29.36 - England looks very strong. It’s hard to see how Portugal is going to pull this one out, especially considering the heat.

34 - no score yet…England is playing better than I expected

34.12 - From ESPN’s soccernet gamecast:

“23 mins - Figo is sporting a hair band to keep his magnificent jet-black locks off his chisled features. He looks mean, moody, and absolutely magnificent.”

Okay, Danielle Steele.

Agreed, Agi — they look rested and aggressive. It feels as if they’re about to break this one open.

I like what Scolari had to say about Figo’s head-butt in the last game against Netherlands:

“Jesus Christ said he would turn the other cheek but Figo is not Jesus Christ. I thought he was more correct than the Dutchmen”.

On Unavision the announcer asked “how many chicas are watching the game today just to see Beckham, Figo and Ronaldo all on the same field?”

…I hope that’s a gal writing on the ESPN site :P

Ronaldo has had a few scoring opportunities but the English defense has been quick

41.05 - Trivia: England has both one of the shortest (Lennon) and one of the tallest (Crouch) players in the World Cup. (source)

halftime - still no score

let’s hope somebody scores and gets ahead–I don’t want this game to end up in penalty kicks like the Argentina game

halftime - I think that Portugal is likely to fall apart in the second half. They’re going to miss Deco and Costinha.

This is pretty funny: England fans drinking Gelsenkirchen dry

Hope the comment quicktags make commenting easier.

51.11 - Beckham out for Lennon. Wow.

52.18 - Great corner from Gerard, perfect opportunity for Lampard to score with no defenders in front of him. Squandered.

Is Beckham injured or what? just tired?

58 - Rooney just missed a nice shot.

58:20 - Look at Lennon go! love that guy.

Beckham seems to be slightly injured. They’re making it sound as if he’s been battling injury throughout the Cup.

61 – Whoa! Rooney out with a red card. This changes everything.

61 - Holy S@#t!!!! Rooney just got a red card for stepping on a player. England’s lone striker. What a blow to England

Rooney stomped on Ronaldo’s groin. Oy.

Look, if you’re going to get a red card, you might as well make it memorable.

and that means Rooney would miss the semi-final if England gets there, right?

yeah, considering England does win this game, Rooney will be out for the next game too.

67.58 – terrible dive by Ronaldo. Gimme a break.

And what is he doing diving like that, when Portugal is a man up? Dumb.

72.52 - Is it just me, or do ten England players seem to be a pretty even match for eleven Portugal players?

Who’s your man of the match, Agi? Mine is the ESPN liveblogger who holds a fine appreciation for chiseled features.

81.43 - Lennon draws a free kick. Beckham on the sideline, boots off.

Nice shot from Lampard; Lennon almost puts in the rebound.

85:17 - Figo exits to boos from the crowd. Are they booing him for his head-butt in the previous game or are they booing the substitution?

91.23 - Oh! Magnificent run by Hargreaves.

Beckham is a drama queen, and Rooney is a hothead.

But England showed me something in that last few minutes of regulation.

93 - end of regulation - we’re going to overtime. You’ve got to give England a lot of credit for holding off Portugal short-handed.

If only they could put the ball in the net. . .

Martin! Good to see you here. I agree. England is winning me over.

8.17 (OT1) - Crouch again tries to climb over a defensive player while putting a header on goal. You’d think that he’s the one player tall enough not to need an extra advantage . . .

10:18 (OT1) - Crouch seems to use his hands illegally on every play. As soon as he gets the ball, he spreads his arms out wide and pushes off the defensive player.

14.17 (OT1) - Beautiful shot by Ronaldo, just a foot above the net.

17.23 Oh man!!!! No goal!!

Hey Mikhail!

That offsides call was very close. By the time the ball crossed, he was — what — less than a foot offsides? Offsides is offsides, but it was closer than it appeared on first look.

24.15 (OT2) - Crazy-hands Crouch strikes again.

Look at this shot — exactly what I was talking about above.

28 (OT2) - Lennon out. Why?

. . . soccernet says it’s because they don’t want Lennon taking penalty kicks.

31.07 (OT2) - My sympathies to any English fans who just suffered a heart-attack.

End of overtime; penalty kicks coming up.

A reminder of this post from Tom Watson (written about the Argentina/Germany game):

Then they go to penalty kicks to decide who advances. This has always seemed insane to me, like flipping a coin in the 10th inning of a World Series game. Germany’s goalie Jens Lehmann comes up big and stops two shots. So Germany advances and the local fans erupt (not in the bar, in the stadium; in the bar, people quiet down and go back to work). But it’s a tainted victory to this American sports fan, like asking two pitchers to throw five baseballs each through a tire rope-swing after nine innings in the post-season. Two halfs, two overtimes, a massive investment of sweat and blood and energy and strategy. Then the slot machine. This and the lousy look-at-me refereeing has to change. Let ‘em play on!

Penalty Kicks:

Portugal (Simao): Goal
England (Lampard): Save! Wow.
Portugal 1, England 0

Portugal (Viana): Hits the post!
England (Hargreaves): Goal! Barely! Off Ricardo’s hands, but into the net!
Portugal 1, England 1

Portugal (Petit): Save!
England (Gerrard): Save! I don’t believe it! That was a golden chance to go ahead.
Portugal 1, England 1

Portugal (Postiga): Goal! Beautiful shot.
England (Carragher): After taking a kick before the whistle, Carragher is forced to kick again. Save! Ricardo!
Portugal 2, England 1

Portugal (Renaldo): Stutter-step and . . . Robinson dives and . . . Goal! Renaldo wins it for Portugal.
England (no kick):
Final: Portugal 3, England 1

Re: the Watson quote: Word. Seems that way to me too.

Bah! Portugal to the semi finals. And so it goes.

That’s the thing about penalty kicks. Whichever way it goes, it feels unfair.

The English players look decimated, and rightly so: they fought their hearts out. It’s too bad that Beckham and Rooney weren’t on the field to help them.

Ugh, I hated seeing those flop monkeys move on. They stole a game from the Dutch, now this. Rooney was an idiot, but dang. The Portuguese are not so much soccer players as “actors” in the Jon Lovitz vein.

I just want to say that Oliver kahn the german goalkeeper is The Best goalkeeper to be ever

witnessed playing…it was a shame he was second in line ….yet showed game in this battle

for 3rd place….i hope he stays on for 2010 World Cup.. By then he will turn 41 years of age

and yet he will still be one of the best…ALL HAIL KING KAHN..the pwner of all goalkeepers

and goalkeeping itself…i would also like to add that O Kahn is the only goalkeeper to ever

receive man of the match award(2002 world cup) hence he is a legend of soccer..and in my

opinion should be honoured for what he has acheived…Yes, italy had its luck just scraping

throuhg Australia and beating germany 2-0 in whihc Kahn wasent playing….Jens Lehmann is no

less of a champion himself..he truly showed the world what he is capable of especially

against argentina..and i truly beleive he is excellent..but Kahn should of been the starting

goalkeeper….I would also like to add it was a shame the csech republic rated 2nd in the

world was kicked out also netherlands rated 3rd in the owrld…and what about brazil…why

wasent it playing so well this world cup…i just would like to add that france will triumph

against all odds..i know that italy has the best defence their is having the best center

backs their is..but france has one of the best attackers in the world zidane, thiery henry,

viera and so on..so it will be a battle for a title that cannot be missed….VIVA LA FRANCE!!