Queiroz describes draw as 'football feast'
Reuters - Friday 25 June 2010, 18:02
DURBAN - Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz
described a dull 0-0 draw with Brazil on Friday that ended with
boos drowning out the vuvuzela trumpets as a "feast of
football."
Seven yellow cards were dished out by Mexican referee Benito
Archundia in the first half of their final Group G match at the
splendid Moses Mabhida Stadium and he could have flashed more in
a scrappy 45 minutes that only produced one decent chance.
While no player went into the book after the break, play was
broken up time and time again by niggling challenges and fluffed
passes and the 62,712 spectators resorted to Mexican waves to
keep themselves amused.
"It was a great spectacle, a feast of football. Brazil
played very strongly in the first few minutes. After that
initial period of domination, Portugal slowly started to control
the game, attacking when we had possession."
"We attacked, they defended and vice versa. It was a great
game of football and the players played extremely well."
There were high hopes among fans in Durban's bars on
Thursday night that the two sides would rise to the occasion and
grace the magnificent stadium with a World Cup classic.
But instead of the 6-2 scoreline from the last time the two
sides met in a friendly in Brazil, the game petered out as
Portugal dug in a for a draw ensuring qualification for the
second round.
Queiroz declined to comment when asked by a reporter why he
looked so irritated on the touchline.
"We are here to celebrate our qualification for the round of
16," he told a news conference. "It's a great day for the
Portuguese language. Football was speaking in Portuguese."
Portugal received four of the seven yellow cards, but
Queiroz blamed his opponents when asked why the first half had
been so bad tempered.
"You'd have to ask that question of Brazil, not us."
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