Euro 2004: - QUARTERFINAL Portugal vs. England: 6-5

Portugal 6, England 5

Portugal 2, England 2 (extra time) Portugal wins 6-5 on penalties
Recap: Beckham fails to rise to the occasion again
David Beckham blasted his spot kick into the crowd and goalkeeper Ricardo scored the winner for the host nation as Portugal beat England 6-5 on penalties at the end of a thrilling 2-2 tie on Thursday to become the first semifinalist of Euro 2004.

Michael Owen finally regained his goalscoring touch to give England a 1-0 lead after just three minutes but substitute Helder Postiga, who surprisingly replaced Luis Figo for Portugal, headed an equalizer seven minutes from the end of 90 minutes.

England thought it had scored a winner in the final minute of normal time when Owen headed against the crossbar from a Beckham free kick and Sol Campbell forced the rebound over the line. But Swiss referee Urs Meier disallowed the goal for a foul on goalkeeper Ricardo and the game went into extra time.

Rui Costa fired an 18-meter strike into the roof of the net in the 20th minute of extra time but Frank Lampard scored from close range five minutes later to make it 2-2.

In the shootout, England had a disastrous start when Beckham fired high and wide into the Portuguese fans behind the goal.

Deco, Simao, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nuno Maniche and Helder Postiga all scored for the Portuguese while Rui Costa missed. Owen, Lampard, John Terry, Owen Hargeaves and Ashley Cole all netted for England.

Then Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo then saved from Darius Vassell before deciding to take the next penalty himself and shooting past David James for the winner.

The result means the Portuguese, who began this with a surprise 2-1 loss to Greece, reached the semifinal for the second time in a row. Four years ago, they lost to France on an extra time "golden goal" and the French went on to win the title.

Owen, who had gone four games without scoring while strike partner Wayne Rooney had netted six, fired England ahead in the third minute and later was denied a second by an acrobatic save by Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo.

England lost four-goal Rooney in the 27th minute with an injury to his right ankle and the Everton striker went to hospital for an X-ray.

England converted its first chance when Costinha failed to deal with a long clearance from James and headed the ball towards his own goal and into the path of Owen.

The Liverpool striker, whose form has been poor for weeks, had his back to goal but, with only goalkeeper Ricardo to beat, managed to flick the ball over his head with his right foot for his first goal in Euro 2004 but 26th in England colors.

Rooney had few chances to add to his two goals against Switzerland and two against Croatia. His appearance lasted 27 minutes before he limped off and was replaced by Darius Vassell.

An acrobatic save by Ricardo prevented Owen putting England 2-0 ahead in the 30th minute. Collecting a bouncing ball, Owen sent a 15-meter shot curling towards the top corner but Ricardo dived full length to his left to claw the ball round the post.

There was trouble for England early in the second half when James dropped a leftwing cross from Maniche but the Manchester City goalkeeper recovered to grab the ball. Then Deco floated a right wing cross onto the head of Gomes and he found Ronaldo in front of goal only for the Manchester United winger to head tamely wide of the near post.

Deco opened up a chance for substitute Simao in the 66th minute and his shot flew just wide of James' left hand post.

Figo then came up with a low 25-meter shot that James did well to push round the post. But it was his last contribution as Scolari decided to take off the Real Madrid star and replace him with Helder Postiga, who had played little soccer all season for Tottenham.

The switch worked when Postiga leveled with seven minutes to go.

The Portuguese were building slowly in the English half when the ball was fed out left to Simao. He swung in a well flighted cross and Postigo was left virtually unmarked to plant a firm header past James from eight meters.

In the sixth minute of extra time Nuno Gomes had a glancing header cleared off the line by Phil Neville and the home team kept firing low crosses and shots into a crowded England area without any success against a resolute England defense.

Ashley Cole cleared a header from Postiga off the line but then Rui Costa scored his memorable strike to put the Portuguese ahead.

The ball dropped to him 18 meters from goal and he let fly with a powerful rising shot that flew past James into the roof of the net.

Five minutes from the end of extra time, Lampard made it 2-2 with Terry headed down a corner from Beckham and the Chelsea midfielder turned to shoot home from seven meters out.

Lineups:

Portugal: Ricardo; Ricardo Carvalho, Jorge Andrade, Nuno Valente, Miguel (sub: Rui Costa 78th); Luis Figo (Helder Postiga 75th), Costinha (Sabrosa Simao 63rd), Deco, Nuno Maniche, Cristiano Ronaldo; Nuno Gomes.

England: David James; Gary Neville, Sol Campbell, John Terry, Ashley Cole; David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard (Owen Hargreaves 81st), Paul Scholes (Philip Neville 57th); Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney (Darius Vassell 27th).

Referee: Urs Meier, Switzerland.