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| DOMENICO STINELLIS/AP |
| STILL LIFE? Portugal supporters watch a giant screen set up in Lisbon's Expo area as goalkeeper Ricardob score the winning goal to beat England, 6-5, on penalties. |
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England: We Wuz Robbed. Really? |
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England 2(5) Portugal 2(6)
England's loss is the tournament's too. But they could be more sporting about it.
By BRUCE CRUMLEY |
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Posted Friday, June 25, 2004; 15:33 BST
Like most victims of massive hangovers, one can't say England (and speaking of headaches, England supporters) didn't have this one coming to them. And like most sufferers of self-inflicted agony, the English won't find many sympathetic observers offering any words of solace. Vain, vociferous, and now vanquished England leaves this Euro bloated and bleary-eyed with the knowledge that once again it is its own worst footballing enemy.
Though English tabloids have opted for the most hackneyed and lame dodge in the pages of the Loser's Play Book—blame the referee—less hysteria-prone England players and fans will admit they lost their quarter final showdown to Portugal for the same reason they were dramatically taken down by France in the opener: they stopped playing their own, admirable game. As they did against the French, a solid, charging English side transformed itself into a shrunken, defensive troll after going up 1-0 against Portugal. And as in the opener, the English clearly hoped that by building a hermetic wall around its penalty area that opponents couldn't dribble through, they'd force their rivals into lobbing center after futile center into the black hole of that white-shirted swamp.
But if such tactics have been known to protect leads for short periods, England discovered—for the second learning-impaired time in four matches—that trying to kill time thus for the better part of a 90-minute game is asking the Gods to stomp on your dreams. And your best forward's foot. In the 83rd minute, sub Helder Postiga equalized, sending the game into extra time. By then, England's siege mentality had become such a habit it was unable to quickly shift back into "play" mode. When ancient mariner Rui Costa put Portugal ahead in the 110th minute, the Seleçao had so dominated the game—and racked up countless shots on goal—that England was lucky not to be in a double-digit hole. Though the Engs soon tied it up (and would have gone ahead had Sol Campbell not applied illegal noogies to Lusitanian keeper Ricardo as he scored), even the most proud (or pissed—take your pick) England fans seemed to know there'd be no joy in the cruel farce known as the shootout. With wunderkind Wayne Rooney long lost to injury—and with Beckham bending England's first shot towards the Atlantic—its was "Drool Britannia" all over again.
Portugal's pluck in hanging in, fighting away, and proving English hunker-down strategy fatal for the second time this Euro was a fitting reward to a nation who have made this Championship an absolute delight. It was also a triumph of will by 10 men facing 13 hostile foes. If Portugal won, after all, it was in spite of the hallucinatingly horrible performance by naturalized Brazilian scroobe Deco. Added to that was the even more insane determination by Portugal's Brazilian coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, to stick with the diminutive cipher all 120 minutes of the match. With Deco's stunningly bad play providing England an unexpected advantage, Scolari made the kind of move only a Portuguese Quisling could love: he pulled Luis Figo, whose relentless, impassioned play had quite nearly made up for Deco's truly awesome ineptitude. Then, once Scolari was himself forced to recognize Deco was stinking the joint out, he merely shifted the offense-minded midfielder down to fullback , rather than replacing him. Given all of that, one can perhaps understand England's hopes that—so long as Deco was in the line-up—the looming shoot-out might not be necessarily doomed after all. Alas, poor England—and to the unmitigated joy of just about everyone else in Europe—doomed it indeed was.
But if the masses are merry in waving the loud and obnoxious army of England fans out the Euro door, even its fiercest detractors have to applaud some aspects of the English presence in Portugal. Though psychotically over-confident and often verbally nauseating, England fans are arguably the only football lovers ready to follow their squad in such huge numbers across the Continent—and stick by them loyally, come what may. While residents of Lisbon, Faro, and Porto may not weep at the idea of large swaths of their cities being liberated from the occupying armies of loud, often blotted England fans, they'll also doubtless find the Euro somewhat empty and bland with the English now out. And while even some England fans may regret the amazing opening loss to France, the crushing ejection by Portugal, and rather modest performances of habitual stars like Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Steven Gerrard, they have to be chuffed about the bust-out confirmation of Rooney—and belated return to form of Michael Owen—as they look ahead to the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
For now, however: hard cheese England; obrigado, Portugal.
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 Brand it Like Beckham [Apr. 27, 2003]
England's captain on keeping his life in balance: "Never say never"
Players Behaving Badly [Jan. 14, 2002]
More English footballers wind up in the courts, prompting questions about discipline off the pitch
Home-Field Advantage [Feb. 27, 2001]
Are some foreign football stars playing for European teams with the assistance of bogus passports?
Back to the Bad Old Days
[Oct. 14, 2002]
English fans were at their worst at last week's Euro 2004 qualifying match against Slovakia
No Money, No Kickoff [Aug. 25, 2002]
Reality bites, and Italian teams are forced to take drastic action
Pink, Proud And Scoring [May. 14, 2001]
Spain's Alav s proves soccer success doesn't always require big bucks
In The Football Business [Sep. 7, 2003]
The true cost of a kick in the grass
Play and Pay [Jul. 30, 2001]
European soccer's big leagues are eager to recruit Japanese players and not just for their ball skills
Search all issues of TIME Magazine
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| Saturday, June 7, 2008 |
UEFA Euro 2008
Austia & Switzerland |
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