Ronaldo strikes again to put Portugal into the semi-finals
Jiracek drilled the ball in from 20 yards, but his effort was blocked by real madrid defender Pepe.
Portugal coach Paulo Bento named an unchanged side having beaten Holland to qualify behind Germany out of the “Group of Death” for the last eight.
manchester United winger nani and madrid star ronaldo, who would have missed the semi-final if he’d picked up another caution, were the most lively for the Portuguese.
ronaldo was played into the Czech box, holding off michal Kadlec, and drilled the ball goalwards with Chelsea keeper Petr Cech making a smart save. However, english referee Howard Webb had blown for a foul by the Portugal forward, who could not believe the decision against him.
The game was starting to open up as Czech full-back Theodor Gebre Selassie cut in from the right and crossed, with Pepe again alert to clear the danger.
at the other end, ronaldo – who had netted a brace against the Dutch – went close with an overhead kick at the far post.
The former manchester United forward was then just off target again with an ambitious long-range free-kick.
Portugal were forced change six minutes before halftime when striker Helder Postiga pulled up with what appeared to be a hamstring problem, and was replaced by 6ft 3in Besiktas frontman Hugo almeida.
nani claimed for a penalty after going down in the box under close attention from Limbersky, but the referee was unconvinced, with TV replays showing the United forward slipped rather than was pushed.
ronaldo was within inches of a spectacular opening goal when he collected a high ball into the box on his chest, swivelled around marker Kadlec and crashed the ball past Cech – only for it to strike the base of the near post. There was another great chance for Portugal at the start of the second half, when almeida headed over from 12 yards after being picked out by raul meireles’ cross.
on 50 minutes, ronaldo was denied by the woodwork again as this time his 30-yard free-kick clipped the outside of the far post with Cech beaten. The Chelsea keeper then had to parry away a 25-yard strike from nani, and only an offside flag prevented Portugal taking a deserved lead on 57 minutes when almeida glanced in a cross.
The Czechs produced a coun- ter-attack when Vaclav Pilar charged down the left and into the penalty area, only to produce a poor final pass.
Cech’s goal was leading a charmed life, as nani’s floated ball was deflected behind.
ronaldo finally broke the deadlock on 79 minutes, when he sent a diving header past Cech from moutinho’s rightwing cross.
Portugal continued to pour forwards, with Cech beating away an angled 25-yard effort from full-back Joao Pereira.
ronaldo went down under a challenge from Gebre Selassie and, although he appeared to be caught by the Czech defender, referee Webb again waved play on.
Portugal saw out four minutes of stoppage time to secure their place in the semi-finals, where they will face either Spain or France. Germany coach Joachim Low expects a touch challenge from Greece in tonight’s euro 2012 quarter-final, but has played down talk that Fernando Santos’ side could prove to be “the Chelsea of the mediterranean”.
It has been suggested by the German media that Greece will provide a test similar to the one Bayern munich faced in last month’s Champions League final, when roberto di matteo’s Blues prevailed on penalties at the allianz arena.
Low was not giving much credence to such comparisons yesterday but nevertheless warned his side to be on their guard.
“I have heard a few times that they are the Chelsea of the mediterranean, but it is not that way,” he said. “Greece play good combination football. Their defence is strong, they are strong in the tackle and defending and countering is in their blood.
“They have been playing that way for years. It was similar or practically the same in 2004 [when they became european champions in Portugal]. They get written off sometimes, but then they are always there.
“But anyway, Chelsea play a different football to what we saw in the final or semi-finals of the Champions League.”
Bayern succumbed to the Blues on spot-kicks after spending much of the 120 minutes camped in their opponents’ half in the munich final.
Low expects it to be a similar story in Gdansk tonight, although he is confident there will be a more positive outcome from a German perspective.
“Logically we are favourites, but we can deal with that,” he said. “But remember – knockout games have their own character so it won’t be the case that the favourite automatically reaches the next round.
“We saw that in the group when russia were the big favourites and we have all seen what happened.
“But if we show all of our inner strength and belief, then we are strong enough to beat the Greeks of course. I am convinced we will win.”
Greece coach Santos is not ignoring that fact either, but he says nothing can be taken for granted in football.
“If we see it as a David and Goliath task, then this is good for us because we all know that Goliath lost,” he said. “They are a big team there is no coach present here who has not imagined reaching the final,” he said.
“If I don’t have this aspiration or dream, then that will be the moment when I will quit coaching or start fishing, or just go on holiday.”
Germany welcome Boateng back into their XI after he missed the over Denmark due to sion.
Lars Bender should therefore return to the bench with no other changes expected to the Germany starting XI from their games so far.
Santos presented the same players at the press conference yesterday who took to the podium ahead of the russia game and he is hoping that “will be a good omen” as he prepares to present the same XI players on the field too. Jerome starting 2-1 win suspen-