Portugal

[Richy P]

Unfortunately when it came to it in the end, England had just as much chance to go through but our players choked and the portugese didn't,simple as.

As for Rooney, 1) if he was sent off for the push then its the referees fault for making a stupid decision, 2) C.Ronaldo may be a sly sod but he new that if Rooney was riled he would react and low and behold he did, I hope that Ronaldo goes to Real Madrid, talk about hate figure, almost as bad as a certain swiss referee 2 years ago.

Fact is guys, our tactics have been terrible all competition, and if we had got through frankly it would have been through sheer grit and determination opposed to tactical nouse. We have struggled past every team and used every excuse in the book, we didn't have the right tactics, squad, first team to make an impact. Thats all down to the manager.

This was our best oppertunity with this team of players to win the world cup, and every game I have wondered what the hell the manager was playing at. Unless England do what they do best which is attack, in a balanced 4-4-2 set up then we will never get anywhere.

[Lordofthebling]

And Ronaldo wonders why he gets kicked all over the park week in week out in the premiership?

I have no sympathy for him.

[Chappers]

Portugal - Fell over at every opportunity. Sometimes they failed to get fouls through their reputation. Over-elaborated, useless in the box,, shaky at the back.

England - Rooney getting frustrated, Becks a peripheral figure. Good attacking players.. playing negative. No pace pre-Lennon. Predictable. Good at the back. Why did we not play 4-4-2.

All in all, a very poor game, few chances, little incisive football.

Why not be honest, Sven mucked up the selection, leaving us no options up front. We rarely played well, looked laboured, posed little threat up front, changed formation so that the players looked confused, Rooney was either not fully fit, or just used in the wrong role, and barring one free-kick, Beckham was modest. Lampard was below par, and I don't care that he had 22 shots, 20 ended up in Row Z! Cole drifted in and out. Crouch looked effective, so got dropped. All in all, had it not been for Switzerland we would have been dullards of the tournament.

[Cooter]

Should have went to one last Penalty after Ronaldo got the winner...

..IE: Nothing wrong with Carragher's first taken penalty!!!

[Nibor]

Rooney was sent off for his reaction to Ronaldo trying to get him sent off.

The ref wasn't interested in anything but awarding the fre-kick up until that point.

Watch his face on a replay for confirmation.

Ronaldo is a c### and I hope he stays at Man U just long enough for Wayne to give him his just desserts on the training field.

Totally agree.

I've never witnessed a team so prone to falling over. They seemed to think they were playing a non contact sport.

I hope Rooney knocks Ronaldo into the middle of next week.

Ferguson will sell the cheating greasy scumbag anyway.

[Guest Eamer]

Rooney stamped on a guy between his legs. Straight red.

Then pushed Ronaldo. Straight red.

Which one do you want him sent off for? It was full justified. Rooney can't play up front on his own anyway so it made no difference.

Don't blame the Referee either or say he was going to only give a free-kick. You'll never know that. It looked like a red and it was right in front of him. He's been one of the most consistant Referee's in the tournament and did a good job. Rooney has a bad temperament. You can't blame Ronaldo for being like that when one of his teams players goes down like that I would be the same way if that happened for a team I played for. If a player stood on a Bristol City player between the legs then pushed another City player would you be happy if the player got away with a yellow?

[bransonmo]

There is a World Cup diving epidemic, more dives than the Olympic pool.

Rooney, constantly lets his ego get in the way of a team result.

Ronaldo will get a warm reception from the Old Trafford crowd. You thought we could boo.

Crouch played better as a lone striker than Rooney, held the ball up, but had nobody to give it to.

Svens negative tactics and field positions cost us the match. Yes we had the players to win with.

The shoulder charge was virtually eliminated. Most referees blew foul for something which is within the rules and used to be part of the game. John Atyeo used it to great effect in his career.

Now back to the serious part of life, the English leagues. We have a game next week !!!

[we8gas]

Rooney stamped on a guy between his legs. Straight red.

Then pushed Ronaldo. Straight red.

Which one do you want him sent off for? It was full justified. Rooney can't play up front on his own anyway so it made no difference.

