England Strike Three, You're Out!

I swear if England won the match, I would start thinking of the World Cup as being rigged. They did not deserve to win. And thankfully they did not. But having said that, Portugal played poorly too, and did not deserve to win as well.

Why I say it could have been rigged? Well, someone please explain to me why Big Phil took off his only striker when England were reduced to 10 men? And Cristiano Ronaldo, being his best player on the pitch, going into an ineffective role as centre-forward where he hardly touched the ball. And why, after England had a man down, did Portugal not go for the initiative for the entire half hour of regulation time, and the entire extra-time. I don't remember a decent shot on target by the Portugese! Robinson turned away a Figo cross-shot, but the latter obviously meant it as a pass. The other shots were by Maniche from way outside the area. And Maniche was crap, it's a good thing for Chelsea he didn't sign permenantly, he was a shadow of what I saw of him 3 years ago in the European championships.

Actually to start off, I don't know why Wayne Rooney got sent off. Was it the accidental stamp on Carvalho? Or was it the little nudge on club team-mate Cris Ron? But looked less than a yellow card, but he got a straight red. It really left me bemused. Well, he wasn't playing that well anyway, if you ask me, England might have scored had Rooney not lost the ball in the good areas and even nicking his own team-mate Aaron Lennon when the latter was on for the shot. Rooney scuffed his shot in the end.

Eriksson made a mistake too, when he took Joe Cole off for Peter Crouch after Rooney got sent off. Crouch did play much better than Rooney, at least he saw much more of the ball. But Joe Cole was playing much better than Frank Lampard. And having an ineffective Lamps in the centre, and virtually rendering Gerrard useless in an unfamiliar left winger role, he was never going to win the game. For all of Crouch's and Lennon's toil up front, England were undone by Eriksson's poor decisions.

I also couldn't understand the British media for criticising Owen Hargreaves before the World Cup. Though on paper Michael Carrick looks a better option, given that Mourinho recommends him and so many top clubs are chasing him, but Hargreave was the best England player on the field today I felt. He even outplayed Gerrard - especially when the latter was made to play on the left wing. He was far better than Lampard with his forceful runs and work rate. He sank a few important tackles as well, and in my opinion was unlucky to be called for a few 'fouls'. Thumbs up to Hargreaves - especially after all the stick he has been getting.

Now, bad decisions from Eriksson lost the game for England, but take nothing away from Ricardo the Portugese goalkeeper. He is an excellent shot-stopper and when it came to penalties, he was always favourite to triumph. This time with his gloves on! He famously removed his gloves to stop penalties 2 years ago, and even scored the winning penalty himself. This time though he didn't need to score one himself, because he made three brilliant stops. Robinson looked a far cry from his Portugese counterpart, only with Petit and Hugo Viana missing the target altogether.

Two penalties missing the target? Now you would know, if had England won, why I would have said the match was rigged. Good thing they didn't. And it's about time Eriksson steps down so his mistakes can no longer harm the nation. And to think he said the better side lost.

Heh.