World Cup: Portugal go out

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I know I've mentioned unsporting behaviour by a certain Monsieur Henry in an earlier post - and I certainly stand by that - but I have to say I am absolutely delighted to see Portugal dumped out of these finals by France.

You could jump to the conclusion that this is simply because they beat England in the quarter finals, but I can assure you this is not the case. I am happy to admit defeat when we are fairly outplayed - see earlier post covering the England v Sri Lanka cricket international.

There are actually two reasons I go for France over Portugal. Firstly, when he's on form, I just love watching Zidane: he's a wonderful player, sickeningly skillful and a joy to behold. Secondly, and probably the main reason I am so happy to see Portugal lose, is the manner in which they play.

What was heartening however, was hearing the crowds reaction to certain players. I'm not usually a fan of such behaviour, but I think we have the situation where the fans have seen quite enough and are reacting accordingly. The vast majority of people who love the game of football, despise the antics of these players and sadly, Portugal seem to epitomise this damaging, unhealthy aspect of the game. They are a disgrace to the game of football and, to my mind, appalling representatives of their country. I hope they look back over the videos of their games and realise - I suspect they won't.

I sincerely hope Germany do the decent thing on Saturday and show them the correct way to participate - as well as beating them by a healthy margin.

So to the final. If Italy play in the same manner as in their semi against Germany, and France perform as we know they can, it should be quite a game. However, I suspect it may be defensive and uninteresting, ultimately settled on penalties. Hopefully I'll be proved wrong and this well organised, friendly World Cup will finish on a high.

Comments

Anonymous said…
PORTUGAL, OVER AND OVER AGAIN...YOU ARE SUCH A BAD LOOSER DAVE....IT´S SAD!
ONLY GREAT TEAMS MAKE IT TO THE WORLD CUP QUARTER FINALS...ENGLAND WAS UNLUCKY WITH PORTUGAL, JUST LIKE PORTUGAL WAS UNLUCKY WITH FRANCE...ANYONE COULD HAVE WON. THAT´S PART OF THE GAME! ANY TEAM REACHING THAT LEVEL COULD MAKE IT TO THE FINAL. AND, BY THE WAY, ISN´T "THE CORRECT WAY TO PARTICIPATE"(as you say) TO SHOW SOME FAIR-PLAY IN AND OUT OF THE STADIUM?

John Bento
06 July, 2006 23:34
Dave Miller said…
It seems pointing out the poor behaviour of an opposing team is classed as being a bad loser these days.

I should say to John, that as an England fan I am used to being beaten, knocked out of competitions etc., etc... and as I said in the original post, I am quite happy to put my hands up and say we were beaten by the better team when that is the case.

Yes, England were poor during this World Cup - and no they didn't stand much chance of winning. My point wasn't that we lost, but the manner in which Portugal played. They have shown this ugly side time and time again during these finals including the semi against France, I don't think I'm alone in thinking that and I certainly stand by those comments.

I'm not quite sure what the 'fair play in and out of the stadium' comment was directed at, because it is something I agree with whole-heartedly.

It is the easiest thing in the world to brand someone as a bad loser just because they have something negative to say about the team that won.

Branding me as such does not alter the fact that Portugal have an very unpleasant approach to the game of football - regardless of their opponents.
07 July, 2006 00:33
Jackson Pope said…
I'm with Dave. We had no chance of winning I'll freely admit that, it's a shame but we just didn't play very well.

I thought Portugal played dirty, and it was a shame to go out against a side that couldn't beat us during the 60 minutes they had an advantage in numbers over us. But, when push comes to shove we wouldn't have won in the end anyway, France, Italy and others are all playing better than we are.
07 July, 2006 14:03
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