The English coaching staff was in its own huddle, but the Portuguese coaching staff was entwined with the players in their huddle. The tension was palpable. Camera close-ups showed sweaty brows; foreheads creased with worry lines; some eyes fierce in their determination; some eyes unfocused, not knowing where to look, many choosing to look down on the ground; even trembling fingers as the ball was nudged onto the perfect spot on the circular white chalk mark across from the goal.
Finally, it was time. Elizando walked up to Robinson, gave him a reassuring (at least I felt reassured) pat on the arm walked away from the goal to about midway between the striker and the goalkeeper and blew the whistle. Simao did a little two-step with his feet, perhaps trying to throw off the goalkeeper with the false motion, ran up confidently to the ball and the punched it into the left corner. He scored.
Next up, Lampard for the English team. The commentator supplied a little nugget of information that did not bode well for Lampard. He had missed a penalty against Hungary two years ago. "Surely, he won't disappoint," intoned the commentator. Lampard positioned the ball, walked back, ran up slowly, almost as if he was dragging his feet, and picked the right corner of the goal toward which to kick the football. Ricardo read Lampard perfectly, both the nervousness on his face (surely Ricardo's research must have brought up Lampard's past failures) and his placement of the ball. He lunged to his left and saved Portugal a goal. Gerard, Lampard's teammate could not hide his disappointment as he grimaced in reaction.
Hugo Viana up next for the Portuguese, with the opportunity to go up 2-0 against the English. Another little nugget of information from the commentator. "England has never won a World Cup penalty shootout." Uh. Oh. Viana looked good to go, confident, but to no avail. He even spared Robinson from having to save a goal, ramming the ball into the goal post. England had a reprieve.
After three penalty shots, the score was still 1-0 in Portugal's favor. Hargreaves got ready to take England's next shot, spending some time trying to get the ball right on the chalk mark, fingers trembling. But he did his job and England was back in the game. Not for lack of Ricardo trying, though. He had guessed the general direction of Hargreaves' kick, but could not stretch himself far enough.
Article comments
1 - Webbie
Nice blog post. Very well put.
Webbie (long suffering England supporter)
2 - RJ Elliott
I'm going for Italy over France, 2-0...
3 - sujatha
Webbie, my sympathies are with you. It was rough. With Ericsson gone, perhaps England can make a fresh start with someone who is invested in their success.
RJ, France has a solid defense. So not so sure about the 2-0 score. I'm going to say France over Italy, 1-0. I do hope, though, that there is a result during regular time. It would be wretched to have the final of the World Cup reduced to a shoot-out.
4 - RJ Elliott
Italy has a pretty great defense, too...
5 - sabujo
I just have to disagree on the Englang-Portugal shootout as being not as good as the other. Come on, Ricardo broke a record on defending three penalty kicks and thanks to him, the team underlined their superiority against the English. Portugal has a very good team, but it lacks experience on these kind of competition and that leads to a nervous gameplay. It's perfecly normal, it's a duel with a giant!
Congrats on the Portuguese team that reached the semi-finals. While other "superior" teams, which were already forseeing the cup in their hands, are at home right now watching the rest of the matches through the TV.
6 - sujatha
RJ, we'll wait and see. We'll have our answer in a couple of days. Although, it's an insane hour in India when the match starts (12:20 am Monday morning). :(
Sabojo, I agree. It was good, Ricardo was great (although his nerves betrayed him against the mighty Zidane last night), the Portuguese strikers were much more competent than the English. My point was that the Germany-Argentina shoot-out was enjoyable perhaps because the players appeared confident and did not exhibit their nerves to the extent the Brits did against Portugal.
7 - Douglas Mays
the shootout system...hhhmmm....when this system came into being I really wondered. To me, it was a really fustrating way to decide the game. Why not just do it at the start of the game and forget the game? Oh, I guess that could be said about any tie breaker format.
I remember back in the late 60s in youth soccer (Washington State Youth Soccer Association) we were playing in our first state championship that went into overtime. The tie was not broken. Our team was decided to be winners based on the fact we had more corner kicks. That made sense as far as a way showing offensive threat.
I remember late 60s when Chelsea vs. Leeds United for the or a playoff championship. Tie at end of regulation. Overtime periods, tie. What to do? Replay the game on the other teams field. Leeds won finally. Great matches.
Anyway...
8 - sujatha
Hey RJ, you were right about the Italy over France part! Good going. :)
And whaddya know Doug, the final of the World Cup, decided in s shoot-out...
9 - Douglas Mays
Sujatha, yes, wasn't it fitting for the final to go to shootout? so many shootouts this World Cup. It shows the balance of powers in the sport currently.
10 - sujatha
Doug, It shows the balance of powers in the sport currently. Do you mean that the balance of power is shifting towards the shoot-out or did you mean the balance of powers between the teams?