Psychological warfare

What happened?

Nobody was sure what happened. Rooney tried to hang on to the ball in the midst of two or three Portuguese defenders. One of them, Ricardo Carvalho, was on the ground, trying to recapture the ball. Rooney was pulled back and stepped on Carvalho - or almost stepped on him - in the groin area. Carvalho made a huge affair of it. He looked like he was dying. Ronaldo rushed up to the referee to claim a card. Rooney gave Ronaldo a bit of a push. There were some other pushes. The ref pulled a red card from his pocket and showed it to Rooney.

Why did we miss that?

So much for the match. Ronaldo winked at the Portuguese bench in a didn't-I-arrange-that-well sort of way. The referee told the England manager later on that he saw Rooney hitting somebody. Well why did we miss that?

Stupid

The Portuguese should have concentrated on playing a good match of football which I'm sure they are capable of. The first ten minutes proved they can do it. They had more technique and better tactics. They thought they were far more effective play-acting and diving. The referee should have made sure they got that stupid idea out of their heads. They could have beaten England without it.