© EuroFootball.com
Today at 21:45 Lithuanian time, the first quarterfinal match between the national teams of Portugal and England will take place. The match will be held in Lisbon, at the largest tournament stadium Da Luz, which accommodates about 65,000 spectators. The referee for the match will be Swiss Urs Meier.
English coach Sven-Goran Eriksson is calm before the game against Portugal, as all of his players are healthy, except for Nicky Butt, who will likely not appear in this championship anymore. During the match against Croatia, David Beckham and John Terry suffered minor injuries, but today they are ready to take the field.
The only absence from the hosts is Pauleta. He will have to miss the match due to two yellow cards. Pauleta should be replaced by the hero of the match against Spain, Nuno Gomes.
It is believed that the Portuguese strategist Luiz Felipe Scolari plans to play through the center of the field, as the English are very strong in aerial duels and crossing from the flanks would be ineffective.
This match will feature many individual duels. The most intriguing should be between two "Man Utd" players - Cristiano Ronaldo and Gary Neville. Equally interesting will be watching Ricardo Carvalho and Wayne Rooney duel, as Rooney is among the top scorers, and since Couto was replaced by Carvalho, Portugal hasn't conceded a goal in the championship.
The last time England and Portugal met was in a friendly match in the summer, which ended in a 1-1 draw. The last official match between these teams was during Euro2000. That time, after a dramatic battle, Portugal celebrated a 3-2 victory in a classic match.
Possible starting lineups:
Portugal (4-5-1): Ricardo; Miguel, Jorge Andrade, Ricardo Carvalho, Nuno Valente; Luis Figo, Costinha, Deco, Maniche, Ronaldo; Nuno Gomes.
England (4-4-2): James; G Neville, Terry, Campbell, A Cole; Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes; Owen, Rooney.
