were unlucky to lose as they missed a couple of sitters, penalties are 50/50 … after losing 3 in a row I’d like to say England are due, but as we all know probability doesn’t work that way.

* I was a portugal supporter surrounded by english fans and they were a tribute to their nation, not a hooligan in sight.

* although the Germans have been very good at fair play, Ballack is a notable exception, he dives in the penalty area clutching random parts of his anatomy at the drop of a hat.

* players caught cheating on video (eg. diving, faking injury, nasty fouls the ref misses) should receive suspensions. Its ridiculous that the whole world can know that a player has cheated and FIFA does nothing about it!

Tiago – that link was awesome. Crouch really is all over the place.

hehe yeah I reckon a clock like that would sell like hotcakes

Danny – “Let’s quit the racism and enjoy what is left of the World Cup”

Correct me if I’m wrong weren’t the English fans booing the Portuguese when during the penalty kick off?

Is boo-ing sportsman like behavour.

Just got to say how happy i am to see England dumped from the world cup. In case you are wondering i still haven’t forgiven the hand of crouch incident. Concerning the Ronaldo situation now probably you feel how it is to be cheated – if that is what it was.

On another note i backing the Italians to go all the way.
Finals, Italy v France

Margarida

Its not racist…just a fact, latin Countries have been diving and faking elbows in the face for years, im 37 now and have been watching Argentina dive since 1978, unfortunately there is also lots of european sides who are also well practiced at diving…Spain,Portugal,France,Holland also have had there fare share this time. Im not saying it had any bearing on the England match because your keeper made exellent saves. However FIFA does need to address this diving and injury faking culture.

Melissa

i quote you”At least not all of Englands sporting hopes were ruined last night as Murray made it through to the fourth round of Wimbledon.”

Murray is Scottish! DOH

Neil from Trinidad

Hand of Crouch, what are you talking about?…If you are refering too his goal it was scored with his head.

Shawn, I feel your pain buddy. While watching the Brazil-France match at a pub I was awarded a cheap Carlsberg French #10 shirt.

You can bet I’ll be wearing it come their match against Portugal.

Allez les Bleus.

About that Rooney red card. Ya, he pushed him but there were worse things that happened in the match. To me it has been the seemingly random decisions of officials to crack down at various points in the match.

The problem with England was the coach, Ericsson. They have a great team: Terry, Gerard(great), Lampard (great), Rooney(great), Beckam (great),Owen ( great!!)

Comon now admit it, that game was boring. England deserved the win more than portugal since they were down by 1 and still managed to content portugal. But the truth is, England didnt play that good of football since the start, and this is the WC unless you play excellent, then you wont win. Good luck in 2010 and plz this time dont bring Roony and Beckham.

To Mr. Pete who so kindly took the pains of Mr. Wayne Rooney up there: please get off your pedestal as well. It’s just so not nice.
You can think the arguments I stated fake, for whatever reason, but they are first and foremost facts. And no, it really doesn’t bother me: I tend to respect other people as a norm.
Granted, English is well spoken, I am writing in it now, aren’t I? Or else you wouldn’t understand me, now would you? So I’m making an extra effort to communicate with you. Not because english is the most spoken language in the world, but because you probably do not know any Portuguese. Can you understand the difference?
As for freeloaders and taxes, I can garanty you that our load of taxes is, proportionally, similar or worse than yours. So is our load of what you call “freeloaders”. Most emmigrants in our country work a lot, and even if they don’t pay taxes, they work for a lot less money and do plenty of things we portuguese don’t want to do. And surprise: foreign communities keep their language and costumes here as well, including speaking their own language. And most people really don’t care.
Anyway, my reply for Mr. Rooney was about him being too much of a bigot for my liking – portuguese are liers, etc. (and now you say cheats… hmmm)
This is a game, well, a series of games, not a judgement of countries and cultures.
If I followed that same line of thinking, after having heard of Portuguese women and children being stoned by english supporters after the game, well, what would I thinking of England now?
But I don’t, because I know idiocy and cruelness has no frontiers.

