England scored the tournament's fastest goal to date after only three minutes when David Beckham diligently chased after an over-hit cross from the left, gathered his bearings and whipped in a trademark cross from his trademark position on the right. The swerving cross was met brilliantly by a twisting Scholes header that thumped in off the underside of the bar, leaving Victor Baia rooted on his goal line.

England were on top of their game and doubled their lead a quarter of an hour later when a clever sidestep pass from the heavily marked Owen opened a channel down the right (where else?) for Beckham, and the Manchester United idol delivered another delicious cross over the Portuguese defence to the far post, where Steve McManaman sweeped in a decisive shot into the roof of the net.

Portugal looked dead and buried at this point with England dominating proceedings with a composed passing game. However, the Portuguese never looked rattled and were able to pull a crucial goal back just minutes after England's second goal. An unattended Figo picked up the ball in the middle of the field and was given the luxury of space to dribble unchallenged to the top of England's box, where the Barcelona captain unleashed a sensational dipping drive through Tony Adams' legs that swerved wickedly into David Seaman's right-hand corner of the net for a brilliant goal.

The Portuguese went on to claw their way back into the game, with the triumvirate of Luis Figo, Rui Costa and Paulo Sousa slowly but surely stamping their genuine class in midfield. The former World Youth Champions deservedly equalized before halftime when Joao Pinto bravely dived in ahead of Sol Campbell to head Figo's right wing cross in off the far post, beating David Seaman at full stretch.

In Beckham and Figo, the world's best two right-sided midfielders had played a role in all four brilliantly crafted first half goals. Ray Parlor eat your heart out!

England came out for the second half without the ineffectual Michael Owen. In his place was Golden-Boy Alan-Shearer's favorite strike partner Emile Heskey. Gone were England's cultured passing and technical build-ups. In their place were increasingly desperate long balls into Portugal's box to pick out either Shearer or Heskey. Unfortunately, the duo had slipped off for an Extra-Value Upsized Big Mac meal without informing their teammates, who kept pumping high crosses into the box even though Everton's blond scary wolfman Abel Xavier consistently headed every ball out majestically.

Shearer seemed so out of place as the focus of England's controlled passing game that he was rendered a mere passenger for the remainder of the game. Meanwhile, Portugal seemed to draw heart from England's ineffectual forays, pushing their opponents back onto the backburner as they gathered momentum with every sweeping move forward.

A double blow struck England when the creative McManaman picked up a knock on his knee and was replaced by the workmanlike Dennis Wise. Almost immediately, Portugal snatched the lead when Benfica's topscorer Nuno Gomes stole in ahead of Seaman and Adams to fire a rising shot into the net for his first international goal.

England had run into a brick wall and were unable to get their act together. Strangely, Robbie Fowler and Kevin Philips remained seated on the bench, even when Adams was forced to pull off with a calf injury late in the game. If only the moody Andy Cole had made the squad---he'd surely have had a heart attack waiting for the call to get on that never came.

And so the tournament dark horses Portugal complete an emphatic victory, while dusk is surely drawing on Alan Shearer's international career.

Match Rating: ***** Worthy battleground of world's best right-wings.