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Portugal go through on penalties. England played better than they have in any of the previous matches, but Portugal (surprise surprise) were equal to it; I noticed that for the first time in the tournament, Maniche had played further back, helping to break up attacks and moving forward when the chance came. Maniche has been my choice for finest player in the competiton so far, but today he shamefully feigned injury, pretending he had been hit in the face. He still rocks, though.
Lots of genuine emotion from everyone in the England camp at the end, apart from the usual dim-looking Eriksson who appeared to be unconcerned to the last. People are fed up of Eriksson's tactics, his distant attitude and his total failure to shift his arse off the bench when things aren't going well. Not to mention the £25,000,000 he's fleeced from the F.A.
Hargreaves played well, and scored his penalty. Terry and Ferdinand acquitted themselves very well in central defence, but apart from that there were no stand-out performances from our players.
Disgracefully, on the BBC after the match, ALan Shearer was talking all sorts of rubbish about Ronney's sending off; the fact is that during that scuffle Rooney committed two yellow card offences and two red card offences. Such is the nature of the beast, and the referee was quite right to punish him.
Portugal played maybe their worst game so far, totally failing to take advantage of their half hour with an extra man. But they still looked a bit classy.
Good luck to 'em, I say.
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