Sven: We just weren't good enough to win
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Your support makes all the difference.Sven Goran Eriksson has admitted that England's performance in the penalty shoot-out that led to their crushing quarter-final World Cup defeat was "just not good enough". His comments came in a press conference that will be one of his final acts as national coach.
The Swede, whose team were eliminated after losing a dramatic penalty shoot-out, blamed the squad's poor record on penalties. He told reporters: "It's not good enough to miss three penalties. We have trained so much, but here we are once again."
Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher missed penalties and then watched Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo score the crucial spot-kick to get Portugal into their first World Cup semi-final.
Only 62 minutes in, Wayne Rooney was shown a red card after a tangle in which he stamped on the groin of Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho. But Eriksson did not hide behind the dismissal. "I don't think we can complain about the red card from what I saw on the TV," he said. "Maybe we should have had a free kick when there was a tangle but it went on and on and the referee was there." He insisted England had blown a chance which was there for the taking.
"I don't feel relieved, I feel sad and a bit angry because we should be in the tournament. But we are not and we can't blame the referee or somebody else," he said. "I'm sorry for the team, the squad and the fans, who were fantastic. They deserve to have a team in the semi-final or the final."
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