Match report
Portugal pegged back in Armenia
Wednesday 22 August 2007
esresults/round=2241/match=83782/report=rp.html
A fine Cristiano Ronaldo goal was not enough to earn Portugal a much-needed
victory in Armenia as a 1-1 draw left them four points behind the leaders
Poland in UEFA EURO 2008T qualifying Group A.
Third surprise
Robert Arzumanyan headed Armenia in front after 12 minutes, but the
Manchester United FC winger equalised with a trademark individual effort. If
that strike was supposed to be the cue for Portugal to push on for victory,
the hosts had not read the script and held on for their third surprise
result in a row, having defeated Kazakhstan and Poland away in the last set
of fixtures in June.
Goalkeeper deceived
Samvel Melkonyan and Deco traded shots from range before Arzumanyan put the
hosts in front by nodding in Artavazd Karamyan’s free-kick. Arzumanyan then
passed up an opportunity to double the lead either side of fizzing shots
with both feet from Deco, the FC Barcelona playmaker who was central to much
of his side’s best moves. Portugal were soon on terms, though, as Armenia
defender Agvan Lazarian missed the ball in his own box and Ronaldo
capitalised by slotting the ball under Roman Berezovsky after deceiving the
goalkeeper by feigning a pass across the middle.
Attacking impetus
Ronaldo fired a free-kick over the bar from distance after 55 minutes before
Luiz Felipe Scolari sought greater attacking impetus with the introduction
of Nuno Gomes and Ricardo Quaresma for Hélder Postiga and Simão, who had
been ineffective. Tiago fired wide and Quaresma twice missed at the other
end as full time approached, although the clearest chance was the final one
as Bruno Alves rose unmarked to meet Deco’s cross deep into added time but
headed wide – a miss which could prove costly in what is shaping up to be a
thrilling section.
©uefa.com 1998-2007. All rights reserved.