大象传媒

Too much hype and not enough substance. What are the 大象传媒 going to use as there clip to sum up England in '90 it was gazza, '98 owen's goal '02 Beckhams penalty I can't even think what this world cup will be remembered for probably Beckham crying which is apt. The most overrated player in the world quitting the most overrated team in the world.

Johnbw Essex

If Sven's management of the English team has been a circus (I agree!), then the ref's decision to send off Rooney was surely a black comedy.
If you look at replays of Rooney's clash from side angles, then it's clear Rooney was fighting off two Portuguese players who were hacking into him and chasing the ball. Shots from the front suggest Ronney might have stamped on the defender deliberately because the distance are foreshortened and it looks like his gaze might be directed at both the player on the ground and the ball.
Also,why was Ronaldo let off for pleading for Rooney to be booked? Why did Rooney's faintest of shoves merit a red card? Why if he had to be given a card, not a yellow?
Sending Rooney off destroyed England's chances of scoring and winning. The decision by the ref gave the whole game a surreal, nightmarish touch. The scent of injustice is why defeat here is so hard to take.
If this kind of refereeing is just let go, then it'll do real damage to people's love of football, which depends on a sense that it is fair --or at least you can follow the decisions.
Why can't Fifa install video monitors and have a panel to check ref's decisions in real time just like in Wimbledon? Is it because they want a bit of lattitude to influence games this way or that?
I hope Fifa gets to the bottom of this. I hope the football community insists on a fair hearing for the sake of the future of this beautiful game.

If Sven's management of the English team was a circus (I agree) , then the ref's decision to send off Rooney was a black comedy.
Replays from side angels clearly show he was trying to fight off two Portuguese who were hacking away at him and chasing the ball -- something that is not nearly so clear from the front shot replays because here the distances are foreshortened and it looks like Rooney's eyes might be directed both at the player and the ball.
Also, why was Ronaldo allowed to plead for Rooney to be booked? Why did Rooney's faint shove merit a red card? Why not a yellow?
This red card really diminished England's chances of scoring and winning. It gave the game to my mind a surreal, nightmarish touch. I hope Fifa gets to the bottom of this because the real defeat for football is this kind of poor refereeing at such a high level.

i'll tell you an england squad who are now equally overated..

1990

terry butcher

you did well for sunderland too. thanks for that. maybe you should never comment on anything ever again.

Let the relentless excuses begin. Fortunately it is not hte weather this time. Let us face it. England never played well in any of the games. As far as Rooney, he did not play like he was supposed to play and yet we keep giving him excuses like he is recovering from foot injury (Why play him if he is not 100%) and he is hot tempered (worst excuse, only will make him do it again).
He should be reprimanded and not allowed to play in international until he accepts his mistake. As far as the press goes, stop your false buildup and giving excuses to over paid and arrogant players. Englad as nation should feel ashamed of one of thei players bad behaviour.

England deserved all they got, a shambolic team from start to finish, why only take a couple of strikers if you want to score goals.

England will not be remembered in this world cup, But it does make me smile at the sudden withdrawal of chav flags adorning cars.

Even Fred Truman managed to play for a football team as well as the England cricket team.

I say the whole team should resign, just like beckam, perhaps spend more time on training the next team rather than taking the fake suntanned wags on shopping trips.

Tim (uk) disgusted

Every time some one appeals to the "beautiful game" I am forced to grimace.

If such an idea ever existed (before my birth in 1982 possibly?) then it is far too late to save it now; it has fallen foul of a tsunami sized wave that inludes money, agents, cheating unpunished, referee incompetence, referee dishonesty, FIFA and UEFA criminal negligence, and bad sportsmanship on all sides.

The game is dead, the business has long been around; at club level money is now the key and the board of directors has as much significance as the manager. Chelsea's decision to pay 30+ million on a player with 2 years goalscoring left is indicative of the moden trend and it looks as though Manchester United will follow.

To those who still claim the "beautiful game" I urge you to research the ability of bringing it back from the dead, for that is where it curretly rests.

Im portuguese, and naturally i support Portugal.
I do agree with some coments complaining Rooney beeing sent off, the ref should have given a yellow card in my opinion. Also i was shocked to see Ronaldo appealing to the ref against his team mate Rooney.
Thats all part of football, as we like it or not. World Cup in these days isn麓t about great football, its about who wins and who doesnt. Its sad to see Brazil, Argentina and England going home earlier, as every football fan was expecting those teams to play at the level of their players.
I would say England was unlucky, despite Sven麓s controversial choices and Rooney questionable red card. They were the better team against Portugal, with 10 vs 11. England fans may shout: "but thats not enought!". As i myself, as a portuguese fan, would answer: "but you earned our respect and this team will never be forgotten".

I am absolutely disgusted at the way we (England) played during this world cup. We got exactly what we deserved. Why does it take us going down to 10 men to actually start playing and creating (just about) a few chances. Personally I have no quibbles with the ref sending Rooney off. Without a doubt it was a straight red card. You can't stamp on someones family jewels and expect to get away with it! Although admittedly Ronaldo's response is absuolutey shocking and should be dealt with by FIFA. Also why bother taking Theo Walcott if you don't intend to play the lad?

It is the fans in Germany I feel sorry for. These players should be ashamed of themselves. They get paid on average around about 90k a week to play for their clubs but the fans who went to Germany probably spent the equivalent of 3 months salary to watch their country play and are rewarded with that drivel!

I'm in an absolute state of disgust. The only sympathy I have for the players is that Erikson picked a formation that didn't suit them.

i think that david beckham didn't bring nothing special to an england match except when ther was a free kick to be taken and even then sometimes he didn't live up to his name. he should not have kept the captaincy any longer anyway because he doesn't bring anything to the game. we need a captain like steven gerrard or lohn terry then we will have a true leader of the team

Watching the response of English fans to the Wayne Rooney red card and Christian Ronaldo role has been revealing.
Should a man's position be based on loyalty or what is right? If your soldier commits an atrocity against an enemy do you stand behind him because he's your man or persecute because he was wrong? Is stepping on the groin of a man who is down right?
Should a man's loyalty be to his club or his country? Would John Terry complain if an opponent stepped on Wayne Rooney's groin? If club comes before country were John Terry and Frank Lampard wrong for not defending their club teamate Ricardo Carvalho?

I'm lost for words to describe our performances. Lampard, i watched him every game, didnt get forward enough at all. Every other player had some credit due. Downing, Jenas, Carrick are lightweight players who are not world class. What about walcott? His pace against portugal. Its just all too familiar and about time it changed, we always get shafted at these tournaments.

In response to post 13:-

You have a valid point. However, What I was reffering to myself was Ronaldo trying to get another player sent off. That is NOT acceptable and unsportsman like...

Rooney was sent off for a clear and deliberate stamp on the Portuguese player who was lying on the ground 鈥� not for pushing Ronaldo.

I also have to say I can't believe Phil McNulty when he says "the semi-final England should have been in".

Why should they have been it.

They played poorly all tournament with the Sweden game being the only match which actually generated much in the way of excitement.

They failed to produce entertaining football. They lacked style and imagination and were often reduced to humping balls to Peter Crouch. They reminded me of Jack Charlton's Ireland with Niall Quinn up front.

They failed to produce any fast-flowing high-tempo passing football that teams such as Argentina and Mexica managed to entertain us with.

England had an easy draw and scraped their way through the tournament then went out against the first half-decent team they played 鈥� a team who were missing two of their best players.

They were lucky to be in the quarter-final never mind the semi-final Des.

All I can say is that we went to Germany with the best squad in the world on the basis of club form, and the kind of collective talent that occurs once in a generation.

Sven, who's value-added to the team has been large and in the negative, Adam Crozier and the present FA collective of committee men are collectively culpable for squandering the family silver. we should not forgive them. Why are they not resigning?

Once again Sven and England have failed to perfrom at the world's biggest stage. The script was written before the tournament started to be honest, Sven had not decided which formation to use, and he had also selected two unfit players, a kid who has never played in the premiership and peter crouch as his suposedly prolific strikeforce for the tourament. Three of those players could have done a very good job if they were fully fit. Sven was mad to bring Theo Walcott though, the poor kid must have been so embarrased, he had only played a dozen games for Southampton in the Championship and he was being asked to play for the second favourites for the World Cup. I think not. I mean, even with Wayne Rooney not fully fit and Michael Owen flying home with a knee injury, he still didn't get a chance! We never really got going during the tournament, the formation didn't make the most of the talent Sven had in front of him. Just look at the difference in quality between the squads of Portugal and England available on Saturday. Portugal had an out of favour Sporting Lisbon keeper, a player normally on the bench for Portugal who plays for Benfica and an inconsistent 30-year old PSG striker. Wheras we had a squad of the very best, most of our squad playing for teams like Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham, argubaly the four best clubs in England. But the difference is, they can play as a team, we can't. We don't have a system that suits all our players, they do. We now have to pick ourselves up for the qualifying campaign for Euro 2008, which I believe we have a great chance of winning, don't we always say that?!

I have read all the above Blogs and can only say one thing..... Point the finger at the players! All this talk of it being Sven's fault or Portugal's fault for being so called cheats. What team in the world doesen't dive? what team in the world doesen't attempt to get something out of nothing? It's the nature of the sport as annoying as it is. Basicly if we look at the statistics England had better numbers in one category---- fouls committed. Although I agree that Crouch would have given the Portuguese back four a nightmare if he played from the start. Sven is with these players everyday and knows what he has to work with. This is England not TOGO there are 23 excellent capable bodies to be placed on the pitch. Both England and Brazil both exited the World Cup for the same reason-----> OVERCONFIDENCE and Big Headedness!!!

England were bad but they will learn. They failed because they were knackered and under pressure from day one. Notice that no players smiled to each other during the game? Secondly, we were never going to score with one striker so Eriksson is mostly to blame. England were shackled from the off.Rooney is an idiot with only 2 brain cells, both of which are on holiday. He meant it, he deserved it. End of story. Yes, the Portuguese tried to get players booked by cheating but you just have to resist the urge and deal with it. England are so good at shooting themselves in the foot every tournament. The players are not intelligent or skillful enough to play a passing, quick incisive game like any decent side. But there is hope. Firstly, a decent captain who can actually LEAD. Secondly, play a system that players like. Thirdly, and obviously, pick the right team. Competitions are won by the best team, NOT the best players. Any idiot knows that. The past is Beckham. The future is Hargreaves who was magnificent because he's not really English and doesn't have a typical English footballing mentality. In other words he isn't scared. Also Walcott, Lennon etc, and unfortunately Rooney, who will never learn but because he's quite good,I suppose he'll have to be picked in the future.

Oh yes, pity the new manager is going to serve up the same insipid, uninspired mix. With Scolari as coach I won't be sitting here in two years'time writing this. We'd be in the semi final. Scolari has the balls to leave players out - and it has got him results.

i can't imagine why lampard was selected at every game. he wants to take every free kick, and ends up shooting skywards, including the very critical first penalty kick, thereby dashing our dreams, as ericksson, beckham and mcclaren sleeps on...

England were bad but they will learn. They failed because they were knackered and under pressure from day one. Notice that no players smiled to each other during the game? Secondly, we were never going to score with one striker so Eriksson is mostly to blame. England were shackled from the off.Rooney is an idiot with only 2 brain cells, both of which are on holiday. He meant it, he deserved it. End of story. Yes, the Portuguese tried to get players booked by cheating but you just have to resist the urge and deal with it. England are so good at shooting themselves in the foot every tournament. The players are not intelligent or skillful enough to play a passing, quick incisive game like any decent side. But there is hope. Firstly, a decent captain who can actually LEAD. Secondly, play a system that players like. Thirdly, and obviously, pick the right team. Competitions are won by the best team, NOT the best players. Any idiot knows that. The past is Beckham. The future is Hargreaves who was magnificent because he's not really English and doesn't have a typical English footballing mentality. In other words he isn't scared. Also Walcott, Lennon etc, and unfortunately Rooney, who will never learn but because he's quite good,I suppose he'll have to be picked in the future.

Oh yes, pity the new manager is going to serve up the same insipid, uninspired mix. With Scolari as coach I won't be sitting here in two years'time writing this. We'd be in the semi final. Scolari has the balls to leave players out - and it has got him results.

Rooney should have been given a yellow card. In American football offensive and defensive lineman step on each other just abut every play and I can't even recall the last time someone in the NFL got kicked out of a game for steping on someone. Players wear support cups for just those reasons. Let the players play or the fans will leave the game also.

I think the best teams for semifinals
should have been England,Germany,France
and Brazil.

I wish to enumerate reason why England will not win the world cup for a LONG time.

All the British Players are OVERRATED and given so much hype by the British media.This make the player pompous and too proud.

I think the one positive England can take is the positive Owen Hargreaves performance. Thou i'm not sure the chairman of the Michael Carrick fan club, Alan Hansen will agree. Considering Hargreaves has been lauded for his performance yesterday by the vast majority of England fans. It was interesting to read in todays Telegrpah that Gary Linker believes 'Hargreaves can't fundamentally play the defensive midfield role'. Is the first duty of a defensive midfield player not to protect his defenders? For all the hype about Carrick he only made one tackle against Ecuador.

