Toronto Star, Canada
Aug 23 2007
Armenia’s ‘beautiful evening’
DAVID MDZINARISHVILI/REUTERS
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo is the man of the moment after tying up
a Euro Championship Qualifying game against Armenia on Wednesday,
Aug. 22, 2007. The game finished 1-1.
Soccer scores, statsUnderdog side holds World Cup semifinalist
Portugal to a draw in front of home fans
Aug 23, 2007 04:30 AM
LONDON-Portugal was held to a 1-1 draw at Armenia yesterday in a
European Championship qualifying match.
The World Cup semifinalists fell behind early and needed a
37th-minute goal from Cristiano Ronaldo to earn a point in Group A.
"The draw is a logical result for the match," Portugal coach Luiz
Felipe Scolari said. "We definitely came here to win, but Armenia
played quality soccer today."
Also in Group A, Finland beat Kazakhstan 2-1 and Belgium downed
Serbia 3-2.
In a friendly, Canada and Iceland played to a 1-1 tie in Reykjavik.
At the new Wembley Stadium, David Beckham’s sore left ankle held up
enough for him to play the entire game.
Beckham made his 97th international appearance, but his presence
wasn’t enough to keep England from losing 2-1 to Germany in an
exhibition game.
Frank Lampard scored in the ninth minute, but Kevin Kuranyi equalized
in the 25th following a blunder by goalkeeper Paul Robinson, and
Christian Pander put the Germans ahead in the 40th.
Northern Ireland continued its impressive run in Group F, getting two
more goals from David Healy in a 3-1 win over Liechtenstein. Also,
Estonia scored an injury-time goal to beat Andorra 2-1 in Group E and
Cyprus beat host San Marino 1-0 in Group D.
Ronaldo, who sat out Manchester United’s English league match at
Manchester City on Sunday because of a red card in the previous game
at Portsmouth, slid the ball under Armenia goalkeeper Roman
Berezovski late in the first half to equalize for Portugal.
Armenia led in the 12th minute when Robert Arzumanyan headed in a
cross from Artavazd Karamyan.
Portugal outshot the hosts 12-5 – only three of which were on goal –
but couldn’t find the net again in the second half.
"Today, it was a beautiful evening for Armenian soccer," Armenia
coach Ian Porterfield said.
Teemu Tainio scored from a corner in the 61st minute to give Finland
the win over Kazakhstan.
Alexei Eremenko Jr. gave Finland the lead in the 13th minute with a
chip from 18 yards, but Dmitriy Byakov equalized for Kazakhstan 10
minutes later.
Moussa Dembele scored two goals for Belgium and Kevin Mirallas added
another. Zdravko Kuzmanovic scored both goals for Serbia.
Dembele put Belgium ahead in the ninth minute by slotting a low cross
into the net. He added the second with a long shot in the 87th.
Poland, which came back to draw 2-2 with Russia in a friendly, leads
Group A with 19 points. Finland has 17 points, and Portugal 15.
Serbia is fourth with 14 points, followed by Belgium with 10.
Indrek Zelinski scored the winning goal for Estonia in injury time,
and was then sent off with his second yellow card a minute later for
taking his shirt off in celebration.
Raio Piiroja gave Estonia the lead in the 34th with a header, but
Estonia lost another player in first-half injury time when Ragnar
Klavan was given a red card.
In the 87th minute, Fernando Silva headed in a cross from Jose Manuel
Ayala.
Yiannis Okkas scored the lone goal for Cyprus in the 54th.
World Cup champion Italy squandered a lead and lost to host Hungary
3-1 in a friendly.
The Italians took the lead when Antonio Di Natale deflected in a shot
by Filippo Inzaghi in the 49th minute, but Hungary replied with goals
from Roland Juhasz, Zoltan Gera and Robert Feczesin.
France and Spain also won, with France beating Slovakia 1-0 and Spain
coming back to beat defending European champion Greece 3-2.
Brazil beat Algeria 2-0 in a friendly played in Montpellier, France,
and Norway edged visiting Argentina 2-1.
The Euro 2008 co-hosts, Switzerland and Austria, both had good
results. The Swiss got two goals from Tranquillo Barnetta in a 2-1
win over Netherlands, while Austria held the Czech Republic to a 1-1
draw.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress