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Ten-man England were sent crashing out of the World Cup on Saturday, losing a penalty shoot-out to Portugal after a controversy packed quarterfinal battle. Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo scored the decisive spot-kick to hand Portugal a 3-1 shoot-out victory and shatter England’s dream of a first World Cup for 40 years.
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Sven-Goran Eriksson’s worst fears have been realised after the cruel injury to Michael Owen that has seriously depleted England’s already threadbare attacking options. Owen is expected to be ruled out of the World Cup later on Wednesday after twisting a knee in the first minute of England’s 2-2 draw with Sweden at the Rhein Energie Stadion.
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England launched their bid to win the World Cup for the first time in 40 years with a 1-0 victory over Paraguay in a scrappy Group B encounter on Saturday. A headed own goal after only four minutes from Paraguay captain Carlos Gamarra settled the encounter, but it was far from the convincing display that England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson had been hoping for.
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A smiling Wayne Rooney resumed training at England’s base camp in southern Germany on Thursday, giving the side a huge boost ahead of their World Cup campaign. The 20-year-old striker was put through his paces with his teammates and showed no ill effects in his first run-out since jetting being given the green light to play in the World Cup.
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Wayne Rooney worked out separately from his England teammates on Tuesday at their idyllic Black Forest training camp amid a surge of optimism that he could be fit for the World Cup. Pictures of Rooney unleashing a flying scissor-kick with his injured right foot dominated British newspapers, triggering speculation that he might yet be given the all-clear to stay with the squad.
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/ 6 November 2003
South Africa are plotting another World Cup ambush of New Zealand as tension builds ahead of their seismic quarter-final showdown in Melbourne on Saturday. The Springboks announced their team on Thursday, making only one change as expected, with powerful loose forward Danie Rossouw replacing injured flanker Joe van Niekerk.
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/ 18 October 2003
England star Jonny Wilkinson scored 20 points as the World Cup co-favourites overcame a ferocious performance from South Africa to win 25-6 at Subiaco Oval here on Saturday. Fly-half Wilkinson put on a flawless display with the boot to put England in pole position in Pool C — effectively condemning South Africa to a daunting quarter-final against New Zealand.