It was a similarly petulant act from Ortega that earned him a red card at a crucial time against Holland. The little dynamo was, without doubt, Argentina's most important player and without him they were always going to struggle. He was the link man who turned defence into attack, fed Gabriel Batistuta and Claudio Lopez and could also score goals himself.

The Argentinian always looked as if he was going for the penalty and just threw himself down even though there was no contact. His head-butt against Dutch goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar was similar to the show of petulance we saw from Beckham and it had exactly the same result. By the time Van Der Sar has screwed his head back on, Ortegawas already making his way from the field.

The sending off changed the whole course of the game as you could see the Dutch were visibly filled with confidence by the incident while the Argentinians were deflated.

They knew they had lost their player and had a mountain to climb now. That mountain began to resemble Mount Everest a few minutes later when a superb long range pass from Frank De Boer picked out Dennis Bergkamp. It took the Arsenal striker just three sublime touches to control the ball, beat the defender and smash it beyond Carlos Roa to hand Holland victory. It was a rare flash of brilliance and his skills deserve to grace what could be the match of the tournament against Brazil in the semi-finals.

I shouldn't think the Danes could believe their eyes when they took the lead within two minutes but Brazil just stepped up a gear and hit back quickly.Nobody will be more disappointed than the Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel that they were beaten after such a big-hearted performance. To concedethree goals from open play will have annoyed the giant shot stopper, who, many regard as the finest in the world.

Bebeto's equaliser was also right in the corner but Schmeichel made it a little bit easier for the Brazilian forward by coming out too far and failing to close down the angle. If he had stayed nearer to the goal, he would have given the striker less to aim at, but that is the technique he prefers and it has stood him is good stead throughout his career.

While I am being tough on Schmeichel, you could also argue he could have remained on his feet a bit longer for the second goal but Rivaldo's finish was also absolute world class. Every now and then the Brazilians will make errors but when things go right they are simply irresistible.

(Professional Management Group)
Peter Shilton won 125 international caps for England and played in three World Cups