Every team had finished their first match last night and we were into the second round of the UEFA Euro 2008 with Portugal taking on Czech Republic in Geneva.
The 2004 hosts had fielded an unchanged line up while their opponents had last time`s top scorer, Milan Baros in their side for the first time this year.
The winner of this one would all but book their place in the quarter final since both teams had won their first match. And it was Portugal who struck first.
Cristiano Ronaldo went one on one with the keeper, Pter Cech, and tried to go around him. But the Chelsea shot stopper saved it with his feet and put it into the path of Deco who shot between the legs of to score his first goal of the tournament.
Armando Petit tried an ambitious shot from 35 yards out, but it was saved by the best goalkeeper in the Premiership if not the world.
But not much later Libor Sionko drew his side level when his brilliant low header found the net following a Jaroslav Plasil conner. It was the first time this summer that a side had equalized after going down.
Deco and Ronaldo, who were both by far the brightest two of the game, had chances to restore their team`s lead. The Barcelona man drifted into the center from the left and let in a 20 yard cracker which went just above the Czech goal.
And just a minute later the Real Madrid bound Manchester United winger shot from distance again and the ball went between 4 defenders before being caught by the man who saved his penalty in the UEFA Champions League final in Moscow just a few weeks ago.
The two seemed to wanna continue their rivalry with each other when the Premier League`s top scorer took another long range shot, this time from almost 30 yards out, but it was punched away by the busy keeper with the stylish helmet 3 minutes before the break.
Long range efforts from Cristiano Ronaldo being saved from Pter Cech was almost the order of the day and unsurprisingly the last effort of the half was just that. A free kick from the former Sporting Lisbon was scooped up from the ground by the man who had seen a lot of shots come his way from the land far far away.
In the second half Milan Baros was one tap in away from scoring his first of the tourney but the pass from Sionko had too much pace on it for the Portsmouth man to get upto in time.
Nuno Gomes could have opened his account as well when a cheeky ball from Simao was taken well by the skipper but shot straight into the hands of the Czech number one.
The Atletico Madrid man had an opportunity in the 58th minute but his shot was bravely saved by the keeper to deny Scolari`s men yet again.
But the 4th place team from the world cup could not be kept quite for too long and finally a great move turned into a great result from them. Deco, who had lots of space in the right played a square ball into the area and Ronaldo`s powerful striker was finally good enough to beat Pter cech and send his side 25 minutes away from a place in the knockout round.
Chances were few are far between, but none as good as this one to draw level for the second time in the match. The goal scorer received a wonderful cross from the right wing and his goal bound header was saved by the fingertips of Ricardo.
Defense turned to attack in the first of the 3 minutes of added time and a long clearance found Ronaldo alone in the penalty area and istead of trying to get past the charging keeper he played it left to second half substitute Ricardo Quaresma for the 3rd. 3-1 Game Over.
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