EVERYONE SEEING RED NUMEROUS CARDS SPOIL MATCHUP PORTUGAL 1, NETHERLANDS 0.

Byline: SCOTT FRENCH Staff Writer

NUREMBERG, Germany -- There was, to be sure, some fine soccer to be found among the diving, falling, shoving and head-butting that defined the second-round encounter at Frankenstadion.

Maniche's goal -- the only tally in Portugal's 1-0 victory -- to finish a terrific sequence; Robin van Persie's expert feint, leaving two defenders on the ground; the run by Arjen Robben, from midfield to endline, leading to nothing -- but reward, for the discriminating viewer.

There is much promise of such moments anytime Portugal and the Netherlands get together. Gifted sides, both, blessed with enormous skill and vision, always looking to attack, always looking to play the beautiful game. But there is some bite in their beauty, and so what occurred Sunday surprised only so much.

It was an ugly evening, and there were cards aplenty to prove it.

Russian referee Valentin Ivanov, trying in vain to control an intense battle that always threatened to swerve into chaos -- and often did -- issued 16 yellow cards and a World Cup-record four reds. Each team lost twoplayers, all with two cautions, the game lost all sense of balance and propriety, and the spectators soon lost patience, raining whistles and jeers onto the field through the final 20 minutes.

Portugal, twice down a man after red cards to Constinha and Deco, held on for the victory and advanced to face England in a quarterfinal Saturday, an enticing matchup offering myriad storylines.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, who guided his native Brazil to the 2002 World Cup title, extended his record Cup winning streak to 11 games and positioned the Selecao to match the great 1966 team, which reached the semifinals behind legendary forward Eusebio.

``For many years,'' Scolari said afterward, ``Portugal hasn't seen a team that so dignifies the name `Portugal,' that is always fighting for Portugal, doing something for Portugal. ... This was a heroic victory, a marvelous victory.''

If so, it came in a mess of a game. The first half featured largely uninspired soccer. There was only Maniche's 23rd-minute goal, for which he beat two defenders in the box after Pauleta redirected Deco's cross from the right wing.

The second half fell into disarray, with Ivanov pulling out cards nearly every time somebody fell to the turf.

Dutch coach Marco van Basten and his players blamed the Portuguese, claiming they fooled Ivanov with their tumbles and feigned injury to disrupt the Dutch rhythm. An increasingly physical encounter erupted into periodic dust-ups. There was plenty of pushing and shoving, some of it penalized with yellow cards, and Portuguese star Luis Figo got away with a head-butt to Mark van Bommel.

``I think it is very unfortunate so little football was played the second half,'' vanBasten said. ``Ordinarily, in 45 minutes, you can play effective football for 35, 40minutes. But continually there were people on the floor, with injuries and yellow cards and confusion left, right and center. And obviously, the referee had something to do with it.''

Scolari agreed, and so did FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who told Portuguese television: ``I consider that today the referee was not at the same level as the participants, the players. There could have been a yellow card for the referee.''

The four reds -- Holland's outside backs, Khalid Boulahrouz and Giovanni van Bronckhorst also were sent off with two yellow cards -- brought the tournament total to 23, more than in any previous World Cup. There have been complaints from all corners about the officials and their willingness to hand out cards for any offense, real or imagined. Scolari was particularly angered by Deco's red card, the midfielder's second yellow, apparently for time-wasting, was given after he was spun around and tossed to the ground by Wesley Sneijder.

The Dutch, who haven't beaten Portugal in the past eight meetings, came close several times to equalizing, with van Persie just firing wide of the right post after juking Nuno Valente and Ricardo Carvalho to the turf in the 37th minute and Philip Cocu striking the crossbar in the 49th. The last part of the game was spent in and around Portugal's box, but when shots materialized, they were placed off-target or corralled by goalkeeper Ricardo.

It was a particularly disappointing exit for the Dutch, who took the brunt of the spectators' displeasure, seen to blame for all the Portuguese ``injuries'' rather than a victim of Portuguese time-wasting.

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Portugal's Deco, left, and Nuno Valente argue with the Netherlands' Andre Ooijer as the referee, red card in hand, tries to separate them.

Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press

(2 -- color) Switzerland's John Djourou will try to fill the shoes of center back Philippe Senderos against Ukraine. Senderos is out with a dislocated shoulder.

Photo by Getty Images

Box:

(1) ITALY vs. AUSTRALIA

(2) SWITZERLAND vs. UKRAINE

- Scott French