主播大秀

I watched the game with my mate Jon in Lordship Lane. After the game I got the bus home, and discussed the result with a bunch of strangers in a sweltering kebab shop. We all agreed that the Portuguese were cheats, England were crap at penalties and that it's not very nice working in a kebab shop on the hottest day of the year.

I also have a secret, shameful confession: after the game, and after I'd swallowed my disappointment, I felt a wave of relief. I don't think I could take any more England games.

Anyway... Once Rooney was sent off, England knew the age-old script: defend "heroically, stoically, magnificently etc", narrowly fail to score on the counter, and then lose on penalties.

The only problem with the script was that had they shown a bit more enterprise, England could have won it in normal time, even without Rooney. But deep down in the English psyche, the players would rather be heroic losers than actually win the damned match. With Rooney off the pitch, Crouch gave a world-class lesson in how to perform as a lone striker; winning every ball, holding it up brilliantly, waiting for support from midfield and passing intelligently to his team-mates. Wayne Rooney, please take note. Had England thrown more men forward in support of Crouch and Lennon, I believe that England would have won the game. But somewhere inside their souls, the England players never really believed that they could win it. The Portuguese rarely threatened the England goal, even with the extra man. If there was one moment in the game where England threw in the towel, it was when Lennon was taken off for Carragher. There were two minutes left on the clock, but England signalled to Portugal that they would settle for penalties. In those two minutes, England totally lost concentration and Portugal had easily their best chances of the game.

Now, let's please abandon this nonsense that penalties are a "lottery". This is a myth that ex-footballers spread to protect players. Penalties are not down to luck. Penalties and about pressure, skill and the collective and individual character of the players. If penalties were a lottery, then Germany would not have won every penalty shoot-out in the last 25 years, and England would not have lost every penalty shoot-out in the last 25 years (with the exception of the Spain game in Euro 96). England did not lose because penalties are a matter of luck, they lost because Lampard, Gerrard and Carragher all took terrible penalties. Not because they are bad players, but because in the heat of the moment, when the world's spotlight was on them, they lost their nerve. And it seems to me that this is less to do with individual pressure, and more to do with something deeply flawed in the English sporting character. How appropriate that England's only scorer was Hargreaves, raised in Canada and schooled in Germany.

So, now the post-mortem begins. I have been a support of Eriksson, but his selections and tactics were terrible from the start of the tournament. But his reign is over, and England must learn. Let's not forget the good that Sven has done. It's been very easy for the press to lambast Johnny Foreigner, but when Sven took over, England were a shambles and looked unlikely to qualify for the WC in 2002. It's also worth remembering that while the press will take great delight in slagging off Sven (and Beckham), they will patriotically overlook the failings of certain players. Already, the Match of the Day team were refusing to blame Rooney for his hot-headedness and petulance and claiming that his frustration came from playing out of position. Yes, he was frustrated, but he must take responsibility for his actions. Lampard was England's worst player in the tournament by some distance. Over five games, he did not contribute one telling tackle, pass or shot. And given that the formation of the team was adjusted to accomodate his partnership with Gerrard, it was a woeful series of displays. When he stepped up to take the penalty, I think that everyone in England knew that he would miss it. As David Beckham must someday learn penalties are not about individual redemption, they are about collective success.

Beckham has probably played his last game for England, and it's sad that a man who has contributed so much should end his career with a whimper, but it's time for him to go, and in Lennon England have a player with equal (but very different) quality.

And finally, watching France beat Brazil, I think that every single football fan in England should repeat the following words "Don't. Believe. The. Hype". Very few football fans seem to think for themselves. They are awed by reputations and adverts. So, next time you watch Lampard, Ronaldinho, Gerrard, Rooney, Riquelme etc, look at the play, ignore the name and ask yourself "Is he really that good?"

A bunch of underachievers on Hollywood level salaries. That's the bottom line. We can moan and wail until the cows come home but that will achieve nothing - results are king. And England do not get the results. Missng 3 out of 4 penalties is totally unacceptable, no matter who the goalkeeper.

I am as patriotic and football crazy as anyone. Yet my wife had to stop me from dozing through the Ecuador game. Boring "wing it" football. That's England. England have no game plan other than knocking the ball upfield and hoping someone can work some magic with it. If you look at France, Brazil, Germany and some other teams, you can see that they have a coherent strategy, even if some of their players are weaker than ours. Yes, we might have some great players but they count for nothing without a plan. Good bye Mr Erikson; you seem a nice man, I dare say you tried your best, and maybe your tactics work well on the continent. However, our players work the game in a beer, meat and potatoes way rather than a capuccino and bruccheta.

My 2c.

Steve

Your two cents are much appreciated, I am sure. If everyone here gives two cents, then pretty soon we'll have a dollar.

Me, as a German, was never expecting to cheer for England. But after the red card against Roony, all my friends in the Bar where we have been watching the game, agreed with me, because the card wasn't a card at all. The English Team was the better team the hole match and was kicked out by a Refs misjugment.

I'm realy sorry for that !!!!!!!!!

By the way - The arrogance of the Brasil trainer took it's way ..

Good bye England, you have been a good guest, and I wish you more luck the next time (and a better referee !!!!)

again: You would have earned it mor than a lot

Me, as a German, was never expecting to cheer for England. But after the red card against Roony, all my friends in the Bar where we have been watching the game, agreed with me, because the card wasn't a card at all. The English Team was the better team the hole match and was kicked out by a Refs misjugment.

I'm realy sorry for that !!!!!!!!!

By the way - The arrogance of the Brasil trainer took it's way ..

Good bye England, you have been a good guest, and I wish you more luck the next time (and a better referee !!!!)

again: You would have earned it mor than a lot

These are meant to be professional football players and yet they looked like school boys at times and acted like them as well. When will we learn that wanting to win and winning are two different things

@ John
Where was the foul ??? Roony was tumbeling in a two to one situation, an was trying to get into the game again.
I saw much worser fouls in the cup.

Saw the match, England were good at times but not good enough overall. Missing 3 out of 4 penalties is not good enough, although the Carragher retake MUST have put him off. Rooney was unlucky, I don't think he intended to land his foot on the opposing player's knackers, Ronaldo complaining to the ref was unforgivable ( I would not like to be in his shoes playing in the premiership next season) I suggest gets injured at the start of next season, he will be in for a rough ride at away matches. He is a cheat, we have seen it before, a telling wink during the match is enough for me to know he knows what he is doing.............Anyway, roll on the European Championship and a new manager, thanks SGE it was a good trip but not good enough (remember Belfast).

I do agree that the English team consistently failed take a firm grip of any of the games I watched. Unlike the French and Germans who also started off reasonably badly, England never seemed able to raise their game to the next level.

Wining when you aren't playing well serves you well for the odd game here and there, and can't be the strategy for the whole world cup as Sven seemed to believe.

With regards the Portugal game I was appalled by the comments made by Alan Shearer on the 主播大秀 about Ronaldo, suggesting that Rooney inflicts some sort of physical violence against Ronaldo when (or if) he returns to England . He also echoed this oft repeated, but patently false, statement about British players never diving or pressurising the referee, as if we don't watch the Premiership each week. And people wonder why most of Scotland and the large parts of the rest of the world celebrated when England lost.

What are you people going on about Ronaldo shouldn't have done this and that to his ManU team mate Rooney? This was a world cup match, I'd like to see any national player giving up loyalty to his country in favour to his football club's mates? Huh?

I very much agree that Ronaldo should be hounded out of the England game! Even as a Manchester United fan!! Ronaldo stated this week that he wishes to play for Real Madrid, the team for which players with too larger egos play. Sell him to the 'Galacticos' i say. We could make 20 million pounds for him i'm sure.

As for England, hopefully McClaren will enstill some pride and passion back into our golden age. Maybe he can add confidence and a team spirit into this team too. It's not about individuals now as unfancied teams like Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine and other smaller nations have shown.

I'm still extremely mad at a lot of Sven's decisions but at the end of the day, here in England we always blame players and managers no matter what the results. Still, how could he not recognize it hasnt been Beckham and Lampards tournament and leave them out putting Carrick into central midfield and facing Valente with Lennon. Crouch should also have played looking at his recent record. Whatever system, tactics and personel chosen though, we would have still said it was wrong if England lost with it.

I hate to see Beckham, an English great, having to play most probably his final game for England. I think he tried to play on so that he could continue to stem Lennon's time on the pitch. I think he recognizes when a nation believes that the guard should be changed and that Lennon should step in now for himself. Thank you David Beckham

Roll on October (or is it September) so we can qualify for 2008 and start afresh with Mr McClaren and a full English panel of coaching staff, see if it helps.

Thank you.

To the German fans - it's very sweet of you to cheer for England, but it's pretty unneccesary. Going a man down, fighting valiantly and then losing on penalties is exactly what England love doing. We played our best football of the tournament when Rooney was sent off because we prefer being a man down and fighting heroically, rather than actually winning games. When you examine the history of the England team, you see that we love to struggle against all odds and lose; it's much easier for us than actually controlling the game and winning. England has never been very good at skill or tactics, or discipline but give us a doomed, heroic, gutsy slog and we'll have everyone clapping. The important thing to understand from a foreign perspective is that we didn't play well despite Rooney's sending off - we played well because of Rooney's sending off.

Meanwhile, your team, Germany actually seems to enjoy winning. Culturally, it's a huge difference.

Also, for those of you wanting to hang Ronaldo by the balls, let's keep some perspective. Yes, he's an overrated slimy cheat with bad skin, but basically, all he did was rush up to the referee and then wink at the bench when Rooney had seen red. He didn't get Rooney sent off - Rooney's own clumsiness did. When we lost against Portugal in Euro 2004, the villain of the piece was the referee, who was hounded by the English press and public for disallowing Sol Campbell's header. And yet, two years on, most English fans accept that his decision was probably correct.

I feel sorry for the English fans, and I feel sorry for the few English players that really tried to put themselves on the line for their country.
They were let down by the bulk of the team, including coaching staff, who were duped by the english press into believing that because they're being paid fantasy wages skimmed from sky's millions, they are the best in the world. They most certainly are not.
They are so different from the England teams of the 1960's, and 1970's, who were just working class lads with a talent. They took on the world believing they had to win to win - if you see what I mean.
The overpaid prima donna who is captain of these spoilt brats gets married on a bleeping throne for gods sake, he thinks he's so much better than everyone else he only has to turn up, put a white shirt on and bingo! give him the cup! And he's not alone. The wives and girlfriends even think they should be famous for being..er..wives and girlfriends..?
Its not poor Davids fault though, it's the press that has built his ego, and now, when you're watching Germany / France in the final you can thank Sky and the british press that you wont have to worry about who wins.
Shame, because no matter how much talent they have, the English team will always have to be shackled with the English press.

