Well we all saw it, what do we think of the performance. I reckon the boys did really well, one or two in the team let them down a bit with a lacklustre effort, didnt they Mr Beckham.

Anyway, post views here!

Can we all say - CHEATING REF!
Love to know how much of a backhander he was given..
Its a bloody disgrace...

Shame about Rooney getting injured that kinda changed the game for us I think and also I think I would have left stevie gerrard on the pitch as well..

And then the pens...

Darius should hold his head up high.. least he had some sense not to sky it... ie: Beckham..

A worldclass player like that who did nearly exactly the same thing against turkey should know by now to check the pen spot.. Ronaldo from portugal knew it was dodgy and he's 18....

Oh Well... roll on the world cup... hopefully we'll have a new captain by then.. Gerrard

Originally posted by ANGELUS
Can we all say - CHEATING REF!
Love to know how much of a backhander he was given..
I

Why not vote how much here?

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12967

It wasn't pretty to watch! It all seemed a bit desperate in defence and that swiss bloke did us no favours.

Obviously the Ref wouldn't have been biased would he!
so it must have been down to our lack of ability to have the ball recognised as going into the back of the net.

no bloody swiss army knives, watches or cheeses in our house after seeing that full weight double died excuse for a ref, having said all that Beckhams penalty miss was made all the worse when Owen said after the match that they had problems with them at both ends in practice yesterday......so Mr Dimbo goes and blasts it instead of placing it "ya know" at least we didn't have to put up with 16 "ya knows" after the match......oh well the world cups only 2 years away.

Beep Beep Beep :mad:

OMG we were cheated out of that


Well done lads, you fought the cheats bravely, hold your heads up high- except you Beckham.... you played crap all tournament and missed two penalties.

1) Two shocking refereeing decisions. Allowing a quick free kick after disallowing the goal was worse ...ref's will get things wrong but to let play continue when every English player was celebrating was the pits.
2) You shouldn't defend for 60 minutes in your own 6yard box
3) Beckham is clearly lacking in fitness and obviously missing Alex Ferguson who isn't bothered about anybody's income, wife or celebrity status
4) Can't explain what was wrong with Gerrard and Lampard. Two great young midfielders who weren't involved.
5) Scholes return to form was a temporary reprieve (against Croatia)

The midfield cost England this game: They didn't tackle/close down in the centre of the park, didn't pass the ball after the first 20 minutes and didn't support their strikers. It was crap.

a)Rest Beckham until he regains full fitness and remembers that he's a footballer first and foremost.
b)Look to replace Scholes until he returns to the form of 4 years ago.
c) Question Sven's tactics and powers of motivation?

Big +'s = Rooney, Campbell and Neville

I've just been out to have a couple of tyres fitted and two blokes in there were saying that there is going to be an investigation into the possibility that referee had been bribed by the Portuguese?

Anyone know?

Sam
They will never prove it, and even if they did the powers that be would **** up the stick same as they always do.

I know. It's just a hope to cling on to. If it did come out, though,
Portugal would be banned from football for a very long time.

Originally posted by Sam Miguel
I've just been out to have a couple of tyres fitted and two blokes in there were saying that there is going to be an investigation into the possibility that referee had been bribed by the Portuguese?
C'mon Sam, this is the sort of desperate whinging guff one expects from the Italians not us. I wont be able to laugh at them any more if we start making the same complaints that they do every time they lose a game!:)

Yep, it's only a game of football, after all. I always tell myself that the next day after we've been really, really, really unlucky.

Originally posted by owdlad
Sam
They will never prove it, and even if they did the powers that be would **** up the stick same as they always do.

And to prove it, Graeme Poll still has his job!!!!

I think that Beckham should be took off the team all together cos he doesn't play for England any other time so why would he want to now?
I also think Owen should be made captain cos he's the only one that REALLY tried last night he tried to pass it to someone and there was nobody down field.
The Portugese players all surrounded Rooney as soon as he started playing,and how come Ronaldo never got yellow carded for getting Rooney sent off with a bad injury it's all because of the biased ref!!:mad:

Yeh there's always people that can be blamed isn't there cos if we're going to go out of a tournament (again) then mistakes will be made along the way, but what I want to know is why do England always get pooped on when it comes to the big tournaments?

If it's a penalty situation we are known for missing penalties and crashing out.

We get goals disallowed by blind refs when they would otherwise win the game for us. Last night and against Argentina in '98 in particular.

In general last night I thought the England defence were outstanding but when you get little or no support from your midfield then a goal is going to come eventually. It's inevitable. Great job to the lads for picking it up when they really had to and making it 2-2 but hard luck with the penalties. Last night's ref was a real joke though and a bit card-happy. Berk!

