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Slick Portugal put paid to Turkey
Well-crafted second-half goals from Pepe and Raul Meireles earned Portugal a 2-0 victory over Turkey in their opening Euro 2008 match at the Stade de Geneve in Geneva. More
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Live Commentary
Time:90'- Portugal
- Turkey
90+4' The final whistle goes! Portugal start with a win thanks to two brilliantly crafted goals and move ahead of the Czech Republic on goal difference at the top of Group A.
90+3' GOAL! 2-0 Portugal! Ronaldo feeds Moutinho on the edge of the box and he spins his man before laying the ball into the path of Raul Meireles, who sidesteps Volkan before tucking the ball home!
90+2' Scolari tightens things up a bit more, with Fernando Meira coming on for Deco.
90+1' Ouch! Aurelio lunges in on Nani on the edge of the Turkey area and the Portugal man is lucky to escape without a broken leg. Dreadful challenge.
90' Semih flicks the ball to Tuncay inside the Portugal box and the Middlesbrough man takes a wild swing at the ball and misses it completely! There will be two minutes of stoppage time.- 88' Nani puts a rather weak effort straight at Volkan from 25 yards out.
- 87' Ronaldo bites off a bit more than he can chew on the Portugal left, but nonetheless succeeds in eating up some vital time.
- 86' Ricardo easily claims a deep cross from the Turkey left.
- 85' Portugal enjoy their first spell of possession for a while, but can't hold onto the ball. Turkey coach Fatih Terim is on his feet on the touchline, bellowing out instructions to his players.
- 82' Portugal make another change, with Raul Meireles replacing Simao.
- 82' Chance for Turkey! From the resulting corner Emre Asik puts a free header wide from 10 yards!
- 81' Sabri and Kazim-Richards link up well down the Turkey right, before Sabri's cross is athletically diverted behind for a corner by Paulo Ferreira.
- 79' Semih wins a free-kick on the halfway line. Portugal are playing with a confidence that belies the slenderness of their lead. Can Turkey make them pay?
- 77' Kazim-Richards swings a high ball into the Portugal box from the right that Ricardo gathers.
- 75' Turkey introduce striker Semih Senturk in place of Hamit Altintop.
- 74' Ricardo bravely punches clear a free-kick from the Turkey left under pressure from Tuncay.
73' Sabri is booked for protesting that an apparent hand-ball from Simao on the edge of the Portugal box went unpunished.- 72' Turkey are seeing a lot more of the ball now, but Portugal have got a lot of men behind the ball and there's little space to be had in the Portugal half.
- 71' Emre is penalised for a late challenge on Deco.
- 69' Cetin produces a last-ditch challenge to block a shot by Deco from just outside the Turkey box.
- 68' Portugal make their first change, with Manchester United winger Nani coming on for Nuno Gomes, who relinquishes both the captaincy and the striking responsibilities to Ronaldo.
- 66' Nihat gets away from Pepe momentarily inside the Portugal box but the Real Madrid man comes back at him to clear the danger.
- 65' PORTUGAL HIT THE WOODWORK FOR A THIRD TIME! Ronaldo carves a cross into the box from the left and Nuno Gomes guides a header against the crossbar! They've hit their stride now, Scolari's side.
- 63' Carvalho wins a free-kick for a foul by Sabri near the Portugal goal-line.
- 61' GOAL! 1-0 Portugal! Pepe springs forward from the back, exchanges passes with Nuno Gomes, and then withstands a desperate challenge from a defender to lift the ball past Volkan! Lovely goal.
- 60' Petit heads the corner clear. The ball finds its way to Sabri and he blasts a speculative effort well wide from 35 yards.
- 59' Kazim-Richards's dinked pass towards Tuncay from the Turkey right is headed behind by Bosingwa at the back post.
- 58' Ronaldo draws Altintop into a foul wide on the Portugal left. Free-kick to Portugal. The ball is played to Moutinho in the inside-right channel and he cracks a rising drive just over the crossbar from 30 yards!
