Re: Group A: Portugal
by
Moonlight Shadow on Thu 20 Mar 2008, 6:19 am
Point to prove for Portugal
How did they perform in UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying?
•Portugal lost only one game in Group A, the only section with eight
teams, but had to endure a nervous finale before claiming their place
in the finals as runners-up to Poland.
• After clinging on for a 1-1
draw with Finland with ten men in their opening game, Portugal won 3-0
against Azerbaijan but then lost 2-1 in Poland.
• Progress was to be
sporadic thereafter, despite winger Cristiano Ronaldo contributing
eight goals. Portugal dropped some unexpected points, drawing 1-1 home
and away against Serbia, 2-2 at home against Poland and – worst of all
– 1-1 away against a surprisingly troublesome Armenia.
• Incidents
following the 1-1 home draw with Serbia led coach Luiz Felipe Scolari
to be banned from the touchline for three games, but Portugal won all
three matches with his assistant Flávio Teixeira on the bench, meaning
they needed only to avoid defeat in their final game against Finland in
Porto to progress.
• With Finland knowing a win would likely see
them qualify in Portugal's place, it was a tense affair, but a 0-0 draw
sufficed for the home side, with Scolari saying: "I know we have to
improve for the finals."
How did they perform in the 2006 FIFA World Cup?
•Advanced to their second successive FIFA World Cup finals by topping
the standings in their qualifying round group ahead of Slovakia and
Russia.
• Won nine and drew three of their 12 games in the
qualifiers, winning all of their six games on home soil with 24 goals
scored and two conceded.
• With 30 points from 12 outings,
Portugal finished joint second with England (25 points from 10 matches)
in terms of their average points per match ratio – 2.5 – with the
Netherlands posting the best match average (2.67).
• Portugal enjoyed a successful campaign at the finals in Germany, finishing the tournament in fourth position.
•Group victories against Angola (1-0), Iran (2-0) and Mexico (2-1) were
followed by the 1-0 second-round defeat of the Netherlands.
•Portugal made it to the semi-finals after a 3-1 penalty win against
England but had their path halted by a 1-0 loss to France, before
losing 3-1 in the third-place play-off to Germany.
How did they perform in UEFA EURO 2004™? •Beaten finalists, having also hosted the event. Portugal lost their
opening and closing matches to Greece but won all their other matches
in between.
• Bounced back from their opening match loss to Greece
to defeat Russia (2-0) and Spain (1-0) to top the group standings.
Overcame England in the quarter-finals on penalties after the sides
shared a 2-2 draw and then beat the Netherlands 2-1 to claim their
place in the final.
• Greek striker Angelos Charisteas’
57th-minute goal separated the sides at the Estádio da Luz in the final
as Portugal failed to follow the example of Spain (1964), Italy (1968)
and France (1984) in winning the competition on home soil.
What is their best performance in the UEFA European Championship? •Portugal's best performance to date in the competition came in 2004
when they lost in the final to Greece. Prior to that, Portugal had
appeared in two semi-finals where they lost on both occasions to
France.
• The two sides met in 1984 where France won 3-2 in an
extra-time thriller at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille before
defeating Spain in the final.
• Sixteen years later, on this
occasion at Brussels’ Roi Baudouin stadium, France prevailed 2-1
against Portugal, again after extra time, before defeating Italy in the
final four days later.
Key facts • Portugal have appeared in the last
four UEFA European Championship final tournaments having first
qualified for the finals in 1984.
All-time record • Up until the end of UEFA EURO
2008™ qualifying, Portugal had played 108 matches in their 13
participations in the UEFA European Championship, winning 58, drawing
26 and losing 24 with 183 goals scored and 98 conceded.
• Portugal's
record victories to date in the competition have come via two 8-0
defeats of Liechtenstein on 18 December 1994 and 9 June 1999. The
latter match saw both João Pinto and Sá Pinto scoring hat-tricks.
•Their record defeats in the competition have come courtesy of 5-0 away
defeats at the hands of Czechoslovakia (30 April 1975) and the Soviet
Union (27 April 1983).
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