Owen out; octavos over...

Pheeeew!!! It's over and we have a few days rest before the next session: England passed the test in 'los octavos de final' to reach the quarter finals; yet again England reach the last eight (ocho). I really though when Michael Owen went out we would be lost but Rooney proved that he can play; he certainly has the passionate, warrior spirit epitomised in the Nike ad, covered by Gavin Corder and others.

Once again the other Owen in der Nationalmannschaft played a vital role but should learn to fall down injured on the pitch next time!...nice effort trying to get him back on the pitch though! :-) I think there are too many doubts that really will not do against stronger (European, in the next round...Portugal; see edit below) opposition. Beckham after a great goal and several crucial defending tackles is sick, repeatedly, on the pitch...Sven sees this and does nothing for over 20 minutes! The feeling, or part of it, is summed up nicely by el gato enterrado whom tells us: "Sin embargo, ni siquiera la cerveza ha de nublar la vista a los 'hooligans', que deben sentirse más que escépticos ante el futuro. Fundamentalemente porque su entrenador ya ha dado sobradas muestras de no estar a la altura."...which translated means more or less:
"However, not even the beer can cloud the vision of the hooligans [thanks!!], who should feel more than sceptical about the future; fundamentally because the coach [Sven] has given ample proof that he is not good enough/ out of his depth/ can't cope at this level."

Thanks also to Six Years Late who, from his post on June 15th, led me to Owen Hargreave's blog (ahem) maybe not...but he sounds Canadian with good use of English expletives. I was getting increasingly nervous as the game went on...why don't these people realise that one goal just isn't enough to justify sitting back to soak up pressure; another bugbear with Sven, with Owen gone doesn't he think Walcott, who was 25% of our striker force and is now 33% of it, deserves to come on if only for a few minutes?...am I wrong about this ...if Sven doesn't play him, even to get a bit of match experience in minute 89, WHY did he take him in the squad in the first place!!! Don't get me wrong: I WANT him to come on...he could do a Pele on us. "In 1958, he played in his first FIFA World Cup™ at the tender age of 17. The world was amazed as this slight teenager emerged from nowhere to light up the tournament with his dazzling skills"...but at least let him play. Saying the games are too important is no excuse because now all games are 'to the death'...so before they were???..and you didn't play him because??? RANT over.

Ows edit, Sunday 25th June, 23:15 pm: England will meet Portugal who reached the quarter finals after beating Holland in a card-fest reminiscent of the Italy v USA game; tonight both teams finished the game with nine men in a game that equalled the World Cup record for bookings (16 ) and broke the record for red cards (new record = 4!!).

My apologies to those who have had enough football to last a few years...but now it get's to the hurdle that England usually falls at...

S.O.