England Set For Scolari Clash

England are set to once again come face to face with Luiz Felipe Scolari when they meet Portugal in the World Cup quarter-final on Saturday.

Portugal beat Holland 1-0 on Sunday, hours after England edged out Ecuador by the same scoreline, to set up the 1600 BST kick-off in Gelsenkirchen.

Scolari will now have met England at the quarter-final stage in each of the last three major tournaments.

Two years ago at Euro 2004 the Portugal team managed by Scolari drew 1-1 after 90 minutes with Sven-Goran Eriksson's England, then 2-2 after 120 minutes, before eventually winning on penalties.

At the last World Cup, in 2002, Scolari was coach of the Brazilian team that knocked England out at the quarter-final stage - Ronaldinho's famous long-range free-kick eluding David Seaman for the winner in a 2-1 win.

This time around, the match-up with Scolari has extra spice after the Brazilian turned down the chance to succeed Eriksson as England coach in April.

If they make it to the semi-finals, England's last-four tie would be on Wednesday, 5 July in Munich (2000 BST). That will be against Brazil, Spain, Ghana or France.

The World Cup final takes place on Sunday, 9 July in Berlin, kick-off 1900 BST.

England will feel that their chances of getting past this quarter-final have been improved by the stormy nature of Portugal's second round win over Holland on Sunday.

That game broke the World Cup record for red cards in one match - four - and equalled the record for yellow cards, with 16.

Two of those red cards went to Portugal players - which means midfielders Deco and Costinha will not play against England.

"They are vital players for us but we will have others that can fill in for them, even if England is a tough opponent," Scolari said.

Captain Luis Figo, who was booked, could yet be ruled out if Fifa chooses to increase his punishment for being caught on camera headbutting Mark van Bommel.

Cristiano Ronaldo may be a doubt for the game, after he was forced out of the Holland match through injury, while five Portugal players including Figo will be on a yellow card should they play against England.

That means one more caution against Eriksson's team would rule them out of any semi-final tie.