Now that Beckham has said he will quit as England captain, should the 大象传媒 pundits including Hansen, Shearer and Wright take a long hard look at themselves?

Also will Phil McNulty follow the example of his journalist collegue Oliver Holt at the Mirror and issue a apology to Owen Hargreaves?

Final comment, how much did Phil McNulty's stay in Baden-Baden cost the licence fee payer? How many 大象传媒 journalist actually covered Baden-Baden?

A frank assessment

The defence - very good, 4 out of 5 clean sheets. Only cause for concern the jitters against Sweeden's ariel threat.
Midfield - sporadic, no-one delivered anywhere near their full potential. Don't just single out Beckham, Lampard was a shadow of himself, Cole non-existent except for that one wonder strike and Gerrard never dominated.
Attack - Owen and Rooney were woeful or injured or both. Crouch just isn't world class.
Tactics - I just keep asking myself why when we are in a quarter final against a depleated team didn't we "go for it." Crouch and Rooney together with the midfield pushing in behind. You have to take your moment and as we never win on penalties, we needed to go for it from the start!

I believe as a nation we are far to over critical, we dont want winners we want the team to fail because if we do that then we can sell more newspapers...!!! The England players themselves know they under performed, we know it, the neutral fan knows we did but to stand and blame beckham / rooney / gerrard / lampard etc is stupidity and sums us up as a nation of hypocritical pesamistic people...!! I look at three men for the demise of England this summer, 1) the referee, i firstly cannot understand why and ARGIE ref was put in charge of this game, rooney did not mean to stamp he wasn't looking at the player, i beleive if he didn't have the two players grabbing him pulling him to the floor he would not have landed on him. The push after on Ronaldo, well we've seen alot worse, especially wwhen u look staright after rooney pushed ronaldo, maniche decided to jump in and push rooney...!!!! 2) Ronaldo (alpay the 2nd), i personally as a stand will refuse to watch premiership football until he is sold, i think any self true englishman can watch a scum cheating low life in our national league after he done that is condoning what he done. I agree with Alan Shearer i do hope Rio locks rooney in a room with ronaldo and let them settle it... 3) sven sven sven....... i am a sven fan up until this world cup, so many questions....!!! theo walcott?? taking off joe cole??? taking off lennon??? the list is endless....!!! his only decision that i defend is the one in owen haregreaves, in him we found a true lion yesterday, he covered more ground, won his tackles and my hat comes off to him....!!!

My message to the nation...... instead of looking to smash this england team to pieces lets just say lessons have been learnt, we move on and just take one minute to think about how you felt yesterday when we made our exit and times that by a million and thats how the lads felt... it is easy to recover when you've been let down by someone but if you let someone down, not so easy anymore....!!!

23 heroic lions.... long live the beckham era...!!!

Wayne Rooney is no more than a potato faced lout, who happens to be a good footballer - he thinks. He deserved everything he got in that red card - perhaps that will teach him a lesson in his pampered existence.

Good ridance to Sven and to Beckham ( I predict his full international retirement is not far away ) Beckham should be 3rd choice right midfield.

Rooney is an idiot who kicked all England fans in the bollocks, not just Carvalhio. Drop him Mclaren.

Svents tactics were a shambles, how can you not have a system worked out by the quaters ? England may be overhyped but some of the players warrent the expectation, though they never had a chance with this clown pulling the strings.

We've been called boring and unadventerous, I must agree. We need to return to our attacking instincts.

Oh and that stretford gives me the creeps.

I just wanted to say thanks to the 大象传媒 bloggers. I have really enjoyed the stuff you all have written.

And I think it would be keen if you all would create a Euro '08 blog.

Thanks!

For few years i lived in Italy then i moved to france. Every wekend there were highlights of other european league on public TV. we got acquainted with some of the best players in the world unlike here, where we look at the players in the premership and then brand the best english players world class. No doubt some of our players perform well in the champions league, but most of the time their skills do not compare to those of true world class players like Ballack, Totti, del Piero. We don't take on defenders (Joe cole, Lennon and Rooney are the exceptions) and destabilise teams, the top teams always posses 1 or 2 players able to unlock defences. It's time we open our eyes to see what other countries have done with the game we invented and get rid with the english conceit. This will save us from perpetual heartache.

The British press including 大象传媒 amaze me!
Non of them have blamed Rooney for stepping on the portugese crouch.They are either blaming Ronaldo or the ref!
How do you expect Rooney to learn if you don't tell him his mistakes?
The British press must learn to criticize their players before and during tournaments and not overate them.
THE SUCCESS OF ENGLAND IN FUTURE WORLD CUPS LIE IN THE HANDS OF THE BRITISH PRESS.
Overate your players and they will fail.
Make them look ordinary and they will strive to perform.

Who would you blame for the defeat? For me it is Sven and Ronaldo. Vote here:

To those believe, and argue, that England should have went further than the quarter finals are dead-wrong.

1) England had one of the easiest groups. Paraguay and T&T are a joke. Sweden is a shadow of its previous teams.
2) Not in one out of five games, did England play well. They beat not a single decent team (the best they did was tie Sweden).
3) In contrast, all the other semi-finalists did much better. Portugal beat Mexico, Angola, Netherlands and England. Germany beat Poland, Sweden and Argentina. France beat Spain and Brazil. Italy beat the Czech Republic and Ghana. Based on the way that England played - I doubt that they would have defeated any of the above teams. England simply does not belong in the top four in the world. I doubt that they should have been even in the Quarter Finals.
4) Every team, like England, had problems with players missing games. Specifically, Portugal played without brilliant Deco.
5) Rooney deserves more than to miss the next match. His stomping of the Portuguese player's groin had a malicious intent, and could have resulted in a serious, serious injury.

>> john

I disagree, you post represents the 'inferiority complex' part of the English football psyche. Our players are good enough to compete with the best foreigners. I watch the Spanish and Italian leagues every week. The only gap is in the mind, confidence is the key.

That's not to say that we deserve to or should win, but we were not tripping when we said we have every chance.

Im hearing story's of players didnt want to meet fan's at the two airport's. The FA then arrange for the private private driver to go round the back - proberly the Harrods entrance for private jets. Many familys were waiting for hours, these are paid by the FA they Must have duties to wave and say sorry. Selfish morons.

The Plane is now diverted to liverpool instead of Manchester.

Having spoke with one of the player's sisters in Germany a coupe of times, I got the impression they really dont give a toss I wont go into what was said but there was some power struggles involving Beckham towards other players, because of this and the flack he was getting from the press the players lost some respect. Instead of playing with love and respect many were playing with jealousy and a sense of anger. So the whole vibe was upset - could this be down to Beckham and thats why he has quit?

Beckham has not given a toss for years - he was always a Sarong wearing knob and still is. He has never had a clue for fashion choosing a wife (how can you marry a Spice Girl?), and a clueless fool Peter Taylor made him captain.

I expected him to say sorry for his performance in the world cup - but he comes out with a very selfish statement - its all about me....

Hargreaves - Terry - A Cole - Ferdinand - Lennon

Haviing seein ENgland play two games you guys Rock _ you played with your hearts and minds - its sad your team mates did not.

Hi Im Portuguese. I watched the game avidely. And for waht I read from english fans and press, I think they gotten a few things wrong.

Rooneys exit was indeed a turning point of the game. You guys say it was for the worse, but as I see it England created alot more danger with 10 men than with 11.

Both teams were very close to win, however, I think england were unfortunate and always missed where it counted, as for the portuguese, there was so much we could have donne with a half baked team wich is tired and battered from the Holland game.

A note for the English press, I think there should be more care on what it is said because as a foreigner I get the feel that the press always blaims referreeing mistakes, oposing team cheats and theatrics first before looking at their own team. Portugals style of play always reflects that of our oponents. With England we played farly clean and I dont see the reazons for apeals after reprisals on C Ronaldo when he return to Manchester or if he planned Rooneys expulsion.
I am glad to read on this blog that not all English fans are that blind.

I think England fought bravely but in the end they given up to the psicological war waged on the press up there in britain.

For your information all England games and players have always been looked at with respect by our press and we would like to see the same on the Englands part.

good game Cheers all.

speaking as a scotsman who loves football from any quarter,it was entirely obvious to any to everyone I know that England were lucky to get out the group stages,they were bland and totally bereft of any plan B when plan A was not working.This isn't bitterness just stating the obvious.however i would love to see a Scottish team in the world cup never mind the last 8, look on the bright side you canlook forward to south africa 2010 can i?.

"Others like myself will pack our ever-increasing number of bags and laundry mountain and head for Munich to the semi-final England should have been in"

you mean "would have been very lucky to have been in and didn't deserve to grace"

OmegaSupreme

For your information i am english, but having been living here for 25 yrs it's only natural to emnbrance the english culture and support the national team ; as a result i want what's best for the english team. My country is the host of the WC and is doing fine thanks.

i just think that we should reflect on the past games and admit we are not among the top 6 or 7 teams when it comes to football let alone sports. and this is down to our attitude of adolation for players that need to prove they worth at the international level.

As fans we have the rights to demand a better performance from the players, because we the pay the coach and palyers comprehensively and they got nothing to show for it. The other teams in the semis have had to put with the press back for not perform and we should take same appraoch. else we will same be producing arrogant players with no respect for other footballing nations. Needlees to say, the german or thr french can teach can laugh at us claiming to be the best but we can't even manage to go the semis, just 2 so far.

Good riddance Sven, bye-bye Becks. I can only hope that McClaren has the strength of character to not pick Beckham on his past, and look at his current poor performance. Englan went to this World cup with only 4 strikers - 2 injured, 1 untried and 1 with a desperately poor Premier record. Where were the goals suposed to come from? The country were told that the fortunes of their national team hinged on the performance of a single player (Rooney) in this group of multi-millionaires, and he had not played for weeks and was never "match fit". Ditto Owen ("I'm going to win the Golden boot" - what a muppet!). So Owen is crocked (again - how much of that is down to his long layoff?), Walcott never got a try-out, and Rooney was never sharp, and never got any support. And in his frustration, saw red, and got red. Even if England had beaten Portugal, who would score in the next round? Crouch? Give me a break - he should stick to dancing - although a poor dancer, he's a better dancer than a striker. Or would Walcott have got his first game - a debutant in the WC semi-final? The entire forward selection stunk of desperation (the best 4 strikers England could muster?), and the selection of the usual suspects based on familiarity, not present performance. They were always domed to fail - Frankly, I'm amazed they got asfar as they did. They should have been out in the last game. My main concern is that McClaren is going to perpetuate the legacy. They have been tedious and embarrassing to watch, and the decision to take a buch of orange-coloured slappers along to watch was another move to bring ridicule to the team. Why on earth any team would want Eriksson after this pathetic display of incompetent selection and tactical planning is beyond me.
(An Englishman in the USA)

hi
Do you, football fans and english supporters, really belive that a red card is shown on request? Do you believe that CRonaldo said to the referee that he had to show Rooney the red card and the referee did just that? PlZ! Get real!Wake up!
It's true that you played better than the Portuguese, you probably had the best chances to score, but you didn't!
You had to play with one less player, for us to see how good you are! You played better with 10 than with 11!, but even so it was not enough to for us or for you to score.
You lost it! Face it! Just like we had to face it 2 years ago against Greece!

i meant i am not english.

sorry for my dislexia

The play that the Portuguese team prefer is to snap at the ankles like a dog would until they get a reaction and the cry foul.
When the tournament started I saw Portugal play Angola and I thought they looked brilliant, very skillful. And they are. But then against Holland they played like animals. They were deliberately trying to get the opposition angry, nudging, pulling shirts, kicking, diving and actng so that they could frustrate the opposition in to lashing back at them. And it worked.

I would have thought that after that game the referee's would have been wiser to their approach to the game. Well in the same way that one would think that referee's would get wiser to the likes of the Italian's taking dives. That didn't happen ofcourse.
Rooney was always always going to be easy to aggravate. He has a quick temper which is well publicised. One would assume that he must have been coached on this before the game and told to keep his temper in check. However I agree with Bobby Robson who said that he is young, he was playing in a position that is alien to him, he didn't get support and was running, running, running the whole game to try to turn opportunities in to goals and ended up getting frustrated which resulted in him lashing out. Ofcourse he has to learn that he can't do that. Bear in mind that much more experienced Holland players had the same reaction as him when they played Portugal in the previous game so he is not alone in his frustration or his reaction to what was a persistant aggravated attempt to get him to foul.
But he is only young and whilst no one can condone his action, there is no doubt to me that he desperately felt the weight of the English fan's expectation to score a goal.

1.i agree, lets get some rich anybody to buy villa.

2.how much bbc money went into providing cushy jobs for too many journalist?

3.THE MOST IMPORTANT PART - COULD TERRY BUTCHER PLEASE NEVER BE ALLOWED TO AIR HIS VIEWS EVER AGAIN.

