Brazil beat England in the quarter-finals and the hosts will be hoping Scolari can weave his magic and produce a repeat performance at the same stage of the European Championship.
Scolari has meticulously studied England and believes that neutralising their most dangerous weapons, including 18-year-old forward Wayne Rooney, is the key to keeping Portugal on course for their first title in a major championship.
'Big Phil' said he is not one of the coaches who merely trusts in the strengths of his own players.
"It's no good just saying, 'We're the best and we don't have to worry about the other team'," he said. "We have to neutralise the opposition."
Scolari stressed there would be no man-marking of Rooney, however. "We don't have a specific player for that job. Whoever is there will mark him. It's difficult... but we can do it."
If Scolari's imposing presence on the touchline is not enough to give England a sense of deja vu, they will also be facing a team who speak the same language as their 2002 conquerors and a striker called Ronaldo.
Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo, one year Rooney's senior, has tormented defenders and aroused the Portuguese crowd with his irreverent trickery on the ball.
Scolari, who initially used Ronaldo as a substitute, gave him a start against Spain and praised the 19-year-old's maturity on and off the field.
LOSING STARTS
Both teams have recovered spectacularly from losing starts to win their last two first round matches and are buzzing. Rooney's four goals in two games for England has made him one of the talking points of the championship.
England bounced back by beating Switzerland 3-0 and Croatia 4-2, Rooney scoring twice each time.
"It's great to be in the quarter-finals, very nice to be playing the host nation Portugal in what should be an extremely good atmosphere," said England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson.
"The only thing we need to do better in the future is defending on set pieces, two wide free kicks against Croatia and two goals," warned the Swede.
Portugal striker Pauleta is suspended and starting in his place up front should be Nuno Gomes, who came on for him at halftime against Spain and scored the winner.
Scolari said he is contemplating at most one more change from the side that started against Spain.
England should line up with the same 11 who began against Switzerland and Croatia.
However, Eriksson believes it is too much to expect another brace for Rooney. "I'm sure he'll play very well again but to expect to score a couple of goals every game is asking too much.
"Whether he scores one goal or no goals it's just important that he is focused and concentrated."
Probable teams:
Portugal (4-4-2) - 1-Ricardo; 13-Miguel, 16-Ricardo Carvalho, 4-Jorge Andrade, 14-Nuno Valente; 6-Costinha, 18-Maniche (or 8-Armando Petit), 7-Luis Figo, 20-Deco; 17-Cristiano Ronaldo, 21-Nuno Gomes.
England (4-4-2) - 1-David James; 2-Gary Neville, 5-John Terry, 6-Sol Campbell, 3-Ashley Cole; 7-David Beckham, 11-Frank Lampard, 4-Steven Gerrard, 8-Paul Scholes; 9-Wayne Rooney, 10-Michael Owen.
Referee - Urs Meier (Switzerland)
Linesmen - Francesco Buragina (Switzerland), Rudolf Kappeli (Switzerland)
© 2024 Rediff.com -