For thos lifelong English fans out there who missed it...

...this is the pathetic penalty shootout 2 nights ago.



In all truth and reality, England deserved to go home. Football is a very simple game, with complicated rules, of course. You start with eleven men(who behave like boys). You play on a field, with another eleven man-boys. There is a minder to keep things cool, boy , was it hot out there! There is this round thing we call the ball, and you kick it with your foot. Hence the terminology, football. Why the yanks call it 'Soccer', is another matter altogether.

What the team must try to do, is to put the 'football', into the net(goal) of the the opposing side. The goal is guarded by an opposing player, called the goalkeeper, who will try all he can to stop you. He is the only one who can use his hands, becos he cant lift his legs above his head to save those high balls.

Simple? Surely so. But England failed to put that cute little ball into the net of Portugal. When you don't score, you dont win. Losing Beckham is no excuse. England lost Bryan Robson in 86, and did pretty fine too. They were simply not good enough. Otherwise, there will be no need for foreign imports to the EPL.

Why our poor England FAILED to progress did not come as a surprise to me at all. From the list of 23, England had 4 'Strikers' among them. Strikers are players who are supposedly better trained with putting the ball into the goal.

From this list of four, we have, in terms of lethality( my personal opinion):-
1. Michael Owen, best of the lot, vast experience, lightning pace, good scoring ratio;
Performance : passenger most of the time, seems preocupied most of the time with other
matters. Home after 4 games, out for 4 months injured.

2. Wayne Rooney, supposedly the best, but for his broken metarsarsals. Superb in every sense.
Performance : Got better with every game, till his temper got the better of him. Grow up, little boxer...

3. Theo Walcott, hmm... who the f**k is Theo Walcott...supposedly the best young talent for the future. Shld've have kept him for the future then...
Performance : Did well, walking in and out of the tunnel onto the bench for all matches, never once missed a sitter( hahaha)

4. Peter Crouch, the 2 meter tower of London. Scorer of goals against weaker opponents.
Performance, yes... scored against weaker opponents. Else, squanderer of opportunities galore. He is worse than Theo Walcott, becos by being on the field, he wasted one space for another reasonably good player. By being in the penalty box and falling awkwardly all the time, he makes England the laughing stock.

I can almost hear Darren Bent and Jermain Defoe laughing and rolling on the floor, when England crashed out. They were mercilessly left out. Had SG Eriksson remained in charge, I bet Defoe would retire from international football.

Let's hope things can get better, let's hope...