Portugal v England Luz, Lisbon, 7.45Already unpopular in large areas of the country's south where their fans have been involved in sporadic outbreaks of trouble since this tournament began, the English now seem intent on outstaying their welcome in Portugal's capital where tonight, at the Estádio da Luz, they will set about the task of ending local involvement in Euro 2004.
Is there anything quite so irritating as guests who don't know when it's time to go home? At England's base just outside Lisbon there was no shortage of confidence yesterday as the coach and a couple of his players discussed the team's chances of further extending their stay here.
On the face of it they have good reason to be upbeat. The Portuguese have not looked all that impressive to date and the fact the side to progress will face the winners of Saturday's quarter-final in Faro (Sweden v Holland) will not exactly fill Sven Goran Eriksson's men with dread.
The England coach is in a position to name an unchanged side for this quarter-final and will almost certainly do just that. His only concern, he says, is his side's knack for conceding goals from set-pieces, a weakness for which they have been punished four times to date.
"I am happy with what we have done so far and the only thing which hopefully we will do better is defend set-pieces," he said.
"I have seen many good teams here. The Czech Republic are perhaps the biggest surprise but France, Sweden and Denmark are all good teams. But if we play the football we can normally play we are very hard to beat, so why shouldn't we also be one of the favourites?"
The English, of course, have a habit of counting themselves amongst the front-runners at tournaments, when the reality generally is that they are some way off the pace.
Four years ago they went to Belgium and Holland talking about winning the title and not even humiliation at the group stage there could prevent them from making the same mistake a couple of years later when setting off for Japan.
It is tempting to think the disease has simply spread to their Swedish coach, but in a tournament where no team has done enough so far to earn the title of clear favourites the English do look to be in with a serious shout of at least making the final.
This evening, though, they will be up against the team that destroyed their ambition in 2000 when they came from 2-0 down in Eindhoven to win 3-2 thanks to goals from Luis Figo, Joao Pinto and Nuno Gomes as well as the coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, who masterminded their elimination by Brazil in Shizuoka two years later.
"They have evolved since then," warned Scolari. "They are much better now than at the World Cup. They are no longer a team that depends on high crosses into the box, although they still use that approach sometimes.
"England have the same qualities as Spain," he continued. "Only at our best can we beat them. We produced that against the Spanish and if we wish to see the semi-finals then we will have to produce it again."
If the performance against Spain was really as good as we are going to see from Portugal then it's hard to imagine that England will have too much to worry about. In that, as in the team's previous two games, Scolari's men looked vulnerable defensively and ineffective around goal.
The team's goalkeeper, Ricardo, is quick to cover ground around his box and a decent shot-stopper, but he has a tendency to sail rather uselessly through the air when attempting to gather high balls while all three teams they have played so far have been able to carve out good chances by running at the team's central defenders, Jorge Andrade and Ricardo Carvalho.
Unless there's a big improvement, Wayne Rooney could have another of those nights. Despite the problems, Scolari is expected to stick with the same defence, although things should improve up front where Pauletta, after three fairly hopeless displays, will be absent due to suspension.
His replacement, Nuno Gomes, has an impressive record in the national team, but tends to fare better when playing alongside a second striker, a tactical switch the Brazilian coach says he will not countenance unless his side is chasing the game.
Up front by himself the 27-year-old may struggle against Sol Campbell and John Terry and Portugal's hopes of progressing are likely to depend on the respective abilities of Ronaldo to get the better of Manchester United team-mate Gary Neville, Deco to exert pressure from just in front of the English central defence and Figo to prove that he is still capable of a really big-match winning display.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
ENGLAND (4-4-2): James; G Neville, Terry, Campbell, A Cole; Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Scoles; Rooney, Owen.
PORTUGAL (4-4-2): Ricardo, Miguel, Jorge Andrade, Ricardo Carvalho, Nuno Valente; Costinha, Maniche; Luis Figo, Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo; Nuno Gomes.
Referee: Urs Meier (Switzerland)
