England's defeat by Portugal on penalties in their Euro 2004 quarter-final was very tough to take, coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said on Thursday.“Unfortunately we lost on penalties and that’s very hard,” Eriksson said.“We were not lucky with some things out there today but that’s football,” the coach said. “The spirit has been fantastic but losing this way is very hard.”Eriksson said he had complained twice about the state of the penalty spot before the game. The spot seemed to be very unstable and Beckham skied his kick over the bar after apparently slipping.“Yesterday again we took it up, UEFA said they would put in a new one. Beckham, I think he slipped with his foot once again, unfortunately.” Beckham blazed a penalty over the bar in a Euro 2004 qualifier against Turkey. “Football is like this, when you go to penalties it is skill but it is also a lottery,” Eriksson said.
