This was one of the ugliest games ever; a World Cup record 4 red cards and 16 yellows, and several player skirmishes.
Holland played dreadfully.
They had lengthy periods being a man up on Portugal, and to not have been able to score during that time is a testament to how much this team has degraded in quality of squad and coach.
The inexperienced coaching of Marco van Basten was clear as day with his player selections.
Most notably having allowed Dirk Kuyt, who played absolutely atrociously, having wasted chance after chance, to play the entire match.
Also to not have played top scorer Ruud van Nistelrooij in such an important contest was beyond comprehension, instead preferring the likes of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, who had no prior World Cup experience but yet was substituted in ahead of van Nistelrooij.
The game's only goal came in the 23rd minute from Maniche.
It was great individual effort by Maniche who received a Figo flick following a cross into the area.
Maniche took the ball and promptly made nice room for himself to the right before unleashing a very quick strike past keeper Edwin van der Sar and into the net.
In the 45th minute, Portugal missed a great chance with two hard shots from the area that were only kept out by reaction saves with feet.
Stoppage time before the interval and the first red card was delivered.
It went to Portugal's Costinha for a mindless handball near the center line of the pitch. It was his second yellow.
Four minutes into the second half and Dutchman Phillip Cocu rattled the crossbar with an absolute blast of a shot.
|
Luis Figo of Portugal was extremely fortunate not to have been sent off after he deliberately head butted Mark van Bommel during an exchange of pleasantries in the 59th minute.
Then in the 63rd minute, tensions erupted.
With players shoving and falling everywhere, Dutchman Khalid 'the Cannibal' Boulahrouz saw red after a second ubiquitous yellow card.
Ten minutes later and another skirmish broke out, with Russian referee Valentin Ivanov having dished out some more yellows yet again as the match spiraled further downwards into complete degeneration.
This time the cause was a poor unsportsmanlike decision by Holland's Johnny Heitinga.
Portugal had posession when their player Ricardo Carvalho went down injured.
The referee stopped play for treatment, but upon restart, Heitinga took posession of the ball and sprinted towards goal rather than return the ball to Portugal, which is football's unwritten rule of good sportsmanship.
The cynical play by Heitinga spurred Portuguese anger, which resulted in Deco recklessly bringing down Heitinga, and players coming to blows.
Not more than five minutes had passed and another red card emerged.
This time it was Portugal's Deco who picked up a yellow - his second - for time wasting.
Was there room for another red card?
You bet. The winner this time was Giovanni van Bronckhorst of the Netherlands.
He got his with a second yellow for a foul on Tiago in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
It was a fitting end to an appalling, disgusting encounter.
And just like two years ago in the European Championships, Portugal foils Netherlands in the knockout phase.
|