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Well there is so much to say on this one, as usual when England plays in a knock out tournament, its never an easy experience to be sure. Was far from our best performance in the tournament, and the early goal, and then the gutting loss of our wonder boy Rooney just hinted at an eventual loss, and painful memories of our 96 clash with Germany. Looked like the boy had his heel crushed with all his body swerving, and although I dont think it was malicious, it sure helped fuck our game and our confidence. Anyway we held on well, and if nothing else, our defense proved their worth with outstanding resilience and amazing energy, and for sure all of our back four deserve a healthy pat on the back, with special medals being given to Sol and Cole, delightful shit chaps. :) Eventually they did give way to the continuous Portuguese pressure, and it was probably deserved for their efforts, albeit the final reply was a dodgy cross that wasnt well picked up, that looked like it was scored by his shoulder, truly gutting and not what the defense deserved after all their efforts. But they kept battling on with great tenacity, and I prayed, sacrificed small animals and touched much wood, although that last one isnt so unusual, and in the last minutes it looked like this desperation was answered with Sols desperate goal at the other end in the last minutes. I even went through the pain of watching the match twice, just to check I hadnt got up late and imagined the whole horrible thang........ BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, it had happened, some stupid goat f**king swiss (and they're supposed to be neutral *spit*) bastard decides its a foul, and cancels the goal, nearly giving away a goal at the other end by allowing an instant free kick, as if it wasnt bad enough he gave a foul instead of a goal. The only thing fouled in that box was Terry by big Sol, and our rightful place in the semi. A damn shame, and the deciding factor that this was indeed going to be decided by extra time, which by this stage was quite a worry as we looked far the more tired. And yet still they fought bravely on, and good chances were had by all in the first period of extra time, England actually ending it positively. Still a few bad ref decisions that stopped the flow of the game, or canceled a rare English rush. But we managed to get through the silver goal period, and move to the last period of extra time. The Rui Costa goal was sublime and he held his man off well, which was nice to see, and cracked a beut in just off the underside of the bar. And yet still the boys battled on and got a well deserved equaliser of a well worked corner, and a lovely turn by Lampard to equal it up, alas that was never going to be enough, and as the inevitable penalties grew closer, so did our loss. Again, I think we did quite well on the penalties, especially considering it was a sand pit, but these things never seem to go our way, and this day would be no different. Truly gutting as we looked like we had the potential to go all the way this year, but who knows what could have been, with a shade more luck, a decent ref and our wonderboy unscathed for the one match we really did need him. We can at least go out with heads held high, they played some great football, with some moments of pure genius, and for pure tenacity and spirit, I think we deserved more. Gutted. Unlucky to the team, all had great moments, and especially all the best to Rooney, who so far has made the tournament. Hopefully he is not too badly injured, get well soon you bloody demon, your at least young enough for the next world cup, and for that we all wait with baited breath. *Round of Applause* ENGLANDHippy||DUTA|| on Friday, 25 June 2004, 22:45:42 Comments are turned off for this item |
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