Paul, I get where you're coming from, but I think you're romanticising a golden age of football that never really existed. You talk about the plucky, honest England team of the 60s and 70s but after winning the World Cup in 66, England got to the quarter-finals in 1970 and then didn't qualify in 1974 and 1978! I'd prefer to lose in the last 8 than fail to qualify for the World Cup twice in a row!

The press is certainly guilty of hyping England out of all proportion, and I wish it would stop, but other teams have been similarly hyped. The press built-up an average Brazil side into being the best team since 1970.

Always somebody else's fault... a referee, a diving player, and this time it seems it is all Ronaldo's fault! And Shearer's professional response to today's disappointment - Rooney should go and thump someone! What style; what class! No wonder England are so beloved.

There is no reason to dhame/blame on the Englich team. In the decison round it was. But wat the team played today ... CHAPEUX
Good team spirit, godd midfield (the fierst time in the cup) and a girlish Bex (sorry for that).
Some questions are 'open' for me:
- Why is Lampert in the defence midfield
- What is Ericson doing ???

There is no reason to dhame/blame on the Englich team. In the decison round it was. But wat the team played today ... CHAPEUX
Good team spirit, godd midfield (the fierst time in the cup) and a girlish Bex (sorry for that).
Some questions are 'open' for me:
- Why is Lampert in the defence midfield
- What is Ericson doing ???

Do all you English folks resolve things with violence?
Even if Rooney was wrongly sent off, with which I disagree. He鈥檚 a little raging Mike Tyson. The game ended with a tie. Anyone could win. You say Portugal lacked fare play, but England has done twice the faults Portugal did. You returned the ball after a stop to assist a player, Portugal returned it also unlike Holland. Crouch put an elbow in Hugo Viana face you know what Fifa says about that. Remember that saying what you do say, makes your supporters go mad and give a bad violent name to your flag.

There is no reason to dhame/blame on the Englich team. In the decison round it was. But wat the team played today ... CHAPEUX
Good team spirit, godd midfield (the fierst time in the cup) and a girlish Bex (sorry for that).
Some questions are 'open' for me:
- Why is Lampert in the defence midfield
- What is Ericson doing ???

The is a great amount of violence on this very webpage. The English language is being murdered in cold blood.

The failure of the English team bears all hallmarks of missmanagement.

I think that in terms of player麓s talent & class the Englich team had everything to go very far in this WorldCup - well - maybe except of winning a penalty shootout against Germany :-))

The English team today clearly did play better than Portugal.

The downfall was the strategy and quite a few very bad decisions. Playing a 4:1:4:1 system with just one real striker like Rooney or Crouch is a recepy for defeat, as the striker will be tightly guarded by world-class defenders in a Worldcup tournament.

In the case of the English team today the strategy problem was enhanced by hype, exaggerated expectations and the idea that one person - Rooney - could fix it for England.

Rooney is indeed a great player, but - face the facts - unfortunately is not really a bright guy. You could even call him thick as a brick.

Exactly this played out today, when he deemed it necessary to kick a portugese player into the groin with the ref standing 1 meter away.
You couldn麓t ask for a red card any louder and the referee obliged.

After Rooney got sent off - justly - Crouch was brought in and proved not really efficient ( while working hard ) - no wonder given the fact that thanks to Ericssons system he was more or less alone out there against 2-3 Portugese defenders.

With 2 strikers and Lennon playing 4:4:2 from the start I麓m quite sure England would have won today.

Given what actually happened in all England games before the defeat of today is well deserved. Never mind that it happened in a penalty shoot-out. With the team playing at it麓s full potential the penalty shoot-out shouldn麓t have happened against a very weak Portugese team in the first place.

Well...
I've read some of the posts going on about how unfair Roony's red card was, but, let's face it, it was a hell of a game. I believe every portuguese and every english suffered till the last minute! (well... maybe not all the english, because most of them were pretty sure Portugal wasn't a good enough rival for Her Magesty's "Knights"). Teams such as England, Brazil or Argentina, no matter how good their "stars" are, should never take their results for granted.
Better luck next time.
(And if our "brasilian coach" isn't humble... well... he is getting the results, isn't he?!)

I am an argentinian football fan and I watched the match between you and Portugal. Although I was not supporting England at the beginning because argies and english are rivals, I was supporting England by the end of the match. England didnt deserve to be eliminated because it showed a great spirit,courage and enough footballistic resources to defeat Portugla. Although Beckham and Rooney were out, and playing with ten players, England was far better than Portugal. It was the first time in many years that an english team liked me so much.I congratulate you for your excellent team. Lampard,Gerrard,Rooney, Ferdinand and some others are top players indeed.It is very pain ful to be eliminated without deserving it, as it occurred to us yesterday against Germany,which resembles more to a rugby team than to a football one.They are really awful,but they unjustly beat us. Football is like this,that's why it's so attractive.But surely Argentina and England will get many better results in the next few years playing like this

Yes, you're right with all the stuff about the English being heroic losers and so on, rather than winners. The biggest disappointment is, though, that the players did not perform to their potential, for whatever reason: team selection, formation, tactics, etc. The hype of our press back home is never justified, but a certain optimistic belief in players of the calibre we had here at the World Cup was justified, and they should have produced more than they have done.

But one thing more: Rooney's red card was a disgraceful decision. All the people saying he stamped on the player are watching the slow motion replay only. If you say the incident in play, at normal speed, it's quite clear that there was no intent on Rooney's part to foul the Portuguese player. It's also clear from the body language of the referee, (again you have to watch it at normal speed) that he didn't book Rooney for the so-called "stamping", but for the pathetic little shove on Ronaldo. All in all, you can say Rooney was clumsy and should not have reacted to Ronaldo's unnecessary and unsporting provocation, but a yellow card at the most would have been sufficient. This incident is so important because it chnaged the whole course of the game AND because it's one of several incidents where the slow motion replay gives a false view of what really happened.

Overall you can say England did not deserve to win, especially if you compare the standard of their penalties with those of the German players. BUT ... Portugal did not deserve to go through, and Fifa must do something about the inconsistency of their referees and about players demanding cards for opponents. It should not have any place in football.

To paul lear:

Guess you are right.

Sounds like "G枚tterd盲mmerung".

Just - it wasn't gods. As you evinced, it was just idols. Or should I say "idles" ?

Good riddance.

Just back in the van now after a trip on the train where we actually met some people who'd read our blog!

Fame at last!

One of them even insisted on a photo with Fletch - not me tho.

And by the way - Greg S has the funniest website I've ever read - I urge you all the read it and send him fan mail.

And I wholeheartedly agree with his assessment of Jens Lehmann - although that's off the record.

The hype doesn't just surround England.

In Brazil, Argentina, Spain and Holland similar debates will be raging as to how their finely-honed team failed to progress; all of these countries missing the vital point that there can only be one winner. Players will be blamed, systems will be blamed, the press will be blamed, referees will be blamed. Every pundit and former player will be wheeled out to explain the failure, and pubs and bars will be crammed with amateur experts explaining why Riquelme should never have been substituted or why Ronaldinho was playing so deep or why Van Nistelrooy would have kept Holland in the tournament. None of it really matters much now.

The red card was a red herring. It masked the fact that in the first half of the match, England did nothing. It gave England a barely-deserved sense of injustice; that perennial belief that had luck gone our way, we would have won the World Cup. Think back to Beckham's red card in 1998, to Ronaldinho's fluke goal against England in 2002, to Rooney's injury in Portgual 2004; England (and most other footballing nations) always have the excuse handy when they fail... It was the ref, it was the cheats, it was bad luck, it was the heat. Who knows? Had Rooney stayed on the pitch, we might have beaten Portugal, thrashed France in the semi-final and beaten Germany in the final, but I doubt it.

If anything comes of the defeat, I hope that it adds a small measure of realism and humility to the world of English football. The press parrot the line that England have a "golden generation" of players all operating at the peak of their game. But take it all with a pinch of salt. I've seen top-class players from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mexico, Holland. None of them with big reputations, but all of them as skillful, visionary and tenacious as anyone in the England team. England have good players, but to win the World Cup, you need great players at the top of their game, giving their all. And a bit of luck.

Oh, and thank you Ricco. Great blog you have.

Blame the manager, blame the ref, blame the tactics. Blame the players oh no!!
World class players where were they ?
Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham you must be joking. Only player that even approached the standard does not even play in UK and has been berated in the past.
Penalty shoot out ( not a lottery, if you are good enough or have the skill) sums it up - just not good enough.

Cheers to Greg S for some very sensible contributions. It was surprising to find something like that in here.

History seems to be repeating itself. England played effectively well in this tournament, but looking at the matches before the World Cup, they were pretty much disappointing and failed to deliver what they set out to achieve.

While I greatly supported England this time round and was stunned by their many fantastic supporters pouring into Germany and ensuring a great atmosphere, it is sad to see that public opinion seems to blame the wrong persons for this defeat - again.

Why always blame referees, "cheating" opponents, penalties? Why not acknoledge, at last, that England has not been, and is not, on the same level as the best teams in the world? Why does England, again and again, fool itself into thinking that they will "win it this time"? Why not take a more modest, realistic approach, and there may be less disappointment. "40 years of hurt" are more than enough.

Better luck next time, the time will come for England, I'm sure. But assessing the team's strengths realistically might also take some of that immense pressure of their shoulders.

englaender, thanks for coming around. it was a pleasure to have your team and your unique fans at the wc! you got a great spirit and know what football is all about.
best of luck for the future...
ab gehts schland!

englaender, thanks for coming around. it was a pleasure to have your team and your unique fans at the wc! you got a great spirit and know what football is all about.
best of luck for the future...
ab gehts schland!

Ok, thanks for the blogs and the different views. I have slept on the result and performance.
SGE. I think he was wrong to take Theo Walcott, we needed another experienced striker who would be used, the result of a formation of 4,1,4,1 did not work. The players are used to 4,4,2, Rooney is not the player to be up front alone, many times he was too deep to be effective.
Ronaldo. Whatever he says, he did try to influence the ref, look out next season if he stays in the Premiership.
The FA, forget the money, 拢25m over 5 years, this was agreed in his contract when he started as England manager, and any other agreements he has with them. Was SGE worth the money, I THINK NOT. Its the fault of the FA for agreeing to pay him that much.