MP

…after having heard of Portuguese women and children being stoned by english supporters after the game

i have googled this and cannot find anything about English fans stoning women & children, is this a fact reported by reporters from different nations of just hear say…there is lots
of problems with hooligans but i have never come across English fans wanting to terrorise women & children, thats just stupid n onsense to even suggest it. There maybe one mindless individual from any nation who would behave like that but i guarantee you if any English supporter behaved like that…he would be attacked by his own fans! guaranteed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFvZ389nsCE&search=Rooney%20redcard

ok if your going to talk nonsense watch this clip first.

Yeah headbutt of friendship? what a friendly guy. And how about the wink? yeah right he dont look like it was intensional wind up at all does it?

Pity football is spoilt by cheats.

Penalty Hun:

For starters, I’m not English. As my bio makes clear, I’m an American EPL supporter who has spent time in England. Not a Brit. Not even by heritage.

Secondly, I have been extremely hard on the English squad since the start of the tournament, indeed, even since January when I first started blogging here. I have had complaints from England supporters that I haven’t been “100% behind the team,” and I have explained repeatedly that my attitude is one of analysis and criticism, and I have never changed.

That said, you can look back on my hundreds of postings and comments and find NOTHING about the perceived flaws or tendencies of other nations — maybe about a specific player or manager, but never the sort of broad-brush nationalistic, ethnic or racial stuff I am objecting to. I couldn’t write that sort of thing on a bet. Just not my nature.

Yesterday I was patient with the postings for about 8 hours, and then I’d seen enough. The anger was getting uglier, the childishness was getting stickier, the epithets and racist comments were getting thicker.

None of these people were talking about me, my country or my ethnic group.

But they were shitting in my living room.

And as it is my blogspace, I closed and locked the door.

I deleted nothing, not even your rather predictable (and all caps) cri-de-couer of celebration at the team’s loss. That was about football, after all. And I didn’t feel like sorting it all out anymore than I would want to sift through dogshit to find a peanut.

And you know what? By posting a complaint about it and shutting those threads, I was actually able to return the conversation more or less to football.

About that, I feel just fine.

About the match…sigh…oh well, that’s football…

As for the comments about stoning. I have heard nothing of it, found nothing of it, not even any comments from the germans about it.

If it has happened then those people do seriously need to be dealt with. I do not condone violence simply because of the result of a football match.

I also do not condone cheating to win football matches. But hey apparently what you see as cheating is different to everyone else as pretty much every country called the portuguese country cheats after both the holland game AND the england game. It wasnt just solely the english.

Well im not surprised at the lack of response to the video. If it was english players hounding another player like that and the player didnt just dive and fought as determinedly as that yet the ref still ignored him being fouled then sent him off… I would honestly with all my heart and soul be ashamed to be English.

I am more proud to be English, to be honest and to lose than I would be to cheat and win

Well, I wasn’t there, but I saw it on the news. Granted, in a Portuguese news channel – so they may be lying as well… And what I saw was men, women and children running on a street in Germany saying what was happening, and a female reporter running down the street for the same reason.
As for cheating. I never mentioned cheating. My first reply was to a person that apparently lives in Portugal and stated the Portuguese are pathological liers. I didn’t like it, since I’m Portuguese and I’m not a lier.
But, since you mention it, define cheating. Faking injuries? Making injuries? Complaining to the referee? Not complaining to the referee? Has any, any country in a World Cup ever not done any of these things? Are all the other teams angels of purity, and we, along with all the south-americans, italians and the like, devils that pervert the game?
I don’t know, but I must be really stupid. I still think this is a game, people! A game… It’ll be over in a week. We all have our lifes to live, so let’s live them well, with clean heads and hearts. Is it such a hard thing to do?

