England to face Portugal under closed roof

BERLIN, June 30 (Reuters) England will play Portugal under a closed roof at the AufShchalke Arena in Gelsenkirchen when they meet in the World Cup quarter-final tomorrow.

Although no inclement weather is expected, FIFA spokesman Markus Siegler said today that the roof at the stadium would be closed for ''sporting reasons''.

When the roof was closed there for the Group C match between Argentina and Serbia&Montenegro on June 16 the stadium became only the fourth in World Cup history to stage a game ''indoors''.

World Cup matches had previously been played under a closed roof at the Silverdome in Detroit in 1994, the Sapporo Dome in 2002 and Frankfurt's Waldstadion where the roof was closed for the Group G match between South Korea and Togo on June 13.

REUTERS DH ND1744