World Cup 2006 England vs. Portugal

The game played out like a tragedy. I've always wanted to see England in a World Cup final, but it is not to be. Captain Beckham left the game just after half-time because of ankle injury. It was all downhill from there. Later on, Wayne Rooney got into a serious scuffle with Portugal's Carvalho and Armando Petit. Portugal's players rushed to the referee to force him to take action. Special mention goes to Rooney's Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo. The referee sent off Rooney, together with England's World Cup hopes. The rest of the boys did their best with some wonderful attempts, but Portugal's defence work is quite tight. End of normal time and extra time, it's still 0-0. It's just unfortunate that super-goalkeeper Ricardo was able to save three penalties from Lampard, Gerrard and Carragher. And so Portugal goes to the semis with a 3-1 win on penalties over England.