Portugal x England [P+R]

[TOON ARMY]

They did us proud last night. Never gave up and to equalise in stoppage time really showed there fighting spirit.

Sol has been cruely denied again just like in WC 1998. The linesman clearly gave the goal but the ******* ref who was no where near decided not to give it!

We defended to deep, Deco, Rui Costa, etc had a field day in between the midfield and the defence. Most of the time we were defending on the edge of our 6 yard line! It took until extra time to finally come foward and play them offside. Sven decided to bring on defencive subs instead of trying to close the game up and search for the 2nd. The injury to Rooney hit us hard, Vassel and Owen are similar players, we had no one to hold up and they weren't going to stand a chance latching on to long balls!

As for the penalties there was clearly something wrong with the spot. The team wern't pleased with them during training. Beckham penalty miss basically summed up his whole tournament. I feel sorry for Vassel, it takes a lot of balls to stand up and take one during sudden death.

Congratulations to the Portugese they were the better team on the night but they must remember that diabolical decision by the ref kept them in the tournament and eventually their look will run out!

Sven's got us playing like an Italian team, content to sit on the one goal, way to defencive. He's got us to several QF's now i think it's time for him to hand the reigns to an English manager who knows the English game.

I'll be vouching for the Czechs now. They've played the best football and they deserve it for being beaten in the 96 final.

 

[simakperrce]

Originally posted by Vagegast
When I saw Ricardo trying to break Beck's concentration, I knew Portugal was going to win it...

he should not have done that... portugal won it rightfully, but that one was just not very classy... i am sure they could have managed without.

BTW: it's "vorbei" not "voorbei"

 

[Virgo]

Originally posted by soccerbest
The benefit of the doubt always goes to the goalkeeper when the ball is in the box. I thought i saw Terry's arms around him. All the rules favour the goalkeeper in that situation

exactly... and we would all be arguing if it was indeed a foul if the goal had been awarded.

 

[Viks]

annoying in the end
how we had the goal ruled out and there penalty sopt was f***ed
but portugal were the better team in the end

 

[Virgo]

Originally posted by sportgaming
Terry was constantly looking at the ball, at no time did the thought of restricting the keeper play any part. sure his arm was over the keeper, but it was just resting on him, Terry was going up, keeper was not in a position to get the ball anyway, he was out of position, even without terry there, he would not have got it.

It doesn't matter, fouls are not about intention he did hold the keeper down wether he meant it or not........

just shameful to see everyone saying England was robbed. 40 years ago we were indeed robbed of a WC final against you and no one cared did they.

 

[mnj2x]

beckham and vasell will have sleepless nights

sucks to be them rite now.... anyway cant judge a player frm a miserable penalty

 

[acmilan101]

Sure, it sucks to be English. But what about the Germans? They're hosting the WC in 2 years and don't look strong at all.

Ricardo is my new favourite player. I hope Portugal gets a penalty in the semi-final and Ricardo takes it.

What about Postiga's penalty? Some balls on that kid. Deserves nothing but admiration.

 

[kobashi]

england did not do enough. you do not deserve to win if you just sit back and invite pressure.

the ref was not corrupt, would people be saying this if it happened in the other end. it was a wrong decision but they happen everyweek in football. goalkeepers always get protected.

england played two top quality in euro 2004 and both times england could not keep the ball. both times they spent majority of the game defending.

 

[acmilan101]

Originally posted by mnj2x
beckham and vasell will have sleepless nights

sucks to be them rite now.... anyway cant judge a player frm a miserable penalty

or 3...

 

[Gareth]

Originally posted by kobashi
england did not do enough. you do not deserve to win if you just sit back and invite pressure.

the ref was not corrupt, would people be saying this if it happened in the other end. it was a wrong decision but they happen everyweek in football. goalkeepers always get protected.

england played two top quality in euro 2004 and both times england could not keep the ball. both times they spent majority of the game defending.

Happens all the time in English football, rarely gets called.

These 'rules' with keepers not being touched in the 6-yard box, it's making keepers weak. They know that as soon as they jump for it, they don't even need to make a decent challenge for it, they'll get a free kick, as soon as a player even looks at them. It's crazy to be honest. Go back, say 10 years, when the 'weak arse goalkeeper' rules weren't in place, keepers dominated in the 6-yard box, nowadays they come out like fairies.

I've played rep football as a goalkeeper and as a referee, so I know me stuff

 

[ShearerM4]

there's bound to be contact .. and there was.

The rules are about are about intent here ... Terry made a genuine attempt to play the ball, looking to head the ball, and Ricardo jumps into him.

