International Football - Portugal held by Estonia

Eurosport - Wed, 10 Jun 21:28:00 2009

A second-string Portugal side drew 0-0 with Estonia in a tame end-of-season friendly in Tallinn.

FOOTBALL 2007 Estonia Mart Poom - 0

With Cristiano Ronaldo and Simao out through injury, and Deco and Jose Bosingwa out of the squad, coach Carlos Queiroz gave debuts to keeper Beto, sweeper Ze Castro and winger Eliseu.

Estonia dominated the second half and gave keeper Beto the opportunity to shine with several eye-catching saves.

Portugal are locked in a tough battle to qualify for the World Cup from Group One. They are level on nine points with Sweden, four behind second-placed Hungary and seven behind leaders Denmark.

Estonia are fifth in Group Five, on five points from six matches and with little chance of qualifying.

Wednesday's game marked the international retirement of Estonia goalkeeper Mart Poom, who has 120 caps.

Reuters

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  1. The number of slots for European teams has been pretty­ much the same. While I don't believe the­ USA/Autralia has much hope against top teams in Europe,­ I believe that they are perfectly capable of dealing­ with the 14th European team. Global qualification­ process doesn't work because the travel cost would­ be astronomical.

    From elson l, on Fri 12 Jun 8:45AM

  2. portugal and france aren't gonna make the world cup­ at this rate!!! why are there less european slots every­ world cup allowing teams like australia, iraq, usa and­ trinidad more chances to qualify that european­ legends... there should be global qualifying groups­ instead of regional for more fairness!!

    From mathewdionyssiou, on Thu 11 Jun 12:20AM
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