Soccer: Websites reveal England's darkest hour

The English should be used to it. Another sporting dream, fuelled by media hyperbole and unrealistic optimism, ends in bathetic disappointment as their World Cup soccer team once again lose a penalty shoot-out.

And the national mood seems more one of sorrow than anger, as soccer fans on website forums stoically accept the gibes of other nations. Even the notoriously rabid British tabloid newspapers seem to be going through the motions, trying to whip up a storm.

"Wayne: I'll split him in two," screams the front page of the Sun, purporting to report the feelings of red-carded striker Wayne Rooney about his Manchester United team-mate, Portugal's Christiano Ronaldo, who was so keen to draw the referee's attention to Rooney's foul. The accompanying story is headed "Little winker disgusts me".

The Daily Star describes Ronaldo "as the most hated man in England" and the Daily Mirror suggests Rooney tried to storm the Portuguese dressing room to get at him.

But more typical is the Mail on Sunday, which has the line "It all ends in tears" with a picture of England captain David Beckham crying.

The one unifying factor in the press and in comments by English fans is hostility to departing manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who has been paid about $72 million during his time in charge without winning a trophy. He conveniently is a foreigner who says English reaction to his nationality has been the biggest surprise in the job.

"You are very English. I have never been accused of being Swedish anywhere else," he told a press conference.

Also departing is Beckham, and although he too has brought home no silverware in his time at the head of the team, most English fans seem to bear him no ill-will.


ENGLISH FANS

"Becks, u have been a great service to your country - you are a true son of England. Whatever the critics have to say about you, yr wife and your money spinning endeavours I wish you even more. It's not your fault and u shouldnt have sacrificed yourself when it was all Sven's fault," says sanjlon on a Sky TV forum.

And writing from Sydney on the same site, Alex goes further: "A role model, gentleman and credit to his profession. Beckham simply possesses all of the traits that some of these other so-called footballers (Grosso, Ronaldo of Portugal take note) should learn from. You have a lot to learn about what it takes to be a true sportsman and Beckham embodies them all."

Writing on a BBC site, 7Heaven agrees: "Beckham has been an inspirational figure in English football. He has always been 100 per cent committed as England captain. He has always cheered on his English colleagues even when he had been subbed off. He is the ultimate role model for today's youth. You will always be my hero and my icon. Sad to see him stand down without a World Cup medal."

MA takes a more sour view: "He tried, but Beckham summed up this England team - hyped up, all style and no substance."

On a Sunday Times forum, Alan Eastwood knows who to blame:

"It would be appreciated if the press apologised for getting it wrong by their constant criticism of Beckham. The lad has been a perfect captain both on and off the field and it would be nice if the press, now, lobbied for him to be knighted. A lad from humble beginnings, proud of his country, proud of being captain, pushed out by pen pushers who have no idea of decency! But Hell will freeze over before any press person will admit they can be wrong!"

And a characteristically patriotic note comes from Dave on Sky News: "We were so wrong to put belief into a foreign manager ... It's called planning to fail. The ones that went tried their best, but when being led by a manager who doesn't want his own country's side beaten by ours is such a let-down, We need to look forward to a good Englishman leading our side from now on."


OTHER FOOTBALL FANS

"England got what they deserved. They played with same attitude of lots of the English football fans, unsportsmanlike! All this hatred against Germany, I really wonder where this is coming from. I think lots of you live in last century. I really pity you. I hope the bloody English hooligans disappear now as well ... "
- Robweg on BBC.

"Oh, how marvellous, how wonderful your UK team are that even your press put it completely down ...

"All of you think that the refs are being bought by the Portuguese team to win the games?! That's a very nasty thought ... "
- Margarida of Portugal on Sky News.


THE PRESS

The inescapable conclusion is that the England football team suffer from institutionalised choking when it comes to World Cup shoot-outs.

They slow down, their muscles stiffen and their facial features freeze over. England's penalty-takers on Saturday looked more like men about to be led to the gallows than prospective heroes.
- The Times

In the end, England's soccer fans accepted World Cup defeat with dignity - and without the drunken violence authorities had prepared for and hoped against.
- The Washington Post

England's penalty fools are out! Once again Wayne Rooney weakened his team with his lack of self-control. Eriksson had to substitute "Giraffe" Crouch up front, and take Joe Cole off ... When it comes to taking penalties, England are the world's idiots.
- Bild am Sonntag

As England lost, many shell-shocked fans wept. Marie Howell, 26, from London, said the overall feeling was of dejection. "People were sitting on the ground crying. It wasn't a dark atmosphere, it was sombre. There was no trouble."
- Associated Press

Thousands of Scots will have been celebrating just as loudly as the Portuguese - but not as loudly as the bookies. One London businessman had staked £200,000 with Hills on England winning the World Cup. Rolling Stone Mick Jagger watched England's exit in the stadium. And he could have been singing his old hit It's All Over Now as manager Sven-Goran Eriksson ended his England career on a low note.
- Sunday Mail, Scotland

As David Beckham no doubt explained to his shattered troops, it is one of Nietzsche's eternal recurrences. The England football team reach the knockout phase of a big tournament. The English public, a nation of atheists and agnostics, suddenly find themselves true believers.

Then the penalty shoot-out. A match in which the scores are level after 90 minutes of play and 30 more of extra time is decided by a penalty competition: the best of five penalties each and after that, if the teams are still level, we move into a phase that is called - closer to a literal description than a metaphor - sudden death.

And England always lose. Always, always, always.
- Simon Barnes in the Times