Giovanni van Bronckhorst will offer a smile and a handshake to Barcelona buddy Deco in Nuremberg on Sunday.

But the Holland defender admits there is no room for friendship at the World Cup.

The pair meet up at the weekend knowing one of them will be packing their bags for home as Holland tackle Portugal in the heavyweight clash of the first knock-out round.

Van Bronckhorst has already suffered at Portuguese hands before as one of the five remaining members of the Dutch starting line-up for the Euro 2004 semi-final.

And, though his fondness for Deco is deep, the 31-year-old former Arsenal and Rangers star has no wish to suffer similar agony again.

"Deco is a good friend of mine," said van Bronckhorst.

"He is a fantastic person and a great player. But I will not be texting him or contacting him in any way. You have no friends once the World Cup starts.

"All I am interested in is winning the game. We have had some negative experiences against Portugal in the past, so it is time we enjoyed a positive one."

Although van Bronckhorst acknowledges Deco is a hugely influential figure in the Portugal side, the 31-year-old feels it is too simplistic to argue if Holland stop the midfielder, they will stop their opponents as well.

The full-back can see plenty of other dangers in the Portugal squad, from either end of the age scale, in Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo.

"Deco is an important player for Portugal but they have a lot of quality," he said.

"Figo, Ronaldo and Pauleta are all great players and they have a good bench as well.

"Clearly, it will help if we could stop Deco but you could not say by doing so it will destroy the whole Portugal team."

Van Bronckhorst feels a capacity crowd in Nuremberg could be in for a treat on Sunday.

Already the most eye-catching of the knock-out games, he believes the commitment of both sides to a three-man attack should guarantee an entertaining spectacle.

After progressing unbeaten through a group containing Serbia and Montenegro, the Ivory Coast and highly-rated Argentina, Holland have every reason to feel confident.

There may be grumblings about the form of Ruud van Nistelrooy and coach Marco van Basten has admitted he is considering the option of Dirk Kuyt as a central striker.

But, with Arjen Robben certain to be restored to van Basten's starting line-up, van Nistelrooy is expected to be retained and the prolific striker should get significantly more service than he received against Argentina in midweek when he was a largely peripheral figure.

Defender Johnny Heitinga is Holland's only injury concern but the Ajax defender is likely to recover from a hamstring injury to face the Portuguese, whose recent record against the Dutch is impressive.

"They beat us at Euro 2004 and in two games against them in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers we only managed one draw," confirmed van Bronckhorst.

"But while Portugal have more or less kept the same team, ours is totally different.

"We have a lot of young players who are still maturing. We have done well in this tournament so far, we have built up a lot of confidence and now the aim is to keep the momentum going for as long as we can."