yeah one can easily understand why Allan Shearer said such thing about Portugal-- after all, they got thrashed by the Portugese side. Everytime England gets out of the world cup, these people find some lame excuses. Sometimes, Beckham is held responsible for getting red card and now rooney is getting all the blame. that speaks volume of Enlglish mindset. Lets admit it... England's perfromance in this world cup was mediocre. they should consider themselves lucky to have reached Quarter-final stage. And Rooney's red card was absolutely justifiable. He kicked the groin of the opponet -- and that too after he lost the possession of the ball. then he pushed C ronaldo. About the travesty of the world cup had Portugal reached the final--- well this world cup has already been a shame after italy was even allowed to participate. There is something called ETHICS in every sports. And with all the match-fixing scandal going on in Italian SerieA, FIFA should have barred a bunch of thugs, match-fixers and betters (Italy) from playing in the World Cup. Itlalian footbal has been tarnished with match-fixing from a long time. thats why they call the Italian league "DIRTY LEAGUE " in Europe. Bufffon have openly admiited of his involvement in betting. And yeah this has been a travesty of the World Cup- mr. Shearer.