Late Cristiano Header Sees Portugal Through to Semifinals

 

Cristiano Ronaldo delivered a fantastic performance for his nation, taking his team to the next round of the Euro tournament with a 1-0 victory over the Czech Republic.  The Real Madrid man headed in the only goal of the match, merely minutes before the fulltime whistle at the 79'.  The win pits Portugal against either Spain or France on Wednesday, June 27^th in Donetsk, Ukraine.

Both sides appeared hesitant on their attacks in the first half, the Portuguese gaining more possession as the half drew nearer to a close.  The game's opening 25 minutes saw Portugal's João Moutinho with the only shot on target, which Petr Cech caught easily.  Cristiano's overhead kick had gone wide, while his free kick went past the right post.  Portugal's Postiga was carried out by stretcher at the 40' minute mark due to a hamstring injury and was replaced by Hugo Almeida.

A Selecção began to attack more after the break, the men taking shot after shot at Cech's gaol.  However, Cech remained calm and proved to be an impenetrable force field with the help of his back line, who "parked the bus" in front of goal for majority of the match.

 

 

In applying this defensive strategy, the Czech side did not have a shot on goal and only two attempts throughout the evening.  Portugal, on the other hand, had 20 attempts, as well as 57 percent of possession.  Cristiano had nine shots, finally beating Cech after twice hitting the post earlier in the evening.  His persistence paid of with 11 minutes left on the clock, Moutinho at the assist with a cross.  This would be the all-star's third goal in the Euro, equal to Germany's "Super Mario" Gomez, Croatia's Mario Madzukick, and Alan Dzagoev for the tournament's lead.

"We have suffered," Portugal's Nani stated in a post-match interview.  "But we always wanted to win and that's what we showed.  We were superior, then we scored and we really deserved this result."

Germany and Greece are up next in the quarterfinals.  View the match tomorrow on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, Watch ESPN, or ESPN3.

written by Gail Hidalgo