Welcome to Euro 2006
Walking fast and staring straight ahead, Wayne Rooney marched out of the locker room and onto the England team bus Saturday evening, pausing not even once to tell his side of the tale.
Walking with a limp and with eyes red-rimmed from crying, David Beckham made the same march. There would be no comment, said Beckham’s minders. News conference today. Then he’ll talk.
And so two of the principal reasons why England crashed out of the World Cup left the stadium. They just boarded the bus, the one with the six words on its side: “One Team. One Trophy. Eleven Lions.”
There are new words for today: “One Injury. One Red Card. Three Penalty Saves.”
Add them up and they spelled England’s exit.
The English and Portuguese played 120 minutes of scoreless and pretty much sterile soccer in their quarterfinal Saturday, and the largely pro-England crowd of 52,000 became increasingly restless as matters dragged on.
Finally, it came down to penalty kicks and England, following a pattern set years ago, made a hash of them and lost, 3-1.
Portugal thus advanced to play upstart France in the all-European semifinals Wednesday. Germany will play Italy in the other semifinal Tuesday.
The Portuguese, understandably ecstatic, have not gone this far since 1966, when they lost to England in the semifinals. For England, the drought goes on, and its 1966 title seems an ever-dimming memory, receding in the distance.
An injury to Beckham, a red card to Rooney and three penalty saves by Ricardo. That was the difference.
Oh, yes, and a Portuguese player by the name of Cristiano Ronaldo.
First, Beckham. He was banged up in the first half, banged up some more early in the second half, and came off the field limping after 52 minutes, with the much livelier Aaron Lennon taking his place.
Ten minutes later, Rooney was gone too. The combative forward was involved in a tussle with defender Ricardo Carvalho and playmaker Luis Figo, during which Rooney stepped on the fallen Carvalho’s groin, apparently by accident.
Carvalho’s understandably anguished reaction caused Ronaldo to run to Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo and demand that Rooney be cautioned. Rooney then shoved Ronaldo and Elizondo immediately ejected him. No one was clear whether it was for the original infraction or for the shove.
Either way, England was down to 10 men with half an hour to play. It survived that and also the half an hour of extra time. But the penalty kicks were its undoing.
Simao Sabrosa scored for Portugal, but Ricardo dived to his left to make the save on Frank Lampard. Hugo Viana hit the left post and Owen Hargreaves scored for England to make it 1-1 after two rounds.
Petit missed wide left, giving England the chance to take the lead, but Steve Gerrard’s shot was saved by Ricardo, again diving left. Helder Postiga scored for Portugal and Jamie Carragher’s shot was pushed up and onto the crossbar by Ricardo.
That brought up Ronaldo, who milked the moment. He tamped down the penalty spot, he kissed the ball, he looked at goalkeeper Paul Robinson, and then he beat him from 12 yards.
Portugal was moving on. England was out.
Beckham was in tears. So was giant defender John Terry. England was devastated. This was supposed to be a team with a chance at winning it all.
“It wasn’t luck, watch the television,” Ricardo snapped at reporters wondering where the three saves had come from.
“It was an electrifying match,” said Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, whose Brazil team knocked England out in the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup and whose Portuguese team did the same in the quarterfinals of Euro 2004, which Portugal staged.
Scolari is unbeaten in a dozen World Cup matches over two tournaments.
England’s history of falling in major tournaments on penalty kicks was not the cause of its defeat, Scolari said. It was Ricardo.
“He was the reason that we won the penalties,” Scolari said, “not the ghosts of the English.”
There will be fallout aplenty from Saturday’s game. It was Sven-Goran Eriksson’s last as England coach. For some England fans, that was seen as a silver lining on a dismal day in Gelsenkirchen.
“I’m sorry for the team, for the squad, for the fans,” Eriksson said. “Really sorry.”
*
At a glance
SATURDAY’S RESULTS
* Portugal 0, England 0
(Portugal wins in
a shootout, 3-1)
* France 1, Brazil 0
SEMIFINALS
* Germany vs. Italy
Tuesday at Dortmund
Noon, ESPN and Ch. 34
* Portugal vs. France
Wednesday at Munich
Noon, ESPN and Ch. 34
STARS
* Score another one for the old master. Zinedine Zidane, who turned 34 last week and is retiring after the World Cup, was brilliant, showing all of the skills that made him a three-time world player of the year. He kept the five-time champions off-balance with his technique and ball control, and players 10 years younger were no match.
* Another good night in goal. Ricardo Pereira saved three penalty kicks against England, and France’s Fabien Barthez smothered several shots late to stun Brazil.
Source: Associated Press
