Portugal to meet England in Quarters

Portugal will face England in the quarter-finals of the World Cup after Luiz Felipe Scolari's team overcame Holland 1-0 in a game that saw an astonishing four red cards and a record-equalling 16 bookings.

Maniche scored the only goal of the game in the 23rd minute before Costinha and Deco were sent off for the Portuguese with Holland pair Khalid Boulahrouz and Giovanni van Bronckhorst also dismissed, all for second bookable offences by Russian referee Valentin Ivanov.

Portugal will face the English without Deco and Costinha, with both picking up a one-match suspension, while Cristiano Ronaldo is also a doubt after he was substituted in the first half following a horrendous challenge that earned Boulahrouz his first booking seven minutes into the game.

Ruud van Nistelrooy was dropped from Holland's starting line-up after Dutch coach Marco van Basten decided he could do without his senior striker - the sixth highest goalscorer in Holland history - instead preferring Feyenoord's Dirk Kuyt.

It was a shattering blow to Van Nistelrooy but not totally unexpected given Van Basten's warnings about the Manchester United player's form.

Arjen Robben attacked full-back Miguel before rolling the ball to Kuyt, who fed Mark van Bommel and the Barcelona midfielder left fly from the edge of the area, only to see his shot go wide of Ricardo's right post.

Just seconds later the other side of van Bommel's game was on display as the former PSV Eindhoven midfielder was booked for a foul on Cristiano Ronaldo.

Robben cracked another attempt goalward in the third minute but was well of target before Giovanni von Bronckhorst's low free-kick rolled weakly through to the Portuguese keeper.

Khalid Boulahrouz became the second Dutchman to see yellow in the seventh minute when his high tackle on Ronaldo left the 22-year-old needing lengthy treatment on his right thigh.

The game threatened to turn ugly as a number of challenges caught the attention of referee Valentin Ivanov from Russia, with Maniche booked after a tackle from behind on van Bommel in the 20th minute.

But within three minutes of seeing yellow, the former Porto midfielder was celebrating giving Portugal the lead at the end of a well-worked move that was started when Ronaldo won the ball well inside the Dutch half and fed Deco down the right.

The Brazil-born midfielder pulled the ball across the penalty area to Pauleta who, with his back to goal, laid off to Maniche.

He skipped past Andre Ooijer before slamming his right foot shot beyond the reach of Edwin van der Sar.

Maniche continued to cause the Dutch problems and four minutes after putting his side in front he fired off another effort, this time from outside the area, but it was just over the crossbar.

Ronaldo failed to run off the injury sustained in the challenge by Boulahrouz in the seventh minute and was replaced by Simao Sabrosa, leaving the pitch in tears.

The Dutch should have levelled the score eight minutes before the break when Robin van Persie tormented Nuno Valente down the right side of the Portuguese penalty area before curling his shot wide with the outside of his left foot.

With only a minute to go in the half, Wesley Sneijder put his free kick over the bar before Pauleta almost made it 2-0, turning to shot from close range only to see van der Sar boot the ball clear with his right foot.

As the game went into injury time, Portugal were reduced to 10 men when Costinha received his second yellow card for a deliberate handball.

With Constinha's sending-off removing one of his two central midfielders, Scolari moved to plug the gap left by the Dynamo Moscow man by sending on Benfica's Petit for the start of the second half, replacing striker Pauleta.

Four minutes after the restart the Dutch went agonisingly close to equalising when van Bommel missed an overhead kick and the ball fell at the feet of Phillip Cocu, whose shot thumped off the crossbar before being hacked clear.

Less than a minute later van der Sar was dropping to his right to deny Miguel after the Portuguese full-back charged forward to fire off a shot from the right side of the penalty area.

Within seconds Petit picked up the game's sixth yellow card for a foul on van Bommel and just moments later the Barcelona midfielder saw Ricardo fumble his low shot, only for the ball to fall safely past the Portuguese keeper's right post.

Marco van Basten introduced Raphael van der Vaart for Joris Mathijsen 11 minutes into the half in an attempt to add more creativity to his team but the physical element of the game remained well and truly intact with yet more bookings.

Maniche forced another fine save from van der Sar after Figo's lay-off following an inch-perfect cross-field ball from Miguel put the Dutch on the back foot in the 57th minute.

Van Bronckhorst was booked for a foul on Deco in the 59th minute which sparked a melee that also saw Figo receive a yellow card for an altercation with van Bommel and, four minutes later, the teams were both down to 10 men when Boulahrouz received his second booking when he caught Figo in the face with his arm.

The foul caused consternation on the Portugal bench with several Dutch players having to be restrained as the game threatened to turn into a brawl.

Van Bommel then made way for John Hetinga in the 67th minute and van Persie again
mesmerised Nuno Valente before pulling the ball across the face of the Portuguese goal, but there were no white shirts in the vicinity.

The card count continued to spiral as referee Ivanov lost control of the game. Deco received a yellow card for a late tackle on Heitinga in the 72nd minute, a foul that produced another heated exchange which saw Petit pushed over by Sneijder, who was also booked.

Four minutes later Portuguese keeper Ricardo saw yellow for time wasting and seconds later Nuno Valente was cautioned for a foul on van Persie.

And with 13 minutes to go, Ivanov brandished his 15th yellow card and third red of the evening when he sent off Deco after the Barcelona man refused to hand the ball over when the Dutch were awarded a free kick.

With their opponents reduced to nine men, the Dutch sought to exploit the extra space and Kuyt almost capitalised when he beat the offside trap, only for Ricardo to block his shot.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink was sent on for Cocu as van Basten played his last card in the 84th minute, and Kuyt sent another effort goalward as time ticked away, only for Ricardo to intervene again.

Van Bronckhorst then, remarkably, collected the game's 16th yellow card and his second booking to leave the teams playing with nine men each for the final seconds of the game as Scolari set up yet another quarter-final encounter with England.

Teams

Portugal Ricardo, Nuno Valente, Ricardo Carvalho, Meira,Miguel, Maniche, Deco, Costinha, Figo (Tiago 84),Pauleta (Petit 45), Ronaldo (Simao 34).

Subs Not Used: Boa Morte, Caneira, Nuno Gomes, Paulo Ferreira, Paulo Santos, Postiga, Quim, Ricardo Costa, Viana.

Sent Off: Costinha (45), Deco (78).
Booked: Maniche, Costinha, Petit, Figo, Deco, Ricardo,
Nuno Valente.

Goals: Maniche 23.

Holland Van der Sar, Van Bronckhorst,Mathijsen (Van der Vaart 56), Ooijer, Boulahrouz,Cocu (Vennegoor of Hesselink 84), Sneijder,Van Bommel (Heitinga 67), Robben, Kuyt, Van Persie.

Subs Not Used: Babel, De Cler, Jaliens, Kromkamp, Landzaat, Maduro, Stekelenburg, Timmer, van Nistelrooy.

Sent Off: Boulahrouz (63), Van Bronckhorst (90).

Booked: Van Bommel, Boulahrouz, Van Bronckhorst, Sneijder,
Van der Vaart.

Att: 41,000

Ref: Valentin Ivanov (Russia).

From : World Cup 365