England is crashed out of a major tournament on penalties once again. Again it was Portugal, and for the third time running Brazilian Felipe Scolari was at the helm. “At the end, the tortured, cursed end, those who had hounded the head coach and the captain all the way up to the final chapter got what they had predicted, maybe even secretly hoped for: the cruelest of exits after a campaign of under-achievement,” writes the Guardian, but this time, England’s failure was more reminiscent to its heroic under-handed exit on penalties to Argentina after David Beckham was sent off. This time there were no goals, this time England’s new hero, Wayne Rooney, became the villain, foolishly sent-off for dissent after 65 minutes, and perhaps most cruelly, England once again were not better than their opponents from 12 yards. They were not great, the Guardian says, “but they were much better than they had been — and they were brave,” playing an hour with 10 men, and always looking more likely than Portugal to score. The standout player on the field, without question, was Owen Hargreaves, the man who received more criticism than anyone else for even being on the team, let alone starting. Portugal, for its part, was inept. It did almost nothing with its man advantage, and was lucky to bring the match to penalties. One day, England will win a penalty shootout. But it will take some time for the English to get the sting out of yet another loss on penalties.