It had to be him didn't it!  The man we feared before this tournament began punished us with two clinical world class finishes from his only two chances.  Luis Suarez, back from injury, did what he dreamed about and scored on the world's greatest stage, and in so doing virtually ended England's involvement in the tournament.  The grinning, toothy, Liverpool striker's face will haunt England fans for years to come, but you have to hand it to him, he is one special player.

England went into the match unchanged from the unlucky defeat against Italy, except for moving Wayne Rooney into a more central role and pushing Raheem Sterling wide.  It was quickly obvious that Uruguay were not going to be as bad as they were in their opening game against Costa Rica, and they were soon hustling England and pressing them into errors.  It took a while for England to adapt to this pressure although after just two minutes the Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera fumbled an easy ball, almost dropping it at Daniel Sturridge's feet.  But after five minutes it was Suarez who almost created a goal when his in-swinging corner almost went in directly.  Joe Hart was scrambling as he patted the ball away from danger.  It was a tentative and nervous start by England.

But gradually they settled down and Steven Gerrard's fine pass set a good move down the right in motion.  That came to nothing but then Sturridge won a free-kick on the edge of the area after a blatant handball by Godin resulted in the game's first booking.  Rooney took the kick and he was just inches away from scoring after a fine shot just curled the wrong side of the left-hand post.

It was so important that England should score first in this game as Uruguay were also looking nervous and tentative at times.  Mind you, the South Americans certainly didn't shirk their tackles and several times the England players were 'taken out'!  Godin should have received a red card for an 'assault' on Sturridge, especially as he had already been booked.  Not for the last time on this night though, the Spanish referee was not up to the task and he was often far too lenient with some of the challenges.

On 15 minutes a sliced attempted clearance by Phil Jagielka fell kindly for Cristian Rodriguez but the Uruguayan fired over when perhaps he should have done better.  Sturridge then won a corner with a deflected shot, but England's passing was not as good as it had been against Italy, mainly because the Uruguayan challenges were fierce, and hurried England out of their stride.  Rooney was being shadowed everywhere by Alvaro Pereira and the Manchester United man took some bad late tackles.

On 28 minutes a clever corner routine ended with Edinson Cavani shooting just over for Uruguay, and then Danny Welbeck made a fine run into the box before just over-running the ball for a goal-kick,en though replays suggested it should have been a corner.  Then, three minutes later Rooney was again so unlucky not to score.  A Gerrard corner found him at the far post but his close range header struck the angle of post and bar before it was cleared.  That began a period of pressure from England with Sturridge again shooting over and a number of corners were won.

With 39 minutes gone, and just as England were beginning to assert themselves more into the game, the Uruguayans broke swiftly down the inside-left channel.  Gerrard missed a chance to stop the attack but his weak challenge was not enough.  Then Glen Johnson did not close down Cavani and the talented Uruguayan produced a stunning cross to Suarez, beyond the last defender, Jagielka.  The Liverpool star still had a lot to do with the header, but he placed it perfectly, wide of Hart.  It was difficult to be too critical of the England defence as Suarez did this against the Premier League's top defenders all last season so we shouldn't be too surprised, but it was still so difficult to stomach for the England fans.

Sturridge had another effort well saved as England tried to hit back quickly, as they had done against the Italians, but half-time came with England still trailing.  Several players seemed off their game a little and at this level that can't happen, the other teams take full advantage of such lapses.

The second-half began with England's defence all over the place at times.  Suarez again almost scored direct from a corner, and Alvaro Gonzales almost made it 2-0 before Cavani missed a golden chance to increase Uruguay's lead.  Left completely unmarked he had an easy task to shoot past Hart, but luckily for England he scuffed his shot wide of the far post.  That miss seemed to wake England from their slumbers and they started to hit back again.  On 53 minutes Rooney, once again, so nearly scored, this time his excellent shot was brilliantly saved by the goalkeeper.  Rooney had easily been England's best player and to be honest he could have had a hat-trick had he been a little luckier, or perhaps more clinical with his finishing.

Uruguay are the past masters at stopping momentum from the opposition, and they usually use foul methods.  It was no different in this game and the England fans lost count of the number of times the England players were flattened when promising moves began.  But that is something you have to deal with at World Cups and it is no good bleating about it.  It is frustrating, and referees should be stronger and deal with it, but the Spanish official here left quite a bit to be desired from an England perspective.

To their credit England kept pushing forward, Jordan Henderson saw his shot saved, Sterling went down in the box, but no chance of a penalty from this ref, and then Ross Barkley was sent on to replace Sterling, who had been nowhere near as effective in this game as he had been against Italy.  A Sturridge centre was then hurriedly cleared, Gerrard was booked for a challenge nowhere near as brutal as some of the Uruguayan challenges that had gone unpunished, and then Roy Hodgson brought on Adam Lallana for Welbeck.

Finally, in the 75th minute England were rewarded for their spell of pressure.  A fine turn allowed Sturridge to send Johnson scampering down the right.  The full-back cut inside and managed to toe-poke a cross as he was challenged.  The ball ran across goal and there was Rooney dashing in to finally find the net from close range.  If anyone deserved a goal it was Rooney.

At this stage the feeling was that England now had the momentum and would go on to win the match.  Muslera again saved from Sturridge and the striker was then bundled over in the box, again no chance of a penalty.  The match was ebbing and flowing but with just five minutes to go a disastrous moment cost England the match and probably their place in the tournament.  A long punt by the goalkeeper should have been dealt with easily, but Gerrard's attempt at a header only succeeded in diverting the ball wide of Jagielka to a Uruguayan player standing well offside and on his own.  Of course, it had to be Suarez and he couldn't believe his luck as he confidently strode forward unchallenged to bury the ball past Hart from an angle.  The sense of disappointment from the England fans and players was on a par with all the disappointments that they have experienced many times before in other international tournaments.  But the fact it was Suarez who made the difference just made it seem that much more acute somehow.

Even goalkeeper Hart came up for a final corner for England, but it was to no avail and as the white shirted players trooped off the mood of the nation was just as it has been for the last umpteen years of failure.  That may seem a little harsh after what had actually been two pretty good performances by the team, but the bottom line, again, is that we are just not quite good enough in the vital areas.  Now, all that is left is hope, hope that Italy can do us a favour by winning both of their last two games.  But, hang on a minute, when did Italy ever do England a favour?  (And I wrote this before Italy played CR!)  Realistically England probably have one last chance to salvage some respect and that is by beating Costa Rica.  A word of warning though, the match is being played in Belo Horizonte, scene of the most awful England defeat in their history, back in the 1950 World Cup against the United States.  Will history repeat itself?

Oh well, there is always the Euros in France in a couple of years, and we shall soon have our league football back again, and I can again start worrying about the fortunes of my beloved Preston North End.  Roll on!