1) David Beckham has resigned his captaincy…which effectively ended when he walked off the pitch on Saturday.
2) FIFA has begun the requisite inquiry into Wayne Rooney’s red card.
3) Cristiano Ronaldo declares that he was not the instigator of Rooney’s sending-off.
4) Steven Gerrard insists that the squad
don’t blame Rooney for the result.

With the knowledge that I won’t tolerate nationalistic bullshit (see below), feel free to post commentary ON THE PLAY OF THE WORLD CUP MATCHES here.
And be aware that as soon as I wake up Sunday morning I will delete anything that falls afoul of my sensibilities…..

Until a decent interval has passed, I am turning off comments on posts having to do with the England-Portugal quarter-final.
One asshole after another has ruined this space for anybody hoping to have a cogent and intelligent conversation.
Well done, Lowest Common Denominator!
As in American politics, you win again!

It wasn’t the loss.
It wasn’t the missed penalties.
It wasn’t Rooney’s incredibly (and predictably) foolish behavior.
It wasn’t Beckham’s pulling up lame.
It wasn’t seeing my hero John Terry cry.
It was the ugly, jejune, nationalistic, petty, obscene, vulgar, stupid and illiterate commentary that the match inspired on this blog.
I have been posting here since mid-January. I have [...]

That was an appalling way to lose, and yet it was inspiring to see so gutty and commited a performance from an undermanned squad for so long.
Minus its captain for more than an hour, down a man for nearly an hour, England played rock-hard in defense and continually tried to craft an attack out of [...]

More later.
But that was simply gutting.

Sven says that his reputation as a quality manager is secure no matter what happens on Saturday.

Michael Owen will have his injured knee operated on by American specialists.

Luis Figo is speaking out prior to Saturday’s match, and he has mostly said the right things.
He reckons
England pose a real challenge but claims that his squad knows the English system well and can conquer it with determined play.
He says it’s an honor to play against England and that he and his teammates respect the [...]

This is just frickin’ weird.
Not that anybody can remember asking or giving a rip, but Sepp Blatter apparently doesn’t care for England’s form: “I am happy that play is very offensive. The only exception is England, who fielded just one striker in their second round match. That is not the kind of offensive [...]