David Beckham blasted his spot kick into the crowd and goalkeeper Ricardo scored the winner for the host nation as Portugal beat England 6-5 on penalties at the end of a thrilling 2-2 tie on Thursday to become the first semifinalist of Euro 2004.

　　A seesawing quarterfinal in Lisbon, Portugal, ended in a shootout after 120 minutes of end-to-end soccer and drama at Benfica's Stadium of Light.

　　"This win, after everything that happened during this game, was truly spectacular," said Portugal's Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari: "I have to go and get my heart checked it was so thrilling."

　　Thousands of people poured into the streets of towns and cities across Portugal to celebrate. Traffic stopped along Lisbon's main Avenida de Liberdade as fans thronged the road.

　　Michael Owen finally regained his goalscoring touch to give England a 1-0 lead after just three minutes but substitute Helder Postiga, who surprisingly replaced Luis Figo for Portugal, headed an equalizer seven minutes from the end of 90 minutes.

　　England thought it had scored a winner in the final minute of normal time when Owen headed against the crossbar from a Beckham free kick and Sol Campbell forced the rebound over the line. But Swiss referee Urs Meier disallowed the goal for a foul on goalkeeper Ricardo and the game went into extra time.

　　Rui Costa fired an unstoppable 18-meter strike into the roof of the net in the 20th minute of extra time. The home fans were celebrating when Frank Lampard scored from close range five minutes later to make it 2-2.

　　In the shootout, England had a disastrous start when Beckham fired high and wide into the crowd behind the goal.

　　Deco, Simao, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nuno Maniche and Helder Postiga all scored for Portugal while Rui Costa missed. Owen, Lampard, John Terry, Owen Hargeaves and Ashley Cole all netted for England.

　　Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo then saved from Darius Vassell before deciding to take the next penalty himself and shooting past David James for the winner.

　　England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said he complained about the penalty spot on which Beckham slipped before sending England's first attempt wide.

　　"I complained personally to the UEFA person responsible about the penalty spot," he said, arguing it did not have enough grass surrounding it.

　　Now Beckham might blame himself for kicking England out of the tournament.

　　"He might do that, maybe," said Eriksson. Beckham missed a penalty in similar fashion during qualifying against Turkey.

　　"He slipped with his foot once again, unfortunately. Life has to go on," said Eriksson.

　　Portuguese midfielder Ronaldo said "during the penalties God was with us." "We have to celebrate this moment. It was wonderful. The way the people supported us from inside and outside the stadium.

　　"We believed in ourselves throughout the game. Over the 90 minutes we were better than the English."

　　The result means the Portuguese, who began the tournament with a surprise 2-1 loss to Greece, reached the semifinal for the second time in a row. Four years ago, they lost to France on an extra time "golden goal" and the French went on to win the title.

　　It was the fourth time England had lost a penalty shootout. At the World Cup 1990 and Euro '96 it was to the Germans, each time in the semifinal. At World Cup '98 it was to Argentina.

　　"It's a big disappointment and it always seems to happen to us," Owen said.

　　"Tournaments come along every two years so you can't expect to win everything.

　　"But going out on penalties again is a bitter blow - although they put theirs away really well."

　　England lost Wayne Rooney in the 27th minute with an injury to his right ankle and the Everton striker went to hospital for an X-ray. He will be out of action for up to a month, Eriksson said.

　　Portugal great Eusebio, who wept after his side lost to England in the 1966 World Cup semifinal, said he was a "happy man".

　　"I knew it would be difficult because England is a great team. Our path to the final is clear, whoever we have to play against. I don't think we can be beaten now."

　　(The Associated Press)