IN CASE YOU ALL FORGOT…

PORTUGAL WON ONCE MORE AND AGAIN YOU ARE OUT!!!!

You can say what you want…is this…is that …was this…

BUT YOU CANT CHANGE THE FACT…

PORTUGAL WAS, IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE BETTER THAN ENGLAND..

GET A LIFE

I am SICK of you English fans commenting on Ronaldo crying. He is 20 year old that has a huge amount of passion for his country and promised his dead father a world cup championships and was crying on the bench after being injured when he wasnt able to have a part in the game angainst Holland and his World Cup may have been over. I see no differnce to Ronaldo crying on the bench the same way Beckham was when he came out of yesterdays game or Terry or Ferdinand crying when the game is over. So why do you constantly mention Ronaldo crying you dont hear Portugal fans calling Beckham Terry and Rio Cry Babies.

Also sick of the comments that Ronaldo isnt welcomed to Man U if you only want players who allow England to walk all over them to play in your country then you should go sign some players from T&T because Ronaldo will always put his country about his club and Remember that your current Priemier Champions has 3 Portchop and a Portchop coach and they are going to win it again.

If Ronaldo does leave ManU lets go Chealse Jose lets win it again

I just went to this site sent by Pete
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFvZ389nsCE&search=Rooney%20redcard

It is pretty evident that the stomp on the privates was delibrate, otherwise, Rooney would’ve had his hands up, apologetically.
That for me deserves a 6 month suspension.

Well I must say, England had a great team put together for this world cup. They had all the right pieces from the start, but as soon as Owen was out for the rest of the world cup and England played with the 4-5-1 system, I had a feeling that goals from our strikers would be few and far between. Don’t get me wrong, Rooney is a great player, but you just can’t count on scoring too many goals with such a conservative system in the quarter finals. You also can’t count on many goals when your last star striker (Don’t get me wrong, Crouch can handle himself, but he’s not a real threat when compared to Rooney, Owen, as well as Hargreaves, Lampard and Gerrard who play behind his position) is taken out of the game by a foolish and deceitful young Portuguese player known as Ronaldo. I have a feeling that this WC’s Portugal team will be remembered more for Ronaldo and his diving and trying to draw calls than their actual play on the pitch, especially when they are ultimately defeated by France or Germany. It’s terrible that a teams chances in the later stages of a world cup can be changed by how well an opposing player can act or plead whatever case he has. Last time I checked, one of the founding principles of sports is integrity. Life is not always fair, but that’s one of the great things about sports, THEY CAN BE IF WE MAKE THE EFFORT!! So hats off to those guys who make up England’s WC team. I think they’ll be even better in the years to come, especially with how guys like Lennon played, as well as being under a new coach that hopefully runs a better system. I can’t wait for Euro and the next World Cup!

Also best of luck to Germany, for obvious reasons.

Pete,
I don’t like the headbut, I don’t care if it was friendly, I does not belong in a world cup game, but Rooney didn’t react to it and didn’t seem to mind.

The wink on the other hand, if you really analize the video, he is reacting to some one asking him a question. There are a million reasons why he winked, but to asume he did it because he wanted Rooney to get a red card is pushing it.

ricardo the great indeed. many are blaming the english players for missing their penalty kicks. if one looks carefully at the penalty kicks, ricardo, unlike most goal keepers, used his amazing quickness to save the english shots. he didn’t move until after the shot was taken. he always moved in the direction the ball was kicked in. the english goalkeeper on the other hand was jumping around bouncing on his toes and often dove in the opposite direction of the kick, just trying to geuss.
the rooney expulsion was unfortunate but i think justified. the permanent scowl on his face was to me a sign of his immaturity as a player. he certainly gave england youthful energy when he was on the field but perhaps it’s the job of the veteren players to calm him down and remind him that the game is supposed to be fun. it’s too easy to blame ronaldo for rooney’s actions.

