Euro 2004 Day Thrirteen

The quarterfinals began today, and for the first time in nearly two weeks I had only one game to capture my attention. The matchup was a big one, since England were facing the host nation Portugal.

Andrew joined Steve and I for the viewing, and due to some unfortunate TV recording circumstances we missed the first 15 minutes of the match. Amazingly enough the often ignored English striker Michael Owen put his side ahead in the 3rd minute on a deft kick past Portuguese keeper Ricardo. The English supporters were a bit excited.

England's fortunes took a turn for the worse halfway through the first half when star striker Wayne Rooney went down with an ankle injury. Andrew made a comment that he thought it odd that a player would sit down during a match, but I had to remind him there are no timeouts in football. Steve then reminded me there is no crying in baseball. Exactly.

Portugal applied constant pressure and found their equalizer late in the match. A cross from Sim�o Sabrosa reached recent substitute H�lder Postiga's head for the goal.

England almost grabbed the game right before the end of regulation, but somehow the referee waived off Sol Campbell's header because of a phantom foul in the penalty area.

So the game went into extra-time and we had our first look at the new "silver goal" rule. In previous competitions the "golden goal" gave victory to the side that scored first in overtime. In an apparent attempt to make the game a bit more fair they have now implemented this "silver goal" which allows the other team a chance to equalize until the end of the 15 minute overtime period. When Rui Costa fired home a goal in the 20th minute of OT it looked to be all over for England.

Apparently Frank Lampard didn't think the game was over yet, as he controlled teammate John Terry's headed pass, swiveled and placed the ball into the net in the 25th minute of OT, forcing a penalty shoot-out to settle the match.

England captain and media sensation David Beckham kicked first, and he soon found his shot sailing into the night air. Andrew picked out the culprit for the miss--a bad bit of turf around the penalty spot.

Subsequent English kickers decided to go straight down the middle and found the back of the net. When Rui Costa missed for Portugal both sides were even. However, Wayne Rooney's substitute Darius Vassell found his shot blocked by Portuguese keeper Ricardo. It was now up to Ricardo himself to take his turn at the spot. That's when the cable feed went out, but apparently Ricardo put his shot past English keeper David James for the victory.

Extras:

1. What's up with the Wayne Rooney/Shrek references? Something to do with the ears?

2. I'm gonna need a bigger box of tissues.

3. Damn spot moved on me.