Portugal Go Through In World Cup Farce
In a game that eventually decended into farce Portugal beat Holland 1-0 to progress to the World Cup quarter finals where they will face England.
Both teams finished the game with nine men after a game which equalled the World Cup record for bookings - 16 - and broke the record for red cards.
Deco and Costinha were dismissed for Portugal, while Khalid Boulahrouz and Gio van Bronkhorst saw red for Holland.
Russian referee Valentin Ivanov set the tone for his performance by booking players from the start for late tackles that he could have given free-kicks for.
Costinha was the first to go, his first offence a sliding foul on Philip Cocu and his second a blatant handball, leaving Ivanov with little choice.
Portugal should have been reduced to nine when Figo was only booked for headbutting Van Bommel, who took his time before falling to the floor.
Soon after Figo was at it again. This time it was his turn to fake serious injury as he tangled with Boulahrouz, who was handed a second booking and dismissed.
Deco was booked for a flying foul on Johnny Heitinga and he was off soon after, shown a second yellow for refusing to hand the ball back to Holland as Ivanov continued to throw cards around like confetti.
The bookings prevented a young and inexperienced Holland side from gaining any sort of momentum as they chased the game.
Their miserable evening was compounded in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Van Bronckhorst was shown a second yellow for a minor foul.
Yet they had started so brightly, keen to test Ricardo from range as Mark van Bommel and Robin van Persie went close in the early stages.
From being in control the Dutch seemed to switch off - and their lapse in concentration invited pressure that cost them a goal.
Deco found space down the right and his cross was laid off by Pauleta to Maniche, who shimmied to create room and hammered the ball into the top corner from 16 yards.
Maniche blasted over as Portugal poured forward but their plans took a turn for the worse when Cristiano Ronaldo limped off with an injured thigh after half an hour.
The Dutch seemed to gain encouragement from this and Van Persie twisted and turned sublimely in the Portugal box before toe-poking wide from an acute angle.
Costinha’s dismissal forced Scolari into a change at the break but it was a surprising decision to take off Pauleta and play Luis Figo as the lone striker in a 4-4-1 formation.
They were nearly pegged back immediately but Cocu fluffed his lines, slamming against the underside of the bar from eight yards after Nuno Valente’s poor control.
Ricardo tipped a Van Bommel drive round the post before the keeper did well to parry a Wesley Sneijder shot from distance, but Holland never seriously looked like forcing extra-time.
It was Marco van Basten’s first competitive defeat as Dutch coach and leaves Holland still waiting for their first win against Portugal since 1991.
“It is a pity the referee made a mess of this game,” said Van Basten.
“It was an open and very spectacular game but we could not score a goal.”
“I think in the second half we only played 20 or 25 minutes of football. There was little playing time with all the injuries and the players going down all over the place.”
“What is also regrettable is that the refereeing has such an influence on such an important match.”
“They stopped the game from being a pretty spectacle.”
“There could have been a yellow card for the referee,” said Fifa president Sepp Blatter. “He was not at the same level as the players.”
“This was a game of emotion, with exceptional drama in the last instant, with a deserved winner,” Blatter added.
“It was a great show with intervention by the referee that was not consistent and (had a) lack of fair play by some players.”