Don't blame the Referee either or say he was going to only give a free-kick. You'll never know that. It looked like a red and it was right in front of him. He's been one of the most consistant Referee's in the tournament and did a good job. Rooney has a bad temperament. You can't blame Ronaldo for being like that when one of his teams players goes down like that I would be the same way if that happened for a team I played for. If a player stood on a Bristol City player between the legs then pushed another City player would you be happy if the player got away with a yellow?

This is a joke right? First of all, it wasn't a stamp, he fell back and stood on him, Free kick.

Sraight red for pushing? , if he should get a straight red for that, then footballs games should finish with 8 a side. Mostly every game a player pushes another player, and in my eyes, it is not even a yellow, definately not a red.

[RedUn]

Rooney stamped on a guy between his legs. Straight red.

Then pushed Ronaldo. Straight red.

Why did Petit's two-footed aerial lunge at Cole only attract a yellow card?

[LSR]

rooney did not stamp he had 3 men around him ,and as he was fouled he stepped back...don't blame the players blame the way our manager plays them ..i for one am proud of the way england played with 10 men they gave it there all but as you know our bottle with pens always make us the looser!

[cidergeorge]

GELSENKIRCHEN, July 1 (Reuters) - Cristiano Ronaldo's days at Manchester United appear to be numbered after his bust-up with team mate Wayne Rooney in Portugal's World Cup quarter-final win over England on Saturday.

A move away from Old Trafford seems especially likely as the winger said after the game that media reports linking him to Real Madrid were correct.

"Yes, they are true," he told reporters when pressed, but said he would not discuss the matter further until after the World Cup where Portugal face France in Wednesday's semi-final.

Ronaldo had reportedly aligned himself with Juan Miguel Villar Mir, a candidate for Real's presidential election, saying he would open negotiations if Villar Mir won Sunday's vote.

He may find that he is no longer as welcome at Manchester United among the England players there after his involvement in the dismissal of Rooney in the second half.

Ronaldo rushed 40 metres to the referee, apparently to demand a card for the England forward who had battled his way through two Portuguese players and trod on Ricardo Carvalho's groin as he tried to disentangle himself.

Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo showed Rooney the red card, although it was not clear whether it was for the challenge on Carvalho or for pushing Ronaldo in anger afterwards.

He was captured by TV cameras winking at his bench as Rooney walked off the

Ronney should have broken his legs yesterday the cheating little ****er. Looks like he already knew he was off! Hopefully he does get an injury now and no-one will want him (nor even Swindon)

[Robbored]

They all cheat! Not just Portugal.

The problem is that England don't cheat half as much.It time that we started doing exactly what the others do.

I get tired of English fans moaning about England being knocked out by 'cheatin bar stewards'.Its always twice as hurtfull to go out on penalties but the bottom line is that England weren't good enough.

[kiwicolin]

Rooney was sent off for his reaction to Ronaldo trying to get him sent off.

The ref wasn't interested in anything but awarding the fre-kick up until that point.

Watch his face on a replay for confirmation.

Ronaldo is a c### and I hope he stays at Man U just long enough for Wayne to give him his just desserts on the training field.

you saw C.Ronaldo say something in Rooneys ears before the kick off.

when Rooney was sent off you also saw C Ronaldo wink to the bench.

he knew what he was donig and it bl@@dy wel worked

[Jimmy]

Rooney was sent off for his reaction to Ronaldo trying to get him sent off.

The ref wasn't interested in anything but awarding the fre-kick up until that point.

Watch his face on a replay for confirmation.

Ronaldo is a c### and I hope he stays at Man U just long enough for Wayne to give him his just desserts on the training field.

Totally agree.

I actually thought England played OK yesterday, not that it is saying alot but I felt it was our best performance of the tournament. Hargreaves was quite clearly Man of the Match and Crouch played very well when he came on.

Ronaldo is sick pure and simple. Absoloutely disgusting, the 'man' has no career in England anymore and my favourite suggestion so far is that he gets 'accidently' locked in a cupboard with Rooney at Uniteds training ground.

