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England's Least Popular Referee

OK, so he's obviously a world-class referee, but he's no Pierluigi Collina. And for the English, Urs Meier has at this point supplanted Diego Maradona as the most hated man in soccer.

England was in a state of shock today following the national team's loss to Portugal in the quarterfinals of the Euro 2004 tournament. A questionable call by Meier disallowing a dramatic goal in the 89th minute of play by England's Sol Campbell set the stage for overtime and an eventual Portugese victory on penalty kicks.

English tabloids have been ranting about being robbed and cheated out of the win. Even supposedly respectable papers have been conducting personal attacks on the referee. The backlash has even caused Meier to close down his website to avoid the wrath of English fans.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world looks on in disgust or pity while the bitter truth remains that despite being outplayed by the Portugese, England had every opportunity to win the match, referee notwithstanding.