Blame Rooney, Not Ronaldo
“I think Wayne Rooney should go back to the Manchester United training ground and stick one on Ronaldo”
– Alan Shearer
So begins the vilification of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo after his country defeated England on Saturday. While Shearer’s sentiment has been expressed in both thoughtful and vulgar terms in some comments on this site, is he right that Cristiano Ronaldo deserves the blame for England’s World Cup exit?
Ronaldo was certainly involved in the brief melee that proceeded Wayne Rooney’s expulsion, but only after Rooney stepped on Ricardo Carvalho’s groin. It was not clear whether Rooney was shown the card for that move or his push of Ronaldo. In either case it was an action by Rooney that led to his ejection. Ronaldo might have said something to provoke the push, but it was Rooney who lost his temper and did the pushing. He didn’t have to step on Carvalho’s groin. He didn’t have to push Ronaldo. He did both.
Instead of scorning Rooney for his problematic temper, the blame has gone to Cristiano Ronaldo. It is easy not to like Ronaldo. He is adored by women around the world and his flashy style of play is both mesmerizing and annoying. He whines a lot, he pouts a lot and he comes off as being arrogant. He plays for a Manchester United team that you either love or you hate and he hasn’t exactly been a choir boy playing for that team.
But none of that should matter in this situation. England didn’t lose because of Cristiano Ronaldo. They lost because they were overly reliant on a Wayne Rooney who was coming off of injury and whose temper came back to bite them in the backside. They lost because they once again stunk in a penalty shoot out.
There is also no guarantee that England would have won the game even if Rooney remained in the game and they didn’t have to play a man down for the last fifty minutes.
The reaction to Ronaldo reminds me of what we saw in 2002 when South Korea’s Ahn Jung-hwan scored the game winner against Italy and then was essentially run out of the country by his Italian club team.
Ronaldo faces a similar fate. If I were a gambling man I would say that Rooney will never get that chance to stick one on Ronaldo at Manchester United’s training ground, which might just be the only bit of justice that comes out of all of this.
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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 275 comments.
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By Zizou 10 | April 3rd, 2007 at 8:51 am 
u know what i think rooney is just jealous of c.ronaldo. his talent and skill can fight wayne rooney’s jealousy. C.ronaldo is not to blame for rooney’s incident. C.ronaldo is the best and will always be the best and because of that england were kicked out of the WC06. 7 for ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted from 
Kuwait
By qadar | April 5th, 2007 at 11:58 am ZKsmcldkfadjkfg
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Posted from 
Somalia
By muna | April 21st, 2007 at 11:32 am hi iam a man.u i think they are thee best be wawewsa vs roma
Posted from 
United Kingdom
By Andrew | August 10th, 2007 at 1:30 pm well im sorry to all you people who didn’t take spelling lessons as young children but the spelling on one comment is absolutly atrosious. then the very same person goes on and calls Wayne Rooney a pitbull with the brain of a 2 year old, well i have this to say to you, maybe learn how to spell at a grade 2 level, and get a professional contract before you go and make insults to others alright. i have nothing against favouring one player over the other and personally i think both sides a parts to play in Rooney’s sending off (i actually think that ronaldo is a scum faced diver, but thats just a personal opinion). so thats all i have to say. so all those that dont take the time to spell things, just get a dictionary or something, cause it annoys the bloody shit out of me.
By Andrew | August 10th, 2007 at 1:48 pm oh yeah, and one more thing. i am from canada. so all you english twats who want to comment on how crappy and smelly my country is, maybe you should go to the rockies or some place thats not a total shithole like toronto or someplace. so for all you people who say stuff like that, you can go and stuff it up your ass. dont be jelous just because you dont have the brain capasity or the capasity of wallet to go anywhere but the Toronto Airport in canada. i think anyone who has actually vacationed her in the fall can say its one of the most beautiful countrys in the world. thats all, have a nice day =)
By daddy d | October 15th, 2007 at 12:19 pm cristiano ronaldo sucks …he is a wimp….brazils ronaldo is way better than this fake one …..godd one rooney
Posted from 
United States
By daddy d | October 15th, 2007 at 12:20 pm its all about guatemala …carlos ruis is the best ok all of u guys suck and guatemala is goin to take the cup this 2010 ok niggggassss
Posted from United States
By connie o | November 27th, 2007 at 10:24 am why da hell blame C Ronaldo dat picture is all da proof unes need te see dat its Ronneys fault not C ronaldos so why dont unes write dus shit out right again.fek unes all da proof is in da pictures and the crowds dat were at da match so **** unes all
By cristofer | December 11th, 2007 at 6:39 pm yall stink yall dont know wat yall be talkin about and you mister qada need to learn how to speakadaenglish because watever really scared me and that i am telling my mommy
Posted from United States
By isaiah | December 11th, 2007 at 6:42 pm i love qada and i know how to speakayoualanguage and here is a message to you j,xchgfuyfaseghfkzdfghukxhso;iyvg89e7hyj;ofukjh8s6tydypkhdflkj98iobheryuju0yhiotek6uj9pu8ep
Posted from United States
By omar and boode | December 14th, 2007 at 2:18 am because RONAIDO is wrong he even said bad words to ENGLAND AND TO ROONEY
P.S. i hate c.ronaldo and PORTUGAL
Posted from 
United Arab Emirates
By Helder Oliveira | December 28th, 2007 at 12:04 pm No problem omar and boode. Its ur hate 4 our country that make us stronger. We r one of the most friendly nations in the world and when it comes 2 welcome foreigners we r top class. I feel proud 2 welcome tourists over here and in the end hear them sayin they had a good time and were really well treated. Its one of the best things to b proud of and its not ppl like u who r going to spoilt our reputation. Its the racism and anger beetween nations that makes me even prouder of being portuguese. People with genuine good hearts. Shame of u!!