- 56' Ronaldo skips away from Altintop down the Portugal left before curling in a low shot that's comfortably saved by Volkan.
- 55' Gokhan Zan injured himself in that challenge on Simao, and he is replaced by Emre Asik.
- 54' Portugal work the ball from left to right just outside the Turkey box and Deco's flick towards Nuno Gomes is intercepted.
- 53' Ronaldo guides a lovely header into the path of Nuno Gomes just inside the Turkey penalty area but he's denied by a defender!
- 51' Gokhan Zan caught Simao with a very clumsy late challenge as he touched the ball to Nuno Gomes just then, and goes into the book.
- 50' PORTUGAL HIT THE POST AGAIN! Simao prods the ball to Nuno Gomes on the edge of the Turkey box and the 31-year-old bends a shot against the left-hand post with the outside of his right foot! Moments earlier Nihat had gone sprawling inside the Portugal box after appearing to be caught by Simao, but replays show it was another pathetic dive.
- 48' Ronaldo wins a free-kick midway inside the Turkey half after being clattered from behind.
- 47' Kazim-Richards puts a cross into the Portugal box from the right but Ricardo claims it confidently.
46' The second half begins. Turkey have made a change at the break, with Sabri Sarioglu coming on for Mevlut Erding. Ronaldo whips a cross over the Turkish crossbar from wide on the right.- 45+1' Mevlut fires in a long range effort that's straight at Ricardo. And it's half-time. Portugal have bossed possession so far, and Ronaldo came inches away from opening the scoring with that free-kick, but Turkey will take heart from their defensive efforts.
- 45' Tuncay can't get on the end of a long ball down the Turkey left. There will be one minute of injury time.
- 43' Ricardo confidently claims a cross from the Turkey right.
- 42' Carvalho almosts connects with Simao's corner from the right.
- 41' Chance for Portugal! Moutinho takes Deco's crisp right-wing pass in his stride before seeing a right-footed shot deflected over the bar via a marvellous challenge from Gokhan Zan!
- 40' Simao's corner flicks off Aurelio's head at the near post and goes just wide of the far post!
- 39' Ronaldo wins a corner off Cetin on the Portugal left.
- 38' Altintop thrashes a shot well wide of Ricardo's right-hand post at the other end.
- 37' PORTUGAL HIT THE POST! Gokhan Zan concedes a free-kick wide on the Portugal left for jumping in on Moutinho, and Ronaldo thumps a low free-kick across the face of goal and against the far post! Volkan just about got his fingers to it, so that has to go down as a superb save.
- 36' Cetin does brilliantly to outmuscle Nuno Gomes midway inside the Turkey half. He's a fearsome looking chap, Turkey's number two.
- 35' Deco wins a free-kick wide on the right, Simao curls it in, Altintop heads it into the air, and Volkan catches it.
- 34' Scolari's men are still enjoying plenty of possession, but they're yet to really test Volkan.
- 33' Bad news for any Cristiano Ronaldo fans who've previously bought a Portugal shirt with their hero's name on the back. Having been 'CR17' in his Portugal career to date, he's decided to become 'CR7' for Euro 2008.
- 31' Ronaldo fizzes a cross in towards Nuno Gomes from wide on the right but Turkey are able to clear.
- 30' Here's Ronaldo! He pops up in a central position, and weaves past three defenders before dragging a right-footed shot wide of the left-hand post from about 25 yards.
- 29' Simao steps up... and bends the ball narrowly over the crossbar!
- 28' Aurelio concedes a free-kick for a foul on Deco on the Portugal left, about 25 yards from goal. Ronaldo and Simao both fancy it.
- 27' Deco ghosts infield from the Portugal left before seeing his shot blocked.
- 26' Kazim-Richards's low cross from the Turkey right is cut out by Ricardo Carvalho.
- 25' Deco is penalised for a trip on Emre in midfield. Mevlut then goes down after being caught by Joao Moutinho, but there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him.
