Ressaca Inglesa

Did we dare dream? Well, yes. Portugal were stuffed, having lost two of their important players in their previous match (hurrah!). How were we to know that just over an hour later Wayne Rooney would be sent off for tap-dancing upon a Portuguese player's 'not-so-private-any-more parts' and England would be down to 10 men, three of whom had completely forgotten how useful feet could be while shooting penalties.
In my house, the new annoying male habit of 'showing off' by using satellite TV technology to put radio commentary over TV pictures has been banned. No offence to Five Live's Alan Green, but some of us like Motty. He has a genius for seeing hope everywhere ('Sven has taken his jacket off. That's a step in the right direction').
Moreover, when it was all over and Portuguese coach 'Big Phil' Scolari was strutting around the pitch in the manner of Gene Hackman via Primark, and everyone, from Rio Ferdinand to Steven Gerrard to David Beckham, was crying like a big, hairy millionaire baby, it was nice to have Motson around to point out that the (possibly heat-stroked supporters) were still singing ('The crowd have been the 11th man today').
That's what you need after a World Cup defeat - dribbling sentimentality with absolutely no grounding in reality. Your nerves can't cope with much more. Especially as we weren't 'robbed', we were beaten on penalties by a side that was nearly as terrible as we were. The indignity of it all. Have to say though, I'm not much of a Manchester United fan, but I will definitely be watching Cristiano Ronaldo's next game. That's one crowd reaction that should be very interesting.

the guardian, 02.07.06