Feb
18
A game with no winners
Filed Under World Cup 2006 |
Portugal and the Netherlands met each other on June 25th in the fourth quarter final game of the tournament. A 23rd minute Maniche goal decided the game sending the Portuguese on for a meeting with England; the English had earlier barely managed a 1-0 win over hopeful Ecuador.
Most people however are not going to remember this game for the quality of football demonstrated by the two sides. They will remember the incompetence of the referee who was not enough for a game of this magnitude; he booked many players for minor infractions and he had the two teams finish the game with 9 men each. Specifically, Deco, Costinha, Van Bronchkhorst and Boulahrouz did not finish the game since they all received red cards while another 6 players received yellow cards. The last 20 minutes of the match were chaotic to say the least and hardly any football was played as the referee completely lost control with the players fighting behind his back. Van Basten summed this game up very well when he said, “There was a foul every minute. It’s a shame.”
Scolari expressed happiness for his team’s success but now he has to somehow put together a competitive squad to play against a strong English side.