PORTUGAL v Holland

You hear them first as you approach along South Lambeth Road: the whistles, horns, car horns and singing; and then when you turn the corner you see them massed on the pavement outside Estrela.

I had returned to my favourite Portuguese venue (lazy journalism, I know, but I promise it won’t always be this way) and the crowd was bigger than ever as kick-off approached. I had no chance of getting to the bar for a beer and I couldn’t see any waiters, but then I noticed an exciting new development: they’d brought a fridge outside for more convenient beer sales.

I made my way past a shrine set up on top of a junction box (a wooden Jesus with a Portugal flag, a bottle of champagne and an assortment of candles) and got myself a Superbock.

Anticipation was particularly high for this, the first heavyweight clash of the knockout stages. And it seemed word had got around that this was the place for the footie party, judging by the number of English fans in the huge crowd.

The noise levels were cranked up further with huge cheers for kick-off. And then the drummer arrived. There was alarm at an early Dutch chance and then cheers as Mark van Bommel became the first of an astonishing number of players to be booked.

There was excitement at Portuguese half-chances, screams for Dutch chances, cheers for Dutch yellow cards, despair for Portuguese bookings, and appreciation for Cristiano Ronaldo’s trickery. And when Maniche opened the scoring… it was absolute mayhem. The celebrations were loud and long.

Ronaldo received applause when he had to come off, and sympathy from the ladies: “Ohhh Ronaldo! Don’t cry!” And there were cheers for Simao when he replaced him.

We were running the full gamut of emotions. There was shock at Costinha’s red card, gasps as Edwin van der Sar saved from Pauleta, and a fat middle-aged man in a replica shirt climbing a pole with a flag.

At half-time I got a clue to where all these Portugal flags come from as a Brazilian gentleman made his way round the crowd, trying to flog flags for a fiver. But we soon had more important business to get back to.

The start of the second half was nervous with Portugal down to ten men, but the crowd were still boisterous, and mightily relieved when Phillip Cocu blasted a good shot against the bar. There were huge cheers for any Portuguese attack, and wild celebrations when Holland were also reduced to ten men.

Once again, passing bus passengers looked on open-mouthed, and another middle-aged man with a flag took up a prominent position on the other side of the bar, this time on top of a phone box.

The excitement was cranked up further as the game got ugly, with a bit of pushing and shoving and several more bookings. The referee seemed to think it was Christmas, he was giving out so many cards.

And there was stunned disbelief when he somehow sent off Deco, who was being pushed about by a Dutchman. Now we weren’t quite sure what was going on. But Portugal were still 1-0 up and they just had to hold on for a little longer…

The excitement built into a nervous crescendo as the nine men of Portugal mounted a rearguard action against the ten of Holland. The Dutch were creating chances and the fourth official indicated six minutes of stoppage time!

But then Giovanni van Bronckhorst was sent off and the final whistle blew! There was beer everywhere as the fans celebrated formula one-style with Sagres and Superbock instead of Champagne.

And what a party was about to kick in. The drumming and dancing went up a level, and the crazy car celebrations started, driving up and down and up and down South Lambeth Road, horns blaring, and hanging out the windows waving their flags and scarves.

Now they would face England in the quarter-finals.