Portugal 2 - 0 Turkey 
I'm so happy Portugal won!!!! By the 80th minute I wanted one more goal. Just to beat Czech Republic in goal difference. Just in case... To seal the deal.
I'd never would have thought it'd be from Raul Meireles. It was great listening online to Hélder Conduto and Nuno Matos announce the goals and plays! He went crazy. I love listening to them narrate the Portugal games. I even paused the game for 3 minutes on ESPN classsic to hear and see it at the same time.
Hear the 1st goal by Pepe here
You've got to Hear the 2nd goal! Click here
Similar to Andres Cantor and other Spanish narrators on TV.
-- Which of the 2 goals he announced did you enjoy the most? It was fun to listen to him say "Simaozinho" when Simao would do the 1st corner kicks, and Paolinho to Ferreira in the beginning.
I knew Cristiano Ronaldo wouldn't be the man of the match necessarily. I hoped he would. He tried. Had 2 or 3 decisive shots. Once he dribbled past 3 or 4 Turkey
players and shot on target.
I woke up at 5:30am to do things before watching the 1st game at 8:30 am. That 1st game didn't do much to keep me awake. Most of the time the game was in the midfield. 2 or 3 times you saw Peter Cech easily catch the ball. I did feel sad for Frei. Playing at home, 1st game, expectations....
I expected the Portugal team to:
Line-up- Simao to disappoint. Quaresma to come in and do some spectacular dribbling past 2 or 3 players. Nani to score from outside of the box. 2 goals and completely dominate the game.
What I saw:
Skin tight, red jerseys, red boots.
I knew Cristiano Ronaldo wouldn't be the man of the match necessarily. I hoped he would. He tried. Had 2 or 3 decisive shots. Once he dribbled past 3 or 4 Turkey
players and shot on target.
I woke up at 5:30am to do things before watching the 1st game at 8:30 am. That 1st game didn't do much to keep me awake. Most of the time the game was in the midfield. 2 or 3 times you saw Peter Cech easily catch the ball. I did feel sad for Frei. Playing at home, 1st game, expectations....
I expected the Portugal team to:
Line-up- Simao to disappoint. Quaresma to come in and do some spectacular dribbling past 2 or 3 players. Nani to score from outside of the box. 2 goals and completely dominate the game.
What I saw:
Skin tight, red jerseys, red boots.
From minute 1- Simao completely inspired!!! In the 1st half- The second he touched the ball on the left flank, you knew he was going to easily be decisive and go passed Turkey defenders.
Deco setting the tempo of the match. The Gattuso (Italy) of the team. Long ball to Simao on the left flanks.
One player that wasn't as convincing as the others was Paolo Ferreira. What do you think? In the 1st half, sometimes in the left he'd lose possession and Petit had to come back to his area. Does he really need to go forward on the left? When Bosingwa goes forward on the right, he's back on time and didn't risk an Turkey player go past him in the right.
So many shots on goal. I got so frustrated when the ball would hit the crossbar. Twice with Nuno Gomes and once with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo- I think he's a very talented player. In the 1st 10 minutes the most dangerous player was Simao, in the left flank. Ronaldo started in the right flank. He was marked by a Turkey player or he was just pushed to the ground. Until the 26th minute he did what he does best. By the 28th minute he had to move to the left.
- 1st goal by Pepe- I was so happy for Pepe. Not many people wanted another 'luso-brasileiro' in the national team. He insisted and look! That celebration
with the bench. Like a final in the world cup celebration. After the earlier one that couldn't count because of his offside position, he deserved it.
- 2nd goal by Raul Meireles- Talk about a 'super-sub!' At this point I didn't care that the goal was in injury time. After so many close ones, crossbars. It counts and that's what matters.
When Nani came on. I think it was too little time for him to show something. Turkey. The only time they were really dangerous was in the counterattacks and toward the end in the 2nd half.
Portugal Fans in the stands of Stade de Geneve
Incredible sight of red, yellows... I think they were as noisy as the home Switzerland crowd in the 1st match in Basel.
I'll post some photos tomorrow.
- Do you think Scolari needed to make the substitute changes much earlier?
Replace Nuno Gomes by the 60th minute instead?
Most important player in the 1st half? 2nd half?