Really only one reason England lost - lack of quality. Sven's not a great manager but he's not that bad either - he took a team that had trouble making it out of the first round (2000) and turned them into consistent quarterfinalists. As for this being the best team england have ever had - it's just a load of media hype. Our first choice players just aren't as good as some of the teams that still are and have been knocked out (Brazil, Argentina, Italy). Lampard and Gerrard are ridiculously overrated, Michael Owen has as much potential and less ability than he did in 1998 and Rooney doesn't really compare to Messi, Tevez, Ronaldo etc.

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 scores the most goals 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 a hero and that day a national holiday鈥� sort of. Two in the back of my head or this English squad, the decision is easy, a no brainier if you would. Reality is what it is, you got what you deserved. Any team that played one striker in this high level game doesn't deserved to win (except France, because Henry a very skilled and creative player, plays all over the field and just doesn鈥檛 sits and wait for the ball) it's a shameful display from England, you are not Trinidad and Tobago. Mr. Rooney you are a thug, as someone kindly put it 鈥� a raging Mike Tyson鈥� and someone have to be brave enough to call you out, and stop providing relentless excuses to cover up all your short comings, your reputation preceded you, you are a bully first, player 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.

broken

I'ts interesting seeing what other people think the reason we got knocked out. I predicted some time ago that Rooney is a liability rather than the potential match winner that everybody seemed to be hailing him as. To me all the talk of 'cheats' and tactics and Sven hides the real reasons. Yes, there seems to have been pressure on Sven from all quarters about systems, team selection and tactics and he appears to have been trying to keep everyone happy. We were just not good enough and trying to make out we have 'world class' players will not win any trophies. Please let's not pretend anymore; a world class player is only world class when he has done something to earn that tag. We have a lot of very good players and sometimes for the sake of the team even what some people think of as the best player must be left out. Rooney in my mind is not the player everyone seems to think he is and in my opinion, until he proves otherwise (and that may take some time), is a liability and diverting attention away from alternatives. By the way the Ronaldo wink in my opinion, did not suggest he got Rooney sent off, but rather a knowing 'told you so'.

I think that England under-performed terribly in this World Cup. From the squad selection, through to the games, i think our chances of winning were always very slim. Commentators ranted on about how "this is our year" - did they honestly believe that?

Sven picked a good team defensivly, and in the midfield section is was a pretty good selection, though up front - this is where our problems begun.

This, ontop of the lack of, what i feel, belief from Sven, burried our chances of winning long ago.

We scraped through the group stages, with only 1 good half of play from all of the games. THe portugal game was meant to be a "turning point" for the team, it looked like it was going to be from the first 10 minutes, but it faded.

We played pretty badly from 10 minutes until the half time whistle, then came the second half and the Rooney red card - after this, i was SO IMPRESSED with the spirit and determination of the team. From the minute Rooney was sent off, we were a better team, who threatened 11 man portugal. We deserved to win on that, but that alone.

The Portuguese conduct on the pitch was attrocious - Ronaldo was probably the worst for it. Take Lennon's run into the box for example - when he was tackled and went down: he just got straight back up. Had this of been a Portuguese player, i am sure they would have rolled around on the floor in "agony" grasping any part of their body claiming they had been nearly murdered or something of the sort. It was sickening to watch some of the Portuguese play.

let's forget this WC as there is nothing to remember anyway and concentrate on future competitions. But this time i hope we would have learned from our mistakes.

England are soo overated. The media in this country overhypes their pathetic sportsman. It is the same with Tim Henman, and the cricketers. Ok, so they won the Ashes, but that was because Aus had a rare desertion of form. Like a tsunami, such events are rare. The norm is to beat the living daylights out of the English.

Rude, I should point out that you've spelled the word 'so' with one too many o's. Otherwise, you seem to have very good command of English.

Imagine how the Brazilian's must be feeling. Imagine how high their expectations were. They didn't play well eithr throughout the tournament and I remember hearing one of their players saying that it doesn't matter how far they get, not winning is the same as coming last to the fan's back home.
The Spanish must also be wondering as well if their turn will ever come. They also had a brilliant team on paper that never seem to quite pull off the big matches.
Argentinian fan's must also be in the same position as the English having watched their team go out on Penalties, albeint having played a much fairer game against Germany but they went 1 up so they must have been feeling worse to have given away the lead.
Perhaps England can take some consolation in that they are not alone - there were other great teams with even better players such as Messi, Ronaldo etc who have also gone home already.

Utter rubbish, I am disappointed the 大象传媒's chief football writer is coming out with this stuff.

First of all no one cares how much he earns, thats what the FA offered him, what do you expect him to do, turn him down?

Secondly, to suggest he is a "failure" is an unbelieveable statement to make. Do you not remember the mess England were in before he took over? You know, going out of the group stages of the european championships, losing at home to germany, howard wilkinson in charge of the side, struggling to qualify for the world cup. If someone just after keegan walked out had said to you that we'd reach three successive quarter finals (please show me the last manager to manage this, you'll have to go back a while) you'd have snapped their hand off.

This constant overrating of the players England have and the constant underrating of the players other countries have is really unbelieveable. You look at certain positions and you're asking a hell of a lot for sven to conjure a tournament win. Joe Cole consistently flatters to deceive at club level, not sure how sven can change that in a few weeks. Lampard had 25odd shots on goal during this world cup, can sven expect him to get one or two of this in the back of the net? It's pretty clear we only have 3 strikers good enough to play world cup finals football, and one of those was crocked and another wasn't able to keep his cool. What do you want Sven to do, pick Andy Johnson and go through the motions?

To have a go at a quarter final finish in 02 is even more outrageous. Gerrard, Owen, Neville, Beckham, Hargreaves, Scholes, all those players were either out injured or not fit enough to play anywhere near their best. What is Sven supposed to do about that?

Can we please please please have some more realistic expectations from so called experts like yourself.

Rude I am an Australian. The Aussie media rate their own sportsmen so highly that they cannot take a defeat. The media went beserk when Englad won the Ashes and when they won the Rugby World cup. And furthermore, Australia did not have a rare desertion of form when they lost the Ashes - they were losing to everyone. I remember that embarassing ad for the Cricket match against Bangladesh where the Bangladeshi player wearing an english knights suit of armour and was quaking because he was so (supposedly) scared at being bowled at by the Aussies. That was played on tv over and over before they played the match which Bangladesh beat them in ! It is embarassing to me how the Australian's can be so arrogant about their own sportsmen and say stupid things like "it's the norm to beat te living daylights out of the English". Pity they can't beat the living daylights out of the Kiwi's in the rugby consistantly.

Why did England lose = in a word -"Eriksson".With the most talented group of English players since 1966 at his diposal he managed to reduce them to an average nervous group. Playing one man up front and showing far to much respect for the other team.This England team lacked serious leadership starting with the coach.Watching Rooney throw his boots off in anger after being substituted in an earlier game ,that incident was a warning flag that was not addressed.He is an incredible talent but is still only 19 he needs coaching before every game to curb his temper.The five in the middle did not work and resticted Gerard and Lampard from playing their own game.But more importantly what I feel was lacking was a true belief in themselves that they could win and I blame the coach for that.

DAN - Read this and thought of you!

ONLY the boutique owners of Baden-Baden will pine for England now that Sven-Goran Eriksson's players, and their gift-laden WAGS, are heading for home. The tournament will not miss them, that's for sure. In three weeks in Germany, the so-called golden generation played reasonably well for 45 minutes against Paraguay in Frankfurt and impressively for another 45 minutes against Sweden in Cologne. For the rest of it, the team that Eriksson described as the most talented and best prepared of his era were a dismal failure; an over-hyped, under-prepared, excuse-making, tactically muddled, self-delusional shambles.

What do we remember of them? One of the few images that will last is of Wayne Rooney in Cologne on the night England twice failed to put Sweden away. Substituted in the second half, the Manchester United player stormed to the bench, kicked away a water bottle, beat the dugout roof with his fist and sent one his boots flying. Rooney was not happy being replaced but his thunder was, in the main, because of the poverty of the service he received on the night.
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Michael Owen felt the same way after his two games but expressed it more eloquently, by pointing out that his team-mates were not getting the ball into the right areas. To anybody with eyes in their head, this was an absolute fact. Too often there was no connection between midfield and attack, "standing still football" as Wigan manager Paul Jewell described it.

England's passing and movement was dreadful to the end. "Keeping possession is the most basic thing in football and one of the most neglected in the English game," said John Giles, one of the great analysts of the game. Owen raised serious issues about the way England went about their business and they were never properly addressed. Eriksson simply cut Owen dead with his response. "I have heard that for 30 years from strikers who're not scoring," he said.

But Owen told of a different reality in the squad to the one that was routinely presented to us at base camp in Baden-Baden. The manager and the captain beat the drum until finally they were silenced yesterday. After three soul-less performances in the group stages, David Beckham announced before Ecuador that he had "never been in a team that's so positive going into games". This quote screamed off the page at the time and still does now.

Beckham was in some great Manchester United sides. He played alongside warriors like Keane and Bruce and Pallister and Cantona and Ince. He was in the team that snatched the European Cup from under the noses of Bayern Munich in 1999 through some luck but mostly through sheer force of their bloody-minded will and he says that an England team that panted and wheezed their way through to the second round in Germany had more fire in its belly? Nonsense.

He, and others, said throughout the tournament that England were getting "better and better" despite evidence that they were getting worse and worse. Eriksson said after the nervous defeat of Ecuador in the quarter-final that "we are now among the best eight teams in the world". This was garbage talk. Ghana, Australia, Spain, Ivory Coast and Holland didn't make the last eight but all of them produced way more than England did. They just had the misfortune to play against superpower nations rather than the popguns England faced before they failed their one true test yesterday.

Some people were taken in by the notion that this was England's year, by the widespread claim that since 1966 this represented their best chance to lift the World Cup. Forget 1990, when heartbreaking failure in a penalty shootout denied them a shot at a drastically limited, and eminently beatable, Argentina in the final. This was, as Eriksson insisted, the big opportunity they'd been waiting for. The manager didn't just say England could win it. He said they would win it. But, then, Eriksson said a lot of things and not many of them made a great deal of sense.

Eriksson's propensity for muddled thinking went into overdrive the minute he announced that Theo Walcott, a teenager he had never seen play, had made his World Cup squad. Eriksson's rationale? "Maybe what I've done is not logical, but why not?"

Why not? Maybe because he was nowhere near ready but, of course, Eriksson wouldn't have known this because he didn't do his homework. Nor did he do his homework ahead of the Sweden game. He had no idea who the referee was on the night. Massimo Busacca was the man in charge. The name would have meant something to Rooney who behaved like a lunatic the last time Busacca refereed an England game - the ill-fated visit to Windsor Park in the qualifying campaign. A manager on top of his game would have sussed this and would have told Rooney that he ought to be careful, that maybe Rooney's card was marked from before, that maybe that referee might feel he had unfinished business with the player. It didn't matter in the end, but this was another little example of many of how Eriksson failed England.

Svenisms abounded before a ball had been kicked in Germany. These were glaring warning signs that England's claim to be serious contenders for this World Cup was overblown. At a training camp in the Algarve, a month or so before the tournament began, Eriksson described Owen as being "super-fit, physically fantastic, in his best shape for years". A few weeks later, after a friendly against Hungary, the manager said that, because of his painful foot, Owen was forgiven for not committing fully to tackles. The contradictions piled up and with them came the unmistakable impression that the manager didn't have much of a clue what he was doing despite his angry protestations to the contrary last week.

He said this was the fittest squad he'd put together and then watched them wilt in the heat against Paraguay on a day when temperatures in parts of the UK were hotter than they were in Frankfurt, the venue for that scratchy 1-0 victory. He said that the heat was responsible for England's woeful passing in the second half but Rio Ferdinand put us straight on that one. "We didn't retain the ball well enough and it wasn't down to the heat," he said. "The defensive line was too far away from the front and that gave the midfielders too much ground to make up."

Still, Eriksson came out with some bizarre line, based on some statistics that somebody had given him, that he claimed proved that England had, in fact, been one of the more impressive first-game performers. Self-delusion had taken a strong hold by now.

Three days before the Sweden match, Eriksson said there was no need to deploy a holding midfielder but then he changed his mind, picking Owen Hargreaves in the role. Hargreaves, it has to be said, did well. "I had so many quick balls from Owen that I could get running at the full backs," said Joe Cole, who was liberated on the left wing. "Tactically it was brilliant." So brilliant, in fact, that Eriksson changed it for Ecuador when he didn't have to and put Hargreaves at full-back and Michael Carrick, a player he had ignored for more than five years, into the holding role. Carrick had little impact and Cole was a non-event. Hargreaves returned to the position against Portugal yesterday.

Eriksson never gave any sense that he knew what his best team was nor how he wanted them to play. After five and a half years at the helm, he was still experimenting. Compare his flim-flamming over tactics and selection to the iron conviction of his opposite number yesterday, Luiz Felipe Scolari. You'd imagine that under the Brazilian, the pace and passion of Aaron Lennon and his ability to beat a man and ask questions of defenders would have got him in the team ahead of Beckham who, his few dead ball moments apart, has been a pitiful performer in this World Cup.

