SEMI FINAL

PORTUGAL v FRANCE

Portugal 1 France 2 (golden goal winner)

The Times' match report at the bottom of the page, disturbs me. It is so righteous and lacking in any understanding of human feelings. True, the Portuguese went overboard in their protestations, but, at least dear holier than though, Times, try to be at the very, very least a tiny bit accepting that the Portuguese felt kinda hard done by?? Perhaps this is what's wrong with England and the English people. We are not romantic enough; we see things only in black and white; many of us would have to search long and hard for any semblance of a soul. Hah!! This bit "if it had happened in the premiership . . . " kinda gets to me too. These things do happen in the premiership - all the time - and usually they go unpunished. (Except if you happen to be a flambuoyant Italian seen to assault a referee to whom "weak" would be a kind description). Remember diabolical scenes from Chelsea and (worst) Manchester United players last season. It's called "passions inflamed" dear Times. But, I doubt you would understand that. There are no real excuses for these kind of reactions - but understand the reasons. The Portuguese players had far more reason to feel agrieved than either the Chelsea or MU players. This was the semi final of the European Nations Championships, for goodness sake. If you can't understand what that meant to the Portuguese, then perhaps you need to find somebody new to do your reporting.

(Oh, is this libel?? Better tread carefully! :))

Read:
WAS it handball? Yes. Was it deliberate? Probably. Was it going in anyway? Surely not. . . . .


He seemed to move his left palm an inch or two to the left to ensure that the ball hit his hand and did not sneak inside the post. It flew off behind the goal and the ref gave a corner. The linesman flagged for a penalty. Xavier had no time to move his hand, not that he tried. But the human instinct, especially that of a man on the line to stop a goal, is to use any part of his anatomy to stop the ball. That the shot appeared to be curling outwards and would probably have missed the far post is neither here nor there. Everton's Xavier, execellent at centre-back, had no time to think.
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Portuguese defender Abel Xavier has condemned the penalty decision which handed France a 2-1 semi-final victory as "unbelievable" and insisted: "My conscience is clear."

The game looked destined to finish level after extra-time when substitute Sylvain Wiltord's cross-shot from a tight angle was blocked by Xavier close to the goal-line.

Referee Gunter Benko did not appear to spot the incident but relied on the advice of his Slovakian linesman, Igor Sranka, as he awarded a penalty, which Zinedine Zidane calmly fired home for the 'golden goal' winner.

Outraged at the decision, the Portuguese players harangued the referee and his assistant both before and after the penalty amid disgraceful scenes in Brussels.

I had no intention of handling the ball, in my view it was not a penalty... my conscience is clear

Substitutes Paulo Bento and Rui Jorge were two of the main culprits, with coach Humberto Coelho - who announced after the game that he was quitting his post - having to come on to the pitch to drag his players away from the officials.

Striker Nuno Gomes, who had opened the scoring for Portugal with his fourth goal of the tournament, was shown the red card after the final whistle for his complaints.

The unseemly incident has prompted an investigation by Uefa, leading to probable punishment for the Portuguese.

But while French coach Roger Lemerre described the penalty decision as a "great moment of refereeing", Xavier was still furious well after the match was over.

The Everton man declared: "If you try to block the ball, you cannot do that without your hand supporting you on the ground.

"But the linesman decided that I intended to handle the ball.

"It's unbelievable that he gave a penalty and it decided the game in a bad way because we didn't deserve to lose. France don't need that kind of help.

"I'm disappointed like the rest of the team but my conscience is clear. I had no intention of handling the ball, in my view it was not a penalty and it was a very strange decision at that moment of the game."

When asked about the reaction of the Portuguese players, Xavier added: "When you lose the game like that, it's not easy to accept.

Disappointed

"When you are human and work very hard in the game to try to achieve something very important and yet you lose in that way, you have a normal reaction.

"Portugal is a small country and we are delighted with the way we have performed and we have shown that we are a good football team.

"Everyone is disappointed though as we had started to change the image of Portugal. We showed that Portugal deserve more respect in the future but we had a dream of getting to the final and it was not possible.

"We respect France and shook hands with them, but it's a shame that it finished in that way.

