England have suffered their worst ever defeat in a World Cup tournament, losing 4-1 on Sunday to a superior German side.
While the winners go on to an exciting quarterfinal confrontation 對(duì)抗 with Argentina, the English performance had every newspaper journalist at home reaching for the thesaurus 同義詞詞典。"Awful... woeful 糟糕透頂?shù)?/strong>... inept 無能的... flat-footed 扁平足(這里指英格蘭隊(duì)員笨拙)" are some of the adjectives that found their way into Monday's papers.
England's defence was outpaced(速度上)被超過 and outmanoeuvred(控球技巧)被超過。When Germany's keeper Manuel Neuer did a long kick both Matt Upson and John Terry were caught out of position 不在位置, allowing Miroslav Klose to collect Germany's first goal.
The score was 2-1 to Germany when a moment arrived that will haunt 纏繞,使人難以忘卻 England fans for years to come. Frank Lampard struck the ball high over Neuer and it bounced down and out of the goal.
We can never say now exactly what it'd have done to the game but we'd have been 2-2 at half-time... so for sure it would have been a different game.
Frank Lampard, England midfielder
TV replays 重放 clearly show the ball bouncing over the line, but neither the referee nor the linesman had access to those. For Lampard, it was a decision that turned the whole game.
Lampard probably isn't aware of the way his name is transliterated 音譯 into Chinese – 蘭帕德(暗示英格蘭怕德國(guó))。Soon after the disappointment with his goal, he rattled 發(fā)出吱吱響聲 the German crossbar with a long-range shot.
The second half started well for England, but their push for an equaliser left them open at the back and they conceded 輸給 a further two goals within three minutes of each other. As Gerrard put it, England were "killed off" when they lost their belief, their confidence.
Frank's goal got disallowed, which was a big turning point and the goal at 3-1 kills us off, because then you lose your belief.
Steven Gerrard, England midfielder
Would England have won if Lampard's goal had been allowed? Even the most ardent 熱情的 fans aren't so deluded as to believe that. It was a crushing 極大的打擊 end to a World Cup campaign that never came alive 喚醒,活躍起來 for England.
The referee Jorge Larrionda's error, together with another poor decision in the Argentina-Mexico game, will lead some to question FIFA's reluctance to use the sort of technology that has transformed tennis.
But England's performance begs many more questions 提出更多的問題, including:
Will the national coach Fabio Capello stay in his job?
Why is it that Wayne Rooney, who is one of the best strikers in the world, hasn't scored a single goal in two World Cups?
Just how do you bring 23 club players together to form a cohesive 團(tuán)結(jié)一致的 team?
And, most agonising of all:
Will England ever win the World Cup again?