Ruud van Nistelrooy has been given a two-match international ban for insulting a referee.
The Dutchman was handed the ban by UEFA's disciplinary committee for using insulting behaviour towards Swedish referee Anders Frisk.
Van Nistelrooy was furious at Frisk's performance during the Netherlands' Euro 2004 semi-final loss to Portugal and had to be led away after confronting the match official following the final whistle.
Frisk made note of the confrontation in his report and UEFA took action against the Dutchman, who has until Monday to appeal.
Van Nistelrooy stands to miss his country's first two 2006 World Cup qualifying matches - at home to the Czech Republic on September 8 and FYR Macedonia away on October 9 – unless he lodges a successful appeal.
The striker was angry about Frisk's performance on the night, saying: "It was unbelievable how the referee ruled everything in favour of Portugal."
"He was a real home whistler. Every 50-50 situation went for them."
Ruud's scored four times already in the tournament and Netherlands coach Dick Advocaat believes the Manchester United striker's ruthless streak will unnerve Portugal.
"For us, he's a gift from God who, in my opinion, is the best striker in the world," he says.
"It's incredible how he's playing. He works his socks off and you can see he's desperate to get the result he wants - to get into the final and score even more goals."
With the hosts' hopes of claiming the trophy they believe to be their birthright running at fever pitch, van Nistelrooy casts a deathly spectre.
He's scored two thirds of his team's six goals, as well as a first penalty in the shoot-out the Dutch won to eliminate Sweden and book their place in the last four.
Having missed Euro 2000 with a career-threatening injury and then the 2002 World Cup after Holland failed to qualify, van Nistelrooy has made up for lost time.
Defender Jorge Andrade, the man Portugal hopes will thwart him, has recovered from an ankle injury and professes to be unfazed. "It's not only my job to stop van Nistelrooy. It's the whole team that has to work together to stop their best players," he says.
As well as home ground advantage, Portugal should have an edge in terms of freshness, having had two extra days to recover from their quarter-final win over England.
Playing at home is not without its complications, particularly in terms of a heightened burden of expectation. But according to Advocaat, that is a kind of pressure he shares with his counterpart, Luiz Felipe Scolari.
"In Holland you have to win everything," he said. "But I'm used to that. There's a love-hate relationship between myself and the Dutch press."
Portugal captain Luis Figo is also expected to start, despite storming off after being substituted late against England. Portugal were trailing 1-0 at the time and Figo must have thought he had played his last game for his country.
Portugal - beaten semi-finalists in 1984 and 2000 - have lost only one of eight meetings with the Dutch - vanquished semi-finalists in 1992 and 2000 - and have never succumbed on home soil to the 1988 champions.
the Netherlands won a penalty shootout and the reward was a trip to the semifinals of the European Championship.
Arjen Robben converted the key spot kick Saturday to give the Netherlands a 5-4 penalty shootout victory over Sweden after a 0-0 draw through extra time.
Edwin Van der Sar saved Olof Mellberg's shot to give Robben the opportunity to clinch the match, and the future Chelsea player coolly slotted the ball into the left corner.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, another Ajax player, also missed for Sweden, while Phillip Cocu hit the post for the Dutch.
It was the first time in five attempts that the Dutch won a penalty shootout at a major championship.
"At last we were able to do it. Fantastic," Robben said. "We showed character, fought and always remained positive."
Robben got close to scoring in the third minute of extra time but his low shot was fumbled by Sweden goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson onto the post and Roy Makaay was unable to get to the rebound.
But the match could have gone the other way too, with Henrik Larsson's shot hitting the Dutch crossbar and Fredrik Ljungberg's rocket bouncing off the post of Van der Sar's goal deep into second period of extra time.
"I think we had a very good game, playing on this level equal with the Dutch team," Sweden co-coach Lars Lagerback said. "It was a really good match and it could have gone either way."
The Netherlands will face Portugal on Wednesday at Lisbon's Jose Alvalade Stadium in its second straight European Championship semifinal. The Dutch reached the last four when they co-hosted the tournament four years ago, only to lose to Italy in a penalty shootout.
"This an enormous release," Netherlands coach Dick Advocaat said. "It was a difficult game in which the long ball was used too much.
"We radiated the desire to win the shootout, even if it is a bit of luck. It's wonderful how the group came together, the players and I had a talk and Edwin was able to stop a shot," he said.
Advocaat said the team spent "zero hours" practicing penalties, which he views as a lottery.
"Sweden practiced yesterday and now you can see the result."
About 20,000 orange-clad Dutch fans celebrated wildly at the Algarve stadium between the cities of Loule and Faro.
The match was uneventful in the first half but both teams got chances late.
In the 16th minute of extra time, Isaksson was forced to make an acrobatic one-handed save on Clarence Seedorf's free kick from 20 meters.
The match was also the end of Sweden's unusual co-coaching arrangement.
Tommy Soderberg will now move to Sweden's youth teams while Lagerback stays on as the head coach of the senior team.
"Of course you feel extra pity for Tommy ending with losing on penalties," Lagerback said about his partner. "In a way it's always easier to lose a game when the other team is better and you can accept it afterward. So it was pity for Tommy, an extra pity."
Henrik Larsson has scored three goals in three games at Euro 2004 but the modest Swede believes Ruud van Nistelrooy will be the best striker on the pitch in tomorrow's quarter-final against Holland in Faro.
"I can sum him up in one word: great," said Larsson when asked for his opinion on the Dutchman who was joint-top scorer with four goals alongside England's Wayne Rooney after the group stage.
"Ruud can score from many positions and it's very hard for defenders to follow him.
"He's strong, quick and not scared of scoring." The form of 32-year-old Larsson, who was persuaded to return to international football just before Euro 2004, has been crucial in Sweden's run to the quarter-finals but he is not interested in comparisons with the 27-year-old Manchester United striker. "No, I don't see any similarities," he said. "Van Nistelrooy is far too good."
Van Nistelrooy admitted: "This is definitely my best period with the national team. Against Sweden, we are going to play the way we always do. We are Holland, we only know how to play one way."
RUUD BANNED FOR INSULTING REF
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