Saturday, July 01, 2006

The Fall of the Light Brigade

Portugal 0 (3) - England 0 (1)

Falling in penalty kicks is the worst thing that can happen to a World Class soccer team. Just ask any member of the English National team or any of their millions of supporters around the world.

And yet, the Brits must realize their culpability in this defeat. For a team whose names are constantly among the stars, the Three Lions played like tired housecats in this afternoon's quarterfinal match-up. For every English attack, there were 4 or 5 dangerous, action-packed Portuguese offensives. For every English shot on net, there seemed to be 3 Portuguese shots. Portugal's attacks were executed with speed, precision and creativity. England's were slow, sloppy and predictable.

Even with such lackluster play, the Three Lions managed to fend off the near-constant Portuguese attacks and take several very good shots on net. Unfortunately for the Brits, Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo had an easy time reading the predictable and limited offensive chances.

Beckham Injury & Rooney Red Card It would be an understatement to say that these two events changed the outcome of today's game. Ten minutes after Beckham was subbed for an injury, the English won a free kick ten yards outside of the box. For a moment, the camera switched to Beckham's pained, unbroken stare. He knew, the Portuguese knew, and everyone in the world knew, that had HE been on the field for the play. England might well have gone one up.

Rooney's red card took out the other x-factor for the Three Lions. With English wonderboy on the bench, and his set-up man David Beckham injured, the Portuguese defense breathed easy, and changed their tactics to focus on swarming Crouch.

Peter Crouch I hope that this clumsy, slow and stupid striker never plays for England again. I know that his entrance was brought on by Rooney's red card, but why won't the English manager ever look at some of his other offensive options. Peter Crouch needs about 15 chances on net before he'll have something that looks remotely like a dangerous play. His footskills are weak and his finishing is atrocious. Why doesn't anyone else understand that Peter Crouch ruins good passes like bad rum ruins good coke.

For the English, today's loss is not only the end of the line, but the end of an era. David Beckham will unlikely play in the next world cup, and with a generation of English stars phasing out in the next four years, England's prowess on the international will surely crumble. Many, many people (OK, me) believed that this was the year for Team England. It should have been. While the Portuguese deserve today's win and will surely fight for their first World Cup win, I regret England's exit and expect Portugal's dismissal against France/Brazil in the next round.

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