Ronaldos the ultimate goalscorer and gets into ridiculous amount of goal scoring chances due to his movement, but his all round game is poor compared to all the other greats.

The Welsh wouldn't have supported us but I would have liked them to have got to the final, shame.

It's a shame as chasing the game won't suit Wales one bit, but that was a brilliant header.

 

Oh dear and it's 2-0! Time for Simon Church perhaps? ;)

Portugal are very mediocre, shame they look headed to the final.

Sam Vokes coming on - expect plenty of long balls and crosses lumped into the box.

Goals aside, is it just me who finds Ronaldo really rather odd?

Ronaldo should have whipped out a tax bill for his celebration.

Goals aside, is it just me who finds Ronaldo really rather odd?

In what way?

Goals aside, is it just me who finds Ronaldo really rather odd?

 

In what way? He does pull strange faces sometimes. Otherwise he seems fairly normal to me given the circumstances.

Hennessey's shirt makes it look like he's sweating profusely out of strange parts of his body.

Hahaha f**k me, Simon 'I make Ameobi look like Alan Shearer' Church is playing in the semi-finals of the European Championship.

Bales been sh*te

Real shame for Wales that it looks like it will end like this.

They can be real proud of their efforts though.

Someone should do a study about why losing teams often play better in the last ten minutes of a match? Why not sooner?

Real shame for Wales that it looks like it will end like this.

They can be real proud of their efforts though.

No shame at all. They've done a great job with a much more limited squad than their opponents.

If anything, Portugal should be slightly more ashamed for looking underwhelming throughout the tournament.

No shame at all. They've done a great job with a much more limited squad than their opponents.

If anything, Portugal should be slightly more ashamed for looking underwhelming throughout the tournament.

If they win the thing they won't give a damn about how underwhelming they've looked

It's all gone leek shaped.

I've noticed this with many international tournaments, that as you get later in the tournament, the more quality and higher player ability are essential.

You see underdogs look surprisingly good in the group stage and maybe the first knockout round, but the gulf in quality becomes clear by the time you reach the quarterfinals.

I think Wales would actually have had a good chance of beating Portugal earlier in the tournament, but not in semifinal.

You saw it with Iceland and again with Wales. I know it's the semifinal, but they were in a weak bracket. Usually at least 3 of the 4 semifinalists, and often all four, are from the list of usual suspects.

Any ideas why? Maybe players from underdog countries run themselves into the ground and give everything they have early on and having nothing left later on. Maybe the further they get the more they shrug and think oh well, no shame in going out now. Maybe it's the additional media attention. Maybe the lack of experience playing in big games either for club or country.

France/Germany will walk over Portugal.

I am alcohol induced maudlin.

France/Germany will walk over Portugal.

Maybe but Wales would be in the same boat. Portugal beat them with ease without going into second gear.

Great run for Wales.  They can hold their head's high

Gutted. Tonight showed how important Ramsey is to us. 

 

Great achievement to get there at all, let alone make the semis. 

I'm hindsight, the decision to expand the tournament to 24 teams, 2/3 of which make the knockout rounds, was an ingenious marketing move by UEFA. More people rooting for a country, more viewers, more tourists, and more countries celebrating their team and feeling like they did a good job.

In Ireland the players got a great reception, and people feel very proud because they made the knockout round. They only made the knockout round by finishing 3rd, which wouldn't have qualified them in previous tournaments.

The fact that it was actually harder to NOT make the knockout round has been ignored and/or forgotten.

From what I understand, it's been mostly the same in Northern Ireland.

More games for which they can sell TV rights too!

 

I do think it's interesting that a team who only qualified out of the groups by finishing third managed to make it to the final.