http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/fixturesresults/round=2240/ match=85178/report=rp.html Victory in vain for four-goal Portugal Saturday 16 June 2007 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There was a rainbow over the Euroborg before kick-off but Portugal's hopes of finding a pot of gold here in the Netherlands ended despite this comfortable victory against Israel in their final Group A game. Belgium's 2-2 draw with the Netherlands some 60 kilometres away in Heerenveen consigned them to third place in the section, a point behind Jean-Francois De Sart's Belgians. Mood turns sour Leading 4-0 through goals from Manuel Fernandes, Ricardo Vaz Te, Miguel Veloso and Nani, everything looked rosy for Portugal until the 70th minute when news filtered through that Belgium had equalised against the Dutch. With the inspirational Nani departing on a stretcher in the same minute, suddenly the mood turned sour for Jose Couceiro's side. While Portugal must now wait for tomorrow's Group B deciders to find out if third spot will earn them a play-off for a berth at the 2008 Olympic Games, Israel's first U21 finals closed with this third successive defeat. Flash of quality Portugal had 70 per cent of possession during the opening quarter-hour yet it was Israel who had the first chance of note on 17 minutes. Idan Srur swung in a free-kick from the right but the unmarked Lior Rafaelov failed to make contact and Paulo Ribeiro saved with his feet. Almost immediately at the other end, we saw the first flash of quality from one of Portugal's highly-rated attackers as Joao Moutinho skipped past Eliran Danin and centred to Vaz Te but the forward, appearing for the first time in the Netherlands, headed over. Nani to the fore That sparked a succession of opportunities with Nani at the heart of everything. The new Manchester United FC winger had one shot deflected over, then drove another at Tom Al Madon from Hugo Almeida's knock-down. After the besieged goalkeeper had turned behind Manuel da Costa's low free-kick, Nani was at it again, hitting the top of the net with an overhead kick. A goal seemed inevitable and when it came on 37 minutes, Nani was involved again, Manuel Fernandes playing a one-two with him before driving a fierce shot in off the underside of the crossbar. Al Madon then kept out a Nani header but on the stroke of half-time, it was 2-0 as Vaz Te nodded in Joao Pereira's pinpoint cross. No respite The second half brought no respite for Israel and by the 50th minute, Portugal were out of sight. First Miguel Veloso's free-kick from out on the right evaded everyone, Al Madon included, on its way inside the far post. Sixty seconds later Nani flashed the ball past the goalkeeper from 20 metres. A real pity then that the talented 20-year-old's evening ended prematurely after a heavy tackle from Israel substitute Dani Bondarv. Israel prevented any further damage as Al Madon denied Moutinho and Danin headed off the line from Vaz Te, but Guy Levy's men missed out on the consolation of a first goal in the competition when Paulo Ribeiro saved Rami Duani's late close-range effort. While Portugal wait to see if there will indeed be an Olympic play-off on 21 June, for captain Hugo Almeida his involvement in the Netherlands is over having picked up another booking here. http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/fixturesresults/round=2240/ match=85178/report=rw.html 教練感言 Today we have again shown – as we did last Wednesday against the Netherlands - that we are a quality team, a very capable team, and a team who are not going to the semi-finals for reasons that aren't quite clear. The players have played well throughout and once more they have shown just what quality they have. The best team are out of the tournament. Apart from half an hour in the first half against Belgium, we have been excellent and haven't deserved this fate. The players have reacted well to the pressure and any criticism has been unfair. We had 60 odd per cent of the possession against the Netherlands and were unlucky with a penalty decision. The problem for us was the Netherlands match. I can't say anything about the Belgium-Netherlands game because I didn't see it. As for tonight, Israel's players aren't used to playing three matches in such a short space of time, so I expected them to be weaker than in their previous games – as long as we passed the ball quickly, we would win. Belgium haven't lost in 15 matches and it doesn't surprise me that they are doing so well. ===== 不難預測的結果。小組第三無緣晉級。 --

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