England were never going to win the tournament but in another manager's hands they would have at least put up a fight. The day before the campaign started, Steven Gerrard outlined the policy that was required to succeed.

"We have to go in with a no-fear attitude," he said. "We know we can beat any other team on our day. If we were to be knocked out while playing negatively or worrying about the other team it would be a regret. We are England and we have to be aggressive and kill teams off. At this level one goal is sometimes not enough."

Was Gerrard voicing in public what concerned him in private? Very possibly.

No fear? England were riddled with fear in all of their games. There are countless examples that illustrate it and here is just one. With 15 minutes to go against Ecuador, Eriksson took Cole off and replaced him with Jamie Carragher, an attack-minded player sacrificed for a defender in order to protect a one-goal lead against a third world football nation.

Then Lennon appeared on the field with a job of taking the ball into the corners and winding down the clock. Beckham said in the aftermath that England had answered their critics. Eriksson repeated his assertion that the team was getting better and better. It was a joke. All of it was a joke.
Tom English

The "most talented players since 1966" guff is nonsense with all due respect.

Venables in 96 had Seaman, Pearce, Adams, Ince, Gascoinge, Shearer, Sheringham all playing at or near their peak, and he had home advantage, and yet we only managed 2 wins from 5 games.

Robson from 86-90 had players like Barnes, Lineker, Beardsley, Robson, Butcher, Shilton, Hoddle and others to pick from.

We overrate the players we have and we overrate the league they play in, the sooner we realise that the better.

I agree with you David, Sven is a Spoofer. He did not prepare that team at all well. I do think the players did try though they did seem to be lacking in something and maybe it was self belief. I thought his commitment was indicative at the end of 90 minutes he didn't even appear to want to leave the bench and I couldn't see any evidence of some motivational speeches from him. Which was much different to Scolari who was going around all his players building them up. And when it went to penalites he let McLaren do all the work. It was like he was hardly interested. When Rooney was sent off, it was Beckham that got to his feet and went to the sideline.Sven didn't even move, not even to say anything to Rooney and yet today he is calling him the golden child of football in England. Perhaps Rooney had to pay him to say it as Sven only appears to find motivation in cash.

England are out thanks to the bunch of old men who run FIFA. How? The Rooney sending off, that's how. Rooney was having his shirt pulled and was being hacked at by two Portugues players for about 20 seconds before the ref blew the whistle. The ref saw the shirt pulling - make no mistake about that. Disorientated and off-balance following that roughing-up, Rooney then accidentally stepped on someones valuables. When the whistle blew I though the ref was going to award a free kick in favour of Rooney because he made no immediate move for a card and was in fact lecturing one (or both) of the Portuguese. Check the replay. It was only when Rooney half-heartedly pushed whinging Ronaldo aside that the ref's head snapped up, he beckoned Rooney to one side and took revenge for the sinking of the 'Belgrano'.

And all thanks to the bunch of old men at FIFA who refuse to implement the most elementary of time-delay, video-replay to ensure that ALL refereeing decisions (particularly at this level) are correct.

In all major competitions these old men continue to preside over the ruination of the beautiful game by cheats, manipulators and incompetents. They need to teach referees the maxim that the only good referee is an invisible referee! They need to teach them that sending a man off destroys the game and should only be done as a last resort and only when there is no doubt whatsoever as to the players culpability.

FIFA and a bunch of incompetent, ego-centred referees have contrived yet again, to destroy 4 years of preparations and the dreams of many nations who played the game the way it should be played; beautifully; honestly. They have presided over a World Cup farce and I will have to think long and hard before I waste so much nervous energy watching another one.

Solutions? A sin-bin between the second yellow and red cards. Sending off only allowed following incontovertible video evidence which is replayed immediately to the ref and linesmen. They can sort it out. I'm not being paid for this!

One final point - whatever Ronaldo says he said to the ref - that it was a foul - Rooney KNOWS what he said. Old Trafford can say goodbye to the diving whinger.

aplematt

that's something you should be telling the press, because they are the one always wrongly our hopes

The problem was not the coach. The great problem is the English journalists and pundits. People outside Britain laugh at the British media and that it's public swallow such crap that is promulgated in it. I think a not small part of the fact that England fails is just that, i.e. the journalists are rotten to the core and the public doesn't have the sense to see through it. Even tough man Scolari backed off when he saw what the British media was capable of.

Feel the love on this blog...

So does this mean that there will not be an England - Germany final?

Shame that, was rather looking forward to it.

I have read a few of these blogs and it is clear that it is England bashing day, still take it like men (or womeen), stop all the crying and moaning.

Applauded the winners and move on. If you don't then I question the way you were brought up. Why do we have to blame anyone?
We have good players but for some reason not a good team. Maybe our turn will be in the future(we say that every 2 years tho). The same can be said of Holland/Spain/Brazil/Argentina and lets not forget all the other teams that made up the 32, let alone all the other good teams that never got there.

Please stop the bitching, you all sound like kids in the playground.

The truth of the matter is that I have only seen a couple of good games in this world cup, Argentina vs. Mexico has been the highlight so far. I want to see a team go out to win rather than be scared of losing. all these 0-0 at half time are boring.
Good seeing France get better as they went on, and the hosts doing well too.

ok on the bbc coverage I have felt let down, I think I preffered ITV's coverage.

Butcher, no one cares what you think.
Shearer, I feel let down by you, you of all people should at least know better.
Ian Write, I expected that from you. Sour grapes maybe?
Hanson - can you find some new words, to describe players skills, weakness, you are getting a little tedious.
Please Motty go with Sven and Becks your time was up long ago, whats that little chuckle you do when you say something very dull all about?
Gary - you were great for England, but you are no Des.
Martin O Neil, why did you not do a good interview, we all wanted you in charge.
Leanardo, good work fella.

So WHY aren't there enough world class players in England? (Apart from the ones from overseas who ply their trade here.) All of the other teams in the quarter finals had at least a couple, if not several players who play outside their own country. England had one and a bit (the bit is Beckham). Yet the Premiership is bursting with foreign stars. I'm not against seeing great foreign players at all, but where are all the young, talented English players? Something's wrong at grass roots level surely.

I'm Welsh, by the way, but I would have been happy to see England do well if they had deserved it. At least, being Welsh, I never have the stress of seeing my team fail at the finals. Maybe 2008..

So WHY aren't there enough world class players in England? (Apart from the ones from overseas who ply their trade here.) All of the other teams in the quarter finals had at least a couple, if not several players who play outside their own country. England had one and a bit (the bit is Beckham). Yet the Premiership is bursting with foreign stars. I'm not against seeing great foreign players at all, but where are all the young, talented English players? Something's wrong at grass roots level surely.

I'm Welsh, by the way, but I would have been happy to see England do well if they had deserved it. At least, being Welsh, I never have the stress of seeing my team fail at the finals. Maybe 2008..

Sorry PCM but can't let you away with this. bit of patter.

"Rooney then accidentally stepped on someone's valuables"

He meant it and if you believe otherwise then you are kidding yourself on.

The whole football setup is disgusting. Massive amounts of money paid to overrated and cheating players who will do anything to win, not to mention the FA officials, FIFA, the agents, the media, etc. Don't get me started on all the glorification (not to mention the millions of pounds) given to a few morons to drink brand X's cola/use brand Y's shaving foam ...

What sort of example is this setting to kids? Who'd train to be a doctor when you can earn 50x that throwing yourself to the ground clutching your face? Well, let's face it, certainly not the average English footie player who's as thick as two short planks, and invariably speaks poorer English than even the latest foreign player to arrive on our shores. What else would these guys do for a living, and yet we glorify them? The English game just seems to be full of thickos. Compare that with guys like Klinsmann, etc., there's no comparison.

I generally ignore all this, and just hope for that bit of excitement, for an extra reason to be proud of being English, from guys who get so well paid to do something that the rest of us can only dream about - playing for their country in the World Cup. But they really do struggle to even pass the ball to each other. Sven's decisions mystify me, but surely, when they are earning 拢50,000 per week, his players should be able to pass a ball, even under a little pressure? Or take a penalty the way that the Germans do under even more pressure (they are the home nation, imagine how much pressure they are under).

I'm sick of wasting my time supporting this glorification of overpaid morons, and watching the greed in the game. The amount of money swimming around in the game in the last year had already turned me off football somewhat (especially after the Glaziers took over Man Utd, though this just proved what everybody already knew, didn't it?). This World Cup has just put the final nail in the coffin. Let's face it, for all the hype, the other teams havn't been very good either. This is the last World Cup I'll bother watching. I've had enough, count me out of this money-making sham. This is no longer (and probably never really has been) the "beautiful game". Still beats watching cricket though ...!

I'd like to point out that Mr. Rooney said on the press conference, a few days before the game, that he wished Ronaldo wouldn't recover from his tigh injury in time for the match...So much for the friendship, hey?
Also, I haven't heard anyone singing praises to Ricardo, the ONLY goal keeper to date to defend 3 penalties.
In my opinion, both teams played very well. True, Portugal could and should have scored earlier since they were playing against 10. In the end it was about best goal keeper and Portugal won!
I find it very sad, that England needs to come up with the same old excuses time and time again: the referee, Beckam, referee, coach, media...anything goes!

The England Team
OVERRATED
OVERPAID
(BACK) OVER HERE

Apart from all the usual trite comments, I want to make the following statement.

The pictures I saw tonight of the England team in their press conference and on leaving their hotel have confirmed several things.

I have been a critic of Sven and Beckham over the last few years but both have conducted themselves today with gravitas and nobility.

Whatever criticism there has been of Beckham has dissole=ved for me with his gratious relinquishment of the captaincy.

I saw Sven shake the hand of every waiter, receptionist, bus driver eta l of the hotel in Baden-Baden. This is the mark of a true gentleman who observes the fact that it is the "small" people in life who make the difference. The Manager of a hotel does not bring you breakfast in a the morning....

Great people in life understand this.

All who would decry Sven should ask themselves when was the last time they treated such "small" people in life with such regard and respect?

DB and SGE

Respect and thanks for your effort.

>> Sue

Good point Ricardo is special. His ability puts that extra bit of doubt in your mind and that little bit is all it takes.

On the other hand if you ping the ball in the right areas, two Ricardos aint saving it.

-------

I thought the 大象传媒 pwned ITV to be fair. David Pleat practically ruined the games for me.

Two things stick in my mind about this world cup, apart from the very average performance levels.

1. FIFA were going to stop the diving and play acting. Clearly nothing has been done about a disease which still blights the game. They change rules about passive offsides and today announce how their wonderful initiatives have reduced injuries sustained by elbows and tackles from behind. Will also set about checking film of the post Germany/Argentina fracas to apportion blame yet prefer to ignore Figo's two misdemeanors, Henry's play acting which resulted in France's goal against Spain and the actions of one Scolari on the bench......etc, etc, etc.
I guess there wouldn't be any world cup if they were to get tough on the cheats but then of course it might open the door for a nation that plays fairly to actually win the competition and that would never do.

2. Also it would be a first if the english media were to get behind our lads instead of continually knocking our boys just because it doesn't agree with their so called experts and wont sell more newspapers.

I would have to say I enjoyed the Aston villa joke,
On the question of England Team, it was a disaster from the start and the couch was a major part of the problem, he should have balance the team and focus on strikers and defence.
In my opinion Lennon did well.
Rooney needs to learn how to play in international arena and behave himself, the day he was taken off the game by his couch he started to throw his shoes like a kid while millions around the world were watching, he should know he represents England and behave like a statesman.

A yuusf
Toronto, Canada

All that separated England and Portugal at the end of the match was the penalty shootout. Had England gone on to win the match would we have heard all of this complaining about Sven, Beckham, 4-5-1, etc-etc! I think not. I think England needed to go to Germany like all 31 other teams TRYING to win the world cup rather than coming home thinking that they LOST a cup that should have been theirs. The only team who might be allowed to dare think like that is Brazil and for 5 obvious reasons they probably should (though even they aren't infallible). Its a game, passionate, beautiful, enjoyable and entertaining. Play it like it was meant to be and football may just come home.

Ok, I think I have to apologise to Rooney.

No kidding guys, I was looking at the crotch-stomping incident many many times over but via another angle courtesy of a videoclip provided by The Sun: Go to then locate and click on a highlighted "here" in the report.

Rooney was looking at the football when he stepped on Ricardo's twin-balls. Rooney's step backwards was in an attempt to move/position his body for a follow up on the football. Also, look at the way he lifted his foot off from Ricardo's crotch -- it was light towards the end of the movement which means that he had realised what had happened, indicating that he had no intention. As an analogy, just imagine that you have just stepped on a small animal -- you would not put your foot down on the ground immediately after -- you'll be hanging your foot lightly near the ground because you'll be thinking: "Oh shit! What did I just do!?"

