It looked more like a diving event

Portugal and France tonight conspired to play one boring semifinal in the World Cup. You would have thought that with history being against Portugal in the match, they would do their best to win. You see, these two nations have never met in the World Cup but in the last six international meetings between them, France has won all.

So Portugal went into this semifinal today with the determination to break this cycle of losing and gain revenge over the French. Sadly for Portugal, this wretched record continues. France beat them yet again, this time through a Zidane penalty in the 33th minute.

Apart from that goal, France however did not contribute much in this dull match. It was Portugal who had all the possession and did all the attacking. They tried everything to get level in this match. They tried the long shots, putting the ball into the French penalty box, crossing from either sides and diving everywhere in the pitch.

As the final minutes drew closer, their dramatic divings and falls happened very often in the French penalty box – they were all at it, none guiltier than Cristiano Ronaldo, Pauleta, and Helder Postiga.

If only they had stood firm on their feet and tried to shoot the ball! They also had one splendid opportunity when French keeper Fabien Barthez fumbled a Ronaldo freekick, giving Figo an opportunity to head into the open net. Figo headed wide.

Thankfully the referee was never conned by the Portuguese theatrics but still the match was decided on a dive which resulted in the French penalty. I thought Thierry Henry fell in a dramatic manner when his leg was caught unintentionally by Carvalho. The referee thought it was a foul and Zidane made no mistake from the spot.

In one hand, I am disappointed that Portugal did not make it to the finals after the attacking flair they have shown, but then again, I don't want cheaters to be playing in the finals too.

Read my World Cup blog here.