FizzingWhizzbees
ONE love, blood, life
Congratulations Holland! I was quite happy to see Czech Republic get through too.
Bring on the quarter finals!
Bring on the quarter finals!
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bayernfc said:Excellent Effort ....... They missed Rooney too much though!!..... and Beckham taking penalties is just wrong!!
celia said:***totally pissed off!!!*** That Ref was useless! It so was a goal!
souLnation2002 said:Damn. I'm disappointed. Beckham should have gotten that penalty in.
AcrobatMan said:
but i am NOT watching euro 2004 anymore..
celia said:
and whats happened to Beckham??? He's lost the excellent skill he once had...
DaveC said:The ref made a good call. Buddy in front of the net definitely had his arm in the goalie's face. It was no goal for sure.
DrTeeth said:England seemed to make the mistake many teams (Italy, The Netherlands) have made, which is to defend a lead. They should just have kept the pressure on and maybe tried to score a second goal then Portugal would have been out. But they kept on bringing defenders in and when the Portugese team scored they had to play the rest of the game including extra time with a defending team. They screwed it up themselves. Tough break with Rooney though (no pun intended).
Caution proves England's undoing
...
But when the dust settles and the hard luck stories are all told, England must accept they were knocked out of Euro 2004 by a better, and more positive, side.
England suffered a devastating blow when Everton's Wayne Rooney limped off before the half-hour, and if they had added to Michael Owen's early goal, surely the host nation's party would have ended early.
But after the break Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari outwitted Eriksson for a second time, following on from Brazil's World Cup quarter-final win in 2002, with bold substitutions and an emphasis on attack that ultimately broke England.
Scolari's approach was met by caution with Eriksson who, seeing England were being pushed back further towards their own goal, sacrificed Paul Scholes for Phil Neville after only 55 minutes.
It signalled an England retreat that was eventually punished by, of all people, Spurs flop Helder Postiga.
Portugal were fluid, inventive and pacy, while England were trapped and reduced to firing long balls towards Owen and Darius Vassell.
England spent long spells of the second half without the ball, pressurised until it was inevitable they would be hit with a knockout blow.
Eriksson was cautious whereas Scolari was cavalier, and maybe this was a case of fortune favouring the brave.
DaveC said:The ref made a good call. Buddy in front of the net definitely had his arm in the goalie's face. It was no goal for sure.
I am sad.
Peter Seddon said:
Can't agree there I'm afraid. The ball was loose in the area and Terry & Campbell had every right to jump for it - the Portugese goalie flapped at it like a big girl and was rescued by the ref. Football is not a non-contact sport and the sooner refs accept it the better! I'm sure Collina would have let that goal stand! The ref was a 'homer' - so much for Swiss neutrality!
Peter Seddon said:Can't agree there I'm afraid. The ball was loose in the area and Terry & Campbell had every right to jump for it - the Portugese goalie flapped at it like a big girl and was rescued by the ref. Football is not a non-contact sport and the sooner refs accept it the better! I'm sure Collina would have let that goal stand! The ref was a 'homer' - so much for Swiss neutrality!
DrTeeth said:Hey Martijn, that was my post!