Portugal look forward to England, Dutch lick their wounds

By Nicholas Rigillo Jun 26, 2006, 18:17 GMT

Nuremberg - Portugal set their sights on matching their best ever performance at a World Cup while the Netherlands were left licking their wounds after Sunday's fierce second-round clash in Nuremberg.

Having defeated the Dutch 1-0, Portugal now face England in the quarter-finals. Victory against David Beckham and co. would see them through to the semi-finals for only the second time in 40 years.

'What I saw today from this group of players hasn't been seen in Portugal for many years. I have never seen anybody fight so much and do so much for Portugal. Now we want our exploits to go beyond what the country did in 1966,' Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari told reporters after the match.

An ugly and ill-tempered match in Nuremberg saw Russian referee Valentin Ivanov lose control as he showed players on the field a total of 16 yellow cards and four red cards - a new World Cup record.

Portugal's Costinha and Deco were among those sent off, meaning they will be suspended for Saturday's match against England.

Another Portuguese star, Cristiano Ronaldo, was forced to limp off the pitch just 33 minutes into the game due to injury and his presence in Gelsenkirchen is now in doubt.

'Now I have to put a team together to face England, but with a few problems. But that's part of my job. I've got 23 players, two cannot play, but Cristiano has got five or six days and he will probably recover,' Scolari said.

Goalscorer Maniche praised his side's team-spirit and said he was confident about his side's chances against England.

'The squad deserves credit, we are all friends and we deserve everything we get for the dedication that we showed on the pitch. Against England it's going to be quite a difficult game, because they've got excellent players who are very well managed. But we've got our spirit and we're going to give everything to get the win,' he said.

Striker Pauleta was equally optimistic.

'We've got every chance of beating England. We're all pulling in the same direction, and we're an even better team than two years ago, when we defeated them in the European Championships,' he said.

Dutch coach Marco Van Basten blamed the defeat on lack of experience on the part of his young side and on what he called unsporting behaviour by the Portuguese.

'It's a pity that so little football was played in the second half as fouls were being whistled every minute. People want to see football, not players constantly lying on the ground.

The Portuguese did a lot of theatre and time-wasting and used all the tricks in the game to win. And lack of experience on our part certainly played a role,' van Basten said.

Dutch defender Andre Ooijer summed up the mood of the team when he said: 'My feeling is that we were the better team in the second half. It was an undeserved defeat. We're headed in the right direction, but we've missed our target of making it into the next round. That's a shame.'

Referee Ivanov was largely blamed for contributing to the chaos on the pitch and received an official scolding from FIFA President Joseph Blatter.

'This was an emotionally-charged game, with exceptional drama in the last instants and a deserved winner. But the referee made some inconsistent decisions and was not at the same level as the participants, the players. There could have been a yellow card for the referee,' Blatter told Portugal's SIC television channel.