World Cup - Portugal sneak win over Bosnia

Eurosport - Sat, 14 Nov 10:20:00 2009

Bruno Alves's first-half goal gave Portugal an unconvincing first-leg win at home to Bosnia-Herzegovina in their World Cup qualifying play-off.

FOOTBALL Portugal's Bruno Alves after scoring in the World Cup qualifying play-off first leg against Bosnia in Lisbon - 0

Alves (pictured) bundled the ball in at the far post after Nani's right-wing cross was allowed to fizz across goal on 31 minutes.

The Bosnians were very unfortunate not to bag an away goal after hitting the woodwork three times, including twice in succession with only a minute left.

Portugal, with four foreign-born players in their starting line-up, dominated possession but laboured in front of goal, while Bosnia's dangerous strikers were a constant threat on the break.

The hosts started the brighter although Bosnia soon found a counter-attacking rhythm and Hajduk Split midfielder Senijad Ibricic went close with a header wide from a ninth-minute corner.

For all their possession, Portugal did not truly threaten Kenan Hasagic's goal until Raul Meireles forced the Bosnia keeper to tip over just after the half hour.

They were ahead soon afterwards when defender Alves stole in unmarked at the far post after Nani's wicked centre evaded both attack and defence.

Bosnia rallied as Vedad Ibisevic bicycle-kicked just over and Sejad Sahilovic was foiled by Portugal keeper Eduardo.

Two minutes before half-time Ibricic was agonisingly close to equalising from another corner but his power-header crashed off the bar.

The second half followed a similar pattern of Portugal bossing the ball but Bosnia dangerous on the counter.

Liedson, Sporting's naturalised striker, should have made it 2-0 after his outrageous flick set him clear but he fired over from close range.

Within seconds fellow Brazilian-born expatriate Deco tried a long shot that just cleared the bar but, for all their territorial dominance, the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and any cutting edge up front meant they were as toothless as they were stylish.

The visitors were desperately unlucky not to equalise. With a quarter of an hour left Wolfsburg hit-man Edin Dzeko fired into the side netting after leaving Paulo Ferreira for dead, but the real drama came in the latter stages.

On 89 minutes Dzeko - who with Wayne Rooney was joint-second top scorer in qualifying with nine goals - dived in at the far post to head a right-wing cross past Eduardo but, in doing everything right by putting the ball low into the ground, his finish bounced up off the crossbar.

The loose ball dropped to substitute Zlatan Muslimovic, who finished low past the stranded Braga keeper but off the inside of the far post.

Portugal held on for the win on the night but the second leg in Sarajevo on November 18 might not see Bosnia so forgiving.

Reda Maher / Eurosport

Comment 30 - 49 of 49

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  1. It’s funny!
    Only Peter, (an English citizien, based on­ his comments) bother to comment the game between Brazil­ and England, however, the game Portugal vs Bosnia has­ 48 comments, most of them posted by English citizens­ that hate Portugal (and that includes the article’s­ writer). Why is that? Just because since 1966 you­ guys couldn’t beat us again? Sorry but that’s just­ luck. Same luck we don’t have agains’t Italy and ­ France!
    That’s life...either you take it or leave it. ­ But please don’t take it so personal, because if you­ guys don’t know most Portuguese people are fans of “­ the Velha senhora”.

    From metalico, on Tue 17 Nov 5:26AM

  2. "stop quoating the media and taking them to­­ seriously....we all know who controls them. They fear­­ portugal the most." this must be their reason for­ writing it :D hehe.
    And to t bone
    Bitter and nasty­ well look what u are writing this is all just a­ response to other comments about this topic nothing­ more. Bad to see how u think u are better than­ "others". So if it was to u no other teams­ other than standards ones would go to the WCS. Jet­ again showing ur agonance.
    First think a hour to two­ hours what u gonna write because u let all Portuguese­ look bad eheh

    From Mirza, on Sun 15 Nov 5:10PM

  3. Wow, now that I read these posts I see that you Bosnia­ are pretty bitter and nasty. I wasn't going to say­ anything bad about your national team, the fact is they­ weren't very good and would have gotten their a...s­ kicked if we had Ronaldo. So maybe you will beat us in­ Sarajevo, or Zenit, or hell, whatever, but you probably­ won't make out of the first round. You see­ you'll probably get put in a group with something­ like Argentina, Ivory coast and Japan, you and Japan­ being the scrub teams to not advance. And for­ Kuzmarin, as overrated as Portugal may be, Bosnia is­ probably correctly rated, right above Albania and­ Turkey, can't wait to visit, NOT!!!

    From t bone, on Sun 15 Nov 4:40PM

  4. Wow, I will first say that I was rooting for Portugal­ and watched the game and also agree that they were very­ lucky to win. But Bosnia was dominated in this game. ­ I don't understand why Eurosport would force the­ @#$% who wrote this article to watch this game since he­ clearly hates Portugal! I have never read an article­ in which the writer immediately points out how many­ foreign born players are starting on one side, granted­ he was stating a fact but hardly objective since­ everyone who can does it. Also, even though everyone­ probably knew this, he doesn't mention that­ Portugal was without the World Player of the year until­ 3 quarters of his article is done. He does mention it­ but not until he has inflamed the audience, or­ overjoyed it if they are Portugal haters like himself,­ or herself, either way the writer is a @#$%. I do want­ to apologize to writer for one thing, sorry for our­ national team ruining a few of your summers recently,­ clearly your bitter about something. Finally, if he is­ upset because he is a Bosnia supporter, then he really­ has nothing to complain about because they really­ didn't do anything special. They had a couple of­ chances that they were unlucky with, they easily could­ have scored, but were otherwise dominated and the score­ didn't reflect that because Portugal has always­ lacked a great finisher, well the one they do have now­ was on the bench. We on the otherhand have always been­ lucky, the late goal by platini in 84, the 2 recent­ penalties given to France, especially the last one, and­ the assault Ballack committed against Paulo Ferreira­ not too long ago, I thought they were going to press­ charges that was so bad, hows that for luck, more like­ ROBBERY! I hope we play this guys team in an­ elimination round in SA, if we make it of course, would­ love to ruin his summer again!!!

    From t bone, on Sun 15 Nov 4:16PM

  5. mirza, stop quoating the media and taking them to­ seriously....we all know who controls them. They fear­ portugal the most.

    Every team has its bad luck.­ Portugal had badluck numerous times and recently with a­ controversial penalty in the last world cup semi­ finals. A year from now nobody will talk about the­ woodwork wid the bosnia match. So stop moaning like a­ bad loser and get your act together and get ready to­ face Forca attack in Zenica.

    From rui, on Sun 15 Nov 1:42PM

  6. rui before making suck stupid remarks about Bosnia fans­ please sit down and read all the comments and u will­ see who is making and who has started to make­ flabbergasting remarks... than speak u arrogant and­ ignorant a..
    It seems u are all scared otherwise u­ wouldn't talk so much and react on the LUCK­ factor.
    Please see some neutral sports reports from the­ world and u will read what they say:
    Eurosport­ :Portugal sneak win over Bosnia
    German DSF: glücklicher­ Sieg für Portugal ...Lucky win for Portugal !
    RTL­ sport:Portugiesen danken dem­ 'Pfostengott'....Portuguese thank the woodwork ­ God !
    any many more

    From Mirza, on Sun 15 Nov 1:31PM

  7. See you in hell of Zenica!!!

    From husein, on Sun 15 Nov 11:40AM

  8. To Rosa C, just come and see that ''empty­ cans''. You had your chance to show what you­ can do and you showed indeed, one goal by stopper after­ huge mistake. Maybe luck will not be on your side in­ our motherland., you were really , lets say,­ ''saved by the bell''. Can't wait­ Zenica, see you.

    From dumpors, on Sun 15 Nov 11:09AM

  9. Being a Portugues fan, i really was impressed with the­ Bosnia team. But over here the remarks made against­ portugal by some bosnia fans is flabbergasting.

    To all­ Bosnia Fans....please note that football mad Portugal­ too being a small country made it presence as a­ football power only these last 15 years due to hard­ work and a good programme for the youngsters.­ You'll too can be a great team. Before talking­ garbage from your f*kN hole prove to the world. Dont­ just talk ill about portugal, or about 2-3 good­ forwards you'll have, or how good you'll are in­ set pieces, or what location the next match played.­ Qualify, Beat the big football powers, Impress in BIG­ tournaments. Croatia, Ukraine, S.Korea and host of­ nations have done that and so can­ Bosnia&Herzegovina

    From rui, on Sun 15 Nov 10:57AM

  10. Lets be realistic ,portugal is great team and Bosnians­ are young and unexperience, but that doesnt mean Bosnia­ will not come out as winner from this playoff. They­ have best supporters in Zenica, and huge motivation to­ win, only those who watch them in Zenica know wht they­ can do there....VIVA BOSNIA!

    From amra l, on Sun 15 Nov 10:43AM

  11. Portugal will win the the second game in Zenica which­ they call "Hell". We are really scared­ 'lol'!!!! The match will be won by goal/goals­ not by so called 'Luck". Portuguese won't­ be intimidated by noise made empty cans!!!!!!!

