The battle of Nuremberg

C.Ronaldo leaves the field crying, after trying to play injured for 25 minutes. Hopefully, he will recover in time to play against England.

Yesterday's game (shall I call it a game?) made me suffer from beginning till end, but in the end I felt pride for being portuguese. Our players played like heroes, fought until the last minute to keep the advantage of 1-0, even though always playing with one player less.

A lot of discussion goes on about whether Portugal played fair or not. I don't think we did; I don't even think we played good football. However, under the circumstances, I think we did a very good heroic game. Let's not forget that Holland provoked from beginning, starting by that (intentional, I would risk to say) entry of Boulahrouz against C.Ronaldo that left him injured from the 5th minute of game. However, C. Ronaldo had his revenge by participating in the goal of Portugal, brilliantly scored once again by Maniche.

It is useless to focus on this or that player or on who played better or worse. The truth is that yesterday our team made a dream come true out of what looked completely impossible, especially by the end of the 1st half. We have a saying in Portugal, which translates into something like this: "What you want, you can". Yesterday our players showed it: they wanted badly to win and they had their victory.

Marco Van Basten disappointed me for what he said after the game. Did Portugal make theatre? WE didn't play fair? Or…Didn't the Dutch player who hit C.Ronaldo deserve to be expelled already when he did it? Or…What is lack of fair-play: wasting some time if you're winning and playing 10 against 11 or... not returning the ball to the opponent, when the opponent puts the ball out for assistance to an injured player…Or intentionally injuring a good dangerous player?
yes, Figo also headbutt a Dutch player, it's true. but how many Dutch players did the same to portuguese players? Van der Saar stepped on Simao's hand; Boulahrouz hit Figo in the face (and injured C.Ronaldo); and two other players pushed Deco and Petit to the floor....and it is convenient not to forget that by the 7th minute of game, Holland had already 2 yellow cards while Portugal had none. So, who started it then?