England v Portugal

Filed under: World Cup
Posted: Jun 29th 2006 by James

Despite England’s failure to win over the pundits in Germany, Sven’s men remain on course to win the World Cup for the second time in the country’s history, and on Saturday night they have the perfect opportunity to reach the last four of the tournament and in doing so erase the memory of Euro 2004’s penalty kick defeat to Portugal – the side they meet again in Gelsenkirchen.

Slowly and without dazzling the Three Lions have made it through to the last eight and now face the side that caused a nation's heartache just over two years ago in Lisbon. An injury to Wayne Rooney early on that night saw him limp off and with it England’s chance of victory seemingly went with him.

Rooney will be back and raring to go on Saturday though, and his presence is a huge bonus for the 1966 winners. Rooney’s dreams of starring in Germany seemed in tatters when he broke his foot back in April, but his comeback has been nothing short of staggering and if his performance against Ecuador is anything to go by, the burly number nine could be coming to the boil just when his country needs him the most.

With so much expected of Sven's men going into the tournament it is amazing to think that even after topping their Group and easing into the knockout stage we are still so highly critical of our home nation but what more could we ask?

By topping the group they assured themselves a relatively easy passage to the semis and, barring accidents, a mouth-watering tie with Brazil lies in wait if Portugal can be seen off.

That IF is certainly a big one though; especially when you consider the man in charge of the opposition is England’s nemesis ‘Big Phil Scolari’. The man who was seemingly the FA’s first choice to succeed Sven has been responsible for knocking England out of the last two big competitions and his tactical battle with the quiet Swede could again decide the fate of this quarterfinal.

His team appears to be in pretty good form too, having topped Group D with wins over Mexico, Angola and Iran respectively, whilst their 1-0 win over a dangerous Dutch side in the second round suggests they warrant the utmost respect.

Adversely though, their ill-tempered win over Holland could play right into England’s hands as their victory came with a number of costs. Firstly, wing wizard Ronaldo is struggling for fitness after sustaining a heavy knock, whilst more importantly midfielders Deco and Costinha are definitely out after being sent off against the Dutch.

The former’s absence is a huge blow for the Selecao and will no doubt please the England coaching staff, as the diminutive midfielder really does pull the strings for Portugal in the middle of the park and without him they undoubtedly carry less of a threat.

So where exactly should our hard earned be heading in this quarterfinal clash then?

Well, despite failing to set the World alight in the competition so far, I feel there are more than enough reasons to take a piece of the 6/5 on offer about England winning in ninety minutes.

Yes, their performances have been indifferent at times, but the simple fact is England have been getting the results required and if past performances are anything to by, you can almost guarantee a strong display when they meet a better class of opposition. Just think back to their thrilling 3-2 friendly win over Argentina in Geneva last November!

The bottom line is they must improve, but with Gary Neville returning at right back and the likes of Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney getting stronger and stronger with each game, you’d expect England’s most talented squad in year’s to finally turn it on.

Slick Portugal will provide England with their toughest task in these finals to date, but without Deco they have lost their most influential playmaker and I fully expect the likes of Gerrard, Lampard and Rooney to finally find their rhythm and fire Sven’s men into the semis for the first time since ‘Italia 90’.

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