Posted from United Kingdom
By Luis Da Beast | January 14th, 2008 at 2:16 pm I think Cristiano is Rooney’s daddy for sure!
It’s called Cristiano Gold
Posted from United States
By SoccerMan | January 26th, 2008 at 11:55 pm It was not Ronaldos fault it was Rooneys fault!He just goes in starts pushing Ronaldo around then he goes and tramples someone. If he is going to be that stupid there is no way you people can just blame Ronaldo. It is just Idiotic. Rooney needs to take responsibility for his actions!!!!!!!!
P.S:Notice everyone who said it was Ronaldos fault is from the UK (England fans).
By Oladipoh Alphonce | February 20th, 2008 at 4:05 am HEY…THIS TOPIC IS CLOSED GUYS!!! HELLLO! WE ARE IN 2008 4 Christ’s sake!! Duh!!!
By cutygirl | March 14th, 2008 at 9:44 am i don’t think we should blame on ronaldo, our country all aways lose,when was the last time we won, in 1996
Posted from United Kingdom
By random | March 31st, 2008 at 10:32 am Ronaldo is good but then he is such a cry baby
and the ref is stupid he was convinced by C.Ron
Posted from 
China
By mimi | April 6th, 2008 at 5:58 pm I support you armani I think all of these guys should get over it besides rooney and ronaldo are good friends and they don’t hate each other anymore.they are both playing for manutd and I am a great fan and by the way I really think ronaldo is sexy I like him he’s so cute
Posted from 
India
By ifeanyinwodo | April 8th, 2008 at 8:01 am i think rooney should be blame
Posted from 
Italy
By Madeira Wine | April 8th, 2008 at 9:04 am AAAAAAAAAAAAAH, this brings back memories…
This is the famous story, that lasted months, even years, that started when Rooney was sent off for stepping on R Carvalho’s balls (while on the ground); and how because C Ronaldo complained to the ref, and then winked at the coach (or whoever) when Rooney got Red, HE was immediatelly blamed for Rooney’s sent off.
Now, really, how stupid can one be…?
Apparently very stupid, cos the english fed on this shit for months non-stop. There were unbelievable provocations from the press, lies, the public, his house got broken in, they made his life hell on earth.
They only started stopping when the admited, not when they realized, that C Ronaldo is arguably the best player in their league - The Best League in the world - but quite a non english league…
I wonder who is scoring in Man Utd, a putative Champions League Winner….?
Is it the striker or is comming from the wing…?
NOW, two years after all this, the talk in England is whether C Ronaldo is the best in the world or not… 
Honestly, you tried all the dirty tricks you could on C Ronaldo. I guess he gave you the finger with silk gloves… So much, he even made you love him… 
It’s good to keep a good memory on these things, so that later they’re not painted in different colours. As it so often does…
Posted from 
Netherlands
By c.ronaldo is a league | April 19th, 2008 at 3:49 am you are all wrong cause anyway england sucks and ronaldo shouln”t get da blame because i love him and hes the worlds leage, rooney is just so jealous of c.ronaldo and rooney, just get used to it ronaldo is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than u in football and u really need to control ur temper and improve ur skills but surely whatever u d ronaldo is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!
By manuel | April 22nd, 2008 at 1:34 pm rooney is wack ronaldo is a beast
By man utd rox! | April 26th, 2008 at 8:37 am C.RONALDO ROCKS!ENYTHING BAD YOU PPL SAY ABOUT HIM WON’T CHANGE ANYTHING! C.RONALDO IS THE BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD AND HE HAS PROVED IT!
Posted from 
Cyprus
By man utd rox! | April 26th, 2008 at 8:38 am i meant ANYTHING
Posted from Cyprus
By HateRons.. | April 30th, 2008 at 7:11 am Wtf…. Not England, not Rooney, but the main problem is C.Ronaldo….
C.Ronaldo is absolutely, definitely suck player…
What gold for him.. better pulp for him…
Just can run in the field.. no skills.. play like chicken.. no teamwork..
Wtf so many bad things that he got rather than skill.
Hate C.Ronaldo so much!!!!
The bad player that i ever seen..
Suck suck C.Ronaldo!! suck suck C.Ronaldo!!
That’s the motto for him.
Posted from 
Malaysia
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