Portugal and star
player Cristiano Ronaldo came into the match knowing that a win will
grant them automatic qualification into the next round but were stunned
when Hungary scored the first goal of the match through Zoltan Gera in
the 19th minute.
Portugal, despite having more
scoring attempts, were not clinical enough and always fell for Hungary's
tactical counter-attacking moves with Portugal also having efforts
rules as offside.
Towards the end of the first half, a
counter attacking move led to Cristiano Ronaldo giving a well timed
assist to Nani who slotted the ball in the rear corner with his left
foot. It was 1-1 , game on. Half Time.
Iceland meanwhile were
1-0 up against Austria as at halftime, and needed to win the match and
hope Portugal draw in order to qualify.
The second half
started with Portugal coach Fernando Santos playing Cristiano Ronaldo
more centrally but Hungary shocked the bookmakers with another goal two
minutes after resumption of the second half with a deflected free kick
effort from Dzsudzsak. Scoreline was 2-1 in favour of Hungary.
Moutinho
who was wasteful and ineffective with possession was replaced by 18
year old Renato Sanchez and the game changed to Portugal's favour as
C.Ronaldo equalized 3 minutes after Hungary's goal with a well placed
header. 2-2!
The heat was on! Hungarian and Portuguese fans were wild with celebrations and chants as the game frantically played out.
Five minutes later, Hungarian captain Dzsudzsak scored again, 3-2!
Portugal
striker Ronaldo was mortified and filled with anger, he couldn't
believe his eyes. Hungary were leading 3-2 , but with 35 minutes to go
he believed he could still get a result from the match.
At the
62nd minute after the introduction of Quaresma (a game changing
substitution), Cristiano Ronaldo stylishly flicked the ball into the net
to level the scores at 3-3.
With Iceland
winning Austria, Portugal have qualified to the next round as best
losers, and Ronaldo will beat his chest and say he proved his critics
and haters wrong with this performance.
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