Precedents with Portugal
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Article summary
History will favour Portugal when the hosts tackle the Netherlands in the first UEFA EURO 2004™ semi-final at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon tonight.
Article body
Sole victory
In eight matches since their first meeting in 1990, the Dutch have triumphed only once against the Portuguese - a crucial 1-0 home success in October 1991 which paved the way for the Netherlands to qualify for EURO '92. Portugal, who beat the Dutch 1-0 in the corresponding fixture 364 days earlier but missed out on the finals in Sweden, exacted revenge in 2000 by winning 2-0 in Rotterdam. That victory proved critical as the Iberians qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and the Dutch missed out.
Kluivert record
The reverse fixture in Porto was a draw, which is how two of their four friendly encounters have ended. The most recent came in April 2003 when Patrick Kluivert scored for the Netherlands - becoming his country's joint record scorer - and Simão Sabrosa for Portugal in Eindhoven. The other friendlies both went Portugal's way: 1-0 in February 1995 and 2-0 in February 1992.
Müller mark
A number of players could set milestones this evening. Luís Figo will equal Fernando Couto's Portuguese record of 109 caps if the Real Madrid CF midfielder plays and the central defender does not. Rui Costa, another from the 'golden generation', has come off the bench to score twice at EURO 2004™, leaving him one behind record-holder, West Germany's Dietmar Müller, who registered three times as a substitute in the 1976 UEFA European Championship - all against Yugoslavia in a semi-final.
Scoring streak
Portugal have scored in their last nine European Championship games, a record they share with France whose run concluded with the 1-0 quarter-final defeat by Greece. The host nation have fallen at the semi-final stage in every competition since 1988, with England in 1996 and the Netherlands four years ago eliminated on penalties. Edwin van der Sar and Phillip Cocu both played in that loss to Italy, and tonight will equal Dennis Bergkamp's record of 13 championship appearances if selected.
One win
The Netherlands are the first team to qualify for the semi-finals having won only one game since the tournament expanded to 16 teams for the 1996 edition, their sole success coming against Latvia. Denmark and Germany did likewise in 1992, while Spain and Portugal did so in 1984.
