Ten-man Portugal

2006-09-07
Euro’2008 qualifying begins

Portugal held on for a point against Finland, in Helsinki (1-1), in the opening game for the Euro’2008 qualifying round, accomplishing, in eight years, 31 matches without one single defeat in qualifying stages. Luiz Felipe Scolari was premonitory when he said that a draw would be a good result. Indeed it was so that the Portuguese squad had to play the last 36 minutes with ten after Ricardo Costa collected a second yellow card. The Portuguese lineup included five players that are represented by Gestifute – Ricardo Carvalho, Costinha, Deco, tonight the Portuguese skipper, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani – and two more were called up in the second half – Ricardo Rocha and Tiago.
It was an early season typical match with the normal deficiencies plus the on-going renewal process being implemented in the Portuguese squad and which results cannot be assured overnight. Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo – who reached his 40th cap – where responsible, just so, for some nice plays and also for almost all shots at goal made by the Portuguese team in the first half. Nani was one of the best on the team, he who just had his 2nd cap after his debut with the jersey of the main Portuguese Squad in the friendly match against Denmark.
Playing now with Deco, who could not play against Denmark due to physical problems and yesterday reaching his 40th cap, Portugal didn't start well, having serious difficulties with the Finns’ aerial game who, in the first ten minutes, had two opportunities to score, both from the head of the mighty centre-back Hyypiä (1.95 m height), the second one forcing an impressive save from Ricardo. Finnish pressure would succeed at 22' and Johansson scored after a good play on the left wing by Vayrynen.
With Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani showing their great capacity to shoot at goal, Deco slowly began to rise and disclosing his football skills, materialized with the Portuguese goal that equalised the match: the magician got the ball from Nani, tricked three Finns in the midfield and made a clinical pass to Nuno Gomes that fired home with his right foot without any chance for Jaaskelainen. A providential goal with only three minutes left for half-time.
Portugal rallied in the second half, and mostly due to Deco’s very positive performance, but Ricardo Costa sent off at 54’ was a hard set-back. Luiz Felipe Scolari had to rearrange the defence. Nani switched with Ricardo Rocha, leaving Cristiano Ronaldo next to Nuno Gomes but the opportunities were scarce. On both sides since Finland, strangely, took no advantage to charge at the Portuguese goal. They only had two opportunities, again on heights, but without success.
The draw ended up as being a good result for this Euro'2008 kick-off qualifying round (Group A), proceeding on October 7th when Portugal will host Azerbaijan and four days later travelling to Poland.

CRISTIANO RONALDO: “GOOD RESULT”

“The team is quite well, we must congratulate ourselves. This is the beginning of the season, a period in which players are not yet 100% fit, thus this is a good result. We knew Finland would be playing behind the ball line, which is always complicated. It’s difficult to play against a team that puts eight players back there, not only for me but for all my team mates, but Portugal did well and the draw is a good result. Before Ricardo being sent off we had more ball possession.
[About the sent off that could be avoided] A lot of things could have been avoided… But that’s football, and we all, including Ricardo, must congratulate ourselves for the result.”

DECO: “WE ATTACKED MORE THAN THEM”

“If we take a look at the game, we were the ones who attacked more and tried to score the most. We were in control when Ricardo was sent off. These things happen. Most important was not to lose the game.”

NANI: “I WILL CONTINUE TO WORK HARD”

“The draw is a good result. I think I did well tonight. The first half went well for me but then we were unfortunate with the sent off and I ended up being replaced. The future? I don’t know. The coach is the one who makes decisions. I will continue to work hard.”

RICARDO CARVALHO: “WE IMPOSED OUR FOOTBALL”

“The first moments of the game were bad, we were a little careless, but after that we imposed our football. The goal? It was a very quick play in which they quickly moved the ball from a free kick, and then there was a failure to leave someone unattended. Remember that we are starting a new cycle, many valuable players have joined the team, but they are new in the group. They did their job but with time we will all improve. This turns out to be a positive result. We showed there on the pitch that we were better than Finland, and it was important not to be defeated as Finland would stay with six points in two possible matches.”

Olympic Stadium in Helsinki.
Referee: Konrad Plauz (Áustria). Assistants: Markus Mayer e Markus Freund.
Yellow card: Litmanem, 30’; Ricardo Costa, 35’; Ricardo Costa, 54’; Heikkinen, 66’; Petit, 69’; Eremenko Jr., 90’+3’.
Red card: Ricardo Costa, 54’.
FINLAND – Jaaskelainen; Tihinen, Hyypia, Kallio e Teemu Tainio; Pasanen, Heikkinen e Kolkka (Eremenko Jr., 82’); Litmanen, Johansson (Kuqi, 65’) e Mika Vayrynen.
Coach: Roy Hodgson.
PORTUGAL – Ricardo; Caneira, Ricardo Costa, Ricardo Carvalho e Nuno Valente; Petit , Costinha e Deco (Tiago, 86’); Nani (Ricardo Rocha, 57’), Cristiano Ronaldo e Nuno Gomes (João Moutinho, 76’).
Coach: Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Full-time: 1-1. Half-time: 1-1. Score: 1-0: Johansson, 22'. 1-1: Nuno Gomes, 42'.