Where oh where were this player cheated etc , when ROBOTIC man grabbed a lump of hair and changed a game against a mino country,why didnt you all start the what we did was wrong ,no most rubbeded their hands together and were satisfied you got through, well now you moan about the ref and question the integrity of another player ,YOU A SERIOUSLY HAVING A LAUGH. England played mediocre at best and scrapped through againts a couple of teams ,who are minos.

the first goal England scored was as a result of a pathetic cheat ,who jumped all over a less able player and reorted to almost snapping his head off..

I admired England ,but lost all respect after a multi- million pound player resorted to cheating to get you through and the press over here impartial as they are NEVER EVEN RAISED IT.

YOU DID NOT DESERVE TO GET TO THE LAST 16 .

I have to agree with Nicko on the fact that players obviously diving and faking injuries should be observed and reprimanded after the games.

I understand that acting can be part of the game, but the instances where there is undeniable proof that there was no foul/injury (the fake face kick incident) should not be tolerated.

Sam-Booing is part of the game as well. It is not racist, and not necessarily unsportsmanlike. American sports contain booing all of the time, it is unreasonable to not show disapproval towards reviled or even just opposing players. When Barry Bonds comes to the plate, fans boo, that’s part of the game.

As for it being deliberate… had he done that do you really think the player would have been on his feet the second the ref blew his whistle in his favor?
Have you ever had anything hit you in the balls? You dont get up that quick and being stamped in the balls by studs would be much much worse yet the player was up instantly and the second play resumed he was running around the pitch.
Rooney wasnt looking where he put his foot, he wasnt expecting to have the guys that just fouled him to be lying on the floor underneath him.

Um no one was even near ronaldo when he winked, he was walking away just after the red card was shown, looked over at the bench and winked then he made a shushing sorta gesture.

Anyway it doesnt matter now, but targetting one made, trying to provoke them, fouling them etc then disciplining only them is pretty ridiculous. He should have been awarded a free kick long before the final incident happened they were fouling him like crazy.

Sometimes the better and more honest team loses. Its a part of sport.

Frank Lampard should be getting all this ATTENTION…not a half-fit bloke who tried his best…..

In response to the video:

1. Alan Shearer’s comments are absolutely uncalled for and downright classless.
“I think that there is every chance that Wayne Rooney go back to the Man United training ground and stick one on Ronaldo”
First of all, Ronaldo had no bearing in the referee’s decision – it was clear that Rooney stamped on Carvalho intentionally, and the ref saw it. Pushing Ronaldo only escalated the situation and got him into further trouble. As far as I know, it wasn’t Ronaldo’s decision to get pushed by Rooney.
I must stress that in this match Rooney and Ronaldo were not team maters but adversaries.

2. The Headbutt
It was clearly friendly, as Rooney didn’t respond, and honestly, Ronaldo wouldn’t be that stupid.

3. “We never do that to referees by trying to put pressure on them… i mean i don’t know are we too honest?”
Again, arrongantly putting the English on a pedastal of extreme superiority.

On a different note: I read somewhere that Portugal cheated against Holland. The Dutch team demonstrated one of the most unsportsman performances (i.e. not giving the ball back) yet the Portuguese come out as the “cheaters” for having won.