"I'm sorry for my country, the fans, the manager and the work of two years to achieve something important. This generation has played together for so long to win something."
BBC

(Well, I think you get the drift of Abel's words. They sound a little petulent - but that is understandable, to any lover of football. Principles, good manners and common sense fly out of the window, when confronted by such emotions.)

Oh, OK then - we'll talk about the match for 2 lines. The match was tentative. The players were tense. Nuno Gomez scored a SUPERB goal on 19 minutes. The French looked anything but world champions. Their arrogance is boundless. They equalised, however, on 51 minutes. The goal was offside (I don't hear the Times bleating about that) and took a deflection off Couto. ( Anelka was substantially offside as he raced on to Thuram's pass but the flag stayed down and once again Thierry Henry came to his country's rescue. Anelka's pass was cut back behind him but he controlled brilliantly and turned athletically for his low cross-shot. It was a magnificent finish, albeit to an illegal goal. soccernet.com)

The French did nothing in this game to crow about; but they will. My final word? Golden goal sucks!

"And thus it was again last night. The golden goal was invented so that people who hate penalties are forced to change their minds and call them the more humane way of deciding matches."
Lynn Truss, The Times

There's nothing left to add. I couldn't find any decent pictures, but here are what I did find

Nuno Gomez celebrates

The French celebrate

French fan (looks like David Beckham, don't you think?)

I'm in a kind of rush. I want to settle down to read a book about fairies. Now why doesn't that surprise you!!! :)

Teams and things

PORTUGAL (4-2-3-1): 1 Vitor Baía (FC Porto) - 14 A Xavier (Everton), 5 F Couto (Lazio), 2 J Costa (FC Porto), 13 Dimas (Standard Liège; sub: 3 Rui Jorge, Sporting CP, 87min) - 15 Costinha (AS Monaco), 4 J Vidigal (Sporting Lisbon; sub: 17 P Bento, Oviedo, 60) - 11 S Conceição (Lazio), 10 Rui Costa (Fiorentina; sub: 8 João Pinto, unattached, 78), 7 Luis Figo (Barcelona) - 21 Nuno Gomes (Benfica). Substitutes not used: 12 Pedro Espinha (Vitoria Guimaraes), 22 Quim (SC Braga), 6 Paulo Sousa (Internazionale), 9 Sá Pinto (Real Sociedad), 16 Beto (Sporting CP), 19 Capucho (FC Porto), 20 Secretário (FC Porto), Pauleta (Deportívo La Coruña). Booked: Vidigal, Figo, Jorge Costa, Dimas, João Pinto. Sent off: Gomes.

FRANCE (4-3-1-2): 16 F Barthez (Manchester United) - 15 L Thuram (Parma), 5 L Blanc (Internazionale), 8 M Desailly (Chelsea), 3 B Lizarazu (Bayern Munich) - 4 P Vieira (Arsenal), 7 D Deschamps (Chelsea), 17 E Petit (Arsenal; sub: 11 R Pires, Marseilles, 91) - 10 Z Zidane (Juventus) - 9 N Anelka (Real Madrid; sub: 13 S Wiltord, Bordeaux, 71), 12 T Henry (Arsenal; sub: 20 D Trezeguet, AS Monaco, 106). Substitutes not used: 1 B Lama (Paris Saint-Germain), 22 U Rame (Bordeaux), 2 V Candela (AS Roma), 6 Y Djorkaeff (1FC Kaiserslautern), 14 J Micoud (Bordeaux), 18 F Leboeuf (Chelsea), 19 C Karembeu (Real Madrid), 21 C Dugarry (Bordeaux). Booked: Vieira, Desailly.

Referee: G Benko (Austria).

Match report from the The Times

Portugal finally depart in disgrace

FROM MATT DICKINSON, FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT, IN BRUSSELS

PORTUGAL 1 FRANCE 2
(aet; 1-1 after 90min; France win on golden goal)

THE right result was achieved in the worst of circumstances last night as France advanced to the final of the European championship amid appalling scenes of dissent. Portugal departed the competition a raging, brawling rabble after France were awarded a penalty in the 26th minute of extra time. Zinedine Zidane's golden goal had little glitter.
Sympathy for the Portuguese, such admirable cavaliers in this tournament, should be minimal. The officials were correct and brave to award the spot-kick after Abel Xavier, the Everton defender, clearly used his hand to block a shot by Sylvain Wiltord, and the players' reaction was hysterical. They barged and banged against the officials for several minutes and but for the protection of Hugh Dallas, the fourth official, punches seem likely to have been thrown.