 

[monkee]

It was a very entertaining and exciting game but the best team won in the end.

England have been poor this tournament and I 100% think that it's down to Sven's tactics. I always get the feeling with him that it's the tabloids that make the decisions for him, he hasn't got the guts to make the tough decisions for the good of the team. Scolari has and that's why Portugal beat England.

Lay off Becks. Many English fans and the media in particular love a bit of scapegoatism, and while Becks has been poor, he's been England's saviour so often in the past. A few poor games, albeit in important games, and the captaincy should be taken off him! He hasn't been a patch on the Becks that used to play for United (looks like Fergie might have made another good decision there ) but he's still set up a couple of goals. With the things that have been going on in his private life recently - magnified by media intrusion, which he's brought on himself mostly - it's no wonder he's not up to his usual form.

Notice how crap Gerrard has been? He was going to 'drive England to victory' before the tournament and has been as anonymous as Becks. Or what about John Terry. Imo, he's been rubbish as well. The 'talismanic' defender was outshone by Ledley King's performance against France, then Sven dropped King? What was he thinking?

England's failure should rest on Sven's shoulders and not any of the players. Strange defensive substitutions, negative tactics, it was a recipe for disaster.

I felt really sorry for Vassell too. Had it been Cole or Owen that had missed I'd have laughed, but Vassell nah. He's a hard worker and brings a lot to the England team. Unfortunately England starved their strikers of posession and support for 85mins which robbed him and Owen of a chance to show any of their ability.

I agree with the decision to disallow Sol's header. I thought Terry clearly impeded Ricardo, albeit unintentionally, and stopped him from contesting the ball. Had it been the other way around I'd have agreed with it as well and I'm sure a large majority of England fans that are currently bemoaning the decision would agree with it too. However, some referees might have not given it so it was a 50-50 decision (well 70-30 imo) and the ref called it right. It seems to me that the linesman is always correct in these situations for those that feel aggrieved, despite the fact that the linesman was probably further away than the ref. If the linesmen are so good why not make them the refs?

Cole is man of the match. He had what has to be the game of his life. I'd hardly say he owned Ronaldo though. Cole came out with credit because everyone expected Ronaldo to make a complete fool out of him. He made him look like an idiot on a few occasions, and Cole resorted to obstruction, kicks and fouls on a couple of other occasions, but on the whole he made some very good tackles and interceptions and kept up with Ronaldo well. As a contest it was probably 50-50, or maybe slightly in Cole's favour, and he deserves the accolade; with Campbell a close 2nd and G Neville 3rd.

So that's another tournament over for an overly defensive England in which the failed to impress. The victories against Switzerland and Croatia were far from convincing in every aspect except the scoreline and they deservedly lost to the better teams. Defensively I'd say England have been sound but it's been to the detriment of the team as a unit because 8 defenders aren't going to win you the tournament.

Credit to Portugal too, they've played very well in their last 2 games. I would very much like to see them win the tournament based on their style of play and technical ability. I think people claiming dives and cheating from them in this tournament must be associating them too closely with some of Porto's play in this seasons CL. I've seen a few players go to ground too easily (and that's been true for every team in the tournament) but Portugal have played clean, fair, and have played their football in the spirit of the game and fully deserve to be in the Semi-Finals. Particularly for the way they've come back from a disappointing start to the tournament.

 

[RuiCosta_10]

Any higlights of the game? shokz

 

[Parasol]

for the guys who say there wasn't a foul:

look at terry's elbow on ricardo face. if that's not a foul i don't know what is then.

 

[TOON ARMY]

Sven is adopting very defencive Italian like tactics, we need an English manager who knows how to use Englands strenghs!

Steve McClaren for England manager

 

[ShearerM4]

Originally posted by Parasol
for the guys who say there wasn't a foul:

for god's sake ... go back 20 pages.
Photos don't show anything either way.
Multiple replays from multiple angles do.

 

[Parasol]

 

[Amdy Faye]

Originally posted by Help?
unlike Figo. He is old and i think it's time to call it a day for him.

What a joke

Figo is absolutely class on the ball, he's a magician, and he's only 31? Beckham's like 28/29 so that's just rubbish. Figo's had an okay tournament so far, he's so hard to tackle and munipulates defenses.

He could definately play for more years to come..

A class act.

 

[TOON ARMY]

Originally posted by Parasol

Whatever rocks your boat

 

[::shinji::]

I can't beleive there are even complaints about the penalty spot now...maybe some of you didn't notice but we took our penalties from the same place. what's next, wrong species of grass that favoured Portugal somehow?