23' Simao is caught offside on the Portugal left. Ricardo then deals with a potential back-pass from one of his defenders with a beautifully timed volleyed clearance.- 21' Ricardo fields the corner and bowls the ball out to spring a counter-attack. The ball finds its way to Simao on the left but he delays and his shot is deflected behind by Altintop. Volkan flaps at the resulting corner but Turkey manage to scramble the ball away.
- 20' Nihat strikes the free-kick and it hits the defensive wall before trickling behind for a corner kick.
- 19' Bosingwa concedes a free-kick for a foul on Mevlut Erdinc just outside the Portugal box. Didn't seem to be too much wrong there.
17' GOAL! 1-0 Portugal! Simao touches the corner to Deco and then curls the ball into the box, and Pepe rises to head the ball past Volkan Demirel! But the flag is up! It's offside! And replays confirm that the linesman's decision was correct. A real scare for Turkey.- 16' Simao wins a corner off Altintop on the Portugal left.
- 15' Nihat is penalised for bundling Pepe to the ground as they chase a ball down the Turkey inside-left channel.
- 14' Portugal are starting to boss possession a bit now.
- 13' Portugal don't deal with a low cross from the Turkey right, and Tuncay Sanli flings himself to the ground looking for a penalty. It was a frankly ridiculous dive, and referee Fandel remained unmoved.
- 12' Mehmet Aurelio does really well to win a corner off Petit on the Turkey right. The corner is headed clear by Bosingwa, who's one of three Portugal defenders on the field who will start next season in Chelsea's colours.
- 10' This game has had a markedly quieter start than the Czech Republic-Switzerland game earlier, which is probably a mark of the respect that Turkey have for their opponents. Turkey win a free-kick on the left, and Nihat Kahveci curls it into the arms of Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo.
- 9' Cetin - who has his first name, Servet, on the back of his shirt - landed awkwardly making that block, and hobbles off the pitch to receive treatment.
- 8' Ronaldo attacks Simao's low cross into the box but Cetin produces a tremendous block to deny him.
- 7' Ronaldo's cross from the right is headed behind for a corner by Altintop.
- 6' Ronaldo cuts inside from the Portugal right before firing a left-footed effort well high and wide.
- 5' Deco's clipped pass towards Nuno Gomes is headed away by Cetin.
- 4' Simao wriggles into the Turkey box from the left but concedes a goal kick when Colin Kazim-Richards - or Kazim Kazim as he's been known since his move to Fenerbahce - thumps a clearance against him. Kazim-Richards is then booked for a foul on Nuno Gomes earlier in the move.
- 3' Deco, who's had a disappointing season at Barcelona, wins a throw-in on the near side.
- 2' Jose Bosingwa - recently signed by Chelsea - gets free down the Portugal right but sees his cross blocked at close range. The ball comes back to him, and he slides a low cross out of play at the near post for a goal kick.
1' Off we go! Portugal kick off, and they will attack from left to right in the first half. They're in their familiar reddish-burgundy strip, with Turkey in a change kit of all white. Ronaldo looks for a free-kick wide on the right after a coming together with Servet Cetin, but there's nothing doing.- 19:44 There's great support for both sides in the stadium, which is the home of Swiss side Servette FC and has a capacity of just 30,000. Impressive effort on the national anthem by the Portuguese players, with even Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari joining in. Kick-off is moments away.
19:42 The players emerge in tracksuited splendour from the tunnel. It's a damp night here in Geneva. Our referee is Germany's Herbert Fandel.- 19:40 Portugal will be keen to avoid a repeat of their opening game performance at Euro 2004, when they went down 2-1 to eventual champions Greece. Turkey go into the tournament as rank outsiders in Group A, but they proved with their run to the semi-finals at the 2002 World Cup that they are more than capable of providing an upset.
- 19:35 Man-of-the-moment Cristiano Ronaldo will form an attacking triumvirate for Portugal with Simao and Nuno Gomes. After the endless transfer speculation of the last two weeks, can he confirm his reputation as the best player in the world this summer?
