Disappointing England On Their Way Home

The game started at a quick pace with Brazil having the early possession. But the first bloody went to England when Lucio failed to handle a cross by Heskey. Owen pounced onto the ball and drew the keeper before chipping it delicately over him.

The Brazilians were rattled and England went on to enjoy some good pressure even if they did not test the keeper again.

Brazil though equalised at a time that couldn't have been more damaging.

Ronaldinho ran with the ball from the half way line, and the England players kept backing off him. He threaded the ball through the defence to Rivaldo who sweetly struck the ball past the goalkeeper. The clock showed 46mins and half time was upon us.

Not long after the second half had started that Brazil had taken the lead. It was one that might haunt Seaman for a long time to come. A freekick was given 42 yards out. Everybody was expecing the ball to be floated into the box, but Ronaldinho had different things on his mind. Seaman was expecting the cross and so was off his line. The ball was hit with pace but looked fairly straight forward for the England keeper. But the ball drifted over his head and ended up in the back of the net.

It was the only mistake of the tournament by Seaman, but it has ended up being the most costly.

The second half followed the trend that had been set by the previous England matches in the tournament. We just never got going. I don't think we have had a decent second half all tournament.

We never tested the Brazilian keeper after our first goal. Not even the sending off of the Brazil Hero, Ronalidinho could help England. We couldn't keep possession of the ball which meant we couldn't make the extra man count.

Brazil were special, but only because we allowed them to be. There were too many players who didn't perform on the day.

The Manchester United duo of Beckham and Scholes were not at the races, and Sinclair on the wing never really got into the game. If you want to win on the World Stage you cannot have players underperforming, and this is exactly what happened.

We didn't test the keeper from long range once yesterday. Many times during watching the match in the pub there were cries of 'SHOOT' when a player had the ball in striking distance, but the cries were to no avail.

We gave the men from South America too much respect and we deserve to be on our way home.

I still believe we could have won it, it's just a shame didn't have the same self-belief.