OVERALL, WAS ENGLAND GOOD ENOUGH.......NO.

Well, have fun laughing about our goalie jens lehmann (yeah, he is weird but at least saves penalties unlike mr robinson) while I amuse myself about your [insert favorite word for people with very low IQ] "world class" striker wayne rooney, who ruined your dream.

Rooney kicked the other player right into his balls, if there ever was a red card than this time.

Blaming the ref? I didn't know the English had so much with the Argentines in common?!

I think Sven lost the plot when he decided to take Walcott ahead of experienced strikers like Bent and Defoe. England has so much abundance of talent that it shouldn't be resorting to playing star players in positions they are not comfortable with. Rooney as a lone striker? Thats not his strength and therefore in the end it was wasted talent.

But having said that it was sad to see England lose in a match where they gave their best performance but they should have been playing like that from the first game.

Beckham - surely a player cannot be on pitch waiting for free-kicks and corner kicks. As it was the first corner kick came just before half time. Let Lennon take over and if Lampard is not playing well he should be substituted, McLaren should take those tough decisions, reputation will not win matches as we all saw what happened to Brazil.

Basically, England were pathetic from start to finish, and only got to the quarter-finals by virtue of facing crap teams.
Shearer also made an arse of himself by perpetuating the myth of the noble English sportsman who never dives or pressurises referees, which is completely untrue.
England are no better than most teams when it comes to sportsmanship. Though it may have seemed so when they were compared to the Portuguese, who have continued their happy tradition of being one of the most odious teams to spoil a game.
Crap all round.

During the last two England matches my two year old grand daughter was heard wondering the room saying ..."pants Lampard"....out of the mouths of babes!!
Sad to say that once England rid itself ot its two prima donnas they began to play with a bit of determination.
Many gratulations to Neville( a player I've never liked) for acting like a true captain at the end of the penalty shoot out. Though disappointed it was good to see him congratulating the fortunate Portuguese.
What of the future......? Will we have Sven mark 2. Will Rooney ever grow up or is he another Gacoigne? Will our players ever believe in themselves and give the supporters the success they deserve? O, to be an optomist.

It's finally over!!
It's not something i thought i would ever say, but i'm so glad i don't have to sit through another torid England performance, the only saving grace is that we managed to fumble our way this far and not really get embarrassed by one of the mino's of world football.
Every England fan has the right to there opinion and i'm sure the discussion over Ericsson, team selections and individual performances will rage on, but i ask every England fan out there, what will be so different under McClaren?? Sure we can blame johnny foreigner for his management, but who was at his side, who had a say in squad selection, who always seemed to be discussing tatics mid way through a game with his magic pen and pad?? I don't want to get on the guys back before he's even started, but I seriously question whether McClaren will bring anything more to the table than Ericsson.

When will you English learn that you will never win. You can't, as the Officials will stop it. This racist attitude has to stop. David Beckham nobally called on the nations of the world to stop racism. But his message has not gotten through to FIFA officials and refs. The lads from Germany, Swizerland, Holland, Ghana, Togo, the USA, England, and the like are quickly penalised fro just about everything. A blind eye is turned to the antics of countries like Italy and Spain, who cheat all the time.

Where do we go from here?
Overpaid & overhyped describes most of our players & certainly describes Sven. God help the next club he manages! The only bright spots were the performances of Joe Cole, Hargreaves and Lennon. Why did Sven persist with an out-of-form Lampard & why did he not start Lennon in every game & why did he take Walcott in preference to Defoe? After years of failure the team now has a chronic mental block on penalty-taking, which no amount of practice will overcome. Why not use some of the savings on Sven's inflated salary on quality psychological counselling for the players to overcome this block?

Overpaid & overhyped describes most of our players & certainly describes Sven. God help the next club he manages! The only bright spots were the performances of Joe Cole, Hargreaves and Lennon. Why did Sven persist with an out-of-form Lampard & why did he not start Lennon in every game & why did he take Walcott in preference to Defoe? After years of failure the team now has a chronic mental block on penalty-taking, which no amount of practice will overcome. Why not use some of the savings on Sven's inflated salary on quality psychological counselling for the players to overcome this block?

"The England striker was dismissed after 62 minutes for stamping on Portugal defender Ricardo Carvalho." I am not protecting Rooney. He definitely had to take care of his nerves. However, with what eyes Ronaldo comes back to England and to Man Utd???

I can't help feeling they got exactly what they deserved. They played for a draw (even in the first half) and got it. So it went to penalties, with the predictable ending against a keeper who had already shown how good he was at these in the past.

At the end they were just not good enough - end of story, no matter what the press makes of it. The game confirmed what we all knew in our hearts - the team has no class, no tactical intelligence, no one who remotely looked like providing any flash of brilliance. The Rooney incident at least provided them the chance to show they had heart and fighting spirit, which was in doubt after the other matches.

Boring boring England! We're just not reckless enough!!! Far too tense and far too tactical! Sure, the manager is to blame, but the whole ethos of the English game needs to change! A little of bit of dynamism may not prevent England from going out of competitions, but it might at least allow us to hold our heads up high when it happens!

England went to the world cup and considered themselves real contenders, and rightly so may I add! The played five games without once producing anything close to what can be considered a good performance!! Five bad game in a row, what can they expect but to be knocked out!!! England on that form were always going to be knocked out once they met some serious opposition! The manager must be blamed for not has a clue wht he was doing going into the world cup, no plan A let alone plan B, too thin on the ground with his strikers (Defoe could have domage coming off the bench yesterday) and a team reliant on Rooney who was not always avaialbe for one reason or another for the second competition in a row! It's all well an good having the team to serious;ty challenge for the world cup, unlress you produce the perfomances (% poor performances in a row) you will be sent packing! The tournamet will not miss Engerland!!!

Well folks here it is again another sad day for football "Englands going home" is the song ringing out and why is that well the the finger pointing as per has started but lets not forget that it is a game "a passionate one " yes but however there are winners and losers a hard fact.

But to be honest Sven has not got one emotion in him he is a VULCAN and all that matters to him is MONEY
He shows no remorse that he had the pick of the cream of English football and to be honest didnt manage them at all it looked like the players had to do that.
Oh and yes Sven why drag the boy "Wollcott" all the way to Germany
and never play him ???????
was this just all a PR stunt and did you pocket some cash for it? you could have picked another player to bring if you have no confidence in the lad what a waste of time you have been try being a manager for a less taxing sport next time.

"Why cant the referee be shown the play back of any fouls that give a red card or a penalty away???? is it too hard or what???? Brilliant Idea maybe.
But the amount of Bulls*** falls made by other teams is criminal England havent done that ever!

England almost always loses it to tantrums, bad temper and childish behaviour. Last time Beckham with his ridiculous kick from the ground and this time Rooney with his aim at the adversaries balls! Stupid and lacking discipline. All you need to do to take care of Rooneys talent is provoke him a little and the hothead will oblige by getting himself sent off! Surely someone can explain that to him so he avoids this situation in the future - he can't be that stupid and expect to play international football successfully.

Greg S wrote the best comment over on that defeat.

This is exactly what I feel today but I don't really mind that "hype". Again as a Brit in France, I can tell you that I was disappointed to see how France was not into "WC mode" before the Spain game. The pubs and caf茅 didn't even have the proper flags and were waving the Euro 2004 flags (!!!)

The fans can be gutted because it's after our biggest display that England is knocked out.

Now it's time to start with a more balanced team, I don't understand this all "Eriksson had a magnificient generation of players, he spoilt it..." The likes of Gerrard, Joe Cole, Hargreaves will still be there in 2 years time...

Next game is against Greece now, I just can't see myself going to a pub and watch it, watch these players running around and think "we have to wait 2 more years for something to happen", 2 more years of " Gerrard is brilliant with Liverpool! Lampard, what a player!"

I hate football as much as I love it.

I am sick of hearing ex-pro's go on about how international football is like a game of chess. It's time that England learned that we are rubbish at chess but brilliant if we play with pride and passion. Not since Euro 96 have i felt that England were capable of winning a major competition. Pearce, Shearer, Adams and gascoigne wore their heart on their sleeves and showed how to give their all. The current England team don't even get into gear until we are a man or a goal down (with the exception of Hargreaves - a very English display from the least english player). Ultimately games are their for the taking and that's what we should be doing, not just wiating until the chips are down so we can play heroically

For a moment there on Friday when I read that Lampard had twisted his ankle I thought: ok good, Sven will be forced to return to a 4-4-2 and we might eventually get lucky if we try a different combination of players in every game.

But no, England were tactically poor throughout the tournament and that is the fault of Erricson and McClaren and the other coaching staff and backroom people. Starting with the team selection - other young players should have been there to play: Wright-Phillips, Bent, Defoe. The pressure and hype leads to odd decisions, because too many people in the England team accept the false concept that England are 'the best' and that players like Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard etc are 'the best'. Beckham is in decline and poor Lampard (who had a terrible tournament and shouldn't even have played yesterday let alone take a penalty) and Gerrard have both played about 66 games this year and were exhausted. That's the real spirit of '66 in this team for them: too many games and worn out. They are good players sure, but if you look at repeat World Cup winners (Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Italy and maybe France or Germany or Italy again this time) you can see that you need 3 things: good players, good coaching and tactical awareness on the field. And winning or losing at penalties isn't about luck, it's having the right psychological training and support to cope.

So here's my main point: that combination of winning factors needs the glue of COMMUNICATION between the players and coaches and back-room staff. And in England we have a lot of players who are not very articulate or tactically aware and we had a coach who is too quiet and cautious and who had no charisma or spirit with the players. Unlike Scholari. The team need to change their whole approach, starting in the autumn, by learning to use their brains, talk to one another and think, not just learn to run around in the heat or 'defend heroically'.

Some of these players should know this from their 'regular jobs' by watching how the best coaches and players 'think' the game through: Wenger, Mourinho, Jol, Henry, Alonso, Makalele and so on. Rooney, Gerrard etc need to be sat down in front of a blackboard to listen to lectures about sports psychology, leadership and tactics in order to learn how to improve the chances of winning.

Anyway, well done to the Canadian Sub Hargreaves; he can probably even give a thoughtful post-match interview without wanting to thump somebody; goodbye Sven you won't be missed and time to call it a day Beckham - too many years and too few grey cells for a top captain.

