Anyone getting fed up with this? Every single time, as soon as we start to believe, we are shot down by the inevitability of a quarter-final defeat or penalty heartache, or as in Sunday's match, a combination of the two. The worst bit, however, is watching the same old brigade (Spain, Germany & co.) battle it out in the end. We would have been more than happy with a semi-final to have a shot at the final - but England rarely overachieve.
I don't know if I see things a different way but I was surprised at near-everyone saying Italy deserved to win it but I'm not so sure. If you have possession for nine-tenths of the match, have 34 attempts on goal and bombard the opposition defence, only to fail to score, you don't deserve to win as much as the other team does. If you don't finish your chances, you don't deserve to win. Of course, we defended brilliantly for the best part of two hours, yet few have managed to mention this. Why are we so negative to ourselves? Maybe this is where the real problem lies...
Another painful thing about going out is that, judging on last night's action, we could have had a real go at both of those teams. Spain weren't at their fluid best and Portugal would surely have just tried to hack us to shreds, yet both of them were just kicks away from the final. Glad it was good ol' Cesc to get the winner, though even that had a huge slice of luck in it. Jammy Spanish.
Cristiano Ronaldo is very confusing. Undoubtedly the best player in the world (refer to my 'Messi vs Ronaldo' piece if you're still not convinced), yet to be fifth on the penalty taker list? For one reason only of course - to get the glory at the end. What a buffoon. These days it's more common for the shoot-out to either be over or carry on well after the fifth kick, and it doesn't matter when you score, it's all about putting the kicks away and getting points on the board at that stage. All that for a bit of personal glory (for the team) that never came. I suppose for everything that Ronaldo has over Messi, Messi wins in the 'least-cocky-moron' category.
There's now talk of the Premier League introducing a winter break, in order to be more competitive with the other teams. Now, although it would be great to have a better chance of getting further in World Cups and Euros, it just seems to me a big sacrifice for a small reward. An English World Cup victory would be absolutely immense, but I rather enjoy the Christmas football. Boxing Day is one of my favourite football days. Are we really getting rid of all that just to go out on penalties in a semi-final instead of quarter? I hope not.
Ending on a more positive note, the best about England's exit is that we can start to look forward to the new season. However well we do in tournaments, we'll always have the best league in the world. I couldn't really care less who wins the Euros now, though I will definitely be supporting Germany or Italy in the final - Spain need to lose for the sake of football.
This is looking like a very exciting Gooner summer, with players coming in like there's no tomorrow and maybe even a longer stay for a certain Van Persie. All there is to get through now is the long, long, long wait for August 18th. Come On You Reds!
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