Paulo Bento appeared to be attempting to headbutt Igor Sramka, the Slovakian linesman, while Nuno Gomes, who was sent off for his intimidation of the officials, threw his shirt in the face of Gunter Benko, the Austrian referee, as he was escorted hurriedly down the tunnel. Such scenes in the FA Carling Premiership would result in long bans. Uefa, whose disciplinary committee will convene this morning, should not tread softly if it hopes to preserve its reputation and that of the game.

As France celebrated their laboured victory and the chance to become the first World Cup-holders to win the European championship when they face Italy or Holland in Rotterdam on Sunday, Humberto Coelho tendered his resignation as the Portugal coach. The hope that he had done so out of shame for his players' behaviour was to prove misplaced.

"It was a natural reaction," Coelho said of his team, "a reaction of passion and commitment. They have worked so hard in this tournament. I did not see any spitting, pushing or shoving of the officials." For that myopia alone, it is right that he should go. It was a spiteful conclusion to a night that came close to meeting expectations of high drama only in the disgrace of the last minutes.

Portugal's defending was resolute, but it came at a cost. Less fluent than at any time in the championship, they ultimately paid for their caution when they caved in to mounting pressure four minutes from securing a penalty shoot-out. Increasingly stretched as France, who began tentatively, took a grip, they had no match for the peerless Zidane, who fittingly scored the winning goal. Even in a game of caution, the Juventus playmaker was the only player who successfully cast off his inhibitions.

The fear that so much expectation could not be justified was, largely, to prove true. Each team showed too much respect to tear into their opponents, and both were understandably preoccupied. Calamity, they knew, would follow the slightest mistake. That anxiety must have weighed on the mind of Roger Lemerre, the France coach, who picked a midfield specialising in prevention. Didier Deschamps, Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit were supposed to provide an impenetrable barrier in front of a defence that one French newspaper had described on match day as the Invincible Quartet. Their resistance, however, lasted only 18 minutes.

Portugal's goal came out of the blue. Conceição was at the heart of the move as he broke through a tackle by Petit. The ball fell to Deschamps near the edge of his own area but, with the time to clear, the France captain dawdled and allowed Conceição to pinch it off him with his toe. There was no obvious danger as Gomes collected the ball with his back to goal, but the striker, who is being touted around the Premiership by Benfica, swivelled and struck a first-time shot that flew past Barthez.

France were stung but, with Portugal again showing admirable discipline in their midfield and defence, they struggled to create clear goalscoring opportunities before the interval. Lemerre's team needed to find some focus and they emerged for the second half with more conviction. Only five minutes passed before they claimed the equaliser that Portugal had worked so unceasingly to prevent.

There was a suspicion of offside as Anelka ran on to a pass by Thuram but, as the officials waved play-on, the former Arsenal forward took control of the ball near the goalline. His cut-back seemed intended for Petit but Henry intercepted and turned to shoot. There was not a great deal of power in his effort but it sneaked past Baía from eight yards.

Anelka missed a stooping header and, with both sides involved in a fraught game of tactical chess, the match moved on to extra time. João Pinto went close with a run and shot, but then came the break to the other end and Xavier's fateful intervention. "It was a great piece of refereeing," Lemerre said. "Rules are rules and it was handball. I couldn't understand their reaction."

Nor should Uefa this morning when it meets to decide the punishment for the Portuguese team. A superb tournament of attacking football has been blighted by shameful scenes as harmful for football's image, in their own way, as the behaviour of the English hooligans.

REF RAGE: TEN INCIDENTS THAT MAKE PORTUGAL'S PROTESTS LOOK TAME
29 June 2000 - London

by Steve Anglesey
PORTUGAL'S rough treatment of referee Gunter Benko following the controversial late penalty which ended their participation in Euro 2000 has been roundly condemned. But if Herr Benko feels hard-done-by, he can always look at these ten incidents in which ref rage really did get out of control...

