Portugal 2-0 Turkey

Jun 8 2008 Ian Gilmour Reports

THE talk before this game was of Cristiano Ronaldo's possible move to Real Madrid but instead it was a current Bernabeu player who grabbed the headlines. Central defender Pepe was Portugal's unlikely hero as he set the beaten Euro 2004 finalists on their way to victory against Turkey.

The stopper had already seen a goal chopped off for offside before he struck on the hour to break the deadlock.

Sub Raul Meireles then added a second in injury time to send Portugal top of Group A.

Both players had never scored for their country before and Pepe upstaged superstar Ronaldo who is being tipped to join him at Real.

Victory was nothing more than Luiz Felipe Scolari's men deserved after hitting the woodwork three times.

Turkey were looking to end a hoodoo that stretched back more than half a century with their last win against Portugal coming in 1955. And even that wasn't in a competitive clash.

The Portuguese had won six on the bounce since that solitary defeat including the last two in this competition in 1996 and 2000.

And the game followed a familiar pattern with Portugal starting the brighter and looking lively. Scolari's men couldn't find the breakthrough though as Turkey held firm.

That was until Pepe bulleted a header into the net from a corner after 16 minutes - only for Portugal's celebrations to be cut short by a linesman who correctly flagged for offside.

The Portuguese had four players in their starting line-up who featured in the Lisbon final four years ago.

And you could see how eager they were to do well here.

Ronaldo is the man of the moment after his 42-goal season with Manchester United and many are tipping him to be the player of the tournament.

But he doesn't get everything his own way for Portugal as was shown just before the half hour when Turkey conceded a free-kick in a dangerous area.

Ronaldo usually grabs the ball in these situations but this time it was Simao who stepped up and his effort went just over.

England have failed to make it to Euro 2008 but that doesn't mean there aren't any Englishman featuring in Austria and Switzerland.

Leytonstone-born Colin Kazim-Richards was a starter for Turkey as he continued a fairytale turnaround in his career.

The winger must be pinching himself on Europe's biggest stage just a year after suffering relegation from the Premiership with Sheffield United.

He was the first player booked by German referee Herbert Fandel for flattening Simao and Kazim-Richards was walking a tightrope from that point.

It didn't help the 21-year-old that Turkey's defence was constantly under the cosh.

And they had another lucky escape when Ronaldo saw a low free-kick brilliantly tipped on to the inside of the post by keeper Volkan Demirel.

The pressure continued just before the break and Gokhan Zan did enough to put off Joao Moutinho after a Deco pass.

Portugal couldn't find a way through by half-time but Scolari would still have been the happier gaffer at the interval.

Turkey made a switch for the restart with Galatasary's Sabri Sarioglu replacing Mevlut Erding as boss Fatih Terim looked to take a more adventurous approach.

And they had a claim for a penalty rightly waved away when Nihat Kahveci burst into the box and invited the challenge from Simao before diving.

Another good decision came moments later when Fandel played advantage well and Portugal hit the woodwork again.

Zan scythed down Simao on the edge of the box but as the ball found its way to Nuno Gomes in a good position the ref allowed play to continue and the Benfica striker fired a shot off the post.

When play stopped Zan was rightly booked and it proved to be his last act of the game.

He was injured from that challenge and limped off with Emre Asik taking his place.

The deadlock was finally broken on the hour with a sublime goal from Pepe.

The Real Madrid man made a driving forward run before playing a neat one-two with his skipper Gomes.

As he ran on to the return pass the defender slotted beyond the helpless Turkish keeper.

After being provider on that occasion, Gomes almost turned scorer with a header off the bar that could have killed the game.

And Portugal had to wait until injury time before wrapping the game up as sub Meireles capped a sweeping move.

Ronaldo went on a run down the left and a superb turn and pass in the box from Joao Moutinho gave Meireles a tap in.

Teamsheet

PORTUGAL: Ricardo, Bosingwa, Pepe, Carvalho, Ferreira, Petit, J Moutinho, Ronaldo, Deco (F Meira 90), Simao (R Meireles 83), N Gomes (Nani 68). Subs: R Patricio, BAlves, HAlmeida, Miguel, B Ribeiro, Quaresma, Veloso, Postiga, Quim.

TURKEY: Demirel, Altintop, Cetin, Zan (Asik 54), Balta, K Richards, Emre, Aurelio, Erding (Sarioglu 45), Sanli, Nihat. Subs: Rustu, Zengin, Topal, Senturk, Karadeniz, Metin, Gungor, Turan, Boral, Akman.

MATCH STATS

8 SHOTS ON 1

4 SHOTS OFF 4

6 OFFSIDE 3

10 FOULS 23

7 CORNERS 5

0 BOOKINGS 3