Last-gasp Varela goal rescues Portugal
Reuters - Wednesday 13 June 2012, 20:12
Portugal's Silvestre Varela came
off the bench and smashed home an 87th-minute goal to give his
side a nail-biting 3-2 victory over Denmark on Wednesday and
keep them on course for the Euro 2012 quarter-finals.
With three minutes left Portugal looked set to drop two more
points after another flat tournament performance in which they
let slip a two-goal lead against the Danes, for whom Nicklas
Bendtner equalised in the 80th minute.
Then Varela, who had only come on in the 84th minute, was
given time and space to take two swings at the ball and whacked
it into the net from eight yards out. He immediately disappeared
under a pile of jubilant team-mates and substitutes.
"Their equaliser was unfair at that stage of the match. We
could have won the game more comfortably and with less
suffering," said Portuguese coach Paolo Bento, who had been
under increasing pressure after just one win in seven games.
Even so, Portugal's unusually careless defence could have
conceded a third goal had not Lasse Schone fired over the bar in
stoppage time.
Denmark and Portugal have three points each in Group B with
one game left. Leaders Germany and the Netherlands play later on
Wednesday.
Portugal came into the game having lost three consecutive
European Championship matches stretching back to Euro 2008.
They easily took a 2-0 lead in a first half marked by
sparkling play from winger Nani but looked to have thrown it
away when Bendtner evaded the excellent Pepe and headed home a
Lars Jacobsen cross via the post to make it 2-2.
The Danes, who beat the Dutch 1-0 in the first game, now
need to pick up at least a point against Germany in the final
match on Sunday and hope other results go their way.
"It's a horrible feeling to lose so close to the end... the
Portuguese were a bit luckier. Maybe they were a bit better,"
coach Morten Olsen told reporters.
EXCELLENT GAME
Although Nani had an excellent game, making one goal and
generally tormenting the Danish defence, Cristiano Ronaldo
disappointed in a big international game yet again.
The speedy winger, who has a reputation for under-performing
at tournaments, wasted two good chances, firing straight at
Andersen in the 50th minute after breaking away and taking an
excellent pass from Nani and screwing a shot wide in the 78th
when it looked much easier to score.
Bento, who said the player had been "inefficient", was lucky
others were sharper in front of goal.
Denmark have a good recent record against Portugal but
looked largely toothless early on and it was little surprise
when the Portuguese, abandoning the caution which marked their
1-0 loss to Germany in the first game, took the lead.
Pepe easily lost his marker from a corner by Joao Moutinho
and powered a header past keeper Stephan Andersen in the 24th
minute.
Portugal doubled their lead in the 36th minute when striker
Helder Postiga got in front of defender Simon Kjaer far too
easily to turn home a Nani pass from close range.
It was a bad moment for Kjaer, who had boasted before the
match that Denmark would be able to contain Ronaldo, and he had
to make a desperate clearance in the 44th minute to stop Nani
setting up another goal.
Bendtner scored his first in the 41st minute with a
close-range header after Michael Krohn-Dehli looped a header
over keeper Rui Patricio. The goals were his fourth and fifth in
four competitive games against Portugal.
The Danes, who had defended well in their opening 1-0 win
over the Dutch, were not helped by the loss of midfielder Niki
Zimling and winger Dennis Rommedahl with muscle injuries.