    From Rosa C, on Sun 15 Nov 10:38AM

  12. @ Brunos, Portugal is less then average team, with­ stupid manager and overrated players!
    Also­ Portugal's nation is also overrated, you are just­ bunch of lazy @#$%!

    From Mladen, on Sun 15 Nov 7:51AM

  13. It's true that Portugal had possession and­ controled the ball, but it was a home game for you and­ you're a better technical side. But it's not­ true that Portugal should've scored more, except­ from a lucky goal there was only 1 more good chance,­ when Liedson chipped the ball over Jahic and was 1 on 1­ with the keeper. Besides that there was no real goal­ chance and it was 1 goal out of 2 good chances. Bosnia­ had at least 2 times more goal opportunities but this­ is not the first time that we're simply unlucky.

    From Dino, on Sun 15 Nov 7:03AM

  14. 2 POSTS AND A CROSSBAR FROM NOW ON SHOULD BE CONSIDERED­ A GOAL lol
    TO BOSNIANS ITS JUST AS GOOD !

    2 POSTS +­ CROSSBAR = GOAL

    HAHAHA DREAM ON

    From BRUNO, on Sun 15 Nov 6:56AM

  15. Portugal was lucky to win. It's one thing to have­ big names in their team and another to play as a team.­ Bosnia played as a team.

    They were lucky. VERY­ LUCKY.

    ...and for you BRUNOS, I think you just did­ 'popusio' one!!!

    We see you in Bosnia!!!­ Portugese MIDGETS wan't have any chance from any­ set piece.

    From kolar.boris, on Sun 15 Nov 6:53AM

  16. I BET BOSNIA SHOULD HAVE WON AGAINST SPAIN TOO WHEN­ THEY SCORED THOSE 2 LAST MINUTE GOALS IN THERE 5-2 LOST­ TO SPAIN lol

    YOU BOSNIANS MAKE ME F*N LAUGH!!!! LOL

    From BRUNO, on Sun 15 Nov 6:52AM

  17. the second leg will not be played in Sarajevo. It will­ be played in Zenica!!!!

    From SemirGOBAYERN!!!, on Sun 15 Nov 6:48AM

  18. Portugal are bad with Ronaldo, worse without him..

    From Half A Brain, on Sun 15 Nov 6:05AM

  19. Portugal a 1-0 win over Bosnia in their World Cup­ playoff first leg on Saturday and while the home team­ missed several chances they were also let off when­ Bosnia hit the woodwork twice in the final­ minute.
    Liedson missed Portugal's best chance to­ double the lead in the second half, but Edin Dzeko and­ Zlatan Muslimovic almost stunned the Portuguese by­ hitting the bar and the post in the 89th­ minute.

    "I think with the image of that moment­ when the ball hit the post and the bar we can recognise­ we were lucky," Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz told­ reporters.
    "But it was the same gods that­ protected Bosnia when Liedson missed the goal, because­ he doesn't usually miss those­ chances."

    Portugal dominated the first half hour,­ with Nani exploiting space on the right wing to give­ Emir Spahic a torrid time. Liedson headed just wide in­ the eighth minute and Nani failed to score at the end­ of a flowing Portuguese move 10 minutes later.
    The­ hosts took a deserved lead after 31 minutes when Nani­ crossed for Alves to head in unchallenged at the far­ post.
    The goal spurred the Bosnians and Vedad Ibisivec­ sent a close-range effort just over. Sejad­ Salihovic's shot forced Eduardo to a block on 38­ minutes, but Portugal's biggest scare came when­ Senijad Ibricic sent a header crashing against the bar­ in the 43rd minute.
    Queiroz acknowledged his side's­ inconsistent performance.
    "It's natural that­ happened, but we played ... intelligently. In some­ moments we played well and dominated, and when he had­ to suffer we knew what to do," he said.
    Portugal­ surged forward in the second half and Liedson came­ close to giving them the precious second goal in the­ 55th minute. The striker received a fine pass from Deco­ and coolly beat his marker but sent his effort just­ over the Bosnian goal.
    Bosnia did not pose much of a­ threat for most of the second half but almost stunned­ the Portuguese in a sensational double-chance in the­ 89th minute.

    From rui, on Sun 15 Nov 5:19AM

  20. Hey Mate were you stoned when you wrote this @#$%­ headline and article. Portugal controlled most part of­ the game. The score line should have been 3-1.....

    As­ a portuguese fan i want us to be in SA, but feel sorry­ in a way for Bosnia as they would be a great team to­ watch out in SA.

    From rui, on Sun 15 Nov 5:11AM
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