Defending champion France and England made the quarterfinals of Euro 2004 on Monday, and even two-goal Thierry Henry was overshadowed by 18-year-old English sensation Wayne Rooney.
France got there as Henry notched his first goals of the tournament to lead France over Switzerland 3-1.
PHOTO: EPA
In the other Group B match, Rooney got two more goals -- the teenager now leads the tournament with four -- as England overpowered Croatia 4-2. France topped the group with seven points and England finished second with six.
PHOTO: EPA
France goes up against Greece on Friday in one quarterfinal, and England opens the quarterfinals on Thursday against host Portugal. The Czech Republic is the only other team to reach the quarterfinals.
The three remaining quarterfinal spots will be decided on Tuesday and Wednesday with Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Germany, Latvia and the Netherlands still in the chase.
PHOTO: AFP
Stocky, powerful and emblematic of England's "bulldog" image, Rooney was England's star again. He scored in first-half injury time to give England's its first lead at 2-1, and again in the 68th with the clinching goal to make it 3-1.
"The team's done very well today and luckily enough I got two goals," said Rooney, who scored his first English Premier League goal for Everton at only 16.
"It was just going out there and trying to do our job the best we could."
England captain David Beckham can hardly believe his composure.
"When you see him [Rooney] perform, you know nothing fazes him," David Beckham said. "Again tonight -- he produced again tonight. He deserves all the praise that he is going to get."
Croatia's Niko Kovac stunned England after only five minutes, but Paul Scholes equalized in the 40th, his first international goal in three years.
With England leading 3-1, Igor Tudor cut it to 3-2 in the 73rd before England's Frank Lampard made it 4-2 six minutes later.
Asked about Rooney, who is being compared by the English press to the young Pele at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson seemed lost for words.
"I don't know what to say, he's fantastic," the Swede said. "And not only scoring goals. He's seems to be a complete football player."
France, needing just a draw to reach the quarterfinals, got a victory instead on two late goals from Arsenal striker Henry.
Zinedine Zidane gave France the lead on a 20th-minute header, before 18-year-old Johann Vonlanthen equalized for the Swiss in the 26th to become the youngest scorer in European championship history.
Rooney broke that record with his two goals on Thursday in a 3-0 win over Switzerland, only to see it fall four days later.
Henry settled the match with a 76th-minute tap-in after being set up by substitute Louis Saha, then added his second on a solo run and finish in the 84th.
Croatia finished third in the group with two points and Switzerland had only one.
``It's not a relief but we had to go for this victory. These three games weren't easy, said French coach Jacques Santini, whose team rallied with two goals in injury time by Zidane to defeat England 2-1 in their opening match.
"Our objective is to reach the final. We had prepared for this game as if it were a knockout match."
Henry has scored 27 goals in 61 games, ending a goal drought for the striker who had not scored in his last five games for Les Bleus. By contrast, he scored 30 in Premier League games last season for Arsenal.
"I have respect for Greece, but still, it's better to avoid Portugal," Henry said.
Switzerland played without top striker Alex Frei, after new video evidence showed him spitting at England midfielder Steven Gerrard in a match last week. The governing body of European soccer UEFA threw out the case Sunday, but by Monday a new tape implicating Frei appeared from Swiss broadcaster DRS.
"The Swiss soccer federation has decided that, because of the new video images, it will not oppose the suspension," the federation said in a statement.
The spitting incident occurred in the 77th minute of England's 3-0 victory over Switzerland in Coimbra on Thursday. The referee didn't spot it and Frei played the entire game.
Italian star forward Francesco Totti was banned for three games earlier in the tournament for spitting in the face of a Danish opponent.
An England fan was stabbed to death in downtown Lisbon early Tuesday and a Ukrainian man was arrested on suspicion of his murder, police said.
The 27-year-old English man was killed near Rossio square at around 4am (0300 GMT), a police spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
Detectives investigating the death believe it was not related to soccer.
"It seems the Ukrainian tried to steal the Englishman's wallet," the spokesman said.
The Englishman was taken to Sao Jose Hospital where he was declared dead.
Neither the dead man nor the Ukrainian were identified by name.
In London, the Foreign Office said it would not provide details about the victim until his family had been informed.
"We are confirming that a person has been taken into custody in connection with the death and we are in touch with the Portuguese authorities," a spokesman said.
Lisbon police said there were no reports of violent clashes after the match between England and Croatia in Lisbon on Monday evening.
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first man in history to win five Masters 1000 tournaments in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danish qualifier Elmer Moller at the Madrid Open on Sunday. The world leader extended his winning streak to 19 matches, a run that began early March in Indian Wells, and he has captured 24 consecutive victories at the Masters 1000 level, dating back to the Paris Masters last October. Searching for a maiden title at this level on clay, Sinner advanced to the round of 16 at the Caja Magica with a 77-minute performance against
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions — the first Western soccer team to play in the country. China was emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. “All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person,” he said. “It was all bicycles,” he said. “There were very few cars to be seen.” Dwyer,
Tennis players are facing an unexpected opponent at the Madrid Open. A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and others, raising concerns. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she is trying to avoid illness by sticking to a diet of chicken breasts, rice and salad. The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame. Sabalenka knocked on wood for luck and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos,” she laughed, adding “I stick to the
RSS