Can McClaren succeed? I wish him luck but don't feel very confident of his chances, especially when he wasn't first choice for the job and won't get full support if he does 'controversial' things like changing a losing team. Yes a losing team not a heroic team. Let's get over it and make some changes.

p

5 poor performances in a row, now plan A let alone plan B, Endgland are a cure for insomnia!! To get to the semi final of the world cup you must produce at least 1 good all round perfomance! England were disapointing through and with the players they have there is no excuse!

devastated for all of the fans, the players and coaches....

In all of the blame game, let's not forget that all of the players, the coaches and the manager desperately wanted to win the match. We were definitely better than a surprisingly poor Portugese side, but once Rooney got sent off....

I thought that the 主播大秀's coverage of the England matches was a disgrace - it seemed as if Hansen and Lineker were happier to see England losing and to be proved right in their rants against Sven and Beckham. As to why anybody would have Iain Wright as a pundit beats me - the man cannot string two sentences together. If these guys are really there as football fans and not pundits, the least they can do is to get behind the England team and manager.

Bad tactics and generally poor referees. Can anyone say that any ref has handled a game well this world cup?

Diving is going to ruin football and once one player does it they all will - why - because they gain from it and gain big time. These guys make millions from acting mostly.

Until FIFA who are just as corrupt as the IOC etc.... does something then we will be moaning about diving for ever more. No one wants to take the debate out of football or make it a non contact sport but it has to be fair - Cheats in any other sport get banned, fined, booted out so why not football?

If an athlete thinks he/she can take drugs to gain advantage and not get caught he/she will try it.. at least in athletics they try to stop cheats and ban them when caught - we have hundreds of cameras watching the top flight of football - why can't they stop it?

As for Ronaldo - well, he must know he has no career in England. He can **** off.

Anyone watching the game could see that Rooney did stand on the guy and it was 50/50 if it was an accident or not but the ref was not going to give anymore than a foul until Ronaldo started his cheating - AGAIN.

Come on Fergie and all the other Premiership Managers, stand up for football and let's be the first in Europe to pay play fair?

thanks for an opportunity to express my view on the deffit and crashing-out of England again in a major competition.i have been reading thier comment on their performance and it is still interesting and not supprising that they still don`t get it or refuse to accept the fact that,
i* it is one thing to afford to pay for matches,spend so much to sponsor and finance and market football outfit,clubs and tounament in their country,it is quite another thing to aquire the skill to play football, yes they are great britain, millions of yrs back but opponent are not deffited by big names rather by football skill and raw tallent, which england never has, we are not talking,sprinters and boxers, because what england has maybe starmina, to run around for hours but lack the football skill,and untill they accept that,they will keep on dreaming. France and other countries that have been deffetting England for yrs realised this many yrs ago and made changes,by first acceting that they don`t have it and asking question on how to go about gettimg it.
ii- i was reading that wayne rooney was sent off because of some comment made by Ronaldo to the referee, that is complete robish.that is the problem with England,always looking for excape-goat each time they fail.the truth must be told.ROONEY is not skillful, he is just a sprinter, if you are fast without skill or experience, he should be better used in races,the question is this, why is is that whenever he faces defenders who knows why they are there, he will frustrated and start being unnecessarily aggressive.how many times do you see,Ziddan, Ronaldo, Figo,or any of the world super stars complain or misbehave when the get challenge by the opposing defender,you don`t see them behaving like fools, because they know that that why the defender is there to do to stop and frustrate their effort,as a super star, he will try to outsmart the defender the next time, that is why people respect till tomorow, un-like the English players expecially Rooney who always always think that because he is not dissipline and being from"GREAT BRITAIN" people should run away, maybe in the past not anymore-i watch all the eglish games on tv, see them when they face teams from outside england,they believe they already won just by being there.can you immagine people believing that this england team is the best ,that they have a chance of winning this world cup, when there are no good midfielders, even their defenders does`t take risk, their strikers are not skillful.
iii- i believe that the best of players are either on the bench or delibrately left out of the squard. the only ones that performed are Andy cole,joe cole,hargreeve and lenon.the rest that played in this tounament are not good enough to be there in the first place.
iv- England needs a coach like scolari, a no nonsense man who is after result and not all these people whonever cares if you lost or win, they are after fame and fortune and what their association with england will do for them, just like politicians,you need a coach who will be getting repremand from the referee during matches, who is aggressive, who is passionet to win at all cost, i mean at all cost, a coach who his players respect and will be proud to called coach,and that will be somebody who invite players on merit not on who they are . honestly i feel bad for England, but most impportantly i feel so pissed of that you have it all over the clubs expecially not only in the premiership but in thelower divition, but prefer to dress up actors,runners and movie-stars

Quote:
麓It is very pain ful to be eliminated without deserving it, as it occurred to us yesterday against Germany,which resembles more to a rugby team than to a football one.麓

Hello Daniel Artillo,
I really have to agree with this. The Germans really did nothing but beating and kicking those poor Argentinian players the whole game.
And if that wasn麓t bad enough, after winning the penalties that one german bloke (just to add insult to injury, no doubt) went over and smashed his crotch against some Argentinians knee, quickly followed by several germans slamming their faces against Argentinian fists.

-_-

Don麓t get me wrong, the game was no boyscout picnic for either side, but the Germans were hardly worse than the Argentinians.

As for the demise of the English team. Don麓t feel so bad. I was cheering for England, too. However whenever I watch a football game, my favourite team loses, so it麓s quite possibly all my fault. ^^

You made it to the Quartefinals though which isn麓t that bad at all and from what I hear the English fans behaved much better than their reputation would suggest.
I think this is a victory in its own right..

So, heads up and better luck next time, it麓s just a game after all

Oh well at least the Argies are out thats good enough for me.

At work on Friday we were discussing what would happen in the Saturday match. It seemed obvious to us that leaving Rooney isolated up front in a position he was not used to would be very unwise in view of his short temper. After all it is only a few months since he was sent off an English match with a red card. The Portuguese would probably try to exploit this by being deliberately aggressive towards Rooney, in the hope that he would respond inappropriately and get sent off with a red card. After all in their previous match two of the Portuguese players had been sent off with red cards. What is surprising is not what happened, but that it was all so predictable, but still Rooney was left in this isolated position.
Looking at my DVD recording, Ronaldo, like other players, was simply standing by. When he saw Rooney stamp on his opponent鈥檚 groin, Ronaldo immediately raised his hand and ran to the referee to tell him what he had seen. Not surprising. If one of the English players had seen one of the Portuguese stamp on the groin of an English player, would he have just kept quiet about it? After the match one of the studio panel was claiming that Ronaldo had gone up to Rooney and said something to provoke him. Nonsense. The DVD clearly shows he never even faced Rooney, but spoke only to the referee.

I agree a lot with what Greg S says. I think that the most woeful aspect of England's play was their complete inability to take risks.

Now, for those of you who aren't aware that football is a game, it's a game. Typically, games require knowing when to take risks. The person who refuses to trade properties in Monopoly will lose. The person in Backgammon who only plays a running game will lose.

We were the better team, even with 10 men (I hope finally the idiot tabloid press will have got over their fascination with Rooney. He's always been a player of massive potential, but Crouch proved time and time again to be a more reliable and useful player in recent games.). We should have taken off Lampard, who seemed to be psychologically off-key in the same team as Gerrard (Lampard knows Gerrard is simply a better player, and it has shaken his confidence for England), and thrown on Walcott. It might not have worked, but at least we'd have had a go.

Portugal had no right going through - they were terrible. But they are going through because of England's lack of balls.

I am an Ethiopian and supported England since 1980s. I though the nation has the best team this time around. But the manager was useless. I knnew the team would never succeed with one lone striker. The coacth is so negative that he took off all the confidence from the players and encouraged opponents to attack. Unless the new coach makes sure that players play on their best positions and removes the idea of selecting players based on "histoty", we will never win. Rooney was made vulnerable to that red card because he was forced to play a position he is not good at. I am really eager to see how SGE can be successful in another club or country.
====
Hope that things will improve in the future and England perform better in Euro 2008.

Well, what can we all say...
I've read others comments and they all generally some it up.
I am so fed up with England!
It gets worse every tournament and more depressing.
To any of you that have joined in supporting England this year, I welcome you to becoming an England fan. This is the result of supporting them and you know what the worst thing is? You can't back out now. Once and England fan, always and England fan and if you are real, you will be to the day you die!

Once again we go out in a quarter-final, once again we get beaten in a penalty shoot-out and once again, for the third consecutive time I might add, we have been beaten by Scolari.

I hate football! (Until we next beat a country like Argentina 3-2 again and we believe we can win a top tournament)

One other thing that is truely concerning is the fact that the next World Cup will be contested in South Africa. How on earth will we cope with the heat?!! We could barely cope with the temperature in Germany!

To everyone who doubted me when I said England could win the World Cup (and trust me there were a lot of them) I say to you at least I believed in something that was important to me. I wear my heart on my sleeve. 'I CAN CALL MYSELF A FOOTBALL FAN'

dnt blame rooney its coz the jeloused argentine bstrd ws jealoused seeing england progressing to the semis so he flippin sent off rooney to dash englands hopes.
Another person who you could blame is Mr.seven bags of nufinson.If i was given potentially the best group of players in the tornament, and at the same time payed as much as he was done then i could've taken england to the semis if not the finals!!!flippin heck!!
He bought on carra to take a penalty who has only taken 2 previosly is just blatently stupid, thoough u cnt blame carra coz the blind argentine twat mde him take a re take.
Engoland should've had 2 penaltys in normal time, again if it ws nt for the argentine twat.
Anyway will go 2 the euro 2008 and world cup 2010 stronger, full of confidence and also with our heds held high, as stivie G will captain nd inspire the 3 lions to victory in dese tournaments nd also young theo nd lennon will be be in the starting line up nd ewill terrorise the porties nxt time we meet them. so cum on 4gt about germany 2006 4gt about givin rooney stick 4 gettin set off, gt behind the lads and the new era under mclaren nd sing the boys on to glory to euro 2008 and world cup 2010!!!!!!!

The England manager was to blame.....he leaves Shaun Wright Philips...Darren Bent....Jermaine Defoe...and Andy Johnson at home...and insists on playing the super-stars, BECKHAM-LAMPARD-OWEN-GERRARD...even when they were not playing well!!
We lost because we took a poor squad... poor team selection and poor tactics...(4-5-1...good one Sven)
The world cup was there to be had...we could of beaten any team ...with the right players in it ....and an attacking formation#
...... Taking Walcott along was a shocking decision...Sven had no intentions of playing him unless half the squad was injured. It was a pathetic world cup campaign for England. I would of played Lennon most of the time...I would of had more striker choice to partner Rooney...and sub or drop any player not performing ..who-ever they are.

I think that a lot of England's supporters are simply in denial. The problems that we have with the national team are deep-seated and were there long before Eriksson took over.

At the highest level football is primarily a game of skill, not tub-thumping bravado and 'heroic defending'. The fact of the matter is that in terms of technique, we are still behind other countries.

How has this situation arisen? There are too many foriegn players in the league. Some, such as Henry, Zola, Bergkamp etc have lit up our league but it is clear the influx of foreigners has hampered youth developement in this country. We need a root and branch reform of how football is coached, how youth is developed and how many foreign players should be allowed to play. Of course, the chances of the FA having the guts to make strong decisions like that is slim to none but unless tough decisions are made, the problems are going to remain.

A very interesting comparison of the levels and styles of coaching in England and on the continent can be seen in an interview the Owen Hargreaves gave a while ago. He was asked about coaching and training methods at Bayern and said that there was lots of emphasis placed on technique, tactical awareness and playing possesion football. Asked about training methods with England, all he could say that it was very fast, and that was about it.

There seem to be a lack of joy, a lack of passion about the England team. The players don't look like they're enjoying themselves when they're playing. They seem burdened by expectations and afraid to make mistakes. This is not a new situation though, it has been like this long before Sven took over. What the answer to this problem is I don't know.

So England bomb out yet again. I for one am glad to see the back of Sven-Goran Eriksson. He sat on the bench during the match against Portugal drinking bottles of water ? He couldn't have had a dry throat because he never shouted a single word of advice or encouragement to his team. Why was he being paid so much money for doing such a medioka job ? I suppose with his 拢25 million safely in the bank he can afford to be relaxed.
Another cruel disappointment was Wayne Rooney. After hearing so much said about the young Man-U striker being capable of winning the World-Cup single handedly for England, it seems that he single handedly managed to put us out of the tournament. Wasn't he the one who lashed out at David Beckham for being 'Too Flash" ? I think the problem with Rooney is that he's read all the hype written about himself in the English media, and he's actually started to believe it. Throwing his football boots on the ground and sulking after being taken off, stamping on the oppositions nuts, pushing that cheating slim ball C.Ronaldo right in front of the referee. Wayne ........ your not in the school playground now mate !
Frank Lampard also broke my heart. I'm a real fan of Frank's, but he never put a foot right in this World Cup. What happened ? Where was the Lampard that we all know and love ?
I also don't agree with all the criticism being thrown at David Beckham. He most certainly wasn't the worst player in the England team, and without him we wouldn't even got as far as we did.
The only thing Sven GE has done for England, is to teach us how to except defeat. It's about time the FA made as much effort as the English fans, who deserve better after so many years of loyal support. GOD SAVE THE TEAM !!

So England bomb out yet again. I for one am glad to see the back of Sven-Goran Eriksson. He sat on the bench during the match against Portugal drinking bottles of water ? He couldn't have had a dry throat because he never shouted a single word of advice or encouragement to his team. Why was he being paid so much money for doing such a medioka job ? I suppose with his 拢25 million safely in the bank he can afford to be relaxed.
Another cruel disappointment was Wayne Rooney. After hearing so much said about the young Man-U striker being capable of winning the World-Cup single handedly for England, it seems that he single handedly managed to put us out of the tournament. Wasn't he the one who lashed out at David Beckham for being 'Too Flash" ? I think the problem with Rooney is that he's read all the hype written about himself in the English media, and he's actually started to believe it. Throwing his football boots on the ground and sulking after being taken off, stamping on the oppositions nuts, pushing that cheating slim ball C.Ronaldo right in front of the referee. Wayne ........ your not in the school playground now mate !
Frank Lampard also broke my heart. I'm a real fan of Frank's, but he never put a foot right in this World Cup. What happened ? Where was the Lampard that we all know and love ?
I also don't agree with all the criticism being thrown at David Beckham. He most certainly wasn't the worst player in the England team, and without him we wouldn't even got as far as we did.
The only thing Sven GE has done for England, is to teach us how to except defeat. It's about time the FA made as much effort as the English fans, who deserve better after so many years of loyal support. GOD SAVE THE TEAM !!

To whoever says England are just not on the same level as the other teams in the world, you are wrong. Brazil and Argentina are both out at the same stage as us, Czech Republic were knocked out in the group stages. It doesn't mean they should do anything different, they can't all be winners every time! All of the teams in the quarter finals were capable of winning the World Cup, but 7 teams can't, 1 of them was us, and we were unlucky to do so.

It's easy to say we played the wrong system/players, but there's no guarantees each way. I'd rather have Lennon than Beckham and Carrick than Lampard myself, but personally I find it difficult to blame Eriksson in this tournament. All of his decisions have gone 100% right in my book. Before the friendly against Argentina I thought he was totally incompetent, but I believe recently and strangely he has improved. I honestly believe we would have seen Walcott in the late stages of the tournament as a supersub. He was our secret weapon.

I don't think Rooney intentionally stamped on Carvalho, and his shove didn't deserve a red card. Following the same standards in the Portugal vs Holland game, the ref would have sent off the whole of both teams. I can't blame the ref, otherwise he had a flawless game, seeing through the Portuguese cheats.

I can't wait to see some tackles flying in on Ronaldo when the Premiership kicks off, I hated him anyway, but now this hate is justified. FIFA should do more about cheats, anyone seen to be diving or over dramatising when viewing replays after a game should be severely banned and fined. It's the most damaging aspect of football's reputation (along with the high wages, the other main reason for non-football fans to not watch football), as is racism and hooliganism, and needs stamping out the same way.

In terms of the future for England, the penalties issue needs addressing NOW (although with Rooney we would have pressed on and should have won this particular game in normal time). Beckham has been fantastic but should retire now for the sake of the team. Rooney will come back mentally stronger and more mature. I too am doubtful McClaren will be any different to Eriksson, which is the major worry.

Cheers.

These are the Reasons why England are out of the cup;

1. 4-5-1 is not a system suitable for the players in the England squad, with this system you need a deep layng playmaker wich Hargreaves is not. England is historically a 4-4-2 team, Sven made the fatal mistake of not taking Dafoe who could have replaced the injured Owen thus allowing him to play a rapid 4-4-2.

2.There are a couple of players in the team who are overrated, how many times have we heard people saying that A.Cole is the best left back in the world.. yeah right, and what about Beckham, sure he's a nice guy but for me he's not a truly world class player.

3. Rooney was put under far too much pressure for a lad of only 20 and an immature one as well.

4. The Media played their part by convincing those with a limited football knowledge that we where the best team in the world, that the cup was there for the taking when all along we all secretely knew that there were at least 5 or 6 teams with more pedigree and better squads.

Having said all that I really believe that this group of players(most of them) can do something big in the not to distant future.

I completely agree with Michael Garnder's analysis. Seeing the impressive ceremony to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme on the same day as the match, one was reminder of the phrase used to describe our troops the first World War:- 鈥淟ions led by donkeys.鈥�

Have to reply to comment 21 here, england more unsporting in the match?

1) Crouch played on after the incident with Viana precisely because Viana had theatrically fallen over clutching the front of his face, the opposite side to where his STRAIGHT ARM had made contact. He knew Viana wasn't hurt.

2) Ronaldo had aready given Rooney a small headbutt even before kick-off in the centre circle (not sure if this was 1st or second half).

PREMEDITATED winding up in other words, not something done spontaneiously in the course of play.

The sooner ronaldo is off ot spain the better, he'll just become a more talented Robbie Savage type distraction if he stays in the Premiereship.

MG

I am Scottish, but supported England.

The English should learn from the Germans - they have similar players and a similar culture. Physical prowess takes precedence over technical skill.

You should also look at their midfield of Frings and Ballack, 'cos their whole team revolves around it. Frings is no better a player than an on form Lampard, and not as good as Gerrard. A Midfield of Carrick and Gerrard would be just as good as Ballack and Frings.

Before this tournament Miroslav Klose was a 28 year old guy, aknowledged as a good striker for bremen, but he'd probably flattered to deceiev and there was no prospect of a big premiership or Liga club trying to sign him. I don't think he's better than Jermain Defoe, who Sven left behind, and he's definitely not better than Michael Owen.

I think the English got so obsessed with Wayne Rooney's foot, that Sven actually didn't know or think how to win in the event that his two star forwards, coming back from serious injury, didn't show form or got re-injured! That shows a serious lack of foresight.

I also think that, like the Germans, the English should downplay their chances in future rather than engaging in the massive hype that preceded their entry into this tournament. Part of me wonders if David Beckham was undroppable because his male model looks and all the hype around him, for example. For me Lennon and Carrick played far too little given the form of Lampard and Beckham.

Portugal are skillful, but lightweight and unathletic compared to the French, who I think will beat them comfortably. To be honest, the Dutch should have beaten Portugal. Germany will match the French physically, and I think home advantage will allow them to tough it out.

Germany for the cup.

So we are out, and everyone in England is heart broken. Rather than praising where we have done well or defending the quality of our players the fickle fans and press turn on our players instead.

How can we ever win the world cup or any other tournament if we keep expecting to fail and putting so much undue pressure on our players, focusing on their private lives and picking on the smallest of faults.

Our players should not be crucified by the press. As a nation we do need to reflect on the world cup, but we should not wallow in what could have been.

Its small comfort but as a true England fan all I can now say is bring on Euro 2008, and lets see if we can get it right, and have EVERYONE (including the journalists) backing the team.

If he doesn't improve his EQ, the same mistake will happen again repeatedly through out his career.

What a shame!

I got a fair bit of satisfaction reading that You'll Never Walk Alone was sung after the match..

Does anybody have any audio or video clips of it?

The writing was on the wall for England from day one, how could Swen select his team without Dafoe and Bent, Bent score the most gold as an English player this year, and they were not good enough, replace by Two injured player and a six foot seven joker...you got what you deserved. Any team that playes one Forward in this high level game doesn't deserved to win, it's a shameful display from England. Mr rooney you are a thug, and someone have to be brave enough to call you out, and stop provide sooo much excuse, if you love this bloke then chastise him, what an ass, is this the attitude you want young player to emulate ?. This guy is so over rated and such a dunce, he needs more than a kick in his ass to wake him up, else he is going to hurt someone eventually an cost Englang games...help him to save his career, dont pat him on his ass kick him.

Lost again? Sorry about that! In 66 we - unfairly - lost with Eusebio playing and this was our "cold" revenge. The red card to Roney was fair but I agree there can be other interpretations...
Overall, the game was played with fairplay and that is very important for the people's game. By the way, congratulations for 主播大秀 because of the report on FIFA's affairs with ISL.

