Rooney Poll

I think that title may belong to C. Ronaldo for awhile.  Especially after the papers printed the photo with the  .

I find this photo a little more brutal.....

The red card was a surprise yes; and Rooney's behaviour, well, not surprising really, just sad.
But Ronaldo to me comes across as a whiny, devious, self serving pretty boy.  Why he even involved himself in the incident when he had nothing to do with it I do not understand, except to exacerbate Rooney's temper in order to get him sent off.  Sealed with a wink.

Sidenote:

Elizondo, a 42-year-old poetry-writing PE teacher, professed to be unworried if a similar scenario occurs.

“I’ve never thought about it and to be honest I don’t care,” he said. “If people or newspapers would like to create stories like that, it’s up to them. I really don’t care.”

Okay, I love this ref.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,28749-2254786,00.html

From the horse's mouth.

An interesting interview with a nice bit of hindsight and the ability to watch the match on video again and again I can understand his version of events.  The truth is we will never really know what the ref was thinking and wether rooney meant to tread on the portugese player, but if you get to watch the incident again do so, the ref was in a position where he wouldn't of seen where rooneys foot fell.  He did blow his whistle though so saw something within the tangle of 3 players but where as normally you will see in cases of violent conduct the referee would move quickly to the player and talk to him and show a card, but here the ref walked to stand over the injured player not signalling anyone to him.  Ronaldo arrives at speed and screaming (booking offence according to rules) Rooney (I am not suggesting otherwise stupidly pushes ronaldo), then the ref reacts run away from the group and calls rooney over showing the card (a definate yellow a harsh red).  I still think the ref made his decision based on the push but realised after seeing footage the tread gave him a better reason.

Obviously IMO.

mine too...  if it had truly been for the violent conduct, then the red card would have come out right away.  It was too hard to tell what was a melee of three people trying to stay on their feet, and intent to injure.  It wasn't until after rooney pushed the teenager that the card was issued. 

Inconsistent reffing is one of my biggest pet peeves!