There's no doubt this is gonna be difficult

I think, again, if we play to our ability we'll come out top - The portuguese are an ageing team and IMO not as strong as they were when they beat us in Euro 2000 - They however, do have home support of course which to some extent will be nullified by our ******* great support over there!

Hopefully we don't have any injuries as a result of last night

COME ON ENGLAND!

Portugal haven't looked that great so far, but I've got this horrible feeling that we'll play well but they're still gonna beat us. At least we played better last night and we were able to string a few passes together at last! Attacking wise we're pretty strong but I'm still worried about us defensively which is odd when you think of Cole, Campbell, Terry and Neville, they're hardly poor players!

I actually thought our fans were quite quiet when we were 1-0 down. That's when the team needs the support the most. It's easy to sing when you're winning. Having said that there's loads of St. George's flag in the stadiums when we play and even in matches when we're not playing.

I think it's gonna be tough playing the hosts, fingers crossed for us to get through.

I agree. I think that provided all 11 players play well, and more importantly they play well together (which they did well yesterday against Croatia I thought - particularly in the 2nd half) then I honestly believe we can win.

It will be a tough test though, and if we're not completely up for it and playing well we will get punished.

I think the most important thing is we look more than able to score (hence being the top scorers at this stage!), and in open play our defense looks pretty solid. Our only weakness at the moment is set peices - we're conceding far too many, and too many are resulting in goal scoring opertunites (and goals!).

Provided we cut that out - we should be fine (fingers crossed).

COME ON ENGLAND!!

To me this game is a nailed on penalty shoot out. Both teams will be a bit cagey with all players not wanting to make a mistake with it being knockout..I can see is 1-1 AET..then on to dreaded penalties...don't know if my nerves can take it

nooooooo don't want penalties
no good for me ticker like :(

Oh God NO! I couldn't handle going out of yet another top tournament on penalties :o

I think it will be a very tough game, moreso than the one vs France as Portugal have a few games under their belt and have certainly warmed up since their defeat to Greece.

C. Ronaldo is playing superbly although I don't think Figo has yet shown us everything he is capable of. Let's hope he he doesn't hit form vs England.

I haven't been overly impressed with the Portugese attack but their midfield vs ours will be fun...*bites fingernails*.

Will be a damn good match hopefully whatever. If we win this I think we will have a great chance of reaching the final.

On last night's showing, they can beat anyone. It won't be easy, but I'm confident that we can do it.

All 4 of the goals we have conceded so far have been set pieces - 2 from crossed free kicks headed in, 1 direct free kick and 1 penalty. The worst part is that all 4 were also needless and self inflicted. Pointless and clumsy tackles from Heskey, Beckham and Cole resulted in the 3 free kicks and the Gerrard calamity caused the penalty. In open play I think we're tight defensively. Therefore this issue has to be addressed - stop giving away silly free kicks and practice defending set pieces more and winning the headers. If we get this right I don't think Portugal pose much of a threat. If we do lose, we will have thrown it away ourselves with mistakes rather than Portugal outplaying us. I could be wrong though - Portugal might be saving their best for the knock out stages.

I'm not convinced that Portugal are playing that well. I thought they were lucky against Spain and their victory over Russia had a lot to do with a dodgy decision by the ref. I fancy us to beat them in 90 minutes.

3 -1 to england

rooney (2) and beckham to score

any takers?

I don't think Portugal have been playing well either. Their play has always been attractive and that remains but they gave the ball away very easily against Spain.

I remember when they beat England 1-0 in the opening game of the 1986 world cup.

ok, here goes:

England 4 - 0 Portugal. :thumbsup:

Rooney 2
Owen 1
Beckham free kick

i think portugal will have a 'little' help from the ref.....lets hope he's not scottish

Gonna be interesting for the Manchester United players to figure what a diving cheating little **** Christiano Ronaldo is, if they haven't figured it out already.

not long to go now lads n lasses :D

Originally posted by Yodameister
Gonna be interesting for the Manchester United players to figure what a diving cheating little **** Christiano Ronaldo is, if they haven't figured it out already.
Absolutely!! Couldn't agree more!

As for the ref not being Scottish... he's not - he's Swiss (erm... hang on... didn't we JUST beat them?! I think I smell fish.... yup... definately FISHY!!! ;) )

I we do lose I can't see it being by open play....

I think if we win it'll be by a clear amount, like 2-0...

If it goes to penalties we will lose
(let's face it!)

but nonetheless COME ON ENGLAND!

we beat Spain in Euro 96' at penalties at this stage though.....

