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DOWN AND OUT >>>>
England soccer players react after their 3-1 loss in a penalty kick shootout against Portugal.

Web Exclusive | The World Cup | England v Portugal

Clinging On To A Bitter End

Goalkeeping the only bright spot in an otherwise excruiciatingly boring clash of equals who did nothing more than slug it out to penalties

Germany v Argentina: Pressed To The End of Impartiality

Posted Saturday, July 1, 2006; 19.48BST
Brutal. Excruciating. Injustice incarnate. No, not England's quarter final loss to Portugal in a 3-2 penalty shoot out (though England fans are doubtless feeling all those things just now). No, the merciless aspect was the game itself: 120-plus minutes of nearly unbroken and boring slog, grind, and muddle. Not a whisper of inspiration, creativity, or flair that usually at least puts in a cameo during World Cup playoff games (if not actually characterizes show-downs between sides that have managed to come this far.

Maybe both teams wanted it too much; perhaps the fear of losing was so great that neither ever mustered the courage to take risks, push the envelope, live a little. Or maybe they are both just really drab teams that mostly schlepped through their groups to qualify, never did much more than what was required to win, and then hung around for the final whistle to blow. Brutal. Pay the goalies 10 times their usual match fee: at least they decided to work while their team mates took the day off.

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In its listlessness and utter lack of technicity — even skill, much of the time — this quarter final in Gelsenkirchen was the exact opposite of their 2004 European Championship semi. In that match, tournament host Pourtugal was forced to scratch its way back after a charing England went up. In the end, the Portuguese came away for a truly admirably contested match winning 2-1 — though not without a refereeing decision over-turning an English equalizer gave the Engs a reason to leave Lisbon claiming they'd been robbed (and cause for some of the harder-core fans to literally harrass the offending Swiss referee into retirement). If the ref missed anything in this one, it was probably because he had nodded off.

Because of that, England fans will have a harder time pinnning blame on anyone but themselves in this one — despite a handed ball and possible foul in the box that feasibly could have been accorded penalties. As viliant as Portugal was in its 1-0 sumo match cum ultimate fighting bout with the Netherlands, it simply stunk the joint out in Gelsenkirchen. When they weren't throwing away every other pass to the English, the Portuguese were aborting their own scoring drives by taking dives the Argentine referee virtually never bought.

Astonishingly, when Portugal went up a man with Wayne Rooney's astoundingly stupid explosion of anger, that was when they managed to shift it down to an even lower gear at the very moment England locked elbows knowing the disadvantage they faced. That allowed England to create a handful of opporunities that quite nearly produced goals, but somehow good luck was with the Lusitanians as strongly as their ineptitude was: while they continued missing the English cage, England was somehow continually denied the goals that often looked as already scored.

Even though England showed a bit more life than it had in earlier games — and especially woke up once Rooney mentalled himself from the contest — it just didn't want to work for them. In a symbol of how things just kept going wrong for England, star David Beckham was forced out of the match due to an injury in the 51st minute — feasibly his last Cup match ever. In the shootout, meanwhile, it was some of England's steadiest players who missed their shots: Frank Lampard, Jamie Carragher, and even Steven Gerrard. Someone say "not meant to be"?

Is there any hope that Portugal may look less pathetic than it did against England — even in winning? Sure. First off, it attacked this quarter final without its offensive driver Deco, or its central defensive pivot Costinha (both having gotten red cards against the Dutch). Also, they did show some spunk against the Netherlands — perhaps a shimmer of that may return again. But it's still hard to hope much for a side that looked so bad in its quarter final, and knocked out a team that actually looked like it had finally figured out how to get the bean out, and start playing its real kind of game.

But let's be positive: Portugal will be an easier win for France if it makes it past Brazil, and the Brazilians will have a field day if the Selecao qualifies. Not very inspiring, is it? Okay, how about this: can we play this match over again? Maybe they'll get it right on the rebound.

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Sun, July 9 – 20:00*
FINAL: Berlin


Italy	v	France
1 (5)		1 (3)

*local time (CEST)

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