on the abject midfield set up, tactical naivity and clear lack of organisation at the back would be far too introspective."

And we're off, again! Germany get the ball rolling. In all the brouhaha, let's not forget England were on the front foot at the end of the half. So it's far from lost for them. "I assume Univision is referring to the Japanese cartoon superhero Astro Boy, a robot with machine guns mounted on his arse," writes Scott Martin. "Let's hope Rooney can pull something out of the same area."

47 min: Friedrich is booked for a little clip on Defoe. That's not much of a challenge. On the BBC, Jingo Boy and Mark Lawrenson are debating whether a slightly sheepish looking Jorge Larrionda is trying to level things up as best he could. "Never mind shades of 1966, this England team is playing football from 1066," writes Justin Kavanagh. He's here all week.

49 min: Gerrard cuts inside from the left, across the face of the German box, and drags a low, hard shot wide left. "Sorry England," writes Hartmut Hirt. "This goal should have been given. Any 'linesman', as they used to be called, in his correct position SHOULD have seen that the ball had crossed the line."

51 min: England are enjoying a lot of the ball since the restart. Rooney is nudged over by Friedrich, 40 yards out, just to the right. And what does he have to do to score?!? He hits a rising shot from a preposterous distance - and it twangs the post, Neuer mistakenly letting it go.

54 min: Germany have looked very nervous since the second half began. Muller wins a corner on the right. From it, Schweinsteiger and Lahm fanny around for ages before the latter finally gets a cross in. Rooney heads clear easily. They looked dangerous every time they came forward for the majority of the first half; now, nothing. England can take hope from this.

57 min: Lahm plays a poor ball back to his keeper, very nearly allowing Defoe to nick in, just to the left of goal, 12 yards out. Neuer slides out to hack clear. Germany are a bag of nerves. That disallowed goal has given this match a very surreal atmosphere.

60 min: Muller steams straight down the middle into a pocket of space by the England D. His low shot is heading towards the bottom-right corner before being deflected out by Cole. It's a clear corner, as clear as that Lampard goal, but England are awarded the goal kick. The officials are having the mother, father and extended family of shockers, here. "Is there some confusion over the game being played here?" asks Michael Plevin. "Perhaps the ref thought that the 'if it goes in it must stay in' rules of pool, basketball, golf apply to football too. Oh, well, here we go again. Sometimes I'd rather we lose 5-0 without any controversy."

61 min: I have a feeling this is going to get exceptionally frenetic. Rooney skidaddles down the centre, and lays the ball off right to Milner, whose excellent first-time swipe from the edge of the box looks destined for the bottom-left corner. Boateng is across to block, defensive brilliance.

63 min: Rooney nearly sets Defoe free down the inside left channel. Freidrich sticks a toe in - bravely, as it's in the box, and he's already been booked - and swans off Beckenbauer style with the ball. Then, up the other end, Schweinsteiger swipes a low effort wide left from the inside right position. What an end-to-end match this is.

64 min: Joe Cole comes on for Milner. Wild cheers from the England support. "All this debate about video referees is nice but why is it nobody has asked the truly startling question here: what on earth happened to cause Lampard to start shooting straight?" wonders Nick Knight. "I'm so used to his goal attempts coming down with ice on them."

66 min: Friedrich blocks Rooney, 30 yards out, just to the right of goal. Lampard stands over it. The ball goes straight into the wall this time.

67 min: THIS COULD BE IT FOR ENGLAND. Germany 3-1 England. The ball having bounced off the wall, four German players stream upfield, no red shirts bothering to chase back and help. Down the inside left, Schweinsteiger rolls the ball wide right to Muller on the right-hand edge of the England box. James gets a hand to the shot, but it was hit hard as you like and flies into the bottom-right corner.

69 min: England's four defenders make it back to their area.

70 min: THIS IS SO EASY NOW. Germany 4-1 England. England have a throw in on the edge of Germany's area. They quickly lose the ball, which is walloped up the left wing. Ozil gets there ahead of Barry, and of course - need I bother saying this? - the defence is nowhere to be seen. Ozil makes it all the way to the area, before clipping the ball across to Muller, taking out James. Mulller lifts the ball into the net. It is over.

72 min: Some subs. Heskey replaces Defoe. Trochowski replaces Muller. And Klose goes off, Gomez coming on.

74 min: As things s

上一页  [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] 下一页