Today was the day that I thought we’d do it. For the first time in 8 years I actually believed that England would progress to the Semi-Finals of the World Cup. It seemed that we had our best team ever with the likes of David Beckham captaining the side, Wayne Rooney in formidable form and a solid defense.
As I sat down to watch the first half and then the second half without any score, I began to feel the nerves kicking in. Then things started to go pear-shaped. Wayne Rooney was sent off for a minimalist push on Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, and David Beckham was substituted due to injury.
Extra time was full of England hanging on by a thread with 10 men, although we were undoubtedly playing with more ease and flow. Then after 120 minutes of football, the referee blew the whistle to signal a penalty shootout: Portugal scored, England missed, Portugal missed, England scored we were all experiencing a rollercoaster of emotions. Then we missed again and we saw Portgual needing one more goal to clinch the match. The infamous Ronaldo walked up and slotted it past the English keeper.
It was at that moment that I felt like crying! Although I didn’t all of the England players were understandably devasted, as they had waited 4 years for a chance to lift the World Cup. 40 years on from 1966 and the World CUp still is not ours.
Today was a day of joy then sadness and one which I thought I should share with you. Life’s not always peaches and cream, you win some you lose some, and today just was not our day.
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9 responses so far ↓
1 Scott Taylor // Jul 2, 2006 at 3:55 am
Dont even get me started on that ref. … Biased and a half
2 adnan // Jul 2, 2006 at 9:15 am
I know, that definitely wasn’t a red card for Rooney, it was an accidental step on the groin and an extremely light push on Ronaldo.
Anyway, another 4 year wait…
3 Kit // Jul 2, 2006 at 1:03 pm
What made it worse was Ronaldo ‘winning’ the game for them. [Note the sarcastic quote marks]. Ah well, at least Crouch didn’t play too badly.
4 Dave Starr // Jul 2, 2006 at 7:30 pm
At least the UK fielded a team that was competitive. Here in the US football is completely ignored until once every 4 years someone dredges up the unwanted from the world of pro football and hangs a US ID badge around their neck … and wonders why they never make it out of the initial round.
A soft drink manufacturer here ran a long series of commercials this spring showing the US team playing on to glory in the Cup. I asked my wife to pick up some of the product? “why”, she queried, knowing that I seldom drink any product like it.
“Because”, I answered, “If it can delude those guys to that degree, it must be stronger and cheaper than vodka, and I haven’t been drunk in a long time.”
5 adnan // Jul 2, 2006 at 7:36 pm
Thanks for your comments Kit and Dave, tell me about Ronaldo, and did you see that wink to his teammate after he got Rooney sent off. He will be hated at Man U.
Dave I didn’t realise how unenthusiastic Americans are about “soccer”! I thought the whole world loved the World Cup.
Haha that last quote made me laugh. Thanks for the funny commenting!
6 Dave Starr // Jul 2, 2006 at 7:53 pm
It’s actually pretty sad … the US ambivalence to “round” football. Soccer is actually very popular here in urban areas, in and especially outside of schools. Most American cities of any size have significant junior player leagues … and “Soccer mom” is a very common slang for the housewife and her minivan shuttling the kids about after school. So we start hundreds of thousands on the road to the sport every year, but somehow it virtually disappears during the high school years.
I assume there are US colleges who field soccer teams … but I couldn’t name one for you. Strange, because the athletic enthusiasm doesn’t get absorbed into the popular pro games .. one can’t play basketball, even in college, unless near 7 feet tall, no way will one play college gridiron football except for a small microcosm of heavyweights, and baseball very quickly demands playing skills shared only by a few … so why does soccer/football so nearly disappear here after the age of 12 or 13?
7 adnan // Jul 2, 2006 at 8:38 pm
Its the same thing here really. Most of the kids around want to be the next David Beckham (or should I say John Terry seeing how Beckham isn’t captain anymore ;))!
But I think as they grow older, they all realise how unlikely that dream is. I suppose then everyone just loses enthusiasm, and they just start to play it less for teams. Although even I still play with my mates but not on a professional level by any standards.
Im sure this is the same case as for Americans. Another sport we British have started taking up more is golf. Personally I love golf and this would explain why Im starting a golf forum at golfchum.com!
8 oz // Jul 2, 2006 at 9:51 pm
Was a good game tbh, England played the best they had, I thought even better with 10 men than 11. Crouch made a difference and Lennon was a definate good choice. Shame Terry didn’t get one in during the last minutes. Ronaldo was very sadistic, he’s lost a lot of friends, esp rooney, with that wink we all saw. At least we don’t have to go thru the trumour again for a while… i’m glad sven is leaving, he showed no passion.
9 adnan // Jul 3, 2006 at 8:30 am
Yeah, I also thought that England played the better game with 10 men than with the full 11. I hope Steve McLaren brings in some more enthusiasm into the job, because I think you’re right that Sven never seemed excited or even sad when we lost. He was just extremely apologetic.
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