Tuesday, 14 June 2016

Portugal 1 Iceland 1: Cristiano Ronaldo and co frustrated by plucky minnows

ICELAND, a country with the same population as Leicester, gave Euro 2016 a taste of the Foxes’ spirit.

Portugal were held to a 1-1 draw by minnows IcelandFRUSTRATED: Portugal were held to a 1-1 draw by minnows Iceland
Cristiano Ronaldo equalled Luis Figo’s record of 127 caps for Portugal, but an Ice Man nicknamed Thor put him in a sweat.
Iceland recovered superbly from going behind to a first-half goal from Nani to equalise through Birkir Bjarnason.
Iceland, playing in a major finals for the first time, came close to taking a shock lead in the second minute when Gylfi Sigurdsson was denied by a superb double save from Portugal keeper Patricio.
But Portugal, playing with Nani up front alongside Ronaldo, did look dangerous in attack.
A fierce shot by Vieirinha was well saved by Hannes Halldorsson after 18 minutes and the keeper made an even better stop when he blocked Nani’s close-range header following Ronaldo’s exquisite cross.
Andre Gomes played the final ball across the area for Nani to gleefully sweep home after 30 minutes to put Fernando Santos’ men ahead.
Portugal should have extended their lead as they dominated possession.
But Iceland’s breakthrough came after 50 minutes when a superb left-foot cross by Johann Gudmundsson from the right wing was expertly guided home by Bjarnason.
PORTUGAL (4-4-2): Patricio; Guerreiro, Pepe, Carvalho, Vieirinha; Gomes Danilo (Eder 84),
Mario (Quaresma 76); Moutinho (Sanches 71); Ronaldo, Nani.

ICELAND (4-5-1): Halldorsson; Saevarsson; R Sigurdsson. Arnaso, Skulason; A Gunnarson, G Sigurdsson; Gudmundsson (T Bjarnason 90), B Bjarnason; Sigthorsson (Finnbogason 81), Bodvarsson.
Referee: Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey).

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