England 1-3 Portugal: Same Old Song and Dance

Massive disappointment is the special of the day. When it became clear that this was going into penalties, did we ever have any doubt about the result? It would have been brilliant had they done the unthinkable, but penalty shootouts ain't for the English.

Sadly, they played probably their finest football of the World Cup. Owen Hargreaves made quite a statement to his naysayers (taking Man of the Match honors). The defense played extremely well throughout. Aaron Lennon showed some exciting moves in his brief time on the pitch. But 'twas for nought, wasn't it?

I can't comment on the red card as I haven't seen the replay enough times, but I don't think His Petulance can be blamed for this loss. Though the avuncular Sven-Goran Eriksson seems like a very nice man, he probably is partly to blame for not getting his players to really believe in themselves. He wasn't taking the penalties himself, but except for Hargreaves, none of them looked like banging one in when it counted. That's got to be partly down to the manager.

Will Steve McClaren do any better? A couple of weeks ago, a Middlesbrough supporter called in to 606 and was extremely negative about Sven's assistant. He basically said that England is doomed with Steve at the helm. I am willing to give him a chance before writing him off.