I can't be too hard on Beckham because everyone has bad tournaments and nobody's perfect. I just hope that this won't make everyone forget what a good player he's been for England in the last few years. Unfortunately the media may take this into their own hands.....as per bloody usual. :rolleyes:

We could all just leave some nice comments on Mr Meier's homepage,sure he'd like the feedback. :D

www.worse ref EVAR.com (http://www.ursmeier.ch/referee/ref60.html)

England,.....out.......? Never. When did that happen?

OK, OK, I'll shut up.:rolleyes: ;)

Bitterly bitterly disappointed with the result last night.
Why is it that the national team is cursed with such damn bad luck in international tournaments? It really is the case.

It started in 1986 with Maradona's 'Hand of God' goal and has continued with penalty shoot out defeats to the Germans (1990, 1996) and the Argies (1998). In the latter game remember we had the great misfortune of Beckham being red-carded because of an Argentinian player faking a foul. It was also in this game that a perfectly legitimate goal by Sol Campbell was disallowed just like last night. When will our bad luck end? When will it be England's turn to get the rub of the green?

I am totally gutted and will never forgive the Swiss referee who was absolutely awful. His incompetence has cost England the chance of going on to become champions of Europe. I think there is a very fine line between success and failure in a tournament with teams that are so closely matched. So I think UEFA should do their utmost to ensure the highest standard of refereeing / linesmen. They should start by getting the best referees and getting the three officials to work together more.
There is too much responsibility placed on a referee's shoulders. He should consult with his other officials more, especially when he does not have a good view of a goal or foul (like last night).
Better still, I personally feel that in big games like this, international football should take a leaf out of international cricket's book and introduce a second referee (not on the pitch) who is able to play back video footage of a crucial incident and make a more informed decision. If this had happened, England would still be in the tournament now.

As for the game, yes the midfield was non-existent and Beckham looked like he was back for his testimonial game. Our defence was overall marvellous and we almost grinded out a victory. There is no shame in that , after all the Germans have been doing it for years. Some games, in a tournament of this type, are just going to be like that.

The day England get a bit of luck will be the day they can win a major tournament. Sorry for the rant.:mad:

Oh for Christ's sake, you would have moaned about it whatever the situation in which England was kicked out - it happens every time. England aren't the best, live with it!

Originally posted by noseyrosie
Oh for Christ's sake, you would have moaned about it whatever the situation in which England was kicked out - it happens every time. England aren't the best, live with it!

Hmmmmmm I have a sneaky suspicion that you aren't a football fan?

You need luck as well as skill to win these tournaments. We just didn't get the rub of the green. If Sol's goal had stood, all this talk about Sven's substitutions, etc. wouldn't be happening.

Talking of luck, Portugal aren't half getting more than their fair whare of it...what price them to win overall?

Originally posted by noseyrosie
Oh for Christ's sake, you would have moaned about it whatever the situation in which England was kicked out - it happens every time. England aren't the best, live with it!

I kind of agree...but we have a proud tradition of having our best chances of glory taken from us by unfair means. And we aren't the best, we're fair-to-middling, but every dog has it's day - except us as there's always somebody to snatch it from us be it Maradona or Urs Meier.

But The New York Times puts it in context quite well....
Originally printed by the New York Times
....this being England, which ground to a predictable halt Thursday night as a 38-year quest for a major soccer title continued unfulfilled, Urs Meier might as well have been Osama bin Laden, plotting England's demise from his cave.

but for all that, (from the same article) the Americans sure get uppity if a point is taken from them....

Originally printed by the New York Times
For sheer peculiarity, Wimbledon will have a hard time matching what occurred in the second-set tie breaker of Venus Williams's loss to Karolina Sprem, when the chair umpire, Ted Watts, awarded a point to Sprem, a 19-year-old Croatian, after her first serve was called wide, and somehow it stuck.

The fallout over the stunning Sprem miscount continued yesterday as the tournament referee, Alan Mills, relieved Watts of his duties, without bothering to mention him by name.

"I have now discussed the incident with the chair umpire concerned, and we have agreed it will be in the best interests of both parties if he takes no further part in the event," Mills said in a statement. Cold as that was, it was hard to argue with it. How a referee could award a point to a player off her first serve and then watch her serve again to the same side of the court is a mystery that belongs in the tennis section of "Ripley's Believe It or Not.''

I don't believe for a minute that there's anything to the bibery/conspiracy theories, but yes, it was a bad decision. And that does leave a lump in the throat, when you consider mucha's points. If it's an important decision such as that was, then why not utilise modern technology to review the decision?