Did England really play well enough during this tournament to deserve to be in a World Cup semi-final? Only the most one-eyed England fans could put their hands on their hearts and, without the slightest doubt, say yes. But that doesn’t alter the fact that yesterday, after giving their best performance since arriving in Germany, England went out of the competition with pride. To lose in those circumstances was a disgrace. And the biggest disgrace of all was Cristiano Ronaldo.

The key incident in the game was Wayne Rooney’s sending-off. It wasn’t even a booking. I watched the match in Holland with a hundred football-mad Dutchmen. Everybody was cheering for England and everybody felt the same.

When Rooney trampled on Ricardo Carvalho, he didn’t do it on purpose. Before that he was being impeded and should have had a foul anyway. The referee blew his whistle and paused and was thinking of what to do when Ronaldo ran over and asked him to show a card. It’s how Ronaldo always behaves, trying to influence referees, and it turns my stomach when players do that.

I thought to myself, how could he do that? You could argue that Ronaldo is playing for his country in a World Cup, so it’s okay to do anything to win. I don’t believe that. What about sporting values? Rooney is his club teammate, and judging by the way they walked out together at the start, joking, his friend? It was a double betrayal, a disaster for football.

I know everybody will be talking about Rooney but I feel sorry for him. He was not guilty. It was a sad way for one of the potential stars of the tournament to go out of his first World Cup.

All in all, I felt emotional seeing England lose. In Holland, England are always our second team, and we had all the more reason to support them yesterday because of the way Portugal played against Holland in the second round. Just as Ronaldo pulled that stunt to get Rooney punished, against Holland, Luis Figo got Khalid Boulahrouz red-carded for an elbow that never was.

Would England have won with 11 against 11? Impossible to say. The game was very even until the sending-off. England were defending well, but, just like in every match they played in the tournament, they were unwilling to take the initiative.

After Rooney’s red card, they were magnificent. It must have been the best defensive performance, with 10 versus 11, seen in the last five years. The task suited them. They could forget about possession and concentrate on defence, looking for the odd counter- attack, which, under Sven-Göran Eriksson, has often been their approach.

They defended so well that keeping Portugal out almost looked easy, and Aaron Lennon made a huge impact when he came on. When Lennon was replaced by Jamie Carragher, it seemed a little strange. Obviously it was so Carragher could take a penalty. I didn’t know he was a penalty specialist.

If Carragher’s successful first attempt had been allowed to stand, the substitution would have looked a great decision. But what happened when Carragher stepped up the second time suggested he wasn’t a specialist after all. For what it’s worth, Lennon is a good penalty-taker.

Although Portugal were disgraceful against Holland, and full of gamesmanship yesterday, they probably did more in the competition than England to deserve a place in the semis.

Yesterday was the best England played, but even then, they were still playing for the result rather than seeking to dominate a game. It was one up front again, and though the midfield shape was better, and Owen Hargreaves did very well, Joe Cole and Beckham were not high enough up the pitch to give Rooney support.

Once more England’s main feature was their wonderful defence. If you concentrate on keeping out the opposition rather than creating ways to score, you risk 0-0, which, in a World Cup, means extra time and possibly penalties. Given England’s past record, how safe is it to bet on penalties? I said before the tournament England are seen by the rest of the world as major under- achievers. And they are going home early again, as they have always done since 1966. Eriksson was hired to change that sad history. Unfortunately he couldn’t do it.