To confirm this, try looking at the Ref. You can see clearly that the Ref did not initially want to card Rooney. Then you can see very clearly the Ref's hand started to point at Rooney and following that attempting to blow his wistle again AFTER Rooney's "hey what the hell are you trying to do?" push against Ronaldo. It is almost like you can hear the Ref say: "Ok... so you think you are tough, huh? I'll show you who's tough around here."

Don't believe me? Please look at the videoclip.

Why the Ref would react in this manner? I can only speculate that it was most probably because of the puberty reputation Rooney has already inadvertantly built up [I'd say primarily thanks to the English media (talk about stupidity and shooting your own foot)].

So, I sincerely apologise to Rooney -- for initially pointing the finger at him and thinking that it was his puberty that got England down to ten men.

I was as disapointed as anyone with the manner that England went out of the tournament. They have been shown to be niave in the extreme and seemed to be scared of losing rather than having a real go at Portugal. Questions must be asked of the midfield and strikers or/and the instructions given to them! I think they should ask the Germans to take their penalties for them.

On the day 2 Uk soldiers were killed,
it was deeply offensive that the first story on 大象传媒 news was about
the England football team.
Sort out your priorities !!!!!1

The man Ericsson is a sham, and we all got fooled because he was foreign and different. Now there nothing wrong with being foreign but all I want for England is the best we deserve it, foreign or not.

This was our best chance in my lifetime to win it and we lost it even before the game started.

Theres nothing wrong with our players as long as there managed well.

Thank you Mr Ericsson and Good Bye.
Philo

Once again the English media and supporters excuse the bad playing that England has shown all over this World Cup to find the answers elsewhere in the actions of Ronaldo, Erickson and co.

If you see your current eleven best: Beckham is no match for Figo, Cole is an average player that only Mourinho can take something out of him and Gerrard is always whining that the fault of the defeats is not his (remember Champions League and WC), if only he had scored the penalty !

You have 3 world-class players: Terry, Lampard and Rooney...but they didn麓t play up to par. If you think that the fault was because of Sven, you will see how bad the results will be with the next coach.

At the end of the day, England didn麓t have enough good players to dream with the title, neither today nor in 2004 or 2002. Only the media thought they had the best in the world even after 4 XXXXXX games !!

Am I alone in feeling that the media started this World Cup with an anti-Sven agenda? They wanted Sven to resign after the sex scandels and have been working to undermine him ever since. Reporters now seem to try to manifulate the agenda rather than report on it. To protect themselves, players and FA officials use spin, just as politians do. Carry on like this and managers will be making decisions based on how it will play in the press, not on how it will play out on the field. I remember when England failed to qualify for World Cups. Lose the spin, sack Alan Green, build on three successive quarter finals, or those times might well return again

It broke my heart when Martin O'Neill said that he would have taken the England job if it were offered to him.

I don't think that O'Neill would be accomodated like McClaren because I'm sure that O'Neill would have wanted to rip up the "Sven's ideas" sheet.

A possitive is that the players stuck to the plan with seemingly little discussion. A sign that our players are not there to pretend to be managers.

Ian Wright was right at half time on the 大象传媒 when he said that Rooney would go nuts if he didn't get service at the top end of the pitch and I can't blame Rooney for his frustration, he badly wanted to play.

Pekerman should be ashamed of his choices for Argentina, I can't believe he put on their best team (in my opinion) against Serbia and Montenegro, thrash them 6-0 and then didn't until late in the second half against Mexico and never against Germany. The first I've seen of Tevez in football was in this world cup, and i got to say, that guy is brilliant plus they didn't give him the hype they gave to Ortega (as the next Maradona!!) in the last World Cup.

France will deserve this one.

>> Kong Kek Kuat

Hmm interesting all I can say is given how his weight was positioned that left foot was coming down somewhere. Perhaps we'll never know, maybe it will be in one of those great books he's writing ;) This footage will be poured over for years to come like the Zapruder tape, or perhaps not.

I think the ref was all you can ask for, honest. He thought Rooney was going for the jewels so he slapped him with the red. When players dived he was quick to gesture "get up". Right or wrong he was true to himself.

Beckham should also retire from international football.
George Best was right he cannot beat a man, cannot head a ball and does not have a left foot,
I have always called him the "american footballer" he should be allowed to sit on the bench and just come on to take free kicks just like an american footballer!
the most overated footballer ever!

I would like to raise another point for comment. I feel that other teams at this years finals are also guilty of lackluster performances. I was amazed at the Czech Republics performance against Italy for example. When you look at the group stages with two teams progressing to the second round it has produced some games based on safety. This attitude can be hard to dislodge in a short space of time with teams needing to then adapt to a knock-out style of play. I say include 48 teams in the finals in 12 groups of four. Have the 12 group winners plus the four best runners-up through to the second round. We will have the added benefit of seeing 25% of the worlds teams on display at the finals as just under two hundred countries were involved at the outset of the current campaign plus an additional 24 games would be played. The group games will be far more positive and attacking. Trditionally the more exciting games have been in the knock-out stages. Does anyone else subscribe to my theory?

Rooney's red card has shown that the highest level of politics and comedy played by the referee.. why the control is totally over one person... that referee is a god..?

does FIFA has any action on that referee.. if not why can't england can approach this referee through legal ways..

also to save the football from this type of comedy referees, FIFA should have to introduce a third ampire same like cricket..

FIFA please save football from the hand's of comedy referees..

Ram - India

Kong kek kuat.

The Rooney expulsion article you posted on THE SUN was rather disgusting in the way you cinicaly ask the readers their opinions with such biased content.

The online newspaper had the distintion of becoming far to sensationalist and radical on their own views of the matters specialy footbal. Didnt they teach you how to stay objective with impartiality?

All I saw with those articles like the one mentioned by you is amateurism. Get a real job or go back to school. Your not even fit to write comic books.

Who performed extremely well?
Who ran 120 minutes non-stop?
and after that who scored the only penalty?
Owen Hargreaves
It might have something to do with the Teutonic training!

We must come to terms that penalties are part of the game nowadays, and it's no fluke that the Germans havn't lost a single penalty shoot out in the world cup.
This is what makes the difference between us and the Germans.
During the Argentina-Germany penalty shoot-out Lehmann was seen to look at a list (hidden in his football sock) of which opponent will probably shoot where, left, centre or right. He took a quick look before each Argentine player had his shot. It's not a dead cert, but it gives the goalie at least a small idea where to jump or dive. The Germans have no doubt a list of how every player will probably shoot his penalty. THAT is being prepared!

German newspaper article:

I am sick and tired of English fans, media etc. banging on about the manager. Svens track record is no worse than anyone elses' is it?

Why don't people just face up to the fact that England simply aren't good enough for two reasons:-

1.At the grass roots level, at schoolboy level we're not taught or encouraged in technical excellence. There is no concept of being comfortable with the ball - just "get it in the channel", and "up in the box" we were told. Why aren't we encouraged to play with either foot, keep possession, pass and move, make triangles etc. and then implement it in school matches, county matches, premiership matches and in the national team? Even Ghana and the Ivory Coast played with more flair and style and inventiveness. This is to do more with the cultural approach to football than the management style. I've played with African guys at university and it was simply amazing. The things they do and the way they place was so refreshing. The world game has moved on and there has to be a fundamental change of attitude to the way we play the game in the country. Am I the only one who thinks this way....?

2.Self belief - players being paid 50k+ a week must be able to take a penalty and score under 'normal-ish' circumstances. The fact that English players can't do it when it counts and haven't been able to do it on successive attempts means they haven't got the bottle to perform when it really counts. France knocked out Brazil in 86' when it mattered, The Germans knocked out England in 90' when it mattered, Brazil knocked out Italy in 94' when it mattered, Portugal knocked out England in 04' when it mattered, Portugal knocked out England in 06'...all on penalities. Why do other 'great' footballing nations keep their nerve when England can't? Can someone tell me......?

England will never win the World Cup!! Why? Because the current players are only interested in playing for money and have no national pride (there are few excpettions). There is so much money involved in football and the media/coaching staff will relentlessly support and enable the bad behaviour of the players. It is high time the old players and the media give their honest opinion instead of giving excuses for the failure!
It is a joke across the world about the excuses England players and press can come up whenever they are losing. The english media criticized relentlessly the doping atheletes from other countries until the English palyers were caught! You shuould have listened to the excuses!

Own up responsibily that better teams anre in the Semifinals and develop player who can have national pride in playing for the Country.

Don't underestimate the views of your blogger Matthew in Post No 8. The sport has been taken out of soccer in England more than in other countries and replaced by greed and selfishness typical of all aspects of social and sporting life in this country. Soccer, like other aspects of our lives has lost its soul to the corporates, the business world, the TV companies,the agents the sponsors and so on. The media is guilty of preoccupation with the celebrity aspect of the game in England, which more than anything else has conspired years ago to kill of David Beckham's hunger for the true spirit of football. He prostituted himself to the God of greed at a cost to English football years before he departed for Real Madrid. He has been preoccupied with the money his image and that of his wife and family have made for him and the celebrity status has been for years more important than his soccer. I would not be surprised if it has been the power of agents and sponsors that has kept him in the international side, let alone as captain.The further love affair of the British media with the so called WAGs, turning hangers on into national celebrities just because they happen to be married or romantically linked to fit and good looking Premier league soccer players is further evidence of sex being used to sell soccer as it is used to sell almost everything you can imagine in England today. From when I was a child through to later adulthood, I recall that soccer was well able to sell itself in England, not any longer. Yet in Germany, my adopted country of 22 years standing, no such hype has managed to destroy the soul of soccer and that is why the German FA have for years prepared teams for the World Cup significantly better than the English. The Germans are more level headed and systematic, they believe in themselves and do not need to court the services of poor substitutes from Sweden or anyhwere else to take their version of soccer forward at international level.I won't attempt to go into all the evidence I have read in the past and recently about the incidences of corruption in soccer at the national and international levels, in particular in FIFA, suffice to say that the modern game is a shadow of its former self so far as the ideal of sport is concerned. The former values of sport generally and soccer in particular have been sacrificed in England more than in most other countries and this is what has caused us to trail in the wake of countries with greater pride in what they do with their soccer and how they do it.TV companies deciding for the Premier league and for the FA on what day and at what time a soccer match will take place, TV soccer programmes now requiring the obligitory shapely girls to draw in audiences. Soccer as a sex object. This is whether we like it or not, distinctly an English disease and England is not going to progress further at international level especially in World Cups until the true soul of soccer is returned to its rightful home in our presently greed,celebrity and sex orientated society.

It's a real loss for the World Cup that England is out now, because their fans were the best. I've been to frankfurt and nuremberg when england played, and it was a hell of a party there! You should have deserved better than having to leave now.
Still, in losing they could take a slice of the brazilians - yesterday in frankfurt, after their defeat, you could see them dancing and partying alongside the french - wow, big respect to them!
Anyway, it was a great time with you guys.

I was surprised Sven accepted the referee's red card against Rooney. Why can he sacrifies once his golden boy for keeping his face?
He was fouled by two Portuguese players, and his stamp was, yes, intended, but in the line of his motion. You will see this sort of actions everywhere. Apparently the referee did not see the action itself. His stamp was not so a hard one. This referee blew the whisle several times even though he did not see the actions. He often blew inferring from Portugal players' exaggerations.
The referee should have blown the whisle immediately when Rooney was fouled. He missed the timing, and now he pointed his failure to Rooney instead.
I do not understand either why FIFA hasn't take a deciplinery action against Portugal. The Algentino referee sometimes dismissed their dirty tricks but at really critical moments he (I wouldn't say intentionally) got trapped with their dirty tricks. FIFA has double standards: why Figo was okay and Rooney will be subject to further sanctions?
Many who were tired with Port's disgusting team in the NED-POR match are again further convinced Portugal should have been ejected or sanctioned as a team.
By the way, I realized there is a big screens hanging over the field. The referee can see a replay before he commits yellow/red cards.

england will always be at best a last 16 team. MY thinking this way works out that england will always get into a group section that will allow them to come at least 2nd then thay will usually come up against a team that they should beat then they meet the big boys and thats when they fail to make the grade. Sorry guys but this is a fact of life and you will just have to get used to it england will never ever win a big tournament but just be bit players making up the numbers.

Let's get some things straight. Rooney was sent off for stamping. The ITV pictures last night clearly showed the ref making a stamping motion before bringing out the card, therefore, Ronaldo had no effect on this decision.
Various pundits have looked at the video from all angles and NO ONE has said the sending off was wrong, therefore, why are people saying video refs would have made a different decision.
Also, there were plenty occasions during the game when the ref waved away Portugese players who claimed free kicks. (Worst dive was by Joe Cole, just before he came off. Rolling around, clutching his knee untill he got his free kick and then jumping up and running into position!!)
Finally, England fans WERE the best but, sadly for them, the team they supported was one of the poorest in the last 16.

