Eriksson complains about penalty spot
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-06-25 09:29

England's defeat by Portugal on penalties in their Euro 2004 quarter-final was very tough to take, coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has said.

"Unfortunately we lost on penalties and that's very hard," Eriksson said on Thursday.

"We were not lucky with some things out there today but that's football," the coach said. "The spirit has been fantastic but losing this way is very hard."

Eriksson said he had complained twice about the state of the penalty spot before the game. The spot seemed to be very unstable and captain David Beckham skied England's first spot kick over the bar after apparently slipping.

"Before both games at this stadium I complained personally to a UEFA person about the penalty spot. We trained upon it and the grass went away.

"Yesterday again we took it up, UEFA said they would put in a new one. Beckham, I think he slipped with his foot once again, unfortunately." Beckham blazed a penalty over the bar in a Euro 2004 qualifier against Turkey.

"I talked to the squad after the game. Football is like this, when you go to penalties it is skill but it is also a lottery," Eriksson said.

England led through a third minute goal but they had to chase a lively Portugal side all over the field for much of the remainder of the game and the hosts equalised through Helder Postiga in the 83rd minute.

Great heat

After Rui Costa had put Portugal ahead in extra time, England showed great heart to equalise through Frank Lampard and force a penalty shoot-out the English lost 6-5.

England had a Sol Campbell header ruled out for a push on the goalkeeper in the dying seconds of normal time but Eriksson was reluctant to comment on a marginal decision.

"From the bench it looked alright but I haven't seen it on TV so I can's comment. The referee said it was a push and he's the one who decides."

For goalscorer Michael Owen, the result was particular hard to take after he experienced a penalty shoot-out defeat by Argentina in the World Cup in 1998 after Campbell had an extra time goal ruled out for pushing.

"Going out on penalties again is a bitter blow," said Owen.

"It's a big disappointment and it always seems to happen.

"The same happened to us in the World Cup in 1998 when we had a perfectly good goal disallowed."

England were also knocked out of the 1996 European Championship on penalties in the semi-finals and lost to Germany again in a shoot-out in the 1990 World Cup semi-finals.

Eriksson said: "We knew Portugal are extremely good in possession, I still think we created more chances.

"With a bit of luck we could have been 2-0 up at halftime but I thought 1-1 was a fair result.

"Technically Portugal are a really good side. They had some shots but not very much inside the box."

England lost talisman 18-year-old striker Wayne Rooney in the first half with an injury which Eriksson indicated was a broken bone in his foot.

"It's the same injury as Beckham before the World Cup, he will be out maybe a month," Eriksson said. Beckham broke a bone in his foot before the World Cup in 2002 but played in the finals.

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