World Cup - Portugal book their ticket

Eurosport - Wed, 18 Nov 20:40:00 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo will play at the 2010 World Cup after Portugal qualified with a 2-0 aggregate victory over Bosnia-Herzegovia in Zenica.

2009 World Cup play-off Portugal's Raul Meireles celebrates goal in second leg against Bosnia - 0

Ronaldo remained absent for Portugal during Wednesday's second leg, but his compatriots did a professional job without him, triumphing 1-0 on the night through Raul Meireles' calmly taken 55th-minute strike.

It could have been more for Meireles and Portugal before the end, with Fejae Salihovic sent off for Bosnia, sparking ugly scenes as missiles were launched in the direction of the nearby linesman.

In the end, the only thing that will matter to Portugal is the fact that they will play in the 2010 World Cup, and they booked their flight largely without the help of Deco who started on the bench due to a niggling muscle strain.

Bruno Alves, the man whose goal separated the two sides at kick-off, did manage to recover from a twisted ankle, so he was back to mark Bosnia and Wolfsburg hotshot Edin Dzeko.

Collectively, Portugal did a fine job on Dzeko too. The towering number 11 scored nine goals in the group stages, but neither he nor any of his team-mates could manage a shot on target in the first 45 minutes, and only one of note in the entire 90.

In fairness, Portugal toiled too in the first half as the shredded turf played havoc with the players' ball control, but Carlos Quieros' men should still have been ahead by half time.

Former Chelsea man Tiago had the first of two great chances for the Iberian side, getting his head to Simao's sixth-minute corner, only to glance directly at goalkeeper Kenan Hasagic.

For the remainder of the half the hostile home crowd had to sit and watch their side toil to create anything of note, while Pepe and Nani both shot miles over the bar for Portugal.

The first half would have been completely forgettable had it not been for one wonder save by Hasagic, who kept his side in the tie with a world class stop from point-blank range.

Left back Duda had led the break for Portugal, and when Nani's cross found its way to the edge of the box, Tiago and Simao exchanged a sharp one-two before the latter was brilliantly foiled by Hasagic when a goal seemed certain.

The Bosnia goalkeeper was easily their best player, maybe even man-of-the-match, making yet another priceless save just five minutes into the second period.

Nani was the man to escape Boris Pandza's aggressive attentions, but when the Manchester United man drove low towards the far corner from 10 yards Hasagic made his second stunning save of the evening.

The goalkeeper was having a brilliant night but he was getting no help from his team-mates and eventually the inevitable happened 10 minutes into the second half.

Simao and Nani were heavily involved as the United winger faked to shoot before rolling the ball square to the onrushing Raul Meireles, who took plenty of care with his first touch before rolling the ball past the overworked Hasagic.

Bosnia's will had been broken, suddenly Portugal were rampant, and Meireles should have put the game beyond all doubt moments later when he slammed Simao's clever back heel wide of goal.

The hosts needed to regroup, and they were inches away from grabbing themselves a lifeline with 20 minutes remaining, but Paulo Ferreira made arguably the most telling interception of his career to deny Zlatan Muslimovic an open goal.

Bosnia were forced to throw men forward, leading to chances at both ends as Meireles volleyed inches wide of the post for Portugal, before Miralem Pjanic brought the best out of Eduardo with a 30-yard piledriver.

In the end frustration got the better of the home side as Salihovic saw red for what appeared to be dissent, and even though the heroic Hasagic continued to deny Portugal with a fine stop from Bruno Alves, it was the Iberians who celebrated their ticket to South Africa.

Ben Blackmore / Eurosport

Comment 16 - 35 of 35

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  1. I can sense a penalty shoot out between Portugal and­ England in the quarter finals of the WC. .... and guess­ what?!? the English are going home, Its going home,­ they're going home..........

    From Dj, on Thu 19 Nov 4:45PM

  2. hello south africa (",)
    once again portugal have­ prove that is one of the best teams in the world
    sorry­ bosnia but we are in one different level
    we can compare­ us
    we are great!!!
    congrulatulations to slovenia as­ well im really happy
    and sorry for the irish they­ deserve better luck

    From pc master, on Thu 19 Nov 6:49AM

  3. Well Im Bosnian, and that was a horrible display of our­ team. Portugal got through fair and squair.
    What is not­ fair is hitting woodwork 3 times in Portugal and­ getting Portugal in play offs.

    Were 4 million people­ country for @#$% sake, of course Portugal is better­ than us. Just wish we got Ukraine or Russia in the play­ offs. Win or lose, we would have had more chances at­ least.

    Now to all those people saying how good­ Portugal is...Please stop it, you are better than­ Bosnia, but thats not the point, were a young­ inexperienced team that started playing recently. The­ moment you come up against Germany, Spain, Holland,­ Italy...youre out.

    Portugal - mediocre team at best.

    From NothingMan, on Thu 19 Nov 6:43AM

  4. Referee KAYU, REFEREE KAyu,,,RED CARD Referee!!!

    From greatest06, on Thu 19 Nov 5:10AM

  5. Congrats Portugal. We had our chances in Lisboa and­ have played better . In Zenica first of all, the pitch­ was horrible, secondly we did not have 4 of our­ standard playes but that is not an excuse. At this­ stage everyone should be ready to play at any time.­ Basically too much pressure on teh young team to beat­ one of the best soccer teams in the world. Portugal­ goes trough and although referres did waht they were­ told to do by F....n Sepp Blatter we did not create any­ chances to score a goal in the eniter game. e looked­ like we have never played together. ALl these long­ balls. We jsut do not play that way. NOt sure why our­ caoach did that.Not one chance. So we hope that our­ young team has learned from this and that in EURO­ qualifeiers we come out more experienced, stronger and­ compete for a spot in Ukraine/Poland.

