It was a cruel way to go out - but the better team won. After 120 minutes of football, it came down to a penalty shootout between Portugal and England. David Beckham missed the first one - and the rest, as they say, is history. But the way it finished was extraordinary, with the Portuguese goalkeeper scoring the penalty that put his team into the semi-final. It's the first time I can remember seeing a goalkeeper take a penalty against his opposite number in such a high profile match, but I dare say there have been a few others.

That England even got this far in the match says more about their tenacity than the quality of their play. After less than half an hour, wonderkid Rooney limped off. He went straight to a Lisbon hospital for an X-Ray that revealed he had broken his foot. The loss of Rooney brought an early end to what had looked promising, with Owen scoring in the third minute to break a long sequence of non-scoring for England. But for the last 15 minutes of the first half and the whole of the second, Portugal dominated and had lots of shots on goal. The stats at the end of 90 minutes told the story - Portugal had had 27 shots on goal and 65% possession, compared to 10 shots and 35% possession for England. Those sorts of figures don't win major tournaments. The Portuguese had admitted before the match that Rooney was their big concern. Once he had left the pitch, it was as if the Portuguese started believing - and England lost confidence.

Portugal looked to have won it when Rui Costa scored a wonder goal 5 minutes into the second half of extra time. But Lampard equalized with 5 minutes left on the clock.  So to penalties - Beckham and Vassell both missed for England, and that was that.

So, England weren't good enough without an 18-year-old from Everton. We'll never know whether Rooney could have taken England all the way. He's young, and we'll hopefully see him in many big matches for England. But I can't help thinking that this was the best chance in a long while for England to pick up some silverware. Now it's time to start preparing for the 2006 World Cup.

11:52:17 PM