So England lost then.....

Dave Euph

Member
Bad luck.

Seriously bad luck ... history always repeats itself ... that's one of the hardest games I've ever had to watch ...
 

WoodenFlugel

Moderator
Staff member
I'm exhausted now - and well on the way to being pissed. You can't blame the penalty spot - it was the same for both teams. But the last minute goal was defintely good. Then again maybe football in Switzerland is a non-contact sport..... :?
 

dyl

Active Member
To be fair - that was a dubious decision by the ref re. the disallowed goal - Terry's hands were all over the keeper but he did make the most of it. Can't use the penalty spot as an excuse though - correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure Portugal were using the same one as England.

I must be honest here and say that in my opinion, the fitness levels of both teams played a huge part in that match. England really couldn't cope with the pace - and there might be plenty of reasons (excuses?) for that - long premiership season, heat etc. - and also I don't really think the squad England had was that great do you? The first 11 was probably one of the strongest out there - but outside of that? I don't think so. Look at the subs tonight - Vassell, P. Neville and Hargreaves compared to the likes of Rui Costa. Says it all really.

England certainly gave it their best shot - but there's no way they deserved to win that match i don't think - and that's despite some outstanding performances from the likes of Cole and Campbell.

Back to the disallowed goal - had it gone in - Portugal would have been extremely unlucky to have lost that match.

Anyway - at least the media have got Tim Henman to focus their attention on!

PS. What about those seats in the dug-out - quality!
 

WoodenFlugel

Moderator
Staff member
dyl said:
PS. What about those seats in the dug-out - quality!

[Sad motorhead mode] I think you'll find that they were Sparco bucket seats, available for about £1200 each from your local Halfords :wink: [/sad motorhead mode]
 

Dave Euph

Member
Dyl, I actually think England themselves were hugely unlucky and deserved to win it! Having led for most of the match, they played utter shite!

Yet they had the spirit and belief, and despite defending far too deep, still made it so hard for Portugal to get decent chances.

It was very much 50-50 ... and the loser either way would have felt bitterly unlucky ... but particularly England cause it keeps bloody happening! :evil:
 

dyl

Active Member
Yup - can't argue with you on the spirit front. What really struck me tonight was the difference in technical ability - I lost count on the number of times England gave the ball away (and to be honest - Portugal aren't considered one of the top teams in the world are they) - therefore inviting pressure on the defence and the 'keeper' ;) - you can't keep giving the ball away - particularly when defending as deep as England were doing tonight - and expect to go 90-odd minutes without conceding.
 

WoodenFlugel

Moderator
Staff member
Yeah well hopefully the fans will take defeat on the chin rather than chinning someone because of defeat :?
 

Dave Euph

Member
dyl said:
Yup - can't argue with you on the spirit front. What really struck me tonight was the difference in technical ability - I lost count on the number of times England gave the ball away ...

Absolutely ... shocking play ... I kept shouting at the TV "Just hold the ball and pass it around to frustrate them!" ... because long balls to Vassell and Owen were going nowhere!
 

Big Twigge

Active Member
Its ok boys and girls....we can use this as practise for when Henman gets knocked out, England loose against Australia in the rugby (and Wales, Ireland, Scotland etc follow suit)

Roll on Athens!

(am only messing, good luck sporting types)
 

Andy_Euph

Active Member
:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

I HATE Swiss referees
 

Danny_L

Member
Fair result in the end I thought. We weren't the better team, by a long way, although some of our defending was top class.

Although we didn't deserve to win the game we should have, that was a goal, no mistake about it. The referee bottled it, he didn't blow his whistle when the foul was commited but when the ball crossed the line, he's bottled it in front of a home crowd and cost us an undeserved semi-final place.

But oh well, we'll win the world cup in two years. No. Really. We will.
 

TIMBONE

Active Member
To be perfectly honest, I didn't even know there was a match on tonight, even though the media seem to think that everyone does know. Anyway football lovers, glad it's all over and the majority of the United Kingdom can get back to some sort of normality.
 

Maestro

Active Member
We were pathetic. It's as simple as that! :evil:

We had no ideas, we couldn't keep the ball and we couldn't pass it to one of our own team.

Yes we had a perfectly good goal disallowed, but overall, we deserved to lose that game.

Thank God we weren't playing a decent team.
A decent team would have slaughtered us completely when we defended in our own six yard box like that.

I think we need a complete overhaul for the next World Cup, with the exception of possibly Lampard and Campbell.

Get rid of the Swede and bring in Strachan. At least you'd get passion in the play then!



Here endeth the rant!! :evil: :evil:
 

Well Worth It

Active Member
Rooney's critics (if there are any) have now been answered.
As soon as he went off, our passing game went to rat~~~~.
We were shambolic in the middle of the field.
I lost count of how many times Lamps and Gerrard gave the ball to the Portugese, under little/no duress.
Not Good Enough.
We deserved to go out, but not in the way that we did.
Too harsh.....again. :roll: :cry:
 
Best team won....no excuses!

I haven't watched the disallowed goal again since someone told me that the whistle had already been blown before Terry and Campbell challenged the keeper. Apparantly it was a foul against Campbell for a shove on a defender which enabled him to get on the goal line to put the ball in the net.

Not particularly proud to be English at the best of times but it would really help if everyone didn't make excuses for a poor performance and did what Sven did when interviewed last night and take defeat graciously. Let's face it, we were lost without Rooney and too many so called 'big' players didn't deliver on the night. I would be more than happy to see Portugal go all the way now (but would secretly like to see the Czechs win!)

Class finish by Owen by the way 8)
 
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