Deja vu for England, Brazil !!

England Vs. Portugal

Score : 0-0 (1-3 on penalties)

# It was Deja vu for England as they went out of a major tournament on penalties for the 5th time in 16 years (WC 1990, 1998, 2006 ; Euro 1996, 2004) oddly enough it was Portugal who knocked them out on penalites in the Euro 2004 Quarterfinals too.
# Well the similarity dont end there, it was a young Manchester United player David Beckham who was sent off for kicking his opponent in 1998 before Argentina beat them on penalties , it was a young Manchester United star called Wayne Rooney this time.

# Ironically this was the first match in these finals when England actually played well , but were knocked out at the end of it.
# While Portugal missed their 2 penalties by simply shooting out , England missed their 3 after soem great saves by Portugese goalkeeper Ricardo.
# Frank Lampard took over 30 shots on goal in these finals (more than any other player.) but still couldnt score . Ironically he couldn't even score in the penalty shoot-out. Some things are not meant to be they say.



Photo : English Captain David Beckham spent what turned out to be his last hour of the world cup on the sidelines after picking up a foot injury.



Photo : Moment of Madness by the young Wayne Rooney.
Sent off after repeated requests from the portugese led by Ronaldo to the referee. Ronaldo was later seen winking at his teammates when referee showed the red.


Photo : Frank Lampard looks up for help after his penalty was saved by Ricardo.
Lampard took over 30 shots on goal in these finals (more than any other player.) but still couldnt score . Ironically he couldn't even score in the penalty shoot-out. Some things are not meant to be they say.



Photo : Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring the winning penalty that took his team into the semi finals

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Brazil Vs. France

Score : Brazil 0 : 1 France

# Deja vu for Brazil, as the Les Blues led by the old horse Zinadine Zidane stunned them once more, 8 years after they defeated them 3-0 in the 1998 world cup final.
# As was the case 8 years ago , Brazil were clearly outclassed by the french specially by the twice former footballer of the year Zinedine Zidane. Yes !! He is back !!
# Brazil could not even manage a single shot on target the whole match until that late late weak header by Adriano. They were clueless while Zidane weaved his magic back. He was everywhere and it was he who delivered the inch perfect cross that was put in by a clinical Henry finsh. That goal saw one of the most horrible piece of defending in this world cup !! There were 5 brazilian players standing outside the penalty box, all alone, while just 3 brazilian defenders were marking 5 french players inside the penalty box. no one was marking Theirry Henry !!



Photo : Real madrid teammates Ronaldo and Zidane , two great players of their generations greet each other before what wud be the last WC match for one of them. (turned out to be ronaldo.)



Photo : Zidane in action , teasing the samba boys.



Photos : Brazil players dejected. Down and Out.

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