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| 12th June - 17.00 - Group A Match | ||||
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| 1 - 2 | ||||
| Portugal Team | Greece Team | |||
Alexandre Ricardo |
Antonis Nikopolidis Panagiotis Fyssas Traianos Dellas Michalis Kapsis Angelos Basinas Giorgias Karagounis Giourkas Seitaridis Stelios Giannakopoulos Theo Zagorakis Zisis Vryzas Angelos Charisteas |
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| Portugal Subs | Greece Subs | |||
| Jose Moreira Joaquim Quim Alberto Ricardo Carvalho Luis Miguel Jorge Nuno Valente Armando Petit Tiago Mendes Anderson Deco Miguel Nuno Gomes Cristiano Ronaldo Helder Postiga |
Konstantinos Chalkias Theofanis Katergiannakis Giannis Goumas Stelios Venetidis Nikos Dabizas Vassilis Lakis Giorgos Georgiadis Pantelis Kafes Kostas Katsouranis Vassilis Tsartas Demis Nikolaidis Dimitrios Papadopoulos |
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| Match Report |
Portugal started the tournament as one of the favourites to win on home soil, but suffered an early setback with this defeat to Greece - a team that had previously never won a game in a major international competition. The game started in an open manner with Portugal having slightly more posession. However, it didn't take long for Greece to make the breakthrough. £13m Chelsea full-back Paulo Ferreira passed the ball straight to Greek midfielder Georgios Karagounis, who drove the ball past keeper Ricardo from 25 yards. This should have spurred Portugal to up the tempo, but they barely produced anything of note in the first half. Their best chance fell to Manuel Rui Costa - chosen ahead of Deco - who headed wide completely unchallenged from 12 yards out. Portugal manager Scolari introduced Deco and Man United wonderkid Christiano Ronaldo at half time in order to provide more attacking options. This backfired heavily when he tripped Seitaridis in the area after fifty minutes. Basinas converted the spot-kick with ease. The home team rallied, but never really produced an excellent chance. Deco and Figo both had efforts off target. Clinical striker Pauleta barely had a sniff against a very resolute Greek defence. Finally they pulled a goal back in the third minute of injury time when Ronaldo headed in a corner from Figo. However, it was too little too late. Qualification for Portugal may now hinge on them getting a result against neighbours Spain in their final group game. Greece have given themselves an excellent chance of progressing to the next round. |