    From Emir, on Thu 19 Nov 4:13AM

  6. What does Rooney says about this?
    Did you ever heard­ about a Portuguese player saying that he would like­ some country not to qualify? That was very low of you­ Wayne Rooney and now I pray to GOD we meet and we kick­ your @#$% again on elimination rounds!

    From metalico, on Thu 19 Nov 3:48AM

  7. to Luigi of comment 24: ur rite...no national anthem of­ any country should be made fun of....i hope bosnia­ learns their lesson from this !!

    From Aliaa, on Thu 19 Nov 3:05AM

  8. After receiving the portuguese national squad with­ insults and spitting at the airport and providing a­ third world stadium for the match i hope that couches­ in Bosnia are very good so all bosnians can comfortably­ watch the world cup on tv.

    Go Portugal!

    From Marco Ribeiro, on Thu 19 Nov 2:57AM

  9. #26 AMIRZ,
    DID YOU WATCH THE GAME?! BOSNIA DID NOTHING,­ ZERO MAN!! NOT A SINGLE GOAL CHANCE IN THE ENTIRE­ MATCH!! THEY WERE AS USELESS AS A MID-TABLE PORTUGUESE­ LEAGUE TEAM!!
    TOO MUCH TALKING BEFORE THE MATCH AND NO­ FOOTBALL IN THE PITCH (I WOULDN'T CALL IT A­ PITCH...)
    AND BOSNIA WERE REDUCED TO 10 MAN WHEN THE­ QUALIFICATION WAS ALREADY GUARANTEED. AND HOW CAN YOU­ SAY IT WAS OR NOT DESERVING? DID YOU HEARD WHAT­ SALIHOVIC SAID TO THE REFEREE?
    ABOUT THE 3 PLAYERS­ SUSPENDED FOR THE 2ND LEG GO WATCH THE 1ST LEG AND THEN­ TELL ME IF THE YELLOW CARDS WERE OR NOT DESERVED.­ ACTUALLY YOUR CAPTAIN SHOULD HAVE BEEN SENT OFF!!­ BOSNIA HAD 9 PLAYERS IN DANGER OF MISSING THE 2ND LEG.­ IT WAS UNLIKELY TO SEE ALL OF THEM ESCAPING SUSPENSION.

    From Vítor, on Thu 19 Nov 2:30AM

  10. Portugal`s back four did not give them Bosnians a­ chance did they???; it will be even better when­ Bosingwa returns, then, we will have the best defence­ on the universe, let alone the world...And by the way­ Mr Amirz why don`t you shut the F#CK up my friend ???­ go and get two pairs of glasses because you need them;­ Portugal played very well and how many teams lose­ players even in finals CL etc because of yellow­ cards??/ it is up to the players to be carefull when­ they can not afford reciving another card; Bosnia­ players were just doing all this rush tackles-by the­ end of the game in Portugal- it was like they did not­ want to take part on the second game where they knew­ elimination would happen...Feeling bitter???­ WHHYYYYYYY???????

    From VICTOR V, on Thu 19 Nov 2:22AM

  11. number 26 - your theory is tiresome. did you actually­ watch the game? i watche dit on RTPI and portugal­ created much more than bosnia even though bosnia had­ more of the ball they didnt do much with it.
    how can­ you blame blatter for bosnia's demise, i guess its­ better than coming to terms with the fact your team­ isnt good enough.

    From Leroy, on Thu 19 Nov 2:20AM
  12. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Undeserving victory for the Portugese. Blatter and the­ refs did Bosnia in. Same way they did Ireland. In the­ first game, 3 Bosnian players got yellows, and just so­ it happens, it's the ones that already have­ yellows, so they won't be able to play in the­ second leg. And then the ref does not call a free kick­ for the Bosnians, which allows the Portugese to score a­ goal, and then the Bosnians morale is destroyed. And­ just for good measure, one of the Bosnians is red­ carded.... Too many "coincidences", after we­ know that Blatter said "What would World Cup be­ without Ronaldo and Messi" In other words­ "Refs, do what you have to to ensure that Portugal­ goes thru."

    From amirz, on Thu 19 Nov 1:04AM

  13. Ronaldo is great for the fanboys, selling merchandise,­ and autographs. But as a Portugal NT supporter, he was­ completely useless in the WC qualifiers... even if the­ media refuses to recognize that. Zero goals, and the­ team played far better with him off the pitch.

    Enough­ about it being "Ronaldo's qualification".­ They got in the Cup in spite of him this year.

    From swag, on Thu 19 Nov 12:19AM

  14. bosnians at the stadium (if you can call it that) booed­ the portuguese national anthem. it feels good to see­ those jerks on the losing side. go ronaldo :)

    From Luigi, on Thu 19 Nov 12:10AM

  15. and now, Portugal-England in the quarter-finals lol

    From gerson, on Thu 19 Nov 12:00AM

  16. Hi, I just want to post once and came out 3 times.

    From Fraguito, on Wed 18 Nov 11:55PM

  17. sorry Ireland :((

    From Fraguito, on Wed 18 Nov 11:46PM

  18. sorry Ireland :((

    From Fraguito, on Wed 18 Nov 11:46PM

  19. sorry Ireland :((

    From Fraguito, on Wed 18 Nov 11:46PM

  20. Portugal is going to kick the queens @#$% the third­ time in SA.

    From rui, on Wed 18 Nov 11:37PM
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