With less than 50 days until the start of the World Cup in Brazil, Soccer Laduma takes a look at our Top 50 World Cup moments – today number 22: England In Tears After Three Missed Penalties.
At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, England had a talented squad with stars like David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard emerging on the international stage.
They went undefeated into the quarter-final where they met Portugal around a young Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, things went from bad to worse for the Three Lions.
First they lost skipper David Beckham to injury just after half-time, then Wayne Rooney was sent off after 62 minutes for a stamp on Ricardo Carvalho.
They battled bravely for the rest of the game and could secure a penalty shoot-out. But we all know the story of England and penalty shoot-outs.
As so often, their World Cup title hopes would fade away quickly.
Portugal scored their first penalty and Frank Lampard stepped up for England, but he missed!
It looked though as if England could bounce back after Portugal missed their following two penalties and Owen Hargreaves scored for England.
Then Steven Gerrard, well-known for his penalty conversion rate, stepped up and missed. Portugal scored their fourth penalty to take the lead and then it was Jamie Carragher’s turn.
He scored at the first attempt but had to retake it and missed as well. A young Cristiano Ronaldo scored the final penalty for Portugal and England’s title hopes had ended once again.
Portugal goalkeeper, Ricardo, became the first player in a World Cup shoot-out history to save three penalties and England stars like John Terry and David Beckham were left in tears.
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