One of the few England players who can hold his head up high after this World Cup.
He silenced the doubters (myself included) with two immense performances in midfield.
Oh and he converted a kick from 12 yards with just a goalkeeper to beat. Very unusual and very un-English behaviour. It must be the Canadian blood and the fact he plays his domestic football in Germany.
From yesterdays Press conference
[ Would Defoe have been a better selection than Walcot ? ]
'I don't think so. If I thought that I would have picked him and I have seen him 15 or 20 times this season.'
And later, Eriksson just can't help himself and, once again, shows his true colours
'The reason (for Eriksson leaving the job after the World Cup) was a newspaper coming out with lies...that is why I have sued the newspaper. It has cost me a lot of money but I am sure I will get the money back'.
Good riddance.
Golly. It is very hot today. Thankfully, the UK Government has told me the solution:
Stay out of the sun. Keep your home as cool as possible. Shutting windows during the day may help. Open them when it is cooler at night. Keep drinking fluids.
Now I would never have dreamt of thought of doing any of those things. Superb advice. May I suggest a couple of additional top tips.
Avoid alcohol. An ice-cold beer may seem very tempting but does tend to dehydrate the body. Particularly if you have 7 pints of ice-cold beer.
Avoid tea. The popular myth that 'Tea is so refreshing on a hot day' is just that - a myth. Tea contains caffeine and also tends to dehydrate the body.
Remove extraneous clothing (within reason).
If the sight of your partner stark naked (see above) gets you all hot and bothered, take a cold shower immediately. This will be far more beneficial than becoming all amorous which will only result in both parties getting even more hot and sweaty.
Did my eyes deceive me or did Jamie Carragher come on as an England substitute specifically to take a penalty in the shoot-out ?
Beckhams retirement as England captain is interesting. I suspect he will play on until he has 100 caps (currently has 94) and will then 'retire' completely from international football.
John Terry will be awarded the captaincy for two reasons. Firstly, no-one would be able to understand Steven Gerrard in press conferences. Secondly, Terry reacts in the precisely right way (openly weeping) to defeat in penalty shoot-outs.
Steve Maclaren is already tainted by association (either he agreed with Eriksson's bizarre squad selection, tactics and substitutions or he disagreed and was overruled) with this pathetic showing and the media campaign to oust him ~~will start immediately~~ has already started.
If Gerrard and Lampard's penalties were the result of hours of hard practice on the training ground, then I would hate to see their efforts without the benefit of that additional preparation.
Wayne Rooney is a excellent footballer but is an immature, young man with a volatile temperament who is not blessed with much intelligence or self restraint. It was almost inevitable that Rooney would lose his self control at some point during the tournament, particularly when carrying the hopes of the country on his shoulders and being forced to play the lone striker for two games.
Cristiano Ronaldo's intervention was also completely predictable. After all, he is playing for Portugal in the quarter finals of the World Cup. After Alex Ferguson backed Ronaldo in his row with Ruud van Nistlerooy, it will be interesting to see the consequences of this incident at MUFC.