Happy Canada Day! Gutted About England....Going to Ireland!

Well there you go, I represented the 3 countries I will be seeing in November. Obviously Kate and I live in Canada, but in November for 14 days I will be (once again) an honourary UKian. We will be staying in Landbeach (Kate's parent's house) for a bit (Nov 1- 6) then heading to Ireland for a few days. I am not sure why, but growing up as a kid, Ireland was one of those countries I just always wanted to see. So we had a few drinks, booked some flights and booked a rental car...me thinks it is gonna be much fun!
This past weekend we celebrated Canada Day in a rather sad fashion. After watching England lose to Portugal, we said goodbye to Kate's parents as they headed back home. It was great to see them and I truly think they had a great time while they were here. As for the English football squad, although I don't think they ever really played up to their full potential the whole tournament, it was crushing to see them lose they way they did. The problem with soccer/football is that it is a sport that one referee's call can literally change the game. I am not blaming the refs for England's loss, but unlike say, hockey/basketball or baseball the game can take such a direct swing from an official's call. There is generally so little scoring in soccer that a subjective ruling (and it is very subjective!) can crush a team's morale. England played a man down for over 60 minutes, thus they had to change their competitive strategy. They became a more defensive team (albeit they played better as a team then they did all tourny) and couldn't counter with many offensive attacks. Now this sounds familiar...wait a minute oh yes the Portugal/Netherlands game. When Figo head-butted Mark van Bommel, he was simply given a subjective yellow card, instead of a red card, and a few minutes later, there was a subjective red card given to the Netherlands player for an offense on Figo. So the Netherlands played the rest of the game 1 man down and had the ref called a red-card on Figo for head-butting, the other offense won't have happened and it would be Portugal who would have played a man down. So I understand this may be confusing, but the bottom-line is, it drives me nuts watching a sport where an egotistical ref can directly put his thumbprint on the outcome of the game. Don't even get me started on the subjectivity of Rooney's red card...how can Rooney get red-carded for a push, yet Figo didn't get red carded for a head-butt....the sport needs some consistency.
Ah well...all is well in Bruinstown; Chara, Savard and Donovan makes for a more competitive B's team. I can't wait!