MAKE that 40 years of hurt for English football. The instrument of torture was the familiar one as England were knocked out of their fourth leading championship on penalties. It was a breathless, unforgettable but ultimately distressing night in Lisbon as David Beckham and Darius Vassell failed to score with their spot kicks, allowing Portugal, the hosts, to reach the semi-finals of Euro 2004.
England had entered this campaign, and last night’s match, truly believing that they could win the country’s first big trophy since 1966, but they will fly home this afternoon for the usual bout of introspection. Losing a shoot-out is always the cruellest way to depart, but when they reflect, England may regard themselves as fortunate to have still had any chance in the game after 120 minutes.
Frank Lampard had equalised five minutes from the end of extra time after Rui Costa’s goal for Portugal, but for most of what had gone before, England had had their backs to the wall. After Michael Owen’s third-minute strike, Portugal richly deserved the equaliser that came seven minutes from the end of normal time, when Sabrosa Simão crossed to Hélder Postiga to head past David James.
The match might still have been settled before extra time, surprisingly by England, as Sol Campbell headed against the crossbar and then nodded in the rebound. No one deserved an England winner more than Campbell, who also had a winning goal denied him against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup finals in almost identical circumstances, but Urs Meier, the Swiss referee, adjudged that John Terry had pushed Ricardo, the Portugal goalkeeper. Campbell was soon back desperately clearing England’s lines as the game went into a silver-goal period as frantic as the preceding 90 minutes.
Both defences set off emergency flares every time they came under even the slightest pressure and, after Owen’s goal, what was always likely to be an open game became ludicrously frenetic. Portugal had no choice but to pour forward after falling behind so quickly and it was extraordinary that there was only one goal in a first half played at 100mph.
That the scorer should be Owen may have come as a shock to those who have rushed to criticise the Liverpool forward, but his confidence had been growing with every game. There was a sense among his team-mates that, after three goalless matches at Euro 2004, the dam was ready to burst.
Towered over by three opponents as he tried to reach a long clearance by James, Owen appeared to have little chance of reaching the ball, never mind scoring. However, Costinha misjudged his header and, as the ball bounced into the Portugal penalty area, Owen cleverly hooked his arcing shot over Ricardo.
The test now was for England to show that they had learnt to control a game when ahead. They had not done it convincingly against Croatia and last night the match became even more frenzied as England were forced to defend desperately. As Sven- Göran Eriksson had warned, Luis Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo and Deco can slice any team apart and there were times when England had to resort to brute force to stop them. Fortunately for them, Figo was struggling to find the corner of the England net from free kicks that Zinedine Zidane had picked out so expertly and, somehow, James had not been beaten when the players ran off at half-time to gather their breath.
By then, England had been forced to withdraw Wayne Rooney, the young prodigy limping off after 27 minutes and being taken to hospital for X-rays on his right ankle. He had lost his boot challenging Jorge Andrade and had looked in pain even after treatment.
With Campbell heading just over the crossbar and Owen forcing a fine save from Ricardo, England had proved that the Portugal defence was equally vulnerable, but their big problem was in keeping the ball at that end. As the second half began, the momentum stayed with the host nation. Campbell was making a succession of vital challenges, but for how long could England’s defensive rock keep James safe? Even Ashley Cole, who had looked the best left back in the tournament, was at and beyond his limits against Ronaldo’s pace and Eriksson decided ten minutes into the second half that he needed to stiffen his side.
Phil Neville’s tackling was introduced into central midfield — although he had no time to savour his 50th cap for his country — with the indefatigable Gerrard moving over to take Paul Scholes’s place on the left.
Still England could not keep the ball for more than a couple of passes as Rooney’s absence began to tell. For all his effectiveness as a late and lightning-quick substitute, Vassell could not reproduce the Everton forward’s clever link play and, as they continued to cling grimly to their slender lead, England were so stretched that they appeared to be playing with ten men.
It was incredibly fraught for the hordes of England fans, but the first sign of Portuguese tension came in the 75th minute, when Figo, the captain, was taken off in what he knew would be his last appearance if his team did not recover. Figo stormed down the tunnel, but Luiz Felipe Scolari’s decision was justified when the goal that had long been threatened finally arrived, Postiga, so ineffective for Tottenham Hotspur, heading past James soon after replacing Figo.
An exchange of goals in extra time was then followed by 14 spot kicks, each more excruciatingly tense than the last, and when Vassell missed, England’s fate was about to be sealed.
PORTUGAL (4-1-4-1): 1 Ricardo — 13 Miguel (sub: 10 Rui Costa, 79min), 4 Jorge Andrade, 16 Ricardo Carvalho, 14 Nuno Valente — 6 Costinha (sub: 11 S Simão, 63) — 17 C Ronaldo, 18 Maniche, 20 Deco, 7 L Figo (sub: H Postiga, 75) — 21 Nuno Gomes. Substitutes not used: 12 Quim, 22 Moreira, 2 Paulo Ferreira, 3 Rui Jorge, 5 F Couto, 8 Petit, 15 Beto, 19 Tiago. Booked: Costinha, Deco, Ricardo Carvalho.
ENGLAND (4-4-2): 1 D James — 2 G Neville, 5 J Terry, 6 S Campbell, 3 W Bridge — 7 D Beckham, 11 F Lampard, 4 S Gerrard (sub: 18 O Hargreaves, 82), 8 P Scholes (sub: 14 P Neville, 57) — 10 M Owen, 9 W Rooney (sub: 23 D Vassell, 27). Substitutes not used: 12 W Bridge, 13 P Robinson, 16 J Carragher, 17 N Butt, 19 J Cole, 20 K Dyer, 21 E Heskey, 22 I Walker. Booked: Gerrard, G Neville, P Neville.
Referee: U Meier (Switzerland).
