Sun 25th Jun 2006

The World Cup turned ugly Sunday as Portugal, down to nine men in a game of brutal fouls, held off the Netherlands 1-0 and staggered into the quarterfinals.

Both sides were guilty. Pushing, shoving and theatrics led to a record-tying 16 yellow cards -- and desperate attacking by the Dutch, also down to nine men, in the final moments.
 
The Portuguese might have survived, but when they play England on Saturday in Gelsenkirchen, they will be missing Deco and Costinha, two of their most important players who were ejected against the Netherlands. They also saw Cristiano Ronaldo, a creative attacker, lost to a leg injury in the first half.

Portugal's coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, extended his World Cup mark to 11 straight victories, none more venomous than this.

Maniche scored the only goal. A quick threat on the edge of the area in the 23rd minute ended with Pauleta touching the ball to Maniche, who skipped inside a defender and shot right-footed past goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar from 16 yards.

Van der Sar had his mouth open in exasperation as the ball hit the net.

Others soon had the same expression for entirely different reasons.

After Van der Sar produced a stunning save on a point-blank shot from Pauleta in the goalmouth, Costinha inexplicably handled a simple through pass for his second yellow card.

By that time, Ronaldo was already in tears on the bench after he left the field injured following a high tackle into his groin from Khalid Boulahrouz.

It should have set up a thrilling conclusion, with an outmanned Portugal facing a Dutch team still looking for its touch. Instead, it turned vicious as Russian referee Valentin Ivanov struggled to maintain a semblance of control.

In the 63rd, Boulahrouz elbowed Luis Figo on another run, earning his second yellow card, making it 10-on-10. Moments earlier, Figo head-butted Mark Van Bommel to draw a yellow card.

Deco later lost his poise. He first made a wild tackle on defender John Heitinga, then followed with childish time-wasting in the 76th minute and was sent off.

With a man advantage again, the Dutch pressed for the tying goal. They couldn't find it and, in injury time, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst got a second yellow card, making it nine-on-nine to the end.

The 16 yellows tied the mark set by Germany and Cameroon in the first round of the 2002 tournament.