I have to comment on Mr Coelman's post (#21) and on all those who compare this sport to American Football or Baseball or whatever else. They will never understand this sport. Football is all about emotions on and off the field. That's why we ask ourselves why England looses and Germany wins in the penalty shoot outs since years. That's why we still discuss Rooney's red or Sven's strategy or Brazils lack of magic for days and weeks to come. That's why thousands and thousands of people celebrate in Germany, France, Italy, Brazil, England, Ghana and any other place in the world when their team wins. Do you have that in American Football? Hardly. The city that has a team in the playoffs might get a tiny little glimpse at what football is about, but the whole country? Never. You don't even know, what you miss out on and I guess you will never understand (even so there are more and more lucky Americans who actually do understand and who watch each game and get as excited as we do). When I read comments from people in the US that they dislike "soccer" because it has penalty shoot outs and suggest to just play until somebody wins, then it shows that they will never be able to enjoy this rollercoaster of emotions that any such shoot out is. I was close to a heart attack when our German team was facing Argentina in PKs. But I would never want to miss this experience (even if we would have lost). Sad people, who will never be able to enjoy this experience.

Forget all these conspiracy theories about FIFA, Argentine referees and Ronaldo. England wasn't good enough to win the tournament...hell, they have't been good enough to win anything since '66. Solution? I don't know, but I have a suggestion: plead with the media to give future teams and the WAGs less coverage so that they don't look like idiots when debacles of this nature occur again...and they will. After all, it's England.

Regarding the Rooney incident: Think about it from a simple perspective of physics. If Rooney would have just tried to get up and continue to play and would have stepped on Ronaldo by accident what would have happened? Has anyone of you ever stepped on something soft and flexible expecting hard ground? Right, you stumple, because you have put your body's weight on your foot and suddenly it gives in. Did Rooney stumble? A bit? At all? Nope. On the contrary, he stood quite solid. Which means he had put his weight on the other foot. And what does that mean? Correct. That he kicked back on purpose. Did he plan to hit Ronaldo's delicates? Well, most likely not, but it didn't matter where he wanted to hit him. He did it on purpose, viciously and in front of the referee. Clearly a red. Dumb.

Look on the bright side... Eriksson is no longer the England manager... Now that is worth throwing a party over :D

Sad thing is though... that is the only thing you can take from this world cup...

The primary course of England's failure in Germany is simple and single "WAYNE ROONEY". If that lad had not gone to the world cup there will be less distraction for the rest of the team. That brat sees himself as a god and the coaching crew, maybe scared of the English press, were worshiping him.
Rooney is not a world class player, he is just another GAZZA.
The lad is talking about setting a world cup record, yeah, maybe as a world cup misfit.
Sven let out crouch for a player that can hardly think ahead of a move. England would have gotten better with each game but Sven spoiled the fun by introducing Rooney to start games. Walcott definitely would have brought more pace to the team. Walcott has to prove himself as a top class player, while Rooney has already proofed himself to be a TOP CLASS MISFIT. I'm sorry for Man UTD.

"Portugal will not win the World Cup, and yet they have got past England."
Terry Butcher

I only whish Terry Butcher can eat his own words. Even after defeat the English media insists on being arrogant. What's the meaning of that phrase Mr Butcher ? That England could win the world cup but Portugal can't ? Really ? Too bad your dreams are only dreams, because facts speak for themselves. You can win a world cup since 66, can you tell me the name of team that has put England out of the competition most of the time ? If the portuguese team is that weak, then why can't you win the game on the field ? Not even your biased media can't out of it...

Figo was criticized and called "cocky" because he said the portuguese were not training penalties. Guess the real cocky here was, and still is, the english media.

They called the portuguese team "indisciplined players". Re-read the stats of this last game... have you ? Who made more fauls ? ... Facts people, facts ...

Blame the players, the management, the media, brand the opposition cheats, dodgy referee whatever these are the facts in my opinion:

1/ Bent and Defoe (proven scorers in the premiership should have been in the squad ahead of untried and untested Walcott). This is the WC not the intertoto cup - experimentation for the untested should come beforehand. You dont bring in a player with no experience and leave out proven players just because he is the hottest thing of the moment. Decisions like this can unsettle a squad as this campaign has proven.

2/ The alarm bells should have been ringing and the FA should have been done something after their heavy investment in a management team still needed to experiment with tactics and had no strategy from the onset of this tournament in full view of a global audience. Instead of a perfect opportunity to showcase the talents of the premiership, we had a shambles from squad selection all the way to formation and strategy. All it took was one injury and a suspension to expose the weakness of the squad and that is quite frankly unacceptable. Are there no systems of checks and balances within the FA setup to monitor the progress of management?

3/ Football is the only profession where failure is still rewarded handsomely in monetary terms regardless of performance and the premiership players and managers absurd pay pickets epitomize this. If this was the corporate world this England WC organizationa and performance would have been a front page corporate scandal of enormous proportions.

4/ England did not learn from history - controlling tempers and having the mental state of mind to take spot kicks are essential preparation to any team that aspires to win the WC - especially in Englands case. Given this, it is really alarming that they can repeat this mistake over and over again and even more alarming that these areas were not adequately addressed in the many years of time the team had to prepare for this.
Given the lessons from history any England WC manager should play the game to either a) play attacking, positive and free flowing football with the intention of winning the game before going into extra time or b) equip the players with the skill and the mental state to take penalties. Instead we were faced with a defensive, introspective, negative and poorly planned campaign that did not reflect the excitement of the league that the players represent and also seemed to accept the inevitability of penalties which were shocking.

An utter disaster from start to finish and an ugly spectacle from a fans point of view. Never mind though the management and players responsible for this circus will continue with their lives and keep their paychecks and move to bigger and beter jobs while the reputation of a nation is in tatters once again...

My Best league is the EPL.

I am a Gunners 4 life,,

Germany vs England was my final pick.

I have been a firm supporter of Sven ever since I saw how he coached at Lazio.

But I think he keeled to pressure and became cautious and gutless when he started managing the England team.

Sepp Blatter as stupid as he may sound at times was right about one thing. It would take a blind man not to see the negative soccer England, Italy and Argentina played for most parts in this world cup. For the so called talents England have they sure as hell whimpered when it mattered most.

And YES Rooney deserved the Red card he got and it had nothing to do with Ronaldo as you heard from the referee the next day. And anyone that tries to justify it is blindly and stupidly biased. He has had a history of temper tantrums and like a spoilt child he chose to latch out in the wrong way. I am sure when a kid does not get his toy at Xmas does not mean he has to rob for it.

Maybe one day you all we hold him to higher standards before he commits more severe crimes knowing fully well he may be excused because of his potential.

And yes Ronaldo did nothing wrong in bringing the referees attention to it as not doing so would against his first loyalty to his country and mate. He owes Rooney nothing as they are not playing for Manchester United.

So please enough of the excuses and let those that play positive soccer play on.

I am tired of hearing about very hyped English players like Lampard that missed more shots and could not shoot into a large ocean if his life depended on it...

The only positive English fans can take is Crouch has got mad skills as playing alone up front he showed more potential than Rooney showed in all his games combined.

I'm from Argentina and have both Argentine and English nationality, so double the pain for me. Anyway I'll just talk about England here. I'm quite disappointed about being eliminated and quite disappointed about our performance in general. Reaching the quaters is of course not bad at all but I think that sometimes we were lucky. The players are really talented but unfortunately as a team, England just couldn't manage good displays and it took us 4 and a half games to actually see England play well. With this said, I think the lads ended up showing a lot of heart and could have been the winners on Saturday. Maybe McLaren can make England play as a team and hopefully we can start showing that at Euro 2008. It's unfortunate what happened to Rooney, I honestly think he should have been booked and not ejected, but still he behaved stupidly and really needs to grow up a little bit and really be one of England's leaders in the years to come. Still, I think that no other than Joe Cole should be England's leader on the field, he's young a very talented and should be allowed to play more freely. And love him or hate him, my respects to Becks, he is really loyal to England and I thank him for all that he has done for us. I'd pick Stevie Gerrard as the next captain. Good England and good luck Steve McLaren.

We portuguese are petty good!We placed one of our own in your footbal high court to brain wash your
pathetic psyco about greatness!Good job Mourinho.Lampard and Joe Cole really believe they were the pinacle
of English footbal.
Blaming Ronaldo?!You guys crack me up.Grow up people...your WR has no class!
vvv

Hurray!!! England lost... that is the best thing in the world cup... Party on guys... so much so for Rooney...

I don't know why I get so excited about the World Cup. It's sickening to see such talented players trying to draw penalty kicks instead of using their skills to create chances. Fifa has to do something about the refs and the cheating. One of the commentators for the CBC has a good idea for stopping all the diving. Fifa should use Video replay to catch them. The tapes should be watched after the game and anyone seen to be diving and drawing a penalty should be suspended from the next game. If he manages to get a player ejected from the game, he should be fined as well. This might make players think twice about cheating. The other thing is penalty kicks. Penalty kicks should not be given in the last minute of play unless the player is brought down from behind and was on a clear breakaway.

It is amazing that most of the people making these comments have never played professional sports and yet are quick to give their opinion denegrating players, coaches and foreign countries all based from their one-sided perspective. England has a good team but the best teams do not always win. It takes determination, spirit of sacrifice and team work and yes....luck sometimes. However, relying on the latter...is like playing russian rullet. There are many factors that causes good teams to loose. Fatigue, lack of team work, fear - your body shots down and you don't get the maximum performance you are able to display, lack of leadership - leaving the risk and success to someone else "as long as we win and I can take advantage of their effort", and finally, the overconfidence that you have already crossed the mark or in this case that the victory is a foregone conclusion because after all " we are who we are!" Sometimes it is a combination of all these. But far more difficult is to support somebody when he or she is no longer popular or do not meet our expectations. It is easier also to criticize others amidst our frustrations. My point? England lost but it does not mean England has a bad team...nor a bad coach. Who can guarantie that had Sven changed line ups that the result would have been differen? This is the time to support your team and look forward to the next opportunity...and if the next one fails...look for the next...be optimistic and above all enjoy the fun, but do not criticize a warrior until you have walked in his/her mocasins.

Face it England, you're lack lustered team played like a bunch of spoilt and pathetic amateurs. You've lost the world cup to clearly the better teams of the word, and you'll soon loose the Ashes. Your inevitable return to poor form will always be known worldwide. GO AUSTRALIA!

A team that puts too much pressure on themselves are never going to do well. its bad enough the media coming out with all the hype, but for seasoned professionals to come out with statements like "if we dont win the cup it will be deemed as failure", it was only a matter of time before they came unstuck.. the younger players in the team must have been so nervous and anxious about making mistakes that they never showed their full potential

Am I watching different pictures on the Tv from everyone else..? What is wrong with everyone...?

The ref sent Rooney off for the push on Ronaldo...end of story.

After the fracas/entanglement between Rooney and the two Portuguese players, the ref is standing there (probably correctly) indicating a free kick for Portugal.

All is calm: ref is has his arm up pointing towards the England goal. He and players fairly stationary, absolutely no indication that the ref has seen Rooney step (deliberately ?) on Carvalho's groin...none whatsoever. He's happy, free kick, that's it...ready to carry on....nothing else.

Ronaldo comes in...Rooney pushes him...all of a sudden the ref is active...card out...Rooney on his way.

What am I missing that everyone else (including Fifa) is seeing that supports the ref's statement that he sent Rooney off for stamping on Carvalho ?

NO...absolutely no way. The ref did not see that. Even if that what it was (I'm still not 100% convinced) the ref sent him off simply for the push on Ronaldo. In which case it was a disgraceful decison....a booking maybe - if you were being very harsh.

I've seen it 20 times in slo-mo, and nothing changes...the ref has given a free kick, everything is quiet until Rooney pushes Ronaldo. Then the cards come out. Nothing whatsoever to do with the original challenge.

I do think Rooney knew what he was doing; he's a profesional, but the ref did NOT see it, he sent Rooney off for a girly push on Ronaldo - If you were being VERY harsh...maybe a booking. Why is this idiot referee being allowed to get away with such a disgraceful decision that cost England the game ?

Firstly, England's "Golden Generation" must have got their name from the money they earn. Viewed against the best players in the world, they were simply not able to compete, either individually or as part of a team display.
It was woeful; and Steve McLaren as a senior and influential member of the management team responsible for this fiasco, should seriously reconsider his poition and offer his resignation.

Ronaldo and Rooney may be on the same team... but this is the world cup! It's a whole different ball game. Rooney for England and Ronaldo for Portugal. None of them were playing for Manchester United that night.

So Ronaldo's loyalties were with Portugal it's time Y'all realised that. If the same thing had happened to Ronaldo(being sent off) which one of you would be whining here? None!

Rooney got what he deserved. He needs to do something about his temper and the way he interacts with people. The way i see it, the Ref did the right thing.

And yes i am a Portugal fan!

Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Owen, Hargreaves, and Lennon were the absolute best of the team. It's a tragedy that their teammates left them hanging...

