The minute the camera focused on Petit, who was going to take the next shot for Portugal, you knew he wasn't going to make it. Nervousness writ large on his face, he did not look at anyone or anything but the ball. Robinson had his one save of the entire shootout. Petit's face crumpled as he walked away, eyes glazed over.
Following this, the rest of the shoot-out settled into a pattern. A confident Ricardo, an inept Robinson, an English side shaking in its boots and a by now cocky Portuguese side meant there could be only one result - Portuguese victory over the English. Ricardo was right on the money with his lunges to save goals from Carragher and Gerard's shots. Robinson was left stranded as Postiga and Cristiano Ronaldo found the net. Carragher's little snafu (he jumped the gun and kicked the ball even before Elizando had blown the whistle) reinforced just how jittery the English side was.
The half-smile that played over Ronaldo's face before he took his shot gave some indication of just how much the young striker loved the whole experience. A few quiet steps after he landed the ball in the goal, he vented his energy in a full-blown war cry as Scolari gave him company with a war dance on the field, quite appropriate for a coach who swears by Chinese General Sun Tzu's book, Art of War.
Come penalty shoot-out time, the Portuguese were clearly the aggressors, the English merely trying to hang on to their confidence, which had already taken a hit when Rooney was sent off with a red card.
Ricardo said it best,
I could see in the eyes of the English players that they were not okay.... The goal was shrinking for them. I just had to prolong their suffering.
Perhaps it was all this fear that made watching the penalty shoot-out a nerve-wracking experience. Perhaps with two confident teams it won't be so bad.
Perhaps there is hope, yet.
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?