- 19:30 The teams are in (see below). Chelsea man Paulo Ferreira starts at left-back for Portugal, while Atletico Madrid midfielder Simao Sabrosa gets the nod over Nani and Ricardo Quaresma on the wing. Bayern Munich midfielder Hamit Altintop starts for Turkey after overcoming a muscle injury.
- 19:15 Good evening and thank-you for joining us for LIVE coverage of Portugal v Turkey from the Stade de Geneve in Geneva. The Czech Republic top Group A after their 1-0 victory over co-hosts Switzerland in the opening game earlier this afternoon, but Portugal are strongly tipped to progress from this group and are among the favourites for the tournament. Kick-off is at 19:45 BST.
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Team Stats
Portugal Stats Turkey 51% Possession 48% 17 Shots 6 5 Shots on target 1 0 Saves 1 7 Corners 5 24 Fouls 10 6 Offsides 3 0 Yellow cards 3 0 Red cards 0 13 Tackles 29 304 Accurate passes 270 56 Bad passes 84 -
Player Stats
- G =
- Goals
- S =
- Shots
- SoT =
- Shot on Target
- F =
- Fouls
- FW =
- Fouls Won
- O =
- Offsides
- A =
- Assists
- AP =
- Accurate Passes
- BP =
- Bad Passes
- T =
- Tackles
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Portugal G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T 1 Ricardo Pereira 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 2 0 16 Ricardo Carvalho 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 36 4 1 2 Paulo Ferreira 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 28 12 0 4 José Bosingwa 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 28 0 4 15 Képler Laveran Lima Ferreira 1 2 1 2 6 1 0 41 3 1 7 Cristiano Ronaldo 0 6 2 0 4 0 0 20 8 0 8 Armando Petit 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 41 10 1 10 João Moutinho 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 31 2 2 20 Anderson Deco 0 1 0 1 4 0 0 34 8 2 11 Simão Sabrosa 0 1 0 2 1 2 0 20 7 2 21 Miguel Soares Pereira Ribeiro 0 2 0 0 1 1 1 6 0 0 18 Miguel Veloso 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 Raúl Meireles 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 17 Ricardo Quaresma 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 Fernando Meira 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 Helder Postiga 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 Jorge Ribeiro 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 Bruno Eduardo Regufe Alves 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 Rui Pedro dos Santos Patricio 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 Luis Miguel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 Luís Almeida da Cunha 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 7 0 0 9 Hugo Almeida 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -
Turkey G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T 23 Volkan Demirel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 2 Servet Cetin 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 23 8 2 3 Hakan Balta 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 28 15 2 4 Gökhan Zan 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 9 1 0 5 Belozoglu Emre 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 53 27 5 7 Mehmet Aurelio 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 40 10 6 22 Hamit Altintop 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 18 0 6 17 Tuncay Sanli 0 0 0 3 2 3 0 28 14 5 18 Colin Kazim-Richards 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 21 0 0 8 Kahveci Nihat 0 1 0 3 1 0 0 16 3 0 21 Mevlut Erding 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 7 1 0 14 Arda Turan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 Semih Sentürk 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6 1 1 20 Sabri Sarioglu 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 10 1 1 13 Emre Güngör 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 Mehmet Topal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 Ayhan Akman 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 Tolga Zengin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Rustu Recber 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 Ugur Boral 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 Tumer Metin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 Emre Asik 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 1 1 10 Karadeniz Gökdeniz 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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Summary
- 90+3' GOAL! 2-0 Portugal! Ronaldo feeds Moutinho on the edge of the box and he spins his man before laying the ball into the path of Raul Meireles, who sidesteps Volkan before tucking the ball home!
- 90' Semih flicks the ball to Tuncay inside the Portugal box and the Middlesbrough man takes a wild swing at the ball and misses it completely! There will be two minutes of stoppage time.
- 82' Chance for Turkey! From the resulting corner Emre Asik puts a free header wide from 10 yards!
