Tuesday, July 4, 2006

A Country in mourning



We all thought we'd do so well. There were a few doubts but generally the quality was there and we knew the team would come together, pull off a couple of performances and win the World Cup. Well we didn't do it, but you know that already.

I am lucky enough to have watched England get knocked out of both major tournaments on penalties God knows how many times, but this one is the most hurtful. The strange thing is that people don't really want to talk about it much. People here in England that is. I expect the Portugese are chatting away merrily and laughing at Cristiano's amusing gamesmanship.

At the moment it is too hurtful and too recent to analyse too much. Occasionally a conversation breaks out but they are all short, depressing and full of contrasting opinions.

Did Rooney deliberately kick the bloke in the bollocks or was he just trying to evade the tackle?
Was Ronaldo's influence so great that he actually persuaded the ref to send Rooney off?
Was Rooney sent off for the foul or for the push on Ronaldo? ( I think I heard it was the foul)
Was the ref right to ask Carragher to retake his penalty?
How come Ronaldo plays for Brazil too?


There are hundreds more questions and thousands more answers but right now we are a Country in mourning and it's too soon to talk and smile.

I'll tell you something strange. Late on Saturday night I couldn't sleep so I started to watch some TV. At 3 in the morning the England v Portugal match was on 3 different channels all of which had started at a different time. I couldn't face watching any of them so I settled on watching highlights of the ODI. Although I knew the result I watched happily and cheered for Sri Lanka, as I always do in cricket.

Watching cricket makes me Sri Lankan.
Watching football makes me English.

Anyone want to buy a St George's flag?

6 comments:

Deane said...

Yeah man. Shit scene, we watched both matches alternatively. IT was too good a thrashing by Sanath to miss for football.

But the loss was bad, i thought lampard wud come cud in atleast this one..

i lost a watch and 5000 bux ... luckly nobody wanted to bet againt me for brazil.. i wud be fukin broke if they had..

ne way
cheers
Deane.

Anonymous said...

Heh..what a day for English sport: Frank Tyson passed away at around 3 in the afternoon; by 6, Sri Lanka had completed a record run chase of 322 in 38 overs; and two hours later, the English football team was knocked out of the world cup.

Thank frigging God I am not English because the string of disappointments would be unbearable.

I have a question for you: how does the English football team find ever more dramatic ways of getting out of major tournaments?

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

cc - I thought Lampard would come goo too. It wasn't to be and I think it's fair to say he was the most dissappointing English player in the competition. Such a shame, particularly after his great season.

Theena - Do you mean Fred Trueman?
I don't know if it's more dramatic ways of exiting or just that our expectations are a lot higher each time.

Thanks for your comments.

SpectralCentroid said...

I found Carragher's little mix-up hilarious (well, I did feel sorry for eventually, although I was supporting Portugal).

Lampard surely has the record for the most number of shots on target without a single goal at this copetetion?

Deane said...

"Lampard surely has the record for the most number of shots on target without a single goal at this copetetion?"

yeah.. he does. what's dissapointing is not even ppl like Gerrad came to the foe.. how many times hve u seen him just rescue Liverpool out of nowhere! why didnt he take a penalty btw?? maybe he was to be the last taker.

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

CC - errm Gerrard did, it was saved.