1 One of the most notorious of all ref rage incidents occurred during the semi-finals of the 1990 Supercopa Libertadores, a prestigious annual club tournament staged between South American clubs. Deep into injury time in the second leg, all hell broke loose when Uruguay's Nacional finally overhauled the three-goal deficit Argentinos (from Argentina, funnily enough) held from the first leg. The referee with the dodgy stopwatch was immediately punched and kicked by three players, including midfielder Sergio Batista, whose previous claim to fame was being sent off after a minute against Scotland in the 1986 World Cup. All three were arrested and held without bail for two days; Batista eventually received a one-year ban.

2 Portugal aren't the only recent sinners. Only this morning, three Chinese second division players were banned for life after they attacked an official over - hey! - a disputed penalty. Last month saw a Malaysian Cup match abandoned when referee Roslan Ais was punched in the face by a player from top club Kelantan, who had just gone 2-1 down to rivals Perak with 15 minutes left. Happily, linesmen Nor Azman Nordin and SM Ramesh rushed in to help their stricken colleague; unhappily they were given much the same treatment and joined him in hospital. A Malaysian Star newspaper report noted helpfully: "The players were unhappy with the way the referee handled the match."

3 Today he's the nation's favourite scorer of own goals after his loveable exploits with Leicester City at the start of last season. But in 1992, Frank Sinclair was considerably less popular after, during a loan spell with West Bromwich Albion, his head made contact with the referee during a match at Exeter. An accident, said Sinclair - but he still received a nine-game ban.

4 In September 1997, the Zambian FA banned the coach and three players from the unfortunately-named Mpelembe Rippers after an incident in which they repeatedly slapped ref Emmanuel Simbeye around the face following his award of a controversial penalty to opponents Ndola Wanderers. As FAZ spokesman Henschel Chitembeya gravely noted: "We cannot have a situation of officials and players savaging up referees."

5 Last year's Arab Games - designed to promote friendship between Middle Eastern states - were a predictably chummy affair. On one memorable day, an Iraq v Jordan match was halted when Iraqi players set about official Ibrahim abu al-Aish, leading to a 22-man brawl eventually broken up by Jordan's Prince Ali. The evening match between Libya and Palestine passed relatively quietly, with only 20 spectators taken to hospital, tear gas released into the crowd and a post-match barney between the teams which saw the Libyans wielding firearms.

6 The Brittany Football League's referees went on strike in April after a series of incidents which climaxed when Scrignac players slapped and attempted to strangle official Hervé Laurans for sending one of their team-mates off during a local derby against Berrien. They went back to work after a new disciplinary scale was introduced which makes "jostling" punishable by a two-year ban.

7 Thank goodness Paolo di Canio doesn't play in Brittany, he'd still be serving his ban for pushing over Paul Alcock after getting his marching orders during a Sheffield Wednesday v Arsenal match in October 1998. West Ham players later showed solidarity with Di Canio, who got an 11-match ban, by dreaming up a goal celebration which ended with the scorer tumbling effeminately to earth. Small wonder Paolo ended up in claret and blue, then.

8 And while we're at Upton Park, ref Rob Harris won't forget Leeds' 5-1 win at West Ham towards the end of the 1998-99 season in a hurry. Having sent off Ian Wright after only 17 minutes, he later waved red cards at John Moncur and then Steve Lomas, reducing the home side to eight men. Following the final whistle, future chat show host Wright attempted to engage him in a post-match discussion, and when he found Harris reluctant to participate tried to break through the door of the referee's room. On the way home, Harris stalled his car at traffic lights outside supporters' local pub The Boleyn and had to watch helplessly as fans who recognised him began an impromptu reconstruction of his motor's bodywork.

9 When referee Doug Cotter became frustrated with coach Elidio Ramirez's constant encroaching onto the field during a November 1999 match in the Albuquerque soccer league in New Mexico USA, he decided a quiet word during a time-out would be the best course of action. Ramirez allegedly disagreed and, joined by several supporters, rained punches and kicks upon the official. He is currently facing charges of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit aggravated battery and conspiracy to commit kidnapping and has been banned from coaching in the league until he is 81 years old.

10 In February 1999, the South African gold mining town of Hartbeesfontein saw two splendidly-named amateur sides - the Wallabies and the Try Agains - in an illegal game staged purely for the benefit of gamblers. After a controversial goal for the opposition, Wallabies striker Isaac Mkhwetha pulled a knife on referee Petrus Mokgethi. His threats did not have the desired effect, however, as Mokgethi immediately pulled a gun on his would-be assailant and shot him dead.

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