I'm sad England got kicked out, but I'm still enjoying this World Cup.

Us English are used to losing. We'll have a better chance with the Women's team next year.

Although the coverage isn't great.
Well done Portugal!

Litha

 

Poor England...

 

well no-one saw that coming........ahem.

 

I'm disappointed in C.Ronaldo.

Did anyone see the wink?

 

Wrong from the start. We never got going as a team throughout this tournament.

First off Sven should have been long gone since the last world cup, how on earth he managed to stick around for four more years I'll never know. He couldn't inspire me to drink water in a desert.

Wrong strikers, why on earth did we bring Owen and why in gods sake did he bring Walcott, what an own goal that was.

Rooney, yes Ronaldo is a grease ball, but you don't stamp on an opposing player right in front of the ref. The stupid git deserves all the stick he gets.

You don't play Rooney upfront on his own, what on earth was he going to do?

Too many long balls, it happened in every game. It meant we gave the ball away far too easily. Please somebody explain the merit of keeping the ball on the floor.

That said, Portugal were there to be beat and Ronaldo is a dirty, cheating, horrible, dispicable, spotty, goofy, little boy and I haaate him.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g311/shaungav/_41835998_ronaldo416.jpg

 

yeah, yeah, Portugal is always the weakest, portuguese players are awful, nobody saw that coming, etc.

But we're still here, England isn't.

 

C. Ronaldo is just an inexperienced fag. he throws his hands up for every call against him! i cant stand him anymore.

but anyways...

brazil against france should be good

Go BRAZIL!!!

 

The portuguese flopped like little pussies. Put them in a game vs. USA and what happens? They flop into a 4-2 loss.

Ooops... I think they are still trying to wipe the taste of that loss out of their mouths.

 

Heh. I'm originally British, and i was rooting for England to win this match. I'm disappointed.

That said...why the hate for Portugal? They've played some tremendous football in the past few years. They've got a great team...players like Deco, Pauleta and Ronaldo, as well as Figo, Maniche, etc.

Sure, people are disappointed, but don't bash them just because of that. Portugal, under Scolari, has played great.One loss to the USA doesn't make them worse than the Americans. Upsets happen all the time in football. If Ecuador can get lucky against Brazil, then the US can get lucky against Portugal.

On the subject of Ronaldo: He has incredible skill, but i have to say, the lad is an utter bastard. He dives ALL the time. He obviously has some considerable power in his runs...so its highly unlikely that simple touches would send him flying and rolling like that. He's even better at hiding his diving than Pires was...and Robert Pires won games for Arsenal at times with his theatrical bullshit.

Point is...England lost, and that sucks ass. But don't demean the winning side. The English defense is one of the greatest defensive sides in the world. With Neville back for this game, it was at full power. But regardless, even with us having a strong back line, the Portugese managed to play attacking football, retain possession and still defend from our attackers.

They deserve to be recognized as winners, even if that win did come through on penalties.

 

Precisely! Finally someone with good sense. Can´t ppl just admit that both teams are even? The last two matches were won with penalties, and both were very good and nerve wracking.


And i agree Ronaldo is a little pussy, but that's no reason to bash the whole team.

This time we win, next time maybe we won't, deal with it.

 

Brazil is losing...

Im shaking...

This is so exciting...

 

What...the...fuck...

*sits there, stunned*

*kills commentator for saying Ronaldo is tripping because he is too fat and Zidane's performance 'outshines' Ronaldinho's (albeit true)*

Germany has a good chance of winning the Cup now, me thinks.

 

Yay for Europe. No more Americans in the Cup.

I must say I didn't expect Germany to come back after that 0-1, but they started to play better and scored a nice goal. The Shoot-out, while both a German and Argentinian speciality, was clearly better for Germany, especially since the first keeper was out.

Italy, no surprise there, they will be a tough opponent in the semi.

Brazil got it's comeuppance after the slow soccer they played. France deserved that win, Ronaldo was diving like a seal, the last freekick that Ronaldinho put over the cross was undeserved.
Zidane played real well, I didn't see anything outstanding by Ronaldinho.

 

Despite the strength of MOST of the remaining four teams, the tournament will badly miss free-flowing beautiful football. Have you ever watched the International European Championships? Dull at best. Thetournament NEEDED Brazil to win even though France played better.

 

Argh. It was still very unexpected though. It has been a long time since Brazil had not entered the semis...

Gamblers shall lose millions tonight. Good for them

Ronaldo did try hard, though all that 'tripping on purpose so I can get a penalty' thing was uncalled for. Kaka was stupid. I was disappointed.

That shot by Henry is great, and it won the game for them.

I'd say Argentina got its share of bad luck and of course that idiot of a coach has to waste all of his three opportunities...taking out Crespo...I think? And not getting Messi up there...*bitchslaps*

Portugal v. England was a little surprising. I really couldn't say anything more.

 

/me missed both games...;_;

But...wow...today was not a day to miss, I gather. Two big upsets (at least in my mind) and I was off getting killed in baseball.

/me pities himself...

 

That's what you get for playing baseball

On topic, I'd like to say for leaving Henry free as he was, Brazil deserved, not to lose, but to have that goal scored.

 

Meh, it's Zidane's last cup, so I wanna see him go out with a bang.... **not so secretly roots for France because he has a gigantic man crush on Henry**

But wait -- I missed Brazil lose? Dammit.

Giovanni doesn't like Brazil because they have to many kick ass players.

 

I still think that except for Germany the remaining teams are "second rate teams". All the big football countries which play actractive football (the kind I'd actually sit down to watch) are gone and Germany is the big surprise, I was almost sure they'd get eliminated after the first round.

France just hasn't impressed me lately, especially in their first round (in one of the easier groups), and I expected them to be out soon enough. I just don't see France as a team but more as a group of talented individuals trying to look good.

I've never like to watch Italy play. Their mentality (score 1 goal and settle for 1-0) has never appealed to me, I like the mentality of the old Man U (our defense may suck but we'll outscore you). That and I plain don't like the Italy players (Gilardino, Toni, Cameronesi, etc.) they haven't played a good WC and I sincerely hope Germany beat some sense into them.

Portugal... what can I say. How do you appeal for a red card against your own (club) team mate. Put aside the fact that Rooney deserved it, that is the worst betrayal I can think of in football. Teammates are supposed to shake eachothers hands on when they get on the field, smile and try to play fairly. In any case it should make for an interesting reunion in august. Portugal itself seems to have made it this far by acting and playing dirty (although I am a bit biased in this statement, being Dutch and all) and the fact that even against 10 men they still seemed to be the worse team should signal they don't belong in the semi's.

As I said the Germans are the exception in these fixtures. Apart from the opening game the defence has been amazing, I think they haven't let a goal in since. Their striker has been one of the most productive forwards (this and the last WC) and their distance shots actually are a real threat. They also seem to have the best condition and are the only team that can really take (and block) penalties. This coupled with their homefield advantage (and good coaching) makes them the most likely candidates to win this thing and the only ones that deserve to have a chance at this moment.

 

Oh, definitely. I think that Germany is by far the best team remaining. I've watched every single game of this WC except for today's and Spain's Group's games, and I think that Germany is playing the best. Klose, Podolski, Ballack, Lehmann and the guy with the almost-mohawk are superstars, and deserve to win this thing by the way they're playing. I really do hope that Germany wins, because they are the best team I've seen so far.