Racing Post
August 23, 2007, Thursday
FOOTBALL: ARMENIA REPEL RONALDO AND CO TO STUN PUNTERS
BY IAN WILKERSON
Portugal players trudge off morbidly after dropping two points
COUPONS were being ripped up in disgust by bemused football punters
even before most of last night’s matches had kicked off as humble
Armenia held Portugal to a 1-1 draw in the Euro 2008 Group A
qualifier in Yerevan yesterday.
Anyone looking to string a set of bankers together on their list
would probably have included Portugal, who desperately needed three
points to reduce the gap on Group A leaders Poland.
Big Phil Scolari’s side were no bigger than 1-5 with Boylesports to
win in Armenia and as short as 1-7 elsewhere.
The star-studded Portuguese teamsheet included Chelsea’s Paulo
Ferreira, former Blues midfielder Tiago, Barcelona’s Deco and
Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo.
But the humble Armenians had not read the script and Robert
Arzumanyan gave them a shock lead after ten minutes.
When Ronaldo equalised just before half-time, it looked like order
had been restored, but Portugal could not find a breakthrough in the
second half, seriously denting their chances in a group where Serbia
and Finland are also jostling for the secondqualification spot behind
pacesetters Poland.
Freddy Eastwood marked his Wales debut with a stunning solo strike in
their friendly against Bulgaria in Bourgas last night, giving
favourite backers even more grief.
Wales’s young brigade fought gallantly to stay in this friendly
against a Bulgarian side superior in technique and quality.
For much of the first half Wales were on the back foot, with
Manchester City new boy Martin Petrov having several chances to open
the scoring.
But in first-half injury-time Eastwood set off down the right, cut
inside and cracked a 20-yard drive into the bottom corner of the
Bulgaria net for the winning goal.
John Toshack’s team held on gamely in the second half to deny the 4-7
hosts, while any patriotic Welshmen who backed their team at 11-2
were counting their cash.
Poland struck twice in the second half to hold Russia to a 2-2 draw
in another friendly, while Brazil coasted to a 2-0 win over Algeria
with goals from Maicon and Ronaldinho.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid have agreed a deal to bring Manchester United
defender Gabriel Heinze to the Bernabeu, the Spanish champions
announced last night.
Madrid confirmed the news in a statement on their website, which
read: "Real Madrid and Manchester United have reached an agreement
for the transfer of Heinze.
"The Argentinian, 29, will sign a contract for the next four seasons
and will be immediately incorporated into Bernd Schuster’s squad."
No fee has been confirmed, although reports in the Spanish media
suggest he will cost Real around £8.1m.
He had been a Liverpool target.