Jo茫o (Portugal)

It's time for England to lose this giant chip on their shoulder over other teams "cheating." Face it - they have an inferiority complex when it comes to taking penalties. Before the Portugal game, the squad admitted this match would reveal their true measure as a team. Now they don't like the truth - they are a team of bottlers.

i think the whole world cup campaign can be distilled onto one thing. ericcson didnt have the balls to drop either gerrard or lampard and play either hargreaves or carrick in the holding role to free them up. mcclaren should now build his midfield for 2008 around gerrard...

Don't blame the referee, or ronaldo, or England's "sporting nature" for not winning the world cup. Just admit, England's performances never warranted winning a world cup, or even reaching the semi-finals of one.

It is time now for a complete rethink. A new team, a new captain, new coaching staff, fresh attitudes, fresh hopes and dreams. We are stuck in the past and put too much pressure on ourselves as a team and as a nation. Forget 1966, move on and we will win it within the next two World Cups. We need a new manager also, one with a completely professional and all encompassing role. A manager who can manage, not just a good coach and who has passion for the game. That man does exist, he has also won the World Cup before, and would win it again. He isn't a Brazilian, in fact he's very much English. His name?.....
....Sir Clive Woodward. Yes seriously!
He's proven, he knows how to grind oout wins, he can analyse the whole picture, he can use his coaching staff to the optimum effect. It has to be worth a try to break the mould. It must be in Sir Clive's mind also, otherwise why the move into football. Let Steve McLaren, an Englishman with the suspiciously unEnglish name, do his stint, and then let's have the real man in who can take us all the way.

The 5 stages of grief. All visible here today!

1. Denial: We would have won the world cup if only... (fill in your excuse here)

2. Anger: Let's go out and thump some porguguese, or Ronaldo, or anyone really (traditional English response)

3. Bargaining: In future, if we do (x, y or z), then we should be in good shape.

4. Depression: "I hate football", "I'm not watching the next game". "New manager will be rubbish too".

5. Acceptance: England are a mediocre team compared and should wake up to the fact.

What can i say that has not already
been said, except to add "how is
the cricket going ? ".

one positive from this, Sven has gone.

But you have to blame the FA, hastily appointing Steve Maclaren, a born loser, with a losing record, how is he going to bring a breath of fresh air into the changing rooms? why didnt they wait untill after the cup. Maybe if Sven wasnt so overpaid we could have the pleasure of sacking him. Too many foriegn players in the premiership and not enough english players playing at a high level.

World class team? more like world class earners. Overpaid. Michael Owen summed it up in his ITV interview "life goes on, still got my golfcourse outsite, house, cars"

At least Beckham has made the right decision in stepping down. But Steve Mclaren? come on.... here we go again...

Oh and Rio.... You Got Merked.

When will England, both players and management ever learn? Playing for penalties will never do us any favours! Add to that tactical ineptness and falling prey to the misinformation from our opponents and we can all say we ere lucky to get this far.

The game has become a farce at top level and I cannot see any improvement as long as the likes of Ronaldo and a whole host of other prima donnas are continually allowed to impose their cheating, diving and verbal bitching to change the course of a game. England should play the game as it is supposed to be played, with passion, heart and knowing that putting the ball in the net more times than your opponent means you win. Play the game to our strengths and not their's and forget about the lottery game of penalties.

I agree with a comment posted earlier; I hate this game as much as I love it.

Some good comments guys.

I think that the problem for England not performing at major tournaments could be much deeper than a bunch of good players not being able to gel as a team and all the other excuses we love to bring out every world cup.

Their are too many to mention here but one which made me think was from a comment Chris Waddle made. He is a bit worried about where the next generation of England players are going to come from. Many of the current U21 squad play outside of the Premiership, which as we all know, is domianted by foreigners. He also suggests that we "over coach" our players at a young age when we should just be encouraging them to play and enjoy the game thus enabling them to experiment and develop their natural skill. This "over coaching" may have repucussions at senior level where we really lack genuinly creative match winning players. I think France are a great example of a team with a number of good (maybe not superstar) solid players and then two incrediably skillful match winning players. Do England have that type of player? Joe Cole, Rooney maybe? I'm not sure we do.

Therefore perhaps we have to start laying some foundations for the future right now.

My two cents on Ronaldo is that whether Rooney's card was all his own making, Ronaldo's re-action and attempted influence on the ref was an insult to not only his team-mate but also to a nation which effectivly pays his wages.

Right I've had my rant, I'm off down the pub to try and convince everyone we should make all our kids play footsal. Here's hoping for 2008.

RONALDO saw his team mate being stamp in the B. and reacted like any other player would! He didn't even looked or talked to Rooney!

What do you expect him to do? Score an own goal because he play's in Man U?

I don't really like the way he Ronaldo plays, but the only one to blame here is Rooney.

Perhaps the most important point has been missed. We now have a new manager, and it's very important that we find a new nickname for him, or the press will just call him "Macca". And that's rubbish.

My first suggestion is "Rusty", because it alludes to McClaren's gingerness, but also gives him a slightly romantic, cowboy edge. What about "La Vaca De Dios" (the Cow of God) or if you're feeling adventurous, "The Divine Retribution of Anubis and Horus, made corporeal through sin". I know it's a bit of a mouthful, but it's better than Macca.

for a country who 1 wc and one semi-final appearance in the las 80 years, you english think of your self very highly. Let me see if i can put some prespective, You are not in the same league as Brasil, Argentina, italy or Germany. You are not even in the same league as France, portugal and Spain. When you get a grip and start to realize that may be then your team will start to play like a team.

As a young boy growing up in England I remember watching England win the World Cup in 66 and what a great moment that was. As a teenager I grew up in the USA(parents emigrated) and have remained here ever since but never lost my loyalty for the England side. Now I sat and watched the games with my teenage son who got excited as his crazy english father. After watching the english team we were both disappointed. Where is the style, frenetic pace and the majesty that we see frequently displayed in the EPL. The tactics of the 4-5-1 are so boring. This England team was full of talent for sure but rarely displayed it. The French looked more like an EPL team with their aggressive direct play that was great to watch. If England are ever to live up to their potential then the English fans and media must let them play the game the way it was meant to be played and if that means losing once in awhile so be it. Why do they always lose on penalty kicks?? I think the answer is they are always carrying the weight of the country on their backs. If we got rid of the media hype BS and praised and encouraged great play then the rest would take care of itself. For me the outsanding English players of this tournament were lennon, hargreaves and Joe Cole. The sad but telling commentary on Sven's tactics was leaving Rooney as a lone striker. Would Alex Fergusson do that?

I'll keep this breif cos it takes ages to read all these posts. But the one part of England which is well organised, efficient and creative are the English fans. We become better supported and better behaved every tournament. This was even evident to me in Australia watching the very little coverage the English team we receive. Please, all involved in the England set-up, you owe us.

ok, so Rooney got sent off, but how many players to u have to have hackin at ur ankles and legs before the Ref will do anythin. Surely if the ref had done his job properly, Rooney wouldn't hav had the oppertunity to react the way he did.
The ref may as well have had a portugese top on.

I never understood why and how English fans seem to know so little about the game. After all it all started there!

England lost it. They fought hard and they had no luck in the penalty shoot out. They faced a worthy opponent and they were never superior throughout the match. None of the teams were.
The one reason everyone wants England out of the tournaments is because of the fans. They once again proved they don鈥檛 deserve to be in any tournament what so ever. It always ends in violence. Should there be a world cup only for English teams and violence among the fans would be there鈥� and this poor loosing, even in these posts on bbc and other sites. Just think why so many around the world celebrate England鈥檚 losses. It鈥檚 because they tasted the insult that is playing against England and reading about it and be afraid of the fans in the streets and seeing their cities in mayhem.

England never played well in this tournament, Portugal were a worthy opponent with less fouls, more fairplay, and better football.
Just watch the replays鈥� the referee had blow the whistle long before Rooney stamped on Ricardo. That鈥檚 what made the difference, he made that assault with the game already stopped and after that he pushed Ronaldo for no reason鈥� what were you expecting in this world cup? A pat on the back?
Just grow up, hold up your liquor and learn to loose! It鈥檚 time you learn that your not that good at the game and that work must be done to improve and to win. Just showing up the lions in shirt is not enough to win games鈥�
Well that鈥檚 what I think a least鈥� no Portuguese is evil or plans to provoke any player from England or something like that鈥� it鈥檚 all in your beer filled mind.

Just behave鈥� and be brave!

The writing was on the wall for England from day one,the wrong squad was taken, flair over substance indeed. How could Sven select his team without Johnson, Dafoe and Bent. Bent score the most goal as an English player this year for god's sake.why these three players were not good enough to represent England at the WC is a mystery! replaced by a kid two injured player and a six foot seven joker who after finally scoring his first goal for Liverpool was seen as an hero and that day a national holiday sort of. Two in the back of my head or this english squad, the dicision is easy, a no brainer if you would. Reality is what it is, you got what you deserved. Any team that playes one striker in this high level game doesn't deserved to win, it's a shameful display from England, you are not Trinidad and Tobago. Mr rooney you are a thug, and someone have to be brave enough to call you out, and stop providing sooo much excuse to cover up all his short comings, his reputation preceded him, he is a bully first, foot baller second. If you love this bloke then chastise him, what an ass, is this the attitude you want young english player to emulate ? This guy is so over rated and such a dunce, he needs more than a kick in his ass to wake him up, else he is going to hurt someone eventually an cost his club or Country games...help him to save his career, don't pat him on his ass.... kick him.

awww so england r GOING HOME yet agen...empty handed after all the tripe we have been hearing with rooney etc!!just face it 1966 was a one off and will never be repeated..make way for scotland..england are finished!!more riots after the game as usaul fifa should do what they said they would do and expell england from tourniments with supporters like that who cannot take a beating so they decide to rip a city apart instead...germany to win!!there will be no reports from baden-baden from the pundints now because ooops they have gone home!!overpaid and over rated players wont bring you back the world cup!!

Sven forgot one most important ingredient of this simple game. The TEAM is more important than one single individual !
He put All his eggs into two baskets, with Beckham and Rooney being his main focus.
This did absolutely nothing for the Camaraderie of the TEAM that is required at any level.
His lack of faith in choosing two strikers (Crouch & Rooney) led to negative tactics throughout this World Cup.
We never looked like scoring in regular play in any of the five matches.
I am convinced that Klinsmann or Scolari would have helped England WIN in Germany, so its down to the pathetic coaching from the whole coaching staff of England.
I am Disgusted Depressed and Deprived of seeing these excellent talented players not even come close to reaching their true potential. Well done to the back four, Joe Cole, lennon, Crouch and Hargreaves who all played with heart and class.
GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH Erickson !

