June 27, 2006	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 30, 1427

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BADEN BADEN, June 26: England's World Cup quarter-final with Portugal pitches them against the man behind their last two tournament exits who could have been their next manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari.

A mixture of fate and the fixture list has brought England face to face with Brazil's 2002 World Cup-winning coach, who turned his back on their top job two months ago citing media intrusion.

The Football Association were actively pursuing the highly experienced Brazilian as a replacement for Sven-Goran Eriksson, who is stepping down after the finals in Germany.

FA chief executive Brian Barwick returned from Lisbon on April 27 after what proved to be his final meeting with Scolari in a positive mood, only for the Brazilian to announce he was pulling out the following day.

Their unhappy memories began in the quarter-finals of the last World Cup, where Michael Owen gave England a 1-0 lead against Scolari's Brazil on a steamy day at Shizuoka.

Outsmarted by a side who enjoyed much of the possession despite being reduced to 10 men after Ronaldinho's red card, England went on to lose 2-1.

They had no better luck two years later in another quarter-final at Euro 2004 in Portugal.

Now in charge of the host nation, Scolari again found that keeping possession and making England chase shadows was a winning formula -- despite trailing to another goal by Owen, currently at home due to injury.

Portugal took control of the game and got their reward with Helder Postiga's 80th minute equaliser. They then took the lead in extra time before being pegged back at 2-2 and eventually winning a penalty shootout 6-5.—Reuters