England and Germany Are Sent Home Early

Goodbye English fans, defending champion Germany and Lothar Matthaeus, who was playing his final match.

Romania did UEFA a favor by ousting troublesome England from the European soccer championship Tuesday, and Portugal’s reserve team brought Germany’s reign to an end with a 3-0 humiliation that had German fans jeering their own players.

England, whose fans have disgraced their team and their nation by rioting in Brussels and Charleroi, Belgium, needed only a tie against Romania to reach the quarterfinals.

England led, 2-1, early in the second half after coming from behind, but Romania rallied with two late goals to win.

That put the Romanians into the last eight along with Group A winner Portugal and avoided UEFA taking the option of kicking England out because of its violent fans.

Soccer’s European governing body had threatened that unprecedented step if English fans rioted again in the game against Romania. They behaved, but only because they were expecting to go to Brussels for a quarterfinal showdown with Italy.

Meanwhile, Germany’s fans jeered their own stars off the field after the Portuguese, who rested nine starters, won in a rout.

Matthaeus, whose appearance on the team at age 39 has been greeted with derision by some critics, won’t want to remember his last three games. He was slow and constantly caught out of position.

The final qualifiers from the remaining two groups will be decided today.

Tied at the top of Group D, France and the Netherlands meet in Amsterdam, and Group C is still wide open with all four teams having a chance of advancing.

Group leader Yugoslavia, which has four points, meets Spain in Bruges, Belgium. Spain is in second, one point behind. Norway, which is tied with Spain, faces Slovenia, which has one point, in Arnhem, Netherlands.