I am sick to death about hearing all this whining about the players beng overpaid blah blah. They get paid the rates that clubs want to pay for them and they are good players else the market wouldn't pay that for them. Plus other international team players get paid just the same market rates. That does not have a bearing on their performance on the world cup stage. Infact if anything, if they were all money hungry then wouldn't the prospect of being able to command more money through sponsorships etc make themm play better ?
I agree with Greg S's comments mostly."Don't believe the hype".
The fact remains that England were not able to beat Portugal in 90 minutes. I felt awful for the goalkeeper Robinson during the penalty shootout. He was clearly, CLEARLY, petrified and not prepared. Is that his fault ? Can you imagine the pressure he must have felt ? They are all great players, some were not on the best form however they all have good records in the main and it was obvious that they were ill prepared for this. The media in the UK has always been absurd. And the fan's feed off it. Tall poppy syndrome is rife - build them up and then knock them down. And some of the people who purport to be fans are just as bad and obviously they did believe the hype.
As for this garbage about them not wanting to win, that's a truly stupid thing to say. Ofcourse they all wanted to win. Who wouldn't ? Do really believe that Gerard, Rooney and co all went out there and thought, "I don't really want to win this, I'll just go through the motions". What an absolute crock.You only had to look at all of their faces to see how utterly devastated they all are and they have to go back to the UK now and face all of this - actually thank god they all do get paid heaps of money because there has to be a reason to put up with all of the crap that is going to be thrown at them.
They didn't win because they didn't play well. They didn't play well because they were not prepared well.
Sven is a spoofer. He couldn't run a bath and he has been paid, what 35 million for delivering hot air.
If England really want their team to get ahead then the people should get behind them, when they lose as well as when they win so the payers won't be so bloody petrified of facing a wolf pack in the event that being human they make an error.
They did try and anyone who says different didn't watch the same game as I did.

Millions if billions supported Roeney prior and during the world cup. they pinned the hope of england liftingb the trophy on him.when he got injured they were shocked and closely folowed his recovery and eventually they were releived to see play aganist t&t.

But sadly Rooney never beared that in mind while playing, he instead let his unbecoming behaviour and temper overcome him and turned the hopes of millions into despair, surely their hearaches would haunt him.

I'd like to get paid thousands to choke! If I mess up at work I can't bleat about the pressure, I get paid to do the job.
I really don't believe the overpaid, unfit stars(with the exception of crouchy and Hargreaves) care enough.

If this was a league of 32 instead of a tournament of 32, England would end up somewhere in the lower half of the table, based on the performance shown...the Middlesborough of the Premier League (no offense to Middlesborough). Let"s not forget that the quarter finals 2006 were only reached via mighty Paraguay, Trinidad, Sweden and Ecuador...It is therefore spectacular to think that the World Cup 2006 was ever in England's arm's reach.

I suggest that England should approach the next tournaments with a different mind set and that is: let's play attractive football and see where it leads. Everything else, will end in disappointment, as always.

As an outsider I had read the English newspapers over the last weeks and here I found a lot of reasons for the failure of England.

1. The WAGs or better the spice girls seemed to be more interesting than your team.

2. You have a lot of excellent players - but no team. Just look at Italy, Germany, France or Portugal - that are real teams, that do not depend on only one SUPERSTAR.

3. The tactics 1-4-1-4 and the manager :-(( compared to Lippi, Klinsman or Skolari

4. The newspapers made you already to WC champions before playin a single game.
Brazil and Argentina have been kicked out for the same reason.

I am afraid that we will lose to Germany on Tuesday :-))

Final will be Germany-France

Germany will win, France second, Italy third and Portugal fourth.

See you again in 2 years in Austria and Switzerland.

At the end of possibly our best chance in 40 years, who can we blame but Sven? He is payed however many gazillions of pounds to do one job: make England win the world cup. At the end of five-and-a-half years, we are no closer than when we started. And really, it all comes down to his bad decisions: taking Walcott and refusing to play him, leaving Defoe off the squad, only taking three strikers so that, when he was down to two, he only played one (!!!!). Playing Rooney up front on his own and all the other mistakes he's made and that's just this world cup!
Really we can't blame Rooney, he's just a kid. I could barely control my emotions at that point, and I was 1000s of km away! The ref made some bad decisions, but if FIFA refuse to join the rest of us in the 21st century and use off-pitch television replays (they do it in cricket, why not football?), then the ref can only rely on what he sees.
Clearly the players were trying as hard as they could, but it was up to Sven to make them work as a team, which they had to do to make it to the final, and he failed.
In the end, we are left dissappointed again. I can only hope that next time, Steve McLaren can help raise the team to victory.

Another thing, while we are at it....I think that the English public and the World at large could do WITHOUT the english player's wives/girlfriends pissing away in public thousands of pounds for booze and cosmetics and fashion. This is just obscene and throws a bad light on England, which is not deserved!

The referee, strutting about in his Argentine, PE teacher arrogance failed to protect Rooney from, firstly a Carvalho foul which was ignored and then a double assault on him by Carvalho and another player. Carvalho received nothing. Fifa say the the referee is the "authority" on the pitch. Part of that authority is to protect players. He failed there
The referee was also prejudicially selective and you have to look at the sort of "prejudice" that was on his mind when in charge of this game. He repeatedly gave fouls against England where there were no fouls. He was simply incompetent.

Isn't it funny that every time England get knocked out of a tournament there has to be a scapegoat. After all, someone must be to blame for England not taking home the trophy as they are clearly the best team!! This time around it's poor Ronaldo's fault. Never mind that Rooney stamped on an opposing player when he was on the ground. We all know Rooney's a saint and has never been known to lose the rag, don't we? And how could the ref possibly judge it a sending off? He was a clear three feet away looking straight at it, what kind of position is that for a ref?!

England were fortunate to get as far as they did. They never performed anything like to their ability at any point and their tactics were a mystery. What do you expect but sooner or later it's all going to run out. Portugal were just the buffers at the end of a lucky line of wins.

Fans wave the flags, take beer, enjoy themselves and all they do are just on the basis of the success of their team. It is very shocking for the fans and players that in spite of having a good chance to win the cup England failed to go to the semi-final. Tiebreaker is a process of breaking the tie situation of a match that is like a toss where head or tell will decide your fate so there are many positive things for the England teams though the result is the last word in the success.

Mark Caplin - just to reply, have you ever considered that the reason people choke is because they are under too much pressure and expectation and this makes a person lose their nerve or question themselves. They are just people afterall. You can't expect anyone to perform at their best if the consequences of failure make them petrified.
And also playing international football isn't their job anyway. Their actual job is with their club side. There is no point making comparisons with what you do at work and how these guys perform because there is no comparison. if you don't perform well or even if you make the slightest error of judgement, you don't have to face a wolfpack of media and fans who will tear you to shreds.

Comes Down To Two Sticks.

Sweet FA for sticking with Sven when not only was he spending more time on the front pages than the back, but also making a complete hash of his role as manager. Then to give his righthand man, who's been there helping Sven make so many wrong decisions, then job next time round, beggers belief.

And Sven himself for sticking with a team and formation that didn't work! He's got the tactical intelligence of a shrew, who's been beaten with a large brick, then kick in the head, twice.

Lampard playing badly, nah will stick with him. If he worked in Sales and missed so many targets he would have been sacked long ago.

Playing 4-5-1 against Ecuador, and only just getting a result from a set piece, yeah lets stick with that formation. England and the majority of the club teams play 4-4-2, but just before the tournament just to keep Gerrard & Lampard happy, Sven has to change?!

Playing not to lose, instead of trying to win, inspired.

Give Rooney no support and see how long it takes him to boil over in frustration, maybe Sven had a spreadbet on a Rooney Red card? I think Sven is the only manager on earth that could misuse such a potent force, incredible.

As a thirty year old I've got memories of heroic defeats, and some horrible loses, but this one rankles the most because we definately had a chance, more than ever before, but because of appalling mis-management we're out again at the 1/4s.

From the time the team was picked and Theo was there, you knew something wasn't quite right, and then when I saw the team selection come up on the screen yesterday afternoon, my heart sank, was he doing it out of spite?!

-------------------------

Two other issues:

An Argentinian Ref - that's just wrong, given the history of the two nations and teams, surely FIFA can recognise that's not an appropriate selection.

Ronaldo - Words fail, from the headbutt before the game, to the demand of a card the moment he saw his chance with Rooney, and finally that wink, I somehow doubt you'll see him at Old Trafford again soon, unless Madrid get drawn against Man U in the Big Cup.

--------------------

Positives

The defense
Lennon, Hargreaves, J Cole, Crouch

-------------------

I was watching the game in a crowded California film theater and the announcer from ESPN was saying that Rooney desereved the card and blatantly stepped on the guy's groin in full view of the referee. Whether warranted, Rooney is a disgrace to England. American football is awful. We definitely could use Rooney to win a few matches dirty.

Owen Hargreaves deserves a medal for his workrate in the second half. He was one of our best players in the tournament.

Steve Hopper

As a true england fan, could you please explain why does the team fail at quarter finals in competitions?

It's about time to completely change the football structures in this country and buid a respectable team to win a competition. As a true fan your voice should count. we have a bunch of "world class players " who do not scare any team.

Why do the foreigners loathe the english team so much?

sadly in england unlike western europe football is a sport for peasants and peasants are uneducated,just look at the comments from ex-players,players on the pitch and pundits.money will never educate the uneducated.they always show what they really are.as for blaming the portuguese think again england are 2nnd rate football nation technically useless.think before you post!!!

Far out from the action, watching the match between England and Portugal from Asia, here are some observations (ofcourse Asia is not great for football performance so this blog may not be of much weight from a professional view):

Some members of the Portugal team are just cheating because they know they need this to win or at least perhaps not loose. I believe this is part of the training that their management is encouraging. The fact of having orchestrated a commotion over nothing much was written all over the face of Ronaldo as he winked to his mates. He will become more known for this than his game.

England, for all the hype of potential talent etc, was not anywhere near being way above Portugal. For if they were, the red card would not matter. They didn't have their best in form players in the 1st half. This can be blamed on management.

