The Hindu : Sport : Portugal prevails in an acrimonious battle

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 27, 2006

Sport

Sport

Portugal prevails in an acrimonious battle

Michael Walker© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

World Cup theme 'A Time To Make Friends' conveniently forgotten

Nuremberg: An evening of mayhem and spite, sometimes synchronised cheating and complaining — and one goal — ended with nine men against nine men, 16 additional bookings, no handshake between the distinguished managers Luiz Felipe Scolari and Marco van Basten, at least on the pitch, and Portugal in the quarterfinal against England in Gelsenkirchen on Saturday. It was a night when a lot of people forgot a lot of things, not least how to behave but also that the motto of this tournament is `A Time To Make Friends'.

The Russian referee Valentin Ivanov forgot how to run a match. Ivanov can now forget any ambitions to referee again in this World Cup. Never before have there been so many dismissals in one World Cup finals game.

However, Ivanov was not helped by some unappealing behaviour, particularly from the unpleasant Mark van Bommel and his cohorts in the Holland dugout. Luis Figo also seemed to forget that you are not meant to headbutt an opponent, though he may yet get away with that. In mitigation Figo had just been hit by Khalid Boulahrouz's elbow and as Scolari said: "Jesus Christ may be able to turn the other cheek but Luis Figo isn't Jesus Christ."

On the final whistle Portugal celebrated wildly, their animosity for Holland not in question. Van Basten stood for a while awaiting Scolari, then moved to the middle of the pitch where prostrate Dutch players were scattered around him.

Scolari's jig

Scolari, meanwhile, was off on a jig, dancing to Fussball's Coming Home as he waved a Portugal flag. The Brazilian was again responsible for a triumph in adversity; it was Portugal who were always numerically inferior until Giovanni van Bronckhorst's red card deep into six minutes of injury-time evened matters numerically again.

But when Portugal return to earth it will be to the realisation that they will be without Deco and Costinha in Gelsenkirchen.

There will also be a concern over Cristiano Ronaldo's participation.

During the periods in the game when football broke out, Figo was as good as anyone on the pitch. But the night was nasty from the second minute, when van Bommel clattered into Ronaldo, and the mood was worsened five minutes later when Boulahrouz did the same.

Ronaldo was left either limping up and down the pitch or seeking treatment on the sidelines. There, Scolari was already making gestures at van Basten, insinuating that this was a policy by the Dutch rather than bad timing. Eventually, after 33 minutes, Ronaldo hobbled off and there is a doubt as to whether he will recover for the match against England.

Ivanov had long lost control when van Bronckhorst scythed down Deco. Van Bronckhorst is not a malicious individual but even he was affected by the atmosphere. As he was being booked, Figo and van Bommel squared up. Foreheads made contact, with Figo the more aggressive; Van Bommel, naturally, threw himself backwards as if he had been hit by Mike Tyson.

A melee ensued, with Andre Ooijer centrally involved, and when it was all cleared up a yellow card was shown to Figo. Had Ivanov seen what happened he would have had to have brought out the red and FIFA has the disciplinary authority to impose that sanction retrospectively.

(A Reuters report later stated that Figo was free to play against England after FIFA said it would not upgrade the yellow card to red. FIFA director of communications Markus Siegler said, "he was sanctioned immediately by the referee at the time. It is only where there is a clear disciplinary issue which has not been acted upon by the referee that the committee can look at it.")

Costinha was the first to be sent off and Ivanov was correct in that. A 31st-minute foul on Phillip Cocu was followed by a handball seconds before the interval.

Costinha might have walked earlier, in fact, for a stamp on Ooijer but that was just one of numerous little spats. Dirk Kuyt, in for the dropped Ruud van Nistelrooy, and van Bommel were determined to dive at every opportunity and when they did so the Dutch dugout would erupt as one to further pressure the officials.

In the midst of it all there was some football and Portugal conjured up a wonderful 23rd-minute winner from Maniche.

Smart move

Ronaldo was able physically to find Deco with a short pass down the right and his low cross was met softly by Pauleta. The deft lay-off was perfect for Maniche, but the former Chelsea midfielder still had to jink around Ooijer before drilling a shot beyond Edwin van der Sar. The Manchester United player will hardly forget his 113th and record-breaking cap for the Netherlands.

A measure of the antagonism was that Deco was sent off having first received a yellow card for lunging at substitute John Heitinga. Heitinga had not given the ball back after play had yet again broken down. Broken down sums up the night.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport