Portugal 2 Brazil 0

Published 2/6/2007 7:59:40 PM by Shane Barrow from Dallas, Texas

The Emirates Stadium in London was abuzz Tuesday night as world powers Brazil and Portugal met. Portugal was coming off a semifinal appearance in last year's World Cup while Brazil didn't meet expectations in a quarterfinal loss to France. Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo as captain were missing some big names as the old guard of Luis Figo and Pauletta were absent while Brazil were without Ronaldinho, Robinho and Roberto Carlos.

Portugal began confidently establishing some good early possession. A few hard fouls came in the opening 10 minutes but then the game settled into a good pace. Brazil forced Portugese keeper Ricardo to make a pair of interventions pushing a free kick over the bar and then punching away a dangerous near post ball on the ensuing corner.

Portugal however didn't back down as both Cristiano Ronaldo and Quaresma looked dangerous down the flanks. The play was up and down the field as Elano was brought down by Deco producing a free kick that was blocked. Brazil picked up the rebound and played wide where Maicon fired a shot just over the crossbar. On the other end, Postiga forced Hilton into action in the 21st minute when he fired from 12 yards out. Hilton was up to the task as he went down for a nice save.

The match was 0-0 through 25 minutes but was anything but defensive as both sides pushed forward. In the 26th, Elano whipped a cross to the back post where Sobis pushed a header across the face of the goal and wide. Brazil kept the pressure on as Portugal had an extended period where they were unable to break out of their own end.

Finally, Deco was able to break out and get forward earning a corner which he took himself. He put the ball into the area where Carvalho's header went wide. Portugal seemed to gain confidence and the next 5 minutes were played in Brazil's end of the pitch.

In the 42nd minute a hard tackle from Carvalho produced a free kick for Brazil at the top of the penalty area. Elano took the kick which came off the wall. It fell to Lucio who rifled a shot off the crossbar and over for a goal kick. The first half ended 0-0 with the class of the half going to Kaka, Elano, Cristiano Ronaldo and Deco.

The 2nd half saw substitutions as Brazil brought on Adriano and Luisao while Portugal added Paulo Ferreira. Play began a little slower than the 1st half. Adriano and Cristiano Ronaldo showed their class otherwise it was an uneventful opening 10 minutes.

The game began to open up as Portugal pushed forward with Postiga hitting a shot which Hilton handled and Deco hitting another shot wide. Both sides continued substituting freely as Deco and Cristiano Ronaldo went to the bench as did Maicon for Brazil.

The new Brazilians seemed to settle faster and Brazil controlled play from the 70th minute. Adriano got into the 6 but had his shot blocked as the Portugese defense held tight. Portugal introduced Nuno Gomes in an effort to get the attack going again and play evened up as Portugal was able to get more of the ball.

In the 82nd minute a long clearance from Brazilian keeper Hilton was won in the midfield by Miguel of Portugal which surged forward into a 4v3 attack. Quaresma put a beautiful cross to the top of the box where Simao ran onto a volley placing it firmly into the bottom right of the net for the lead.

Brazil responded by pushing forward and a nice through ball from Diego looked to have put Adriano in on goal, but he was a step offside. The Brazilians kept coming and earned a free kick in the 88th that was headed to safety by Simao.

In the 90th a quickly taken free kick would lead to Portugal’s second goal of the night. Quaresma took a quick restart which resulted in a cross to the backpost where Carvalho fired the ball into the side netting completing the 2-0 victory for Portugal.

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