World Cup 2006 – England’s Dream Is Over, Portugal Through

Portugal 0 England 0 (3-1 on penalties). England goes out of the world cup after being beaten by Portugal on penalties. Again. The penalty shoot-out followed 120 goalless minutes of play. There is an eerie silence outside, for just one moment it seemed that England would have a chance to be in the semi-finals, but it was not to be.

I thought England played very hard and very well, after losing David Beckham to injury just after half time and Wayne Rooney in a send off. I will forever question the decision to play Rooney up front in the first place.

I was very happy to be able to watch the match in England in spite of the loss (and my jet lag). We are all very sad for the boys, it’s heartbreaking for them but I did think that, as far as the penalties were concerned, Portugal did better than England in getting them by England’s goalie. Ricardo was good, no doubt about it. They managed to get through in spite of two of their shots hitting the post.

So England’s dream of World Cup glory is over, the boys are gutted, many are in tears. The fans are rallying round. The post mortems will go on for a long time; I hope the media will not be too hard on the team. And Sven’s reign is well and truly over. So it should be.