Ten-Men Portugal Gets a Draw

Ten-man Portugal held on for a point in Helsinki as they came from behind to force a draw against Finland in their UEFA EURO 2008™ Group A qualifier.

Finland press
Finland had a dream start against the 2006 FIFA World Cup semi-finalists, dominating for much of the first half, with Sami Hyypiä heading just wide from a corner by Jari Litmanen early on. The Liverpool FC centre-back did hit the target 60 seconds later, however, forcing an impressive save from Ricardo in Portugal's goal.

Kolkka opener
Finnish pressure soon told when Jonatan Johansson received a pass from Joonas Kolkka on 22 minutes and fired beyond Ricardo. Portugal responded well, with Cristiano Ronaldo going close with two shots in quick succession and though Finland, who beat Poland on Saturday, still had the upper hand, the visitors equalised just before the break as Deco's pass found Nuno Gomes, who finished clinically.

Portugal punished
Portugal rallied after half-time, with Ronaldo and Deco causing problems for Finland, but any hopes the visitors had of picking up three points were dealt a significant blow eight minutes after the restart when Ricardo Costa collected a second yellow card. The hosts looked to capitalise and began pressing, with Johansson demanding another great stop from Ricardo on the hour. Portugal threatened briefly on the counterattack, but were vulnerable at the back and Litmanen was unlucky not to find the target from a free-kick as Finland had to settle for a draw.

The draw ended up as being a good result for this Euro'2008 kick-off qualifying round (Group A), proceeding on October 7th when Portugal will host Azerbaijan and four days later travelling to Poland.

C.Ronaldo : Good Result
"The team is quite well, we must congratulate ourselves. This is the beginning of the season, a period in which players are not yet 100% fit, thus this is a good result. We knew Finland would be playing behind the ball line, which is always complicated. It’s difficult to play against a team that puts eight players back there, not only for me but for all my team mates, but Portugal did well and the draw is a good result. Before Ricardo being sent off we had more ball possession.

• About the sent off that could be avoided

A lot of things could have been avoided… But that's football, and we all, including Ricardo, must congratulate ourselves for the result."

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