SGE biggest mistake was squad selection. As exciting as it was to see Walcott included his lack of participation prooves it was the wrong decision to take him. Defoe should have travelled.

Whilst I agree to an extent that England should play 4-4-2, I do believe that 4-5-1 stifled Portugal and we had sufficient chances to win the game that justified the formation.

Lets not have any bull**** about not searching for scapegoats, Ronaldo severly compromised our potential to win the game through blatent cheating, on more than one occasion.

I feel that we will go onward and upward under MaClaren, we will surely play 4-4-2 and I fancy him to get better performances from the players than Eriksson did.

[Rob k]

If i was rooney i would smash his goofy teeth through the back of his head!!

[screech]

Man Utd fans wont give two poos about what happened last night, they see Ronaldo and Rooney as Man Utd players first and foremost.

In fact I would go on to say that their is a considerable amount of them that find these tournaments a distraction to their players.

You wont hear any booing of Ronaldo inside Old Trafford, they wont want him to leave and nor will Ferguson, Ronaldo has said he would be interested in a move to Real Madrid depending on the outcome of the presidential elections. We shall wait and see.

By the way for my tuppence worth, Rooney was a prat and deserved his red card, he should have been well prepared for this possibility of feigning injuries and play acting yet his thick head decided to get the better of him. He stamped down on the guys walnuts and pushed out right in front of the ref, what a prat. No complaints about that and no complaints about England going out, we were crap right from the first kick off.

[claloudav]

did you see ronaldo head butting rooney before the game started - not sure if it was a "teammate" gesture but still stupid

also did you see the wink! when ronaldo went running to the ref about rooney and then after he went off ronaldo winked at the red - cheeky little so and so

portugal alaway go running to the ref i have noticed whereas england just get on and try to play football

[bartolona]

Rooney should of just head butted him because you only get a yellow card for that,ask Figo.

[Big Nose]

Our beloved game has changed this past few weeks,

if FIFA had their way tackling would be outlawed.

Gerry Gow must be turning in his armchair.

[BS3_RED]

If i posted what i think of Ronaldo, i would be banned from this forum. What i will say is that i agree with Alan Shearer completly. Do him Wayne!!

[Ashcott Boy]

A few personal opinions,

1) Rooney deserved to be sent off, he hardly touched him but he should know the rules by now.

2) We battled brillaintly with 10 men and Hargreaves was MOTM and even converted his penalty.

3) Since when has Carragher been our specialist penalty taker?

4) I hope Ronaldo stays at ManU, a quality player who i enjoy watching in the Prem.

5) Everyone seems to have forgot Gerrards dive to win a penalty in the warm up game

6) Sven has finally gone and Beckham steps down as captain, lets hope McLaren has some balls to drop players

and finally 8) Who cares about international football, give me club football any day.

[Chappers]

At last, a poster avoiding the tabloid hysteria! These rags can now vilify Ronaldo, appealing to the base instincts of their readers.

Ronaldos conduct was poor, BUT we see this week in week out in the Premiership, players running to the ref.

Does anyone really believe that he influenced the ref?

Perhaps Rooney could learn that the 'Come and have a go' attitude does not work with refs.

Diving is fairly common in the Premiership.

I thought that Ronaldo was one of the few players who actually looked good.

Why can we not look at our failings. The players prefer 4-4-2, but indecisiveness, and poor selection meant this was not used.

Rooney ran hard, but looked frustrated against Ecuador and was not that effective. He also seemed to lack that sharpness, either due to heat or injury.

In Portugal v Holland we learned that Portugal dive a lot. We also learned that they did not like players running at them at pace, and that they were vulnerable in the air when Vennegoor of Hesselink (Crazy name, crazy guy!) came on.

The reason England players rarely dived was that we hardly ever ran at the opposition (Oh for Wright-Phillips or Defoe!).

Finally, on Radio 5 the question was asked "What mark did the England team leave on the World Cup"? A couple of decent goals, although so did a number of other teams. I can't think of much else, so the question must be asked, were we Belgium in disguise?