Is it not strange that the games Portugal have played in recently have become farces, this team is well known for streaching the boundaries of the Law.Rooney was fouled before the sendiing off, a Porugues player would have been on the floor, so he plays on and the ref is intimidated into sending him off. No way did he see the foot of Rooneys stamp,he justified the sending off after the slow motion replay .
FIFA have to accept it ment to be a contact sport, played sportingly ,by bring in fines ect after the games to sort this cheating out...........

I'm French , and i was sad to see England leave so early .

But this England team , that the English medias and even some posters here stil after the defeat considered as " 2nd favourites of the WC " before Germany , Italy , France , Argentina was too much over-hyped since the beggining .

If you look at all the England games of the groupstages , Paraguay game , Trinidad game , Sweden game , Ecuador 's game , England created a very few scoring chances and had a lot of luck too early , with an own goal against Paraguay , a 85th minute saviour against a heroic Trinidad , 2 goals out of 2 chances in 90 minutes against Sweden , and a long range FK against Ecuador .

The decision to take Walcott that the coach didn't ever see play instead of a proven Premiership goalscorer , the decision to play Lampard alongside Gerrard and not either one of them , the injury of Owen , the decision to play with only one teenager upfront on his own , instead of 2 strikers , the decision to play a style football that is radically different to the traditional British football style of play , offensive and direct style , and the temperament of Wayne Rooney has cost England a lot in this World Cup .

The Premiership style of play based on pace and power couldn't be seen through this England team , that had too many technicians , but not enough pace upfront and support to Rooney , and playing too much behind like Italy or France do , but the players are formed for that , it's a different culture of football .

But it was close , England had an easy road to say the least to the semi-final with an easy group and 1/8 finals , and it was up to small details that you didn't win in that 1/4 finals , because IMO , England was the better side and lacked the luck that you had too early in the groupstage and realism upfront .

As a long time follower of English Football, I was terribly disappointed with the performance of the English team. Owen recovering from injury, same for Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard like bystanders, Crouch with little experience, Beckham almost past it and so the list goes on. Several of the players did hold their end up but that could not compensate for the rest. Rooney should be shot for his behaviour as it cost the team dearly, although they did play better after his dismasal. He let his team down badly.
Where were all the skills that we are so used to seeing in the Premier League - what - gone away with all the foreign players. Don't tell me that the teams only appear to play well because of all the imports playing in England. I find that hard to believe!!
It's time to take a good look at the situation and decide what really is the problem. The players are paid such extravagent salaries for club matches and yet cannot perform on the world stage. It may be the system at fault, it may be the press or it may be the players themselves but someone needs to really tear this situation apart and analyse it in great detail. Then and only then coul we expect to see England perform to their capabilities.

Here we have a 20 year old, prone to being temperamental, just back from injury, huge expectation on him to be one of the stars of the world cup ploughing a lone furrow up front.

Given the alleged talent in the midfield, why it needs to be packed with 5 at the expense of attack is beyond me. The bookies had England as favourites!

Put all this together and what do you get - a frustrated Rooney, deprived of any quality ball and any decent support up front goes off in search off the ball - and guess what - he reacts to being fouled and gets himself sent off.

Who is to blame Sven?

Our position in the last eight flatteres our performance. If we had been in a harder group we would have gone out during that round. Compare our performances with that of Australia and you will see we were lacking in every department but most of all we lacked heart.

Have to agree with Lady James.
Only Hargreaves, Ferdinand, Cole and Lennon can arrive home with their heads held high. Beckham notwithstanding, I think the biggest disappointments were Lampard and Gerrard - I could take a better penalty than that. Look at Germany - no real superstars apart form Ballack and at times (dare I say it) Lehmann -but the mental strength is phenomenal, Australia have it too - tehy just don't have enough real talent. No wonder we wanted Hiddink. Klinsmann for England anyone?

I think Sven brought Theo Walcott thinking that he would put him on against Paraguay or T&T when England were 3 or 4 goals up. He might then produce something special or maybe score a goal, making everyone think what an enlightened manager he is and what a great and brave decision it was to take him.
Sven is a man dedicated to enhancing his own reputation and making as much money for himself as possible. He is a typical case of style over substance. As a manager he is actually weak, indecisive and has limited tactical intelligence.

In the quarter finals more by luck than skill. Out of the competition, sadly as expected.
Why??
i)A formation that just never made sense.442, 451, both looked shabby either because of the players in critcal positions, or because one isolated player up front, with no midfield support is hardly likely to get a kick of the ball, let alone set up anything decisive.
ii)A blind loyalty from Sven to Becks, which just could not be justified on his last ten England performances.
iii)A failure to blend Gerrard and Lampard...made all the more painful by Lampard's very poor showing in the competition.
iv)Ridiculous hype as to the expectations for the side.
We have seven or eight international class players, but very few who are genuinely world class.
Of all those so called super stars, perhaps only Gerrard showed what he was capable of delivering.
Despite their efforts in the second half against Portugal, one cannot say that Crouch or Lennon are (at least not yet)proven international players.
v)A brainless piece of play by Rooney, who deserves to be punished and to be severely criticised...some time he has to grow up, otherwise he will always be the 'maybe man'. He has to take a long hard look at himself, as perhaps do his mentors in the England camp. He was always going to be a target given his short fuse, and Portugal cynically but effectively exploited this point.
vi) Let's not cry foul on Ronaldo, since whilst unvelievably unsporting and provocative as his actions certainly were, world football is sadly hardly full of 'the good guys'. It is a ruthless, dog eat dog, cheat minded sport, driven by enormous sums of money, and it is also part of the game in England week in week out. Play by such rules, live by such rules is for now the order of the day.
vii) Lastly a coach who was just too cautious....we simply never looked like an attacking side, never moved the ball fast, never pressurised as we see the same players do week in week out in the Premiership.
In summary we never played to our strengths, and it looked on the field as if we never really believed.

Manjit, it says in that Mirror article by Holt that Venables will join Mclaren, is that true? Any sources you can give me.

The thing that astonishes me is that England waits till after the Cup to realise Beckham is not a captain.
Nothing against the bloke. It just goes to show Sven wasn't up to it.

Playing with just a defence and a midfield is just too arrogant.

Why weren't there good club players, not necessarilly ``stars'' there to do a bit of donkey work to help poor old Crouch and Rooney?.
To many chief and not enough indians once again.

Dear 大象传媒, can you please explain to gary lineaker that britain consists of more than just england loving football fans and his statement that "all of britain is weeping" is plain nonsense and wrong, i follow football rather than a national team, i like to see passion, skill and endeavour the very elements lacking in all of england's displays in this world cup, if i wept then they were tears of joy in knowing a bland team would not debase the semi finals of a great competition.

When are people going to realise that Rooney got sent off for pushing Ronaldo and not alleged 'stamp' when he was being kicked repeatedly from behind by two Portuguese defenders. The referee makes no move towards his pocket to admonish a card until Rooney pushes Ronaldo.

Whilst i agree Svens management has not been perfect i have to admit i find myself looking at his 4-1-4-1 tactic or more the 4-5-1 it ended up being and seeing that despite not being our natural formation we did play it well, Joe Cole and Lennon on opposite ends did work ... alas Roonie is not the french striker and a little short for long balls but i see that being a formation we can work with ... and well!

This if anything is one of the few gifts Sven has left us with .. being force to play a formation that isnt 4-4-2 ...

Rooneys sending off was going to happen, if not for the foul, then for the fact he let his "Man U" team mate get to him, by barking at the ref.

Portugal was by far our best game in this tourney.

My views may be bias though, i dont follow football as a religion i follow more as a sport and take a harsh view :)

P.S Anyone find it dead funny when Ronaldo went chest to chest with Crouch and started try to argue with him ?
Kudos to Crouch for (easily) looking over the lad and carrying on the play.

There is definetly someone behind the failure of the english team and that is the media.sven is a very clever man he used the media to get rich,well done.He knows that the media wants becks,rooney,crouch in the team so he puts theme on.Overrated players(becks,rooney)we need a strong coach who won't lisen to the media,and if he sees a player behaving like rooning he will ban him from playing till he learns.great players without skills,i have never heard about before.good luck to the ginus sven,now he said don't kill roo he is a woder kid.hope no one will listen to him this time.

I am not English, but I cheered for the English team as my country's team had to sit at home and watch the world cup on tv... Back there we always say that everyone knows about politics and football.It seems like in England is the same way, everyone has an opinion and, of course, HE would have done better than Sven or the players... Really? How much do you know about handling stress, high amounts of pressure when the most competitive you get is when you play football with your mates on some back yard pitch? Remember that your team was consistently under fire all this time from the media, some of the supporters and, we will never forget, so called "experts"; and as if this was not enough, millions of you had the highest of expectations from them. Now, how easy is to lose your composure, your focus and lose? Yes, England didn't perform at its best and there are reasons for that, but I know that every single player that played in that team, even though he was not briliant, he did his best! And for that you should thank them! Now, all of you, quit complaining and get back behind your team and maybe they will win you the European championship...

As a non-English, neutral, football supporter the cocoon in which the english football circus creates for itself is a constant drama of the ridiclous. The hype that the Englsh media creates before very tournament is comical and only serves to entertain the viewer, climaxing in the football teams enivatble exit. I have absolutely nothing against the English football team and like many avid football lovers, I want the best team to win in a game in which I favour neither side. Enland are very rarely this team. But why do England constantly fail at the highest level? You have the 'best' footballers, the 'best' club teams?? This is utterly false and your media, print and TV, never question this and only serve to feed the english nations appetite for self-appraisal. The best English teams are filled with wonderful foreign players who enhance and bring out the best of your own footballers. Sadly these players cant do the same for your national team - big heads, big cars and every player in that England squad thinks they are a superstar. The manager has lost his way since he took over the team and is merly a part of the system - he cant pick the best 'team', insists on playing a 'captain' past his best and who plays like a man far older than his years, favours players at the 'superstar' clubs, and most importantly is utterly gutless. More amazingly, the succceeding manager is another over-rated mouse in the exact same mould. The FA was too scared to pick a man of wit and knowledge like your Martin O'Neills and Sam Alldardycs. I fear, the farcical WAG nonsense, the unjustified hype and self evaced 'superstar' satus is a purely English phenomenon - you will never win as you dont know the qualities of humility, honesty and patience.

i thought england played really well. i am a humble boy from india and was very very pleased with the performance. hargreaves played well. my friend ronim sharma said he likes football. he said he will play for england soon.

Media - Sports Writers, Reporters, Whatever you are ( sad small lonely people I reckon ) please note

All I see and hear are comments on how poor England played and how bad Sven managed the team. I assume everyone in the media are experts with glowing player and manager records behind them. Sven's record in football speaks volumes and although at times for England he has made some strange choices he has managed to expel the ghosts of England passed. We qualified for all competitions entered under him. We have survived far longer in competitions than some of the other great nations in football. In truth Sven's record is pretty good and far better than the dark days of Graham Taylor and others. We have taken part in a tournament and for once the behaviour of the squad has been perfect

Everyone screamed oh no Owen Hargreaves, Now he is a hero ( Sven's choice ). One nil Sven over the media.

England played and gave it everything. The fact we have once again come to fail after penalties is not funny at all, but it does show England gave everything. For years the divers and cheaters from the continent have played a big roll in eliminating England. This was plain to see from Portugal, Figo world class I don't think so he has no honour, likewise Ronaldo and others. England need to learn to play the game to combat these cheats. England also needs a little luck at the right moment.

Why can the media of this country not belt up and start to look for positive sides to this and help the next manager get off to a good start.

The day England beat Germany 5 -1 was historic, The country buzzed for weeks, Sven and the team gave us this , likewise gave us many memories to hold ( Beckham V Greece last minute )and treasure.

Ok we did not win the World Cup. But only one team can win the event, Better teams have already fallen. It is not a God given right England win the World Cup.

Wake up and smell it for everyone's sake. The world is bored reading your miserable tripe. How about trying to pick Joe publics feelings up instead of typing boring rubbish on how crap we are.

The Premier league is the most exciting in the world, It has given us great players year after year does anyone moan about that.

As a reporter you have somehow become privileged, You get a free ride to these events, You get looked after and you sometimes get to meet the players and staff. How about showing a little respect to a group of people who give you a living and partake in something you could not even imagine.

I'm England till I die and I am still proud to be English. I am also proud of our team. Maybe the media can try and be the same eh.

When all is said and done we gave it a go and failed. No disgrace, No shame. Everyone had a good time, No one got hurt. Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Holland and many other great footballing nations have also failed, Will regroup, pick ourselves up dust ourselves down and try again. We will buy your papers, Read two lines and think why did I bother, Ultimately the people of England are a clever intelligent bunch of football fans, Do you think we cannot make our own minds up on how England played, One day we might see something interesting printed or even something we did not see for ourselves. Get out and get a real job like War correspondent , Go and do your bit to make England proud. I bet you don鈥檛

Yours ( England & West Ham fan Peter )

i thought england should be very disappointed with there performance.
as a humble boy from india, i thought they should have been better.
My friend ronim sharma says they tried hard but in the end didnt have the final confidence.

