Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 July 2000 Issue No. 489
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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Best and worst

Most exciting match: Spain 4 Yugoslavia 3.
Spain, three times behind and needing to win to reach the quarter-finals, came back from 3-2 down deep in heart-stopping stoppage time.

Most boring match: Sweden 0 Turkey 0.
No incidents, no passion, little skill, enough said.

Greatest comeback: Slovenia 3 Yugoslavia 3.
Yugoslavia, 3-0 down and reduced to 10 men after sending off of Sinisa Mihajlovic, fought back with three goals in seven minutes to draw 3-3.

Biggest upset: Belgium 0 Turkey 2.
Turkey had never won a European finals match but managed to beat the co-hosts who only needed a draw to reach the last eight.

Best goal: Luis Figo's first for Portugal in 3-2 win over England.
Figo's run and long-range rocket into the top corner of the net was both spectacular and match-turning. Portugal appeared out of the match at 2-0 down when he struck.

Most bizarre goal: Christian Chivu's first for Romania in 3-2 win over England. Chivu's cross struck the far post and bounced over the line.

Most inspired substitutions: Roger Lemerre (France).
Sent on Sylvain Wiltord, David Trezeguet and Robert Pires in final against Italy with score at 0-1. Wiltord scored the equaliser in stoppage time and Pires crossed for Trezeguet to score golden goal winner.

Worst foul: Gheorghe Hagi's challenge on Antonio Conte in Romania versus Italy quarter-final. Hagi was booked for his aggressive over-the-top challenge which put Conte out of the tournament with a serious ankle injury.

Best penalty-taker: Zinedine Zidane (France).
Zidane's golden goal spot kick against Portugal in the semi-final was perfection. Despite almost five minutes of Portuguese protests, Zidane stayed cool and hit a hard, well-placed shot into the top left corner.

Best penalty: Francesco Totti (Italy).
Dinky chip into the centre of the goal past a sprawling Dutch keeper Edwin Van der Sar in the semi-final shootout.

Worst penalty-taker: Frank de Boer (Netherlands).
Francesco Toldo saved twice from him -- once in normal time and once in the shootout in the Netherlands v Italy semi-final.

Worst penalty: Jaap Stam (Netherlands).
Blazed his spot kick miles over the bar in the shootout against Italy.

Best penalty-saver: Francesco Toldo (Italy).
Saved three against the Dutch. From de Boer in normal time and from de Boer again and Paul Bosvelt in the shootout.

Biggest flop: Sinisa Mihajlovic (Yugoslavia).
The Lazio defender was way below his best. Yugoslavia let in 13 goals in the three matches he played in and kept a clean sheet only against Norway when he was serving a suspension for his red card in the Slovenia game.

Best performance by a reserve team: Portugal 3 Germany 0.
Portugal played their second-string against the Germans and still thrashed them, thanks to a Conceicao hat trick.

Unluckiest team: Czech Republic.
Finalists last time but drawn in the toughest group with France and The Netherlands and failed to make the quarter-finals though they were probably among the best four or five teams on show.

Worst behaviour by fans: England.
In a boorish class of their own. Caused the usual unspeakable mayhem before, during and after the match with Germany.

Worst behaviour by team: Portugal.
Abused and jostled linesman and referee after penalty award to France in semi-final for Abel Xavier's handball. Abel Xavier, Nuno Gomes, who was sent off for his protest, and Paul Bento all received heavy suspensions from UEFA.

Most dramatic resignation: Frank Rijkaard (Netherlands).
Announced he was going, without telling his players, shortly after his team missed five penalties out of six in semi-final loss to Italy.

Most striking referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy).
He of the bald head, bulging eyes and no-nonsense whistling emerged as one of stars of the tournament.

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