As Ben feared it went to penalties; the fat boy got injured; the referee made numerous incomprehensible decisions, including disallowing a perfectly valid goal; Sven made some odd decisions too, like bringing on Phil Neville and letting Beckham take a penalty.

A great game though, 2 hours plus of intensity, let down by the referee and the appalling condition of the pitch - in all three penalties missed, the striker slipped or mishit the ball due to the loose surface around the penalty spot. Hardly a fair way to conclude a major international game.

Roll on the World Cup, with any luck Beckham and the ugly brothers will have retired, and Owen might have consistantly found his shooting boots again.

Talking of boots, many players are sponsored to wear different football boots in the hope that dumb punters would want to emulate their heros. But, would you buy the same boots as Van Nistelroy or Heskey? After all, the rest of your team will laugh at you continually falling over.

Various Jocks seem to be following the usual knee jerk anti-English traditions, it's nice to see Martin taking a more rational approach.