Portugal stuffs England

By the 62nd minute of Saturday’s World Cup quarterfinal match, England had already lost its captain, David Beckham, to injury, and its one proven goal-scoring striker, Wayne Rooney, to a red-card ejection. The English had to play short-handed for another hour against Portugal, and they played well.

But English fans’ 40-year wait for a second World Cup championship was prolonged by at least more four years, as Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo stopped three penalty kicks in a tie-breaking shootout after a scoreless game. Cristiano Ronaldo, so familiar to the English as a star for Manchester United, converted the final kick of the game to cement Portugal’s 3-1 win on penalties.

England leaves with another chapter in its angst-filled World Cup history to digest.

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