Controversial Penalty Kick Lifts France

Zinedine Zidane made a penalty kick with three minutes left in overtime as World Cup champion France defeated Portugal, 2-1, Wednesday to reach the final at soccer’s European Championship.

After Portugal’s Abel Xavier used his left hand to block Sylvain Wiltord’s angled shot, Zidane stepped up to shoot the ball into the top corner and out of goalkeeper Vitor Baia’s reach.

“In the last minute, it was tough to concentrate,” said Zidane, who scored twice in the 1998 World Cup final.

“It was the knockout punch.”

In chaotic scenes afterward, with Portuguese players protesting, referee Guenther Benko ejected Nuno Gomes, whose fourth goal of the tournament gave Portugal a 1-0 lead in the first half.

Portuguese Coach Humberto Coelho announced his resignation after the game. “It was an unfortunate decision,” Coelho said of the referee’s awarding of the penalty kick. “It is very sad to end game like this. It was too close to decide a penalty like that. I don’t know if the referee was right or wrong.”

Predictably, French Coach Roger Lemerre saw it differently.

“They just applied the rules,” Lemerre said. “It was a great moment of refereeing. Soccer can be cruel.”

In the 19th minute, Sergio Conceicao stole the ball from Didier Deschamps and passed it to Gomes, who quickly turned and fired in a 16-yard shot.

France made it 1-1 six minutes into the second half. Nicolas Anelka, seemingly offside, was allowed to turn around and pass back to Thierry Henry, who shot the ball in from 10 yards.

The French were saved by goalkeeper Fabien Barthez with a minute left in regulation, when he palmed Xavier’s header over the crossbar.

“It was really tough for us,” Zidane said. “The Portuguese were great.”

Still, the Portuguese were furious afterward, blasting the referees for the decision to award the penalty. They were outraged when the linesman persuaded Benko to award the penalty kick.

“I’ve seen a lot of things in soccer,” said winger Sergio Conceicao. “But today I saw something that I’ve never seen before.”

“We are a small country that many people don’t want to see in the final,” forward Luis Figo said. “We’ve kept our dignity, but we’re going home and the others are staying. UEFA must be very happy.”

Figo, hailed by many as the most creative player in Euro 2000, hinted at dark forces seeking to keep Portugal out of the final.

“Today there isn’t much truth in soccer, but there’s lots of business dealing,” he fumed. “The players are disgusted by what happened . . . France is a strong team, they didn’t need favors like this.”

Rui Costa agreed. “There were people who said the final had been planned for France and the Netherlands from the start, that that was why they were in the same group, when you see something like this, you start to believe it.”

Defender Dimas also said Portugal has been victimized by the linesman.

“He was against us for the whole game, there were three or four offsides he didn’t see. He won the game for them today. You had people there who spoiled the game. It’s bad for soccer.”

The action was frenetic in overtime.

Zidane almost gave France the victory one minute in, but his header sailed high. French defender Laurent Blanc had the same thing happen six minutes later. Sa Pinto’s long shot flew just wide for Portugal in the 20th minute of overtime.

“Our objective was not to be in the final. It is to win the final,” Zidane said.

France came into Euro 2000 trying to become the first world champion to also hold the European title. And the team’s tough defense eventually wore down the Portuguese.

The Portuguese, who had sparkled during their run into the semifinals, were dour most of Wednesday night.

Gomes’ score was Portugal’s lone shot on goal in the first 60 minutes.

The goal momentarily gave the Portuguese hope. They opened up play for Figo and Conceicao while Zidane was too often left on his own.

Portugal started the second half even more conservatively, bent on proving it could win ugly too.

In the 77th minute, Portugal’s Baia came up with an incredible save on a shot by Emannuel Petit from 25 yards out.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Final Fixtures

* Wednesday’s result: France 2, Portugal 1.

* Today’s semifinal: Italy vs. Netherlands

at Amsterdam, 9 a.m. PDT

* Sunday’s final: France vs. Italy-Netherlands winner

at Rotterdam, Netherlands, 11 a.m. PDT.

* Last 5 champions: ‘96--Germany; ‘92--Denmark; ‘88--Netherlands; ‘84--France; ‘80--West Germany.