Gelsenkirchen: Anyone who writes off penalty shootouts as a lottery should consider the fact that England missed more of their four attempts against Portugal on Saturday than Germany have in six shoot-outs over 30 years.
Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo, the hero when his side beat England the same way in the Euro 2004 quarter-finals, was again the difference.
He became the first man to save three in a World Cup shoot out when he denied Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher as England crumbled again from 12 yards.
Only man of the match Owen Hargreaves managed to find the net for England and that was no surprise as he plays his club football in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich where it seems the mentality is somewhat different.
David Beckham, whose blaze over the bar in Lisbon two years ago set Portugal on their way, was unable to take part on Saturday as he had been injured but his two midfield partners stepped into the void, all too predictably.
First Save
It was hardly a shock when Lampard, England's nominated penalty-taker in regulation time, had the first attempt saved as he has spent the entire tournament struggling to connect with a dead ball the way he does so consistently for Chelsea.
Ricardo dived left to save that one, got a hand but could not stop Hargreaves' effort then dived left again to save another weakly-struck effort by Gerrard.
Carragher did beat the keeper but went too early and Ricardo used his psychological advantage well to push the defender's second, straighter attempt onto the bar.
In Lisbon Ricardo followed up his save from Darius Vassell by driving home the winning spot kick but this time he was not needed as Cristiano Ronaldo completed the job.
England will no doubt argue that they should never have had to suffer their recurring nightmare as, without a controversial red card for striker Wayne Rooney just after the hour mark, they might have ended a run of five winless competitive games against the Portuguese spanning 40 years.
England Record
It was all too painful for England, who have now lost all three of their World Cup shoot-outs - against Germany in the 1990 semi-finals, Argentina in the second round in 1998 and Saturday.
As well as their Portugal defeat four years ago they also lost in the semi-finals of Euro 96, to Germany again, with their solitary success coming against Spain a round earlier in the same competition.
In those six shoot-outs they have missed a remarkable 10 of their 31 attempts - Germany have missed two out of 28.
Portugal, who missed two of their five on Saturday, had never previously been involved in a World Cup shoot-out, their 7-6 Euro 2004 2004 Lisbon success over England their only previous involvement in the cruellest denouement.
England find themselves on their way home after the quarter-finals for the third successive major tournament.
Portugal can prepare for their first World Cup semi-final since the glory days of Eusebio in 1966.
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