Mark van Bommel has tipped England to beat Portugal in Saturday's World Cup quarter-final.

The Dutch midfielder was distinctly unimpressed with Luiz Felipe Scolari's men in their 1-0 knockout win over Holland last night, believing the better team lost.

Van Bommel's frustration was made more acute by the knowledge Portugal skipper Luis Figo should have been sent off when he clearly headbutted the Barcelona man an hour into a game which saw referee Valentin Ivanov dish out a World Cup record four red cards and an incredible 16 yellows.

At the time, it would have reduced Portugal to nine men against Holland's 11, providing the Dutch with ample opportunity to claw back Maniche's first-half opener.

Instead, Holland failed in their objective. But Van Bommel is convinced England have more than enough firepower to down Portugal, particularly as both Deco and Costinha will miss the game through suspension.

"Portugal are not an intimidating team," said the 29-year-old. "You just have to match them.

"I realise England have not played their best in the tournament so far but Portugal have not been that impressive either.

"England have a good squad and, with Deco and Costinha missing, I think England will win."

According to Van Bommel, Figo should be sweating on his place too as he is completely at a loss to understand why the Portugal skipper was not sent off for the clear headbutt.

"I don't particularly blame Figo," he said. "It is the referee's job to deal with situations like that.

"He must have seen it, otherwise why would he show a yellow card? The decision was totally mystifying.

"FIFA should have looked at it again because the referee ruined the game."