Yes we all like to complain after the event about the ref etc. but football has turned from being a sport (where you go to play) to a theatre performance (where play and acting go hand in hand). They dive, play dead, roll around as though some-ones decapitated them, or severed their limb with a rusty scythe - let鈥檚 get back to playing the game and eliminate these unwanted histrionics from the sport. If you want video refs then use them to get these blouses off the pitch first!

Finally, lets get some balance to the way the English media over hype their sporting teams. You often write them up as the next world champions - it's so often wrong and compounds the disappointment you feel after the event.

Sending an overhyped Team of Playboys and depending on the "skills" of a Chav- Rooney.

Would never have made the cut in the World Cup.

As most English players spent time with their wives and mistresses, shopping. Other Teams took the World Cup more seriously.

I do not really think the majority of English players cared about winning or losing. Over-paid and over-rated, the playboys were more concerned about there own egos.

Beckham was more worried about gaining more adverstisement revenue, and staring in more fashion shows.

Rooney, basked in an odd chavish dream, created by the media. And was one of the ho贸ligans, who turned up for the World Cup.

The Manager, already fired. Always a money man, probably was more concerned with fielding star players, and not about winning.

The Media, looking to create a more Nationalistic England, even failed. As the Team of playboys, Chavs and "Superstars" fly home.

England were a joke, when other Teams generally try hard for International honors.

Expect Beckham to end up selling toothpaste on TV. Rooney turning to street fighting, and Crouch as the jovial idiot doorman in Hollywood movies.

From an outside perspective (I'm from Ireland who incidentally have the same issues as England) the problem the England team has and will continue to have is a lack of skill and technique. England's passing and movement is not up to the required standard to win a major championship. The English game is based on playing at a frenetic pace to disrupt skilful play and getting the ball forward as quickly as possible. This is encouraged by the supporters and until their mentality changes and the English game starts to focus on skill and technique they will continue to fail. By the way taking a penalty under pressure is all about having confidence in your technique no wonder England have never come close to winning one.

I am not European or south american but an avid football fan. I also pride myself of being fair and objective in viewing things. First I would like to say that I was shocked by the apparent mental state of the English players when it came to penalties. Players such as Gerrard that I very much admire for the umph and guts looked defeated and beaten. I was also very impressed by Heargreves performance through out the game. Was Heargraves performing well because he had not been overhyped and not much was expected from him and the other players have been so over hyped that the burden of over expectation turned them into nervous wrecks? Their talent cannot be denied but they need an environment of realistic optimism not arrogant overhype by the notorious British media. Rooney is an excellent player, but remember he has not even won a premiership title. Base your expectations on results not emotions and you will see better expectations.

I would like someone to explain one point for me.

We are England, We live here, We pay our taxes. We pay for TV.

Why oh Why then do we have people analysing our countries performance who are not even English. Alan Hansen what have Scotland ever won. Lawrenson you played for the Irish.

Motson, after all these years do you not think you could try and say something positive during a game for once....

Take a leaf from Sky Sports let the fans have a say it much more fun and normally better

Hi
Dont blame ronaldo.
The english always had bad loosing.

Be humble and recognise the your are loosers.

England lost because of the Wizard Penalty
Ricardo is sorcerer and his as pact with the devil against english football players.

I have been warned of that before the game by a portuguese friend.

I told exactly wath was going to hapen in the game.

England didn鈥檛 deserve to progress any further. They weren鈥檛 organised enough and ultimately the blame lies with both the manager and the FA. The 鈥楳anager鈥� has fraudulently taken this team absolutely nowhere in the 5 years he鈥檚 been in charge. Yet anyone who knows anything about the game hasn鈥檛 had any confidence in the guy for a couple of years now, except the FA. Who are these people and why haven鈥檛 they seen what we鈥檝e seen? He was allowed to continue in the role and on an obscene amount of money. The buck has to stop with the FA and if they had any pride they would resign 鈥� en masse. But like all modern politicians they鈥檒l spin a way to hang to their cushy post.

Regarding the team, I鈥檓 sure they didn鈥檛 play to their potential and I do think they have some good players, although I don鈥檛 believe the team spirit was as great as everyone thinks. David Beckham isn鈥檛 a bad player; he鈥檚 just not a great player, despite having a great right foot. He鈥檚 a one trick pony who just happens to have a very good trick. Sadly Mr Eriksson has never understood English Football and his selection policy seems to have been driven by outside sources, such as the media, to select a team based on publicity and profile, and let鈥檚 face it, Mr Beckham is an expert at publicity. It鈥檚 this same publicity that has elevated Frank Lampard to a footballing status way above that which I think is deserved. I think he鈥檚 a good player in a good team (Chelsea) given the class of players around him 鈥� but world class? I don鈥檛 think so. As a midfielder he scores a lot of goals, but that aside I don鈥檛 think he is half as good as people make out. Again I think that this is the Chelsea loving section of the media who have got a bit carried away that an Englishman is playing so well in such an expensive team. He isn鈥檛 a great midfield defender or world class passer and nor does he drive a team forward as the really great player do. I鈥檓 not being anti Chelsea by the way, I think Joe Cole was great and I do think that Terry is a really excellent player. But the point is that Eriksson insisted on playing Beckham and Lampard no matter how poorly they performed and his weak leadership, lack of judgement and understanding of the game ultimately let us all down. Thanks for sweet FA Mr Erickson.

Like most people who I鈥檝e spoken to now I dread the start of the McLaren era because I have no faith in his appointment. I have seen nothing to suggest he is a great manager and cannot see this man taking the team any further. His first job is to appoint a Captain. I鈥檓 sure John Terry will get the job. That wouldn鈥檛 be a bad selection but not the right one. He needs to take a positive step and for me that is Steven Gerrard. He seemed to be one of the only players to berate Beckham on the pitch for his long ball mentality, and drove forward trying new things when many of the rest of the team were stuck in their tactical timewarp. Unfortunately he missed a penalty at the death. Well, the problem wasn鈥檛 the penalty; it was not scoring enough goals and playing with 10 men. At least Gerrard had the balls to take a spot kick. Clearly the penalty takers volunteered before hand. This is why Jamie Carragher was bought on in the last minutes. I therefore presume this is why John Terry didn鈥檛 take a penalty. You would think a captain in waiting would have had a go.

As for Rooney 鈥� I don鈥檛 think he deserved a red card and I hope he gets a chance to have a word with Ronaldo. But the main point is again that he was really frustrated and trying to win balls close to the half way line. Unfortunately Rooney was another victim of the team tactics.

So long Sven and I hope you enjoy the time you now have spending your money because I would be surprised if any top clubs come calling for you now the mask has slipped.

Hey, we lost. Move on. As a footnote I thought Hargreaves was magnificent and his performance made his inclusion as simply a squad player seem ludicrous. I also thought we played after Rooney got sent off. Crouch seemed to see more of the ball and link play better. Lesson for England fans: never boo national team players - you never know who your next heroes are going to be

Is the World Cup over? I thought there was still a few games to go? Irony is that 大象传媒 and other parts of the media have been stoking this nonsensical and quasi-racist debate on who we who are without representation at the finals should be "supporting". Looks like the height of hypocrisy now that "our boys" are back home and the media circus has accompanied them. Who should we be supporting now? Those of us who can rise above the immaturity of that whole debate will continue to tune in for signs of beautiful football, which if we are being honest has become very scarce in the international game. Champions League is a consistently higher standard. However, if Zidane continues his masterclass which he has conducted in the last two games, there may yet be a successful conclusion to what is meant to be an illumination and an entertainment and we afficianados will hail him a genius - an accolade which is all too lacking in the English game despite the frenzied media hype of the Anglo Saxon superstars. Still only two years until it all starts again!

Obviously its time for excuses now and apologies from players and managers alike but i think the first thing england should do is to stop the arrogance of the media and the so called "experts" who at every major tournament start talking about victory and so on. I mean play each match with humility like the other teams and stop building up hopes all around before the 90 minutes are up!!!! and its not just football is it? for 10 years the media claimed henman was gonna win Wimbledon with titles like "this is henman's year" and for ten years they had to report Disappointment.....When are the journalists and the media in general going to learn to report fact rather than Hope? or is england so desperate to win something that they don't even realize the obvious? something for the 大象传媒 & Co. to think about....

This was a very depressing experience for an England fan. The team, the management, the unfit players, the lack of any decent football, the hype, the wags and most of all the bloody awful penalties. Watching France nad Brazil the same night reminded me what the world cup is all about.

This was the worst world cup of the last three for England. In 1998 Hoddle had a good team that played excellent football, in 2002 Sven's team played two good matches against Denmark and Argentina in extremely hostile weather conditions.

The 2006 vintage, allegedly the best so far was disjointed and hapless almost all of the time. It can only get better.

This was a very depressing experience for an England fan. The team, the management, the unfit players, the lack of any decent football, the hype, the wags and most of all the bloody awful penalties. Watching France nad Brazil the same night reminded me what the world cup is all about.

This was the worst world cup of the last three for England. In 1998 Hoddle had a good team that played excellent football, in 2002 Sven's team played two good matches against Denmark and Argentina in extremely hostile weather conditions.

The 2006 vintage, allegedly the best so far was disjointed and hapless almost all of the time. It can only get better.

Re post 56 (Tom English)

Hey, Tom, this is perhaps the most convincing analysis of England's overall performance, including its sad end, that I have read. I read so many blogs early on, especially such dealing with England, and I was often angered by onesided overrating that team (not to speak of condescending comments on the achievements of other squads). More than once, I put angry posts in, some really vitriolic, too, which I now regret.

So during the Portugal match I had my fingers crossed for the Portuguese - at first. I also saw Rooney's red card justified, still do.

B U T , when England, reduced by one (very crucial) man put on such a great fight and kept producing ever-growing pressure and scoring chances - I switched sides.

What a heroic effort!Quite admirable!
Lo, it was in vain. R e a l l y good
but too late.

And you, Tom, pointed out the causes.

With the penalty phase ahead, I knew what was to come. Anguish plus exhaustion plus, above all, a negative case history of shootouts are odds against your boys had no chance.

More luck for the future and best wishes from Germany.

I find it bizarre how anyone could have complained about the red card.
Firstly England played a lot better without the ugly kid.
Secondly the referee was less than three feet away from Rooney when the incident happen, I would imagine that he is best placed to judge what happened.
Thirdly the team playd so much better without him.

The sooner he gets kicked out of the team, the better.

Apart from that we should count ourselves lucky that we even made it it this far. The games against T&T and Sweden were disappointing and certainly not worthy for a top-ten team.

Forty years on it seems that apart from the at-home win back then England just isn't good enough to be up there...

England in this world cup were at best - just okay. It's funny how after all the hype leading to the opening ceremony of the world cup the media kept on going on about England winning the world cup and all that nonsense.

I just laid back and laughed because I actually knew that they had no chance. They have a lot of great players in the English league but why and how the 23 were choosen baffles me. Darren Bent was the most Prolific English striker in the League last season and he never even got a call. Instead Crouch with just 8 or 9 goals went ahead of him. In England, I have noticed that the press actually chooses the team and not the coach. Most of the 23 man squad had their careers built up by the powerful media machine that fed us all this rubbish about how good they were when infact they where just ordinary.

Now is the time to pick up the pieces and learn from the French. They have had their fair share of problems but they have fielded players that deserve to be their, who stood up and were counted when it mattered the most. Despite comments from people like Le Pen, the Frenchmen played with fire in their bellies and deserved to beat Brazil.

I wish I could say the same for England. Well at least over the next two years Mclaren can start afresh and build a new crop of players around hagreaves, rooney, lennon and theo.

Unfortunately though, I don't expect it to be much different... Instead I think it will be more of the same come 2008.

Sven's small coterie of 'favourites' didn't allow him to see when players' were not playing to their potential. Beckham was the greatest example of this as Sven appeared to favour socialising with the Beckham clan over the interests of good management of the English Football Club. Beckham should have been sacked a good 12 months ago - likely more. For Sven to seek compassion for Rooney misses the point. Rooney, without doubt, added greatly to the task England already had. This type of selfishness and lack of character just won't hold up in a 'team' sport such as Football. The players were so often quoted as saying they were as one - goodor bad. Well, they all have to take responsibility for the idiot Rooney. Clearly, Rooney didn't give a fig for them!! For this reason he should be left out of the iNternational Squad until he can prove he is an adult. Being young isn't an excuse that holds up these days - with the money and the lack of any real discipline the players demand. Also, Foreign tactics, while some are usefull, are NOT all important. The old fashioned English Football has merits too!

I'm so sick of these bloody excuses, Rooney "the yob", sven, beckham's injury. All the team needed were first class football players that could score a penalty. If they hit the target then England would still be in the running so grow up everyone and forget it for god's sake. it's pathetic all this whinging.

youse just no good at it, give it up!

try ping pong or somthing...

dont blame the sven, he tried but just like every one else in his position before him, no results, its the players, not svenny, get a pommy coach! then yous can get stuck into him more because he'll live in the pommy land, and won't be able to leave the constant barage of negativity and gloomyness from excellent supportive british press