Nuremberg, June 26 :

Maniche has done it again to the Dutch. For the second time in a major tournament, the 28-year-old midfielder has beaten the Netherlands, scoring a 23rd-minute goal on Sunday to

give Portugal a 1-0 victory and send it to the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

Two years ago he scored the eventual game winner in a 2-1 semi-final victory over the Dutch, one of the best goals of the tournament.

On Sunday, while Deco and Luis Figo provided the buildup, Maniche added the finish.

He worked tirelessly between both penalty areas, marshalled the team’s midfield, filled

holes defensively, picked his moments to push forward and earned the Man of the Match award.

“It was a team effort,” Maniche said. “We’ve got a great group of friends and teammates here. Our effort and our enjoyment paid off today.” His goal helped

dispel his reputation as just a tough tackler. He received a backpass from Pauleta on the edge of the Dutch area, one-touched the ball latterally and spun to put a right-footer past Edwin van der Sar’s reach. It was his second goal of the tournament and sixth in 35 appearances for Portugal.

He was on the Portugal team that lost 3-0 in a friendly against Spain in September 2003. Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, angered by what he called a lack of spirit demonstrated by some players, dropped Maniche. He was left out until recalled for Euro 2004 after Luis Boa Morte was injured.

Portuguese, Dutch break record of shame

NUREMBERG: Portugal and the Netherlands broke an unwanted record with the number of cards issued by the referee reaching a grand total of 20. Russian referee Valentin Ivanov sent four players off — Deco and Costinha for Portugal, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Khalid Boulahrouz for the Dutch — for two bookable offences while eight others were booked.

Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said he had never seen anything like it before in his time in Europe, though he added it was nothing new in South America. “FIFA always talks about fairplay but tonight we saw several gestures that were anything but,” added the Brazilian.

Dutch coach Marco van Basten said that it had been one of the worst footballing spectacles he had ever witnessed, though, Ivanov did not escape his censure either.“What is also regrettable is that the refereeing has such an influence on such an important match,” said the 41-year-old former AC Milan and Dutch striking legend. “They stopped the game from being a pretty spectacle.”

The previous record was 18 cards — two players were sent off — in a 2002 World Cup finals match between Came-roon and Germany. — AP