The English players certainly want to win and will be happy to win. But there was not much fire in them. The fire is more with the fans and the players are not in tune with converting that to real fire on the field. Some Portugal players showed this. At these levels you imagine players need to have the capacity to surmount pressure and deliver. But the chemistry for this is missing in the English team. If you watch the break outs or times between extra times, they are all standing separate, no word among them, the coach doesn't say more than a word. You can say that the coach is non-communicative but there is something about the players too that is not jelling. Winning teams perhaps have to scale many levels of teaming as you see with the current German or France teams. Some inspiration is in their teams. Perhaps this loss can bring the players together in a way and unite them to create a fire independent of coaches.

England cracked under the pressure, they lost their bottle and no thanks to Rooney and his childish behaviour, they outplayed Portugal but when it counted they lost the plot, Beckham quit as his job as Captain was surely on the line and he knew it

England cracked under the pressure, they lost their bottle and no thanks to Rooney and his childish behaviour, they outplayed Portugal but when it counted they lost the plot, Beckham quit as his job as Captain was surely on the line and he knew it

Terry Butcher talks a lot of rubbish in his columns on this site. While I am no fan of Sven and feel that this generation of players should have acheived more, getting to a quarter-final is an improvement on past England teams. In the five previous tournaments we went out in the group stage twice (2000, 1992), the second round once(1998), semi-final once(1996), and failed to qualify (1994 when we were managed by another 主播大秀 pundit).
With Sven gones and Beckham no longer captain who will the media blame next?

I think everone should take a step back and look at this with a cool head. Sven has no idea or concept how to motivate or run an international team. He took the wrong players, the ones he took he played in their unnatural positions and he played the wrong formation. These 3 basic facts alone immediately puts the team at a disadvantage.

As for Rooney too much emphasise was placed on him and not the team. From the start it was obvious at that stage that the team would not gel.

As for the formation 4-5-1 this was alien to the team. How on earth can anyone in their right mind put a lone striker up front, and one who doesnt play in that position to beigin with, and expect him to come up with the goods. We are talking International football. He was facing defenders who are top of their class and who have defended against much better players. Rooney desperatly needed support. He was wasted from the moment he put his boots on.

His skill is in running at defenders not waiting for long high balls to be kicked to him. These tactics are what junior school children use.

To say the team didnt want to win is a nonesense. Those players were devastated. The loss of Beckham and Rooney was a blow. Rooney cos it meant they were left with 10 men on the pitch, and Beckham cos they lost the captain. They were left with no direction to go. Beckham may not be the sparpest knife in the drawer but he represented stability. Without the captain they were lost. They couldnt re-arraange themselves coherently.

And what was Sven doing? Nothing!! Instead he put on Jennings only to take him off at a time when he looked the more effective on the pitch.

Under the circumstances I feel the players gave all they could (under the instructions they were given by Sven.)

Sven, well it seems Sven just took all he could.

post 96, 'proud' scotsman
just what do you have to be proud about? your footballing achievements or your'nations'(region actually, you lacking a UN ambassador) propensity to gleefully jump onto any bandwagon, any excuse to kick people when they're down? I used to support Scotland when they played, no longer.However i feel they don't need my opposition as they are obviously supremely capable of screwing things up on their own. Nasty, full of bile and schadenfreude, locked into a historical cell..stay off these blogs please and give us all a break..and I'm not even English!

I am just as broken hearted as any Englishman though I am an Indian.

As a ManU fan I think Winking-Ronaldo should be sold to the highest bidder. He is following exactly in Figo's ill mannered footsteps.

The referee was taking decisions with the Falklands in mind is my personal opinion.
Someone should tell him it was over a quarter of a century ago.
I would call his hand the 'Red Handed' hand.
Does FIFA analyse these things in advance ?

What England needs is a a very cerebral Englishman who has no personality probs or quirks.
Bryan Robson would be my forst choice.

Three goals came as a direct consequence of Bechkam's brilliance in this world cup. Lay off him !

Roon has been well-behaved this last year. i don't believe he did it on purpose.

A bouncing Robinson always got caught without his feet on terra firma.

Sending anyone other than a striker to take a penalty is madness.
Striking goals is their profession.

As to Lampard he just went off form.

Scolari did his homework Sven did not. That's the naked truth.

all we did was to praise the players before they even achieved anything. and finally they strumbled at the first hurdle: Portugal was surprisingly cautious against england, and we could not even take advantage.

The french have shown how to go about it, they got battered by the press , their coach came under criticism and he was accused of being tacticallly clueless. And they still manage to produce excellent results against teams supposedly not to their reach. We should draw conclusions from such attitude, let our players prove themselves in WC before branding them world beaters. With this attitude they will play like the germans or the french, with something to prove.

I am French and I today feel sorry for my English friends and the fans at large.
The red was indeed very harsh and could have been a yellow with a strong verbal warning for Rooney.
England reduced to 10 men played a better football than Portugal, but I must admit that Eriksson鈥檚 defensive approach of the game in this worldcup was not very conclusive.
England should have played the natural football we have seen them play at times.
England and Argentina are out of the tournament for lacking boldness and being too conservatives.
With Brazil, Argentina and England out, 3 of the tournament biggest favorites have returned home.
May be the lesson to retain is that motivation and team鈥� spirit buildup come better in adversity than with the unconditional support of fans and media.

i remember people saying england was playing well but was winning. Observations were made on the fact that playing well instill respect in opponents and could warrant a place in the semis.now we won't even have a match to remember.
just reading Viera's interview, he said they had fun playing Brazil.in the past we enjoyed beating germany 5-1 but it seems so long ago with style.
Will we ever achieve such level of playing again or was the germany game a one-off?

The clue to our success is their convinving beating opponents and having fun on the pitch. well done france.

Lets get one thing straight, whatever anyone thinks about England's lame exit, no one can credibly say that the game was played in a good spirit.

rooney acted like a thug no debate. but let's not forget the blatent cheating during the game e.g. maniche going down clutching his face and rolling on the ground after a hand brushed his shoulder, Viana going down only after he lost the ball, figo falling over at will.

i'm not saying the English players have never cheated but the stuff from the Portugese team yesterday was on a different level.

for once I would like to get beaten comprehensively by a team that can be truly admired. not this World Cup. the worsening lack of fair play will kill this game.

I'm portuguese. I'm not too knowledgable on footbal to tell you which team was best, or worse, but during the match I also was not very much satisfied with Portugal's performance (specifically because England's was not well). Still, if you think that 2 of our players were out this game (Costinha, a important player in defence, and Deco, in offence), we faired pretty well.
Also, Portugal know how it is to play with fewer players: see England-Holand.
I tuned into Skynews later that night, and it was pretty disgracefull the kind of vilanies that the english media (your own media!) were treating the story (not by Skynews, but the headlines in the following day's newspapers)!
For many reasons, one of them being that Portugal is a "2nd word country", even though it's in europe, I dislike how portuguese people are treated in our own country (We have one the largest disparity in wealth distribution in the EU. Only slightly higher that the new countries which entered EU), but at least I can now see some hope in our media (which in other affairs, are the typical business media reporting as the rest of the world). The kind of tabloid nonsense you have there, which diminishes any critical thought (or any rational thought) is not to be seen around here, and oposite teams have been given much more respect during this world cup.
Finally, being one of the underdog teams (or at least, the least favorite of the previous remaining 8 teams, and even less favorite now) does wonders to any team spirit, so perhaps all this jingoism has, and will continue to paid off. So keep it up! Down Portugal, you rotten cheaters no-gooders!

As a Portuguese national living in England, I am embarassed for the English.
Bad, Bad, losers!!! Blaming Ronaldo for Rooney losing his head, yet again. Driving back from my mate, I was displaying my Portugal scarf in my car, and the abuse I got....... before the game Beckham spoke about kicking out racism, this was all in vain. In Wolverhampton Portuguese shop windows were broken. Why can't we celebrate our glorious victory once again without feeling like we will be victimised?

And all of a sudden we are cheats? the bottom line is, England have not beaten Portugal for 40 years, we are in the semis and none of the moaning is going to change that. We are having the last laugh.

FOR脟A PORTUGAL!!!!!!!

Sven's Tenure - The End Of An Error

Talk about bad losers. Now even Gerrard and Terry are holding up Ronaldo as the villain (see 主播大秀 sport site). Incredible.

Anticipate a concerted campaign from moronic fans, and an equally moronic media to drive this talented player (and one with the bottle and skill to actually score his penalty) out of England.

Until England players take some responsibility they can never, ever improve.

Yes, yes, yes.

The game is old news now. Forget about it. Even better, lie in bed sweltering in this sticky heat, drink some vodka and listen to "Famous Blue Raincoat" by Leonard Cohen. Then ruminate on the fact that life - and football, is innately cruel and unfair.

Then wake up tomorrow and go to work. You'll be pleased to know that I don't have to go to work tomorrow, as I am a writer, and as such mostly unemployed.

Why,oh why didn't England play the 1:1:1:1:1:1:1:1:1:1 system. Isn't it obvious that this would have brought instant success!

The state of football is very sad. England are out and thats that. The cheats of Portugal and Italy are through. Sepp Blatter has decreed that simulating injury/contact is acceptable and so that is how it is. By these rules we are out fare and square. I have been losing faith in the English domestic league in recent seasons where the money situation is worse than ever. Next season's title is already decided, it will be Arsenal, Man Utd and Liverpool playing for 2nd, 3rd and 4th again possibly with one surprise package (Spurs/Everton being the last two). The chamionship is just as bad where the relegated teams and bankrolled teams will compete beyond teh means of the rest and there will be few surprises and even less passion from the players than we are used to.

It broke my heart to see a talented and respected player like Henry feigning injury against Spain to try and get a man sent off. But thi sis teh state of the game. It is no longer beautiful. Mr Blatter is perhaps the guiliest, but you can add Real Madrid, Man Utd, Roman Abramovich, The Italian Prime Minister, Rick Parry, Rupert Murdoch, David Dein etc to a list of culprits who all gain whilst the majority suffer. I shall be taking my son back to Grass roots level football as I cannot justify 拢30 to watch mediocre players rolling around the pitch constantly.

CarlosBoothos - replying to your comment 130 about cheats, what do you call the brutal attack on Ronaldo during the Holland game in the 7th minute, was Ronaldo acting? Rooney losing his head stamping on Carvalho's groin, was he also acting? The elbow which Hugo Viana received on the eye from Crouch, the bruise as evidence, also an act.

Like you say, you can't justify watching football so you should stick to knitting, like that you mighthave something constructive to say

English supporters are bad losers. I expect Portugal to lose to France, but I will go on moaning and looking excuses like you lot do.

FOR脟A PORTUGAL!!