Euro 2004 Portugal

[Diplo]

As an England fan I am absolutely gutted. Totally. The collective hurt we feel is unbearable. I can't even find the words. Gutted.

 

[thop]

Yes that was a very brutal loss, probably one of the most brutal i ever saw. The 1:1 was well deserved, but the 2:1 was not.

If anything it showed why so many people love football, a very good game. And a very good EURO so far.

 

[PatrickL]

Well, I am simply Happy

 

[nutball]

Oifff. I was convinced before the game even started that it would be 1-1. Even when we were 1-0 up in the last 10 minutes I was expecting a France goal (England always concede against good opposition). But two goals rather flattered the French I thought.

At least Heskey's tournament is off to a flying start. Thanks Emile, no, seriously, nice contribution! I do hope we can look forward to seeing you on the pitch more often. NOT!

Well, we know what we've got to do now (how many times have you heard that as an England fan?), nothing less than two victories will do. We are quite capable of pulling out a draw against one of the other two teams, which is rather worrying.

But if we didn't do it the hard way, it wouldn't be England, would it?

 

[Deepak]

Whose (miss)pass was responsible for 2nd French goal??

 

[Simon F]

As an England fan I am absolutely gutted. Totally. The collective hurt we feel is unbearable. I can't even find the words. Gutted.

So how did you feel about the Rugby?

Still, I suppose the cricket counterbalanced that.

 

[Crisidelm]

deepak, I think it was n°4, Gerrard? Dunno for sure...

 

[nutball]

deepak, I think it was n°4, Gerrard? Dunno for sure...

Yeah, it was Gerrard. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt for now, that it was a once-in-a-lifetime brain fart. Heskey is a plank, always, every time, and his benefit-of-doubt period expired several years ago.

 

[nutball]

So how did you feel about the Rugby?

One word: Dallaglio. He has zero motivational skills, his only ability as a captain is making pathetic excuses for defeat (but then I guess this is one area in which he has a lot of experience).

England always perform poorly under him, so why is he captain? He should swap places with Emile Heskey. Neither of them could do any worse than they do where they currently are.

 

[sytaylor]

We had the French, we were better for 89 mins with two exceptions. Concertration dipped in the home straight, so the killer instinct isn't there yet, but this is a vital lesson and perhaps a blessing in disguise.

 

[davefb]

lets just talk about the cricket . . . . . . . .

to be honest when they needed another 120 with 5 wickets remaining i didnt think they'd make it ....

-dave-

heskey i can kinda forgive , 'rush of blood' etc,, but gerrard's back pass was just annoying , i *hate* passing back to the goalie it just invites a mistake like that

 

[London Geezer]

Yay Italy's on today! Oh, yeah sorry English fans, too bad....

 

[Deepak]

lets just talk about the cricket . . . . . . . .

to be honest when they needed another 120 with 5 wickets remaining i didnt think they'd make it ....

Good win for England. But Kiwis were short in supply. They blew their chances with poor batting in 2nd ining. Shane Bond hasn't played since ages, 2-3 pacers (alongwith Vettori) are injured but still well done England. Things are looking up since Vaughan became skipper.

 

[Deepak]

We had the French, we were better for 89 mins with two exceptions. Concertration dipped in the home straight, so the killer instinct isn't there yet, but this is a vital lesson and perhaps a blessing in disguise.

Like we Indians do in field hockey. Oppositions always score against us in dying minutes. I remember is this year's Champions Trophy (in Holland), we were leading 3-0 against Holland and they scored 4 goals in last 8 minutes...

 

[Gollum]

Like I said, I think England played a good match, but the "we were the better team" cheering is a bit flattering IMO. The second half England did far too little. For almost half an hour France had England cornered in what reminded me a lot of a 5 on 3 powerplay in icehockey. The defence was rock solid and France had a lot of trouble coming up with a concept to break through, but it was only a matter of time. The moment Barthez prevented the 2:0 lead it became obvious the last 20 minutes would be dramatic...

As an England fan I am absolutely gutted. Totally. The collective hurt we feel is unbearable. I can't even find the words. Gutted.

I know how such a defeat feels, but at least England still has a chance to set things right in the next two games - a luxury Bayern München didn't enjoy after the dramatic CL final in 1999...

 

[Diplo]

So how did you feel about the Rugby?

Never did care much for Rugby and I'm not going to suddenly start just because we won a few games (though it looks like normal service has resumed ). Nothing annoys me more than fair-weather fans who didn't give a toss about rugby suddenly becoming big fans because England did well in the world cup.

Still, I suppose the cricket counterbalanced that.

Yeah, cricket was nice. However, football is truly the national game and is what really unites people. God knows, it's about the only thing...

 

[Diplo]

I know how such a defeat feels, but at least England still has a chance to set things right in the next two games - a luxury Bayern München didn't enjoy after the dramatic CL final in 1999...

Well, as a Man U fan (I am from Manchester, btw) I know how you must have felt I remember that game well (of course) and I was totally stunned then just like I was last night. I guess this is why football is so amazing as it can be so bloody unpredictable. It's a real rollercoaster.

 

[Diplo]

PS. England fans check out this auction on Ebay

 

[thop]

Anyway, back to today: Italy played really weak, they were lucky they didn't lose.

And while i'm writing this Sweden scored the 4th goal, excellent game (from both teams)! Go Sverige!

 

[Diplo]

Yeah, nice play Sweden. I'm also thinking that since England have a Swedish manager why can't we also have Larsson, too? Seems only fair...