You're right Scoob,
From now on I think football matches should be decided on who plays the best not who scores the most goals. In fact why not just get rid of the goal posts and have 90 minutes of keep-ball?
What a brilliant idea!
ENGLAND 2 PORTUGAL 1
by City Fan 22 Replies latest social relationships
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yxl1
Theres gonna be months of debate about the ref, and yes I do think Sol's goal should have been allowed, but that wasnt the only cockup the ref made. Throughout the game he made bad decision after bad decision. I can only imagine how soul distroying that can be.
On the other hand we should be looking at Svens tactics. Defending for 80 minutes are schoolboy tactics and it was obvious on the few occations we attacked portugal, they looked weak. Beckham should have been subbed along with Scholes, and Heskey should have been bought on for Rooney. Then we could have bought off Owen in the last 10 minutes of play and replaced him with Vassell.
England continue to look good against poor to average teams, but always stutter against quality. We were up against quality last night and it showed.
Oh, and how the F*&k can you take a ref seriously when he dyes his beard...Sheesh!!!
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Duncan
Well, I was mad as hell about the ref last night (taking my lead somewhat from the TV studio pundits who couldn?t talk about anything else), but thinking about it all on the drive in to work today - noticing a marked reduction in the number of St. George flags on the white vans - I?m now thinking it wasn?t so much to do with the ref and one specific wrong decision.
Refs make mistakes all the time. In fact, you couldn?t even rightly call this a reffing mistake ? not like Maradona?s famous ?hand of God?. It was just the referee?s opinion that Terry impeded the Portuguese keeper , and you have to say that there?s case to argue that. As Hanson always says ? ?I?ve often seen them given? .
The real problem last night was something much deeper-seated and long-lasting: it was the chronic English footballers inferiority complex when facing technically superior foreigners.
You saw it with France in the opening game, with Brazil in World Cup 2002, and any number of other games over the years. The English go out to play all full of fire and passion, they might even score first, and then the cancer of self-doubt creeps in. They start to ?play safe? - defend deep, no attempt to keep the ball for any amount of time, just bash it up the field when you can get a kick in.
What was different this tournament was Rooney. He gave the players some self- belief. Against Switzerland and Croatia we actually looked half-decent. The Team and the Nation began to think we might actually do well.
And he gets injured against Portugal, and the self-belief visibly drained out of the English side as he limped off.
We were back to the old frightened defensive England of the past. Trying desperately to hold on to a slim one-goal lead for 87 minutes. Portugal stroked the ball around, had possession for minutes at a time in long, coherent passages of passing football. England, in contrast, when they got the ball enjoyed possession for 4 or 5 seconds. A couple of passes and then smack! - up the field, one for Owen or Vassell to chase. The Portuguese dealt with those kind of tactics with almost contemptuous ease.
At eighty minutes in, it did indeed look like we might squeeze through. I was certainly hoping for it, but felt a little bit ashamed at the same time. England had done almost nothing (Owen?s early goal was good) to justify the win. It would hardly have been a glorious victory, but maybe there would be a chance at redemption in the Semi?s and the Final.
Then they equalise and it?s extra time.
I?ll admit that England?s heroics in getting that last-gasp seeming ?winner? and then again in extra time getting an even laster-gasp equaliser were brilliant ? the best period for us in the game.
But then it?s penalties, and Rule One of International Football Tournaments is that England don?t win shoot-outs. My heart sank.
The way it goes in these shoot out competitions is that most people score. The match is decided either by the single poor unfortunate individual who happens to be the one who misses the goal (there?s always one) or by an inspired heroic performance from the Goalkeeper.
Nobody would ever connect the words ?inspired, heroic performance? with David ?Calamity? James.
So we were just hoping that one of their players would choke on the occasion and miss.
Up steps Beckham to take our first. Always leading from the front, Beckham.
I don?t know if you ever do this, but in moments of high tension, I think to myself ? ?well, what?s the VERY WORST thing that could happen?? - it seems to me that if you think the thing, if you name it, you call it up, then you can defuse it, so it can?t possibly then happen.
I thought to myself ? ?Well, the VERY worst thing would be if Beckham did what he did against Turkey, and blast the ball over the stadium roof and then point angrily to the penalty spot as if that patch of ground were to blame. Phew! Thank Goodness that?s not going to happen again.?
And what did he do?
It pretty much summed up his tournament.
It was downhill from there. James, as expected, saved precisely none. One Portuguese player did, in fact, miss (there?s always one), so briefly we seemed to have a chance. But, looking at the replays, none of the English penalties were terribly good efforts, they were lucky to go in, whereas the Portuguese were assured and calm, one guy even doing the ?chip the ball? trick, assuming correctly that James would, in effect dive out of the way. Did I say contemptuous a minute ago?
And Vassell?s shot was saved, and the Portuguese keeper himself comfortably shot past James to win it.
England badly let themselves down in this game. THIS was the Tournament they had a chance to win. We were not ?building? here for some World Cup years in the future, THIS was their chance, and they blew it.
Assuming we can qualify for Germany in 2006, don?t expect Rooney to be the same sensational player ? you only get a chance to burst upon the scene once. This was his tournament, next time round he?ll be carrying a heavy weight of expectation on his young shoulders, and dare I say it, will probably disappoint his country ? it won ?t be his fault.
It?s only football, it?s only a game, but these things do affect the National mood. The whole country seems flatter and less joyous today. Me and my boys took down our St George flag from the front garden this morning.
Duncan.
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logical
thank goodness that crap is over and done with.... just gotta put up with the whining for a few weeks but it will die down a lot quicker thanthe crap which would have surrounded england actually winning the thing. England should get Darth Vader as their next manager.....
p.s. im pretty sure beckham had other ideas about winning this tournament. He single handedly screwed over both games England lost.
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Abaddon
... they score after 3 minutes, faff around, loose Rooney, faff around even more as they've got no 18-year-old to help them win, are cruely denied a goal they had 87 minutes to score 1 minute from full time, come back IjustI in time in extra time to equalise, and then...
... with huge...
... enormous...
... naffing predictability...
... they lose on penalties, with Beckham apparently trying to repel an invasion of UFO's with his kick (yeah, the ref should have changed ends, the spot was screwed, whatever)
... we're going home we're going home, England's going home...
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Dansk
I'm totally disallusioned with football and have had enough.
Of course you are, my friend. First having to watch City almost get relegated again and now last night's fiasco. At least I console myself watching Manchester United
Peace to you,
Ian
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City Fan
Dansk.
Watching City has nothing to do with it, honest!
Looking at Christiano "why do 1 step over when 10 are better" Ronaldo, he's going to be some player. But to be honest, referees are putting me off the game. I'm still annoyed that Middlesbrough won the League Cup with 2 goalkeepers (remember Ehiogu's fantastic left handed save in the dying minutes?) Referees need help from technology. I'm afraid City need help from a much higher source!
CF.
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City Fan
I thought these photos from the match might show why England really lost the game.
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City Fan
And Beckham in training...
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Joe Bloggs
City Fan, thanks for posting those pics, I haven't had such a good laugh in ages!
I also like Logical's conspiracy theory about Beckham missing the penalty on purpose. Er...that is what you meant, isn't it, Logical?
Joe