I’m not english but I’m a staunch supporter of English team. I find no reason of loosing yesterday to Portugal. Words are short to describe my dissappointment.
Game in first half was fairly even and both the teams were working hard on openings.
The turning point of the match came when Rooney was sent off. His sending reminds me of Beckham in 98 WC. It was certainly the mistake of referee.But Rooney should control his temper on Pitch. I think this will be lesson for him.
After 1 man down I thought that English players will go on total defense. But England created lot more chances than Portugal. They need to applauded for this +ve attitude. I wonder why didnt play with such a +ve attitude before.
Extra time tested the physical fitness of the players. And to my surprise England were better than their oppenents.
When it looked like that game is going to end on penalites, then i got bit concerned since English always have fear of penalties because of History.
In Penalty Shootout, I always knew that Lampard is going to miss it since his confidence had gone down after so many shots in the tournament. Here manager went wrong. First penalty gives confidence to other penalty takers hence first penalty is given to a player who is confidant enough to hit it in the net. No doubt Lampard is great player but he had lost his confidence. His face said it all after the missing the penalty. I think Gerrard should have taken the 1st one. Carra shouldnt have given the penalty. Ashley Cole should have taken the penalty.His eagerness was clear.
Gerrard and Lampard’s penalties were good but luck was not on their side.
Looking back, there are many learning lessons from this tournament. Players were more individual. Jelling was not proper in the squad. And too many formations made it difficult. Erricksson was mostly negative in the whole of WC. His negative attitude costed a lot. I think great teams need great coaches. Making your team aggressive is also a skill. Coaches like Mourinho, Klinsman, Scolari have mastered this art.McLaren must learn from it.

As far as players are concerned, they didnt give their best performance.
Beckham was physically poor in the tournament.
Rooney was good but his anger costed england heavily.
Crouch looked like basketball player than a football player.
Joe Cole was one of the players who gave inspiring performances.
Aaron Lennon was outstanding and can be man to watch in coming years.
Steven Gerrard played well but something more was expected out of him.
Frank Lampard, I dont know what happened to him. He is certainly a class player. But sometimes somethings are not meant for you. In 2010 he will be 32. I dont know whether he will be playing their. But doesnt then it will be unfotunate end to such a extraordinary career.
Owen Hargreaves proved his place in the starting 11 and silenced his critics. Now atleast they wont complain about him.
Ashley Cole gave inspiring performance.
Rio Ferninand proved his mettle.
Gary Neville he was poor and totally messed man to man marking.
Paul Robinson was good. He had no troubles in group matches.It would have been better if he would have saved some of the penalties.
John Terry, I look at him as next captain of English Team. He was phenomenal in the back line. He played with his heart even after knowing that he wont be playing next match.Best player in the whole english squad.

I think England will be retaining most of their squad for the 2010 WC.I really feel bad for Beckham. He has medal from every major trophy.But his collection wont be having this medal.Its tragic end for player having such a high caliber.

Atlast england never looked like winning the trophy. But it was slim hope that was driving every fan to support England. Germany deserve to win this trophy. All the best Germany.
Finally feeling little bit relieved after last 24 hours.

carvalleo and ronaldo do not bother returning to your clubs cheats like you are not welcome. get ready.

Sorry to see England out of the cup. Now, go Germany!!!

Neil/Manchester. I’d much rather see Germany play England on the 4th because the English are fighters and not divers. Sorry to see you guys out so early… deep down I had hoped for a repeat 1966 with a different outcome… You will be back… Yuuu villl be beck!

Pete, thanks for a great post, however, don’t forget France. I think they are very deserving as well. Hope to see FRAGER in the finals…. Meet England again next time.. Aside from some hooligans, you guys are great… (I also felt sorry for Mick, my man Jagger.)

Margarida, who are the 3/4 latin semi finalists? Germany and France??

Rooney just played like an idiot from start to finish. Watch the whole match. He seems more worried about getting in an extra shot on a Portuguese player then a shot on goal – that’s why he whiffed on the gimme. He already got away with one earlier when he “fell” on and kneed a Portuguese player right in front of the ref. Maybe you can get away with that in grade school but the refs at this level don’t miss much. He got the benefit of the doubt on that play. Then he kicks a player in the balls right in front of a ref and then shoves another player right afterwards? He got a well deserved red card. That same ref gave the Czech Ujfalusi a straight red against Ghana for much, much less. And by the way, this was also quite some time after actual play – so much for “the ref didn’t see the initial play and gave the red for the push” theory. And I hate team Portugal – they win games by playing dirty and throwing the opposing team off or getting an opposing player sent off for retaliating. Portugal 2 red cards on the tournament – the USA and Czechs both got 2 reds just in the group stage – and they both play much less physical then the Portuguese – but the Portuguese have been getting preferential treatment and that’s why their tactic has worked. But that doesn’t mean all Portuguese are cheaters anymore then the English team losing on penalties the last three times means that all English are choke artists. But the whining by the English fans is pathetic as well as the English “expert” analysis. On the one hand they know that the Rooney kick was untintentional – but the Ronaldo “wink” is clearly conspiracy. Well maybe Ronaldo just got a fly in his eye or something.

