Portugal march on towards final eight spot

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-12  |     ONLINE EDITION

PORTUGAL moved within touching distance of the Euro 2008 quarter-finals yesterday as they beat Czech Republic 3-1 in another hugely entertaining group game in Geneva.

The 2004 runners-up now have six points from their first two matches, probably enough to advance, and will be guaranteed progress with a point from their final game against Switzerland.

The Geneva match, which featured a first goal and man-of-the-match performance for Cristiano Ronaldo, maintained the positive start to the June 7-29 competition on and off the pitch that has delighted UEFA officials.

"We've seen some great football, with some exciting action and a quantity of goals," said UEFA president Michel Platini.

"We have seen a spectacular decrease in the number of yellow and red cards. In fact, no red cards have been shown so far and the number of yellow cards (under three per game) is down by 40 per cent compared with Euro 2004."


BREAKING RECORDS

UEFA's director of communications William Gaillard added: "We can only praise the fans who are behaving in a fantastic way in this tournament.

"It is amazing that we can gather hundreds of thousands of people together in the major cities and have absolutely no disturbance to public order."

TV viewing audiences are also breaking records, with figures of 80 percent or more of the market share recorded in Portugal and the Netherlands and impressive numbers for "neutral" games described by Gaillard as "stunning and extraordinary".

Yesterday's opening game, the ninth in all out of 31, was another to please the neutral.

It also featured the first equaliser of the tournament when Libor Sionko's diving header for the Czechs cancelled out Deco's opener in a high-tempo first half.