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Portugal 1 - 0 Netherlands
Portugal: 9 yellow cards, 2 red
Netherlands: 7 yellow cards, 2 red.
The referee was brandishing the cards from the start, but to be fair,
a. they were for incidents that were indeed technically yellow-card offences
b. there should have been two direct red cards in addition to the others; Cocu's wrestling attempt and Figo's (albeit harmless) headbutt.
The first half was characterised by skill; great movement by both teams, and Maniche's goal was a treat to watch. At half time it was Portugal's Costinha had been sent off and it looked possible that we would have a drab 45 minutes ahead. But not so; until about the 80th minute, Portugal pushed for a second with just as much conviction as the Netherlands pressed for an equaliser. Then it all happened - fouls, arguments, pushes, niggles, wrestling, arms in the air... 'acrimonious' is the best word for the final 30 minutes.
It was great. It was exhilarating. It wasn't pretty, certainly, and it's not the way one would like to see at every game, but the tournament is the richer for this match; it's a good talking point, something that will be remembered, and for all the bad displayed on the pitch tonight, it has to be said that very few of the challenges were especially bad or threatening of injury. The stats are the result of niggling and a card-happy referee rather than (for the most part) any real nastiness.
Sad to see a talented Netherlands team go out, but it has to be said that Portugal are blessed with a truly awesome squad who might just use tonight's result to drive themselves onto great things. They'll have to be careful of yellow cards against England on Saturday though, as they could find themselves in the semi-final missing several important players if they get past us.
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink has pehaps the finest surname in the tournament.
Maniche is a footballing giant- he's talented and passionate, he can score goals and the rest of the team clearly believe in him. Man of the match again - maybe he'll end up as man of the tournament?
Ricardo Carvalho deserves mention too - he managed to keep calm (avoiding being booked) whilst being very effective. Well done.
Rather a large post. Sorry.
Love.
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