Portugal! Portugal! Portugal!
Scolari wins in 2002,2004 & 2006.
Natural born losers!
Losers!
Losers!
Losers!
Ronaldo has destroyed rooney.
Rooney is a boy with serious problems!
I see you losing again for a brazilian in two or fou years.

Angie, since Margarida didn’t answer you I’ll explain to you who are the 3/4 latin countries: Portugal, Italy and FRANCE (yes, their language also comes from the latin)

Few things:

1. Team was missing clutch striker who has been so critical for England historically to look even OK (Lineker in the 80ies, Shearer in the 90ies, M.Owen in early 00ies). When Owen went down this was the end of it. Cannot get any other in EPL these days either – Henry, v Nistelrooj, Drogba, Morientes/Cisse and Robbie Kean wouldn’t do. Don’t tell me Defoe or Harewood or Darren Bent was the answer – it is not even funny.

2. Lampard’s form was badly overlooked. Even in Chelsea circa 2006 he was the shade of former self. But when Makelele and Essien hold the midfield for you, you can get away with lots of things.

3. In terms of ball posession game and attempts to walk away from long ball offense, this was the best English team to leave the Island for WC ever.

AHAHAHA MY BAD… seems that u will all be coming home more soon :] heheheh Its ur problem that u just cant see the other side… only england matters, even if u are not playing that well u all say that u will be winning, ok one more time i can say u are out :]
UR tv media could be sayin all week that we are a nation of cheaters and tacklers and everything else that u called us, although u said that u would be playing brazil in the semi final, i saw that in BBC1, but it seems to me that neither england or brazil will play in that semi final :]
Hye three lions com back home ur fans they need u lolol see ya then
AND C’MON PORTUGAL !!!!!

to Angie
Thx for the nice(and true) comments

To argarida

Alan Shearers comments uncalled for…?? “I think that there is every chance that Wayne Rooney go back to the Man United training ground and stick one on Ronaldo” why is that uncalled for? He did not say he should, he said there is every chance he would…spot the difference?

you also said,Ronaldo had no bearing in the referee’s decision – it was clear that Rooney stamped on Carvalho intentionally, well if the ref saw the treading on carvalho why did he not produce the red card instantly. He showed him the red card after the push.

also…You say after Holland vs Portugal that portugal were portraid as cheats because they won..nope, Holland were cheating and diving, I WAS MAD when Deco was sent off, it was a disgrace he was red carded.

But the fact remains that there is a culture of faking tackles and surrounding the ref urging him to take action which exists . The nations I have see do this are..Argentina,Mexico,Spain,Holland,Brazil,Portugal,France
. Klinsman was a terrible diver while he played in England. But it made him unpopular with his own team(Tottenham)so he did it less.I am not saying that all English players are saints, Rooney had to go..it was violent conduct. But i just wish FIFA would get video evidence and get these diving players punished!

Tiago, i will quote you first

‘Tiago | July 2nd, 2006 at 9:53 pm

Angie, since Margarida didn’t answer you I’ll explain to you who are the 3/4 latin countries: Portugal, Italy and FRANCE (yes, their language also comes from the latin) .

