in Soccer Articles

Ronaldo a key player

When there’s a prison riot, do we blame the warden?

Maybe in movies like Natural Born Killers. And if you watched last Sunday’s knockout stage match between Portugal and the Netherlands, you saw two clubs playing the kind of soccer that Oliver Stone would turn into a feature film. Cleats were used as weapons. Portuguese superstar Figo headbutted a Dutch opponent. And Stone would have very much appreciated the level of acting, as those few players who weren’t legitimately injured rolled around on the pitch as if they’d taken a bicycle kick below the belt. There’s your Beautiful Game.

Naturally, both teams blamed Russian referee Valentin Ivanov for handing out a record-tying 16 yellow cards, along with four red cards. It should have been five ejections – Figo unjustly gotaway with a yellow for his actions. Otherwise, Ivanov was the helpless warden in this prison riot. FIFA president Sepp Blatter joined in by piling on the referee rather than blame the players for their poor sportsmanship, but curiously refused to suspend Figo.

Despite losing striker Cristiano Ronaldo to a nasty spiking in the early going, Portugal held on for a 1-0 victory while playing large parts of the match down a man to the Netherlands. The Dutch side had the possession advantage and mounted several offensive flurries, but in the end did not have the creativity to match its skill level – in part because striker Ruud van Nistelrooy spent the entire game on the bench, ostensibly for strategic purposes.

England supporters loved watching the Netherlands and Portugal literally put the boots to one another. Ronaldo’s status for Saturday’s quarterfinal meeting with the Three Lions is still up in the air, but midfielders Deco and Costinha will definitely miss the game after their red cards. That’s enough to make England +110 on the moneyline to advance to the semis. Portugal is pegged at +230, with a draw after regulation time priced at +210. The line against the spread reads England –1/2, +110 on one side and Portugal +1/2, -130 on the other.

Let’s not be too hasty to jump on the Brit bandwagon. The English side hasn’t made it to the quarterfinals unscathed. Striker Michael Owen is out after shredding his knee in a 2-2 group stage draw with Sweden. Defender Gary Neville says he is fit after missing three games with a calf injury; he will likely play against Portugal, provided coach Sven-Goran Eriksson is happy with Neville’s progress. England desperately needs Neville to be healthy. Their defense, especially in the second half of matches, has been spotty at best.

While England has looked shaky at times, Portugal is on a serious roll. The Selecção das Quinas have won all four of their World Cup matches while giving up just one goal along the way. That stretches their undefeated record to 16 games, a streak that goes all the way back to their 1-0 loss to Greece at the finals of Euro 2004. They also have the benefit of playing for coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who led Brazil to the 2002 World Cup title.

Portugal was the underdog against the formidable Dutch team, but sharp handicappers saw excellent value in the Portuguese and their undefeated streak. That value remains for Saturday’s matchup. England is weaker on paper than the Dutch. The Three Lions lost to Portugal at the Euro 2004 on penalties, and English fans are rightly concerned they’ll suffer a similar fate this year. Laying half a goal to Portugal seems like quite a gift in this situation.