Catherine, the simple answer is there is no excuse at all. No one here is defending what Wayne Rooney did. He was rightly sent off and FIFA should also ban him for several more matches.
This was probably the most talented England squad of players we have ever had. It just never all came together. When Wayne Rooney's foot healed quicker than expected, many of us were optimistic that England would play with two world class strikers for the first time in our history. We overlooked the fact that Michael Owen was not fully recovered. That was probably a factor in his new injury, which will certainly take some of his speed and effectively spells the end of his time as a top quality international striker. Peter Crouch gave everything he had. It was never going to be enough at this level.
It is quickly forgotten that in England's case, the penalty shoot outs have always delivered the correct result. Portugal certainly deserved to win last night. They were able to carry out their game plan from start to finish. (If England had one, it was to hide in their own half or to boot the ball into touch as often as possible). They also forced England to play nearly the entire game in their own half. England were good on heroics but were found lacking in confidence, imagination and stamina. That was the same story in all the other heroic failures. Perhaps what England need is a sound thrashing to teach us never to try and play like that again. The penalty shoot outs have always left us room to claim we were unlucky. Truth is, in all of these matches the opposition were very unlucky not to win well in ordinary time. We were beaten by Portugal's reserves last night - and they deserved to win.