Let me correct you…

Latin America is the region of the Americas where Romance languages — those derived from Latin — are officially or primarily spoken. The other American linguistic regions, by their official European languages, are Anglo-America, where English predominates, and the Dutch-speaking Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. Greenland, which is in association with Denmark and where Danish is spoken, is often treated as a part of Europe, even though geographically it is North American.

Definitions for what Latin America comprises vary. From a sociopolitical perspective, Latin America generally includes territories in the Americas where Spanish or Portuguese prevail: Mexico and most of Central America, South America, and (per land area and population) the Caribbean. This is synonymous with Ibero-America. Territories where other Romance languages such as French (e.g., Quebec in Canada) or derivatives like Papiamento or Kreyol predominate are frequently not reckoned as parts of Latin America

SO, FRANCE IS NOT A LATIN COUNTRY. DOH!

Tiago, I know that French is a romanic language but I have never heard a French person consider him/herself Latino. They call themselves French. Just like the English believe they are English and not Anglo-Germanics. Look at the USA, they come from everywhere and call themselves Americans.

At long last the most over-rated and most self-important team was sent where they belong to: a foggy island off of Europe, where one obviously has no contact with the real world.

Enjoy your CUP (of tea). Biscuits will be served on demand.

Neil,
I agree with you in some aspects.
I also think divers and agressors should be punished afterwards by Fifa.
Maniche tried to deceive the ref (who didn’t see it), so he should be punished afterwards. Rooney hit R. Carvalho and the referee saw it, so he got righteously punished.

About Latin countries, Wikipedia confirms what I learned in school as a small kid and thought that everybody new:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Europe

If you don’t believe this text to be reliable just give your pretexts.

Neil, I never mentioned Latin America. But if I understand where you’re trying to go, according to your narrow definition of Latin coutries (based on Latin America), we then should rule Italy out?

Angie,
Margarida never mentioned the word “Latinos”, which would imply of course portugal, spain, and italy (since in french is pronounced diferently).
She said Latin countries: as a definition, countries with the same “linguistic background”

I took this from the same wikipedia page. Was this your mistake:

“The use of the words Latin and latino as used in the United States and in the Americas to speak only about Latin-American things is considered ignorance-derived by Latin Europeans”

Anyway, since at least in the US and UK this is a common error, please to be convinced ask a french if they consider or not Latins? You’ll be surprised

That’s okay, Tiago. I googled myself and came up with different interpretations. I guess here in the US Latino and Hispanic is synonymous (sp?). But actually it should not really matter. I am German/Hungarian myself and my kids are that and God knows whatelse, probably Latino, Indian, etc. The call themselves Americans. Much easier.

…proud of you rolf, you really show great sportsmanship…

keep your heads up, see you in 2010!

Ohh come on people don’t you understand that portugal is Fucked they are all IDIOTS specially ronaldo, but don’t worry France will beat shit out of you guys and u fuckin deserve it

Look guys one question, it has been stated that Rooney STAMPED on the portugese player in his ‘private parts’. Well if that happened to you wouldn’t you be in agony for hours, wouldn’t you just want to go and sit on a pillow of ice? However the player got up and started playing soccer again (am I right) so in my opinion, It didn’t happen as everyone expressed or the guy has no b…. I am sure you will all let me know.

The general concensus that I am getting from a lot of people here is that the majority of the matches have been fixed and the eventual outcome of the tournament has already been preditermined.(its common to see the host nation do better than expected) but is this possible. I dont know if this is just a case of sore loosers as the main two favourites ,Brazil and England have been ousted.Very dis to see Aust out on what what could be seen as a dodgy ref dec but it seems there have been quite a few others as well.

That’s ok too Angie.
I don’t know why I made such a question about it either.
It’s this damn football. I try to be a citizen of the world and suddenly this sport makes me absurdly patriotic. Blargh

well, one good thing did come out from Eng going out. Sven is finally gone.

Imagine, if Eng does win….he ll get GBP5M in bonus for doing practically nothing… and it shall be Sir Sven …..made me cringe in horror…

Hi folks.