Yeah, Spain are probably the one team who are bigger chokers than England.

rooney, rooney, rooney, rooney, rooney!!!!!!!
COME ON ENGLAND.

At least Beckham and the Nevilles have some idea of how a few of the portugese players tend to play so theres that advantage - other than that it's just a case of closing them down quick and not letting them too much time on the ball.

I hope it's not going to be 1 - 0 to England in the 75th minute though, i don't have any finger nails left to bite.

COME ON ENGLAND!

Just over 3 hours to go..the butterflies are kicking in already. I can see a very stressful evening ahead

that's me done for the day!

off to varsity to get hammered - hopefully i'll be celebrating in the streets rather than walking home with the 'ump!


COME ON ENGLAND!!!!

Nah.......im not very excited about the match tonight....MUCH!!!!
Im at work and have done nothing but smoke fags and drink tea for the past 2 hours!! And no, i also dont have any finger nails left!!
COME ON THE BOYS!!!
2-0 England, Owen and Rooney to score!

Who's watching t game right now

perhaps this should be in the euro 2004 section on general chat?

but yes, i am watching, i don't think there isn't a fan in england who isn't on the edge of their seat.

Wilf

but we are up aganst it now

Oh no!! the national press will want to call for a day of mourning. We will not hear the last of this if England go out. Wayne Rooney came off in the game with what looked like a twisted ankle or ligament injury.
I'm sure we wont be able to escape this so let's see what the outcome is.

******* swiss ****** **** ****** referee ******* disallowed ****** ***** *** wrong ****** goal???

seriously though, why the **** have I not been down the bookies all tournament. Eng v France my prediction 1-2, Eng v Portugal, my pediction 6-5 on pen.

I promise to keep my predictions to myself next tournament

we have never won any competitive match on a penalty shootout.

hmmmm

Beckham, you a**e. Free Kicks and penaltis are his job and the dim twit can't even do that right. I'm not going to blame Vassell, these things happen. But they shouldn't happen to somebody who'se career is based on precision ball-placement

forget Rooney. He's good but he is not the England side.

If we can't win without one man, then we're not up to scratch. But just what was that with the free kick for losing his boot?

Yet again England lose again to penalties.But how hard is it when you play 11 against 12?
From the outset,the ref was on their side.Every time a foul was committed against England the ref never saw a thing,but go near a greasy portugese **** and the whistle was out in a big way.

Did the ref have a blind spot in the 88th min when a perfectly legal goal was disallowed?

Several threads merged.

...merged to make me look like a spammer for replying to three threads :lol:

oh my reply to the fourth before the invalid thread message popped up was

quick edit :lol:

were England robbed? YES
did we deserve to win? NO

We were outplayed for most of the game. But football is not figure-skating - you don't get points for style and finesse - you get points for putting the ball in the back of the net. And that we did, so yes, we were robbed - again. We seem to have two traditions running - one of being robbed and one of losing penalty shootouts

We were robbed and we did deserve to win because, by the rules of the game and not a biased (and probably paid off) referee, we DID win the game. England did win against Spain in the QF of Euro 96 on pens but then lost in the SF on pens to Germany. You'd think by now we'd learn our lesson and practice, practice, practice those penalties. I think like against France we thought we could sit back on a 1-0 lead and it will never work. We can't expect to be able to withstand so much pressure without conceding a goal.

Originally posted by Squiggs
we have never won any competitive match on a penalty shootout.

hmmmm

Beckham, you a**e. Free Kicks and penaltis are his job and the dim twit can't even do that right. I'm not going to blame Vassell, these things happen. But they shouldn't happen to somebody who'se career is based on precision ball-placement


AND Vassell was brave and stepped up to take that penalty AND he got it on target!

BECKHAM missed it and it was the first penalty and he's our captain ffs....

apologies for my double post :S

Originally posted by Trekker
but we are up aganst it now

Well that's it... It could have been... England had just as much chance of winning.

Originally posted by t020
We were robbed and we did deserve to win because, by the rules of the game and not a biased (and probably paid off) referee, we DID win the game. England did win against Spain in the QF of Euro 96 on pens but then lost in the SF on pens to Germany. You'd think by now we'd learn our lesson and practice, practice, practice those penalties. I think like against France we thought we could sit back on a 1-0 lead and it will never work. We can't expect to be able to withstand so much pressure without conceding a goal.

Some of Englands penalties were just poor compared to Portugals. Shearer is one of the best Penalty takers I have ever seen for England. To have their goalkeeper put the final penalty away like he did summed it up.