Sunday, July 02, 2006
england lost!
watched the match at hard rock cafe. really had a nice feel to the place. there was an equal mix of english and portugese supporters and they were vocal in expressing their support. having a nice seat and drink helps too ;)
i think that england played their best match in the world cup so far. no more long balls. so many english players played outstandingly. gerrard, aaron lennon, owen hargreaves!, ashley cole and john terry. hargreaves sure answered his critics with his performance today. they controlled the midfield and limited the portugese to few chances. yet, that stupid rooney had to get himself send off. and while im at this, i want to voice my frustrations at the refereeing at this world cup. if a slight push like this warrants a red card, then shouldnt the push on petit by sneijder in the portugal vs holland match be a red card? he bloody hell pushed petit to the ground. there are so many inconsistencies throughout this world cup. a few penalties had been given for delibrate handballs in the penalty box. wat then should be the consequence of adducting ur arm to block a cross in the penalty box? nothing. and dun tell me its unintentional or ball to hand. its as stupid as de rossi telling the world that his elbow on mcbride was an accident. the portugese player's arm was obviously outstretched when the ball was kicked. then when he saw the ball was going under his arm, he pulled down his arm to block the ball. yes u can say the referee cant see everything. but its small crucial incidents like this tat get missed tat marred the whole world cup.
the penalty shootout. before the match ended, i told my fren that i got a very bad feeling if it gets to penalty shootout, ricardo will make many saves. and the 2 golden boys of england missed their penalties. lampard, who had a disappointing campaign so far continued his misery. gerrard, the saviour of liverpool on so many occasions, couldnt save england this time round. gerrard's expression when lampard missed the first penalty sums up the match. the bitterness on his face and the sour in his eyes as he looked away trying to hide his tears. bitter at fighting so hard even after one man down and still having to come down to the cruel penalty shootout. sour at their jinxed fate knowing that tis miss will make it so mucher harder for them to win. i will never forget that look.
i had always believed that england has the potential to win this world cup because despite them not playing to their best yet, they got to the quarters and when they finally start playing their best, they will be unstoppable. even though they played better today, they did not play to their full potential yet. it wasnt enough on this day, when luck and referee was against them. my heart goes with you, england...
ps: ronaldo winked at the portugese bench after getting rooney sent off. being his team mate at man utd, he knew all abt rooney's temperament. wat do u tink was in his mind when he went over to the referee?
thoughts running wild4:03 PM