I agree that this diving and faking has to stop. Still, it is a problem of most of the teams. Portugal is being particularly blamed for it for two reasons: (1) they are winning matches; (2) the battle between Portugal and Holland.

Still, it is nice to take a look at what the referee of Portugal-Netherlands, who saw it closer than any of us, said:

http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup2006/story/0,,1807675,00.html

sssup??yo tiago like ur style lolz anywayz portugal 2 the top…quit it ronaldo aint a baby..if u call the portugese racists heh stop makin me laf cuz yo’ll dunno tht racism iz everywre i can say tht i aint a racist but mayb i m…u me we both r..nd u ppl sayin tht the referee took the portugese side better thn the english(uh wht a joke)…hehheh i think yo’ll shud install metacafe n catch the coach teachin his playerz faulz…newayz so whtz up wth u ppl u wana tell the diverz 2 not swim??(big joke)…newayz sum ov u mite not get my paragraphh cuz itz wth mixed up equationz lolz..so yo’ll gotta say no 2 racism..PEACE M OUT..

Toto: tirate un pedo …infeliz¡¡¡¡¡¡

I live in NY and unfortunately for the English, your American fans are shameful. I think this sport is better off not taking off in the US, because I’m sure we will (the American fans) make a mockery of it. And we are the most ignorant, racist, uneducated people anywhere. I know it’s sad for me to say this, being that I am American, but it is true. I do think that some English superiority complex, that needs to be stomped out. I’ve been to England and I love the English, but not when it comes to football.
On another note Rooney did step on his nuts on purpose and deserved to be punished. Not sure he deserved a red card, but that was the referee’s call. And who cares who Ronaldo winks at; you have no idea why he winked. But, I know it feels good to have someone to blame. Give me a break. They played and they lost. And that commentator was completely inappropriate. When you are in the public eye, you should be a bit more responsible about what you say on television when a countries dream has just been squashed. People never cease to amaze me!
And to all you racist, ignorant, mean spirited people on here you should be ashamed of yourselves. You will never succeed in life when all you do is put people down to make yourself feel better. So sad!!!
I think the countries who are left are there for a reason. They fought to be there. They worked hard to be there. Let’s step out of our own pathetic little lives and get behind a country, not because we want another country to loose, but to show our support for the game!!
I’m sure you will al retaliate at me, but know that I don’t care.
I am routing for Portugal and Italy because despite all of their “acting” abilities they play with heart. And the people of these two countries are some of the most honorable and kind people I’ve known.

Peace.

So shameful,
I salute you.
Peace.

England Lost because of Cristiano Ronaldo.

1 . Cristiano planned to get Rooney out of the game. SO first he paid the Referee a million dollars becase well he can afford it cause hes soooo rich.

2. Ronaldo told CARAVALHO to go in between Rooneys legs and make sure that he position his CROTCH so that ROONEy can “STEP” ON IT!!

3. Then Ronaldo, right after he RUNS to CARAVALHOS rescue and tells the “refereE” that it was a foul. he used his special powers to send Rooney a message

the msg goes like this.
“PUSH ME. PUSH ME. ” “PUSH ME RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE REFEREE”

4. and Because Ronaldo Paid the Referee. He gave ROONEY a red card after the PUSh.

OMG RONALDO IS MY HERO *CLAP* *CLAP*

GREAT DRAMA by I’m English. I blame other People for my loss,

GREAT drama…you are right… ROONEY SHOULD HAVE PAID THE REF too..so that he won’t get a red card

i disagree with everyone commenting on ronaldo and his decision to challenge the ref for rooneys foul. Firstly they are not on the same team on the pitch and secondly its a world cup quarter final, therefore there shouldnt be buddies on the pitch. and finally some justice, the english team should have been out from the qualifiers, they showed nothing worthwhile in this tournament except looking for excuses and scapegoats to justify their poor performances.