- 74' Ricardo bravely punches clear a free-kick from the Turkey left under pressure from Tuncay.
- 65' PORTUGAL HIT THE WOODWORK FOR A THIRD TIME! Ronaldo carves a cross into the box from the left and Nuno Gomes guides a header against the crossbar! They've hit their stride now, Scolari's side.
- 61' GOAL! 1-0 Portugal! Pepe springs forward from the back, exchanges passes with Nuno Gomes, and then withstands a desperate challenge from a defender to lift the ball past Volkan! Lovely goal.
- 58' Ronaldo draws Altintop into a foul wide on the Portugal left. Free-kick to Portugal. The ball is played to Moutinho in the inside-right channel and he cracks a rising drive just over the crossbar from 30 yards!
- 56' Ronaldo skips away from Altintop down the Portugal left before curling in a low shot that's comfortably saved by Volkan.
- 50' PORTUGAL HIT THE POST AGAIN! Simao prods the ball to Nuno Gomes on the edge of the Turkey box and the 31-year-old bends a shot against the left-hand post with the outside of his right foot! Moments earlier Nihat had gone sprawling inside the Portugal box after appearing to be caught by Simao, but replays show it was another pathetic dive.
- 41' Chance for Portugal! Moutinho takes Deco's crisp right-wing pass in his stride before seeing a right-footed shot deflected over the bar via a marvellous challenge from Gokhan Zan!
- 40' Simao's corner flicks off Aurelio's head at the near post and goes just wide of the far post!
- 37' PORTUGAL HIT THE POST! Gokhan Zan concedes a free-kick wide on the Portugal left for jumping in on Moutinho, and Ronaldo thumps a low free-kick across the face of goal and against the far post! Volkan just about got his fingers to it, so that has to go down as a superb save.
- 30' Here's Ronaldo! He pops up in a central position, and weaves past three defenders before dragging a right-footed shot wide of the left-hand post from about 25 yards.
- 29' Simao steps up... and bends the ball narrowly over the crossbar!
- 17' GOAL! 1-0 Portugal! Simao touches the corner to Deco and then curls the ball into the box, and Pepe rises to head the ball past Volkan Demirel! But the flag is up! It's offside! And replays confirm that the linesman's decision was correct. A real scare for Turkey.
- 13' Portugal don't deal with a low cross from the Turkey right, and Tuncay Sanli flings himself to the ground looking for a penalty. It was a frankly ridiculous dive, and referee Fandel remained unmoved.
Live Team Line-Up
- Referee: Herbert Fandel
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PortugalManager: Luis Felipe Scolari
Captain: 21. Nuno Gomes
Starting line-up
- .. Ricardo
- J. Bosingwa
- .. Pepe
- R. Carvalho
- P. Ferreira
- A. Petit
- .. Deco
- J. Moutinho
- .. Simao
- C. Ronaldo
- N. Gomes
Subs
- 5. F. Meira
90′ - 17. R. Quaresma
- 23. H. Postiga
- 6. R. Meireles 82′
- 9. H. Almeida
- 19. .. Nani 68′
- 3. B. Alves
- 13. .. Miguel
- 14. P. Ribeiro
- 18. M. Veloso
- 12. .. Quim
- 22. .. Patricio
Injured
None
Suspended
None
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TurkeyManager: Fatih Terim
Captain: 5. Belözoglu Emre
Starting line-up
- D. Volkan
- H. Altintop
- C. Servet
- Z. Gokhan
- H. Balta
- K. Kazim
- M. Aurelio
- B. Emre
- M. Erding
- S. Tuncay
- K. Nihat
Subs
- 19. A. Ayhan
- 1. R. Rustu
- 9. S. Senturk 75′
- 15. E. Asik 55′
- 10. G. Karadeniz
- 11. T. Metin
- 20. S. Sabri 46′
- 13. E. Gungor
- 6. M. Topal
- 12. Z. Tolga
- 14. A. Turan
- 16. U. Boral
Injured
None
Suspended
None
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