Euro 2008 LIVEBLOG: Czech Republic vs Portugal

GROUP A	June 11th, 1800 CET, Geneva (Switzerland)
Czech Republic 1 VS Portugal 3 Sionko 16′   Deco 8′, Ronaldo 63′, Quaresma 91′

FULLTIME

90′ Beautiful run by Baros, ball set down well by Koller but Polak shoots it over the net.

GOAL QUARESMA, Ronaldo feeds him a gimme. And that’s what you get with everything pushed forward.

89′ Long ball by Janku punched out by Ricardo and Polak gets all twisted in the box with a real chance there. Fouls a defender. Free kick.

88′ Pepe taken down by jarolim. Free kick taken…slowly and professionally.

Quaresma has a good chance at night but it goes wide.

86′ Janku with a short pass that Porgutal plucks for possession….Portugal looking content to maintain until Ricardo boots it out for a Czech Republic throw.

85′ Jarolim on for Plasil.

83′ Whoa….Ricardo saves a Sionko header right in the box. Could’ve been a goal there.

82′ Koller absolutely steamrolled Petit. I see he’s going to make an impact one way or another.

81′ Koller heads the cross down but whoever was on the other end (Polak?) flubbed the shot.

80′ And Ricky Quaresma on for Simao, and Quaresma seems to be getting a huge applause.

79′ Hugo Almeida on for Nuno Gomes.

78′ Have to wonder if we’ll see last game’s hero, Sverkos, on….Baros heads it well wide in a good position.

76′ Polak tackles Deco in a wicked dangerous spot, 23m from goal right in the middle of the pitch…..Simao’s shot blocked by the wall…poor attempt at a counter by the Czech Rep.

74′ Fernando Meira also coming on, for Joao Moutinho. Well this isn’t a defensive sub AT ALL. Pepe, Carvalo and Meira now.

73′ The giant Czech is coming on for Tomas Galasek. So it’ll be Baros and Koller up top.

72′ Petit stretchered off, Koller looking to come on. Different teams, off course.

70′ Another good chance for the Czech Repub. Header put across the goal mouth but no one to tap it in.

Vicek on, Matejovsky off.

68′ Ricardo actually saves a set piece well. Czech sub which I missed…eh.

64′ Janku chopped down by Petit, free kick in a dangerous position out wide….Ricardo misses it terribly but the portuguese D bails him out. He’s just terrible on set pieces, eh?

62′ GOAL RONALDO Off of Deco’s brilliance he one times it past Cech. 2-1.

61′ Corner to the Czech Republic…..too short…..wait, stopped….take it again…..oh my. Ujfalusi’s header skims just outside the post with two charging Czechs ready to pounce. What a chance.

59′ Bosingwa lofts a nice ball to an on running Simao but he shoots weekly towards Cech, wwho saves. Portugal getting some great chances here.

58′ Simao with an open chance on Cech, Petr saves it, obviously.

57′ Jan Koller is warming up. Something tells me he’s a starting pitcher, isn’t always best coming out of the bullpen because he takes forever to warm up.

55′ Rozehnal with an absolutely criminal touch and Nuno Gumos gets the ball with a perfect chance on Cech but Rozy makes up for his error with a flying tackle.

54′ Deco with an uncharacteristic gift to the Czech, who realized it was Deco and that he didn’t mean to do such a thing so they gave it right back.

53′ Nuno Gomes with nothing but air between himself an Cech but seemed to have a bit of trouble with his footing, saved easily.

52′ Deco tries a cheeky ball, nothin’. Janku tries a sweet pass to baros, nothin’.

50′ Baros almost with another chance to dart through the Portuguese defense. He seems primed for a 1v1 soon.

48′ Bosingwa cross sent in, booted out, Czech on the attack….gorgeous pass, ball is sent through the six yard box and no one was there to put it home. Should’ve been 2-1…corner……Portgual counter but Ronaldo is tackled again.

47′ Portugal maintaining possession. Ronaldo tackled well, he wants a foul, whaddyaknow.

SECOND HALF KICKOFF

Cech saves Ronaldo’s splitfingered fastball, HALFTIME.

45′ Very slow right now from Portugal. Seems like basket ball – they want the last possession before the half.

44′ Ronaldo poked in the face by Ujfalusi.

Alright, ESPN’s super slow mo is way, way too slow. I could write a novel and father a child by the time I’ve seen Ronaldo shoot and Cech save.

42′ Ronaldo shot saved well by Cech. Pretty impressive tournament from him so far, though one could hardly expect anything less. (He’s on my fantasy team, atta boy.)

40′ Ferreira, who looks much better on the left now, wins the corner…..short to Deco, who fires it off Baros….Simao’s cross headed out for another corner. Carvalho puts too strong a touch on the ball and it’s won by Janku.

38′ Carvalho takes down Baros who was about to make another run. Milan is a mighty big threat right now.

36′ Milan Baros runs through the entire freakin’ midfield and defense, cross is headed out. Where the hell is this for club?

34′ Paulo Ferreira hammers a cross into Grygera’s face. That’ll water the old eyes.

33′ Ronaldo showing more pace than anything today.

32′ Three Czech players attempting to closedown Pepe and Ricardo in the back. Good stuff here. I don’t think either squad is looking for the tie. They don’t want to play Germany in round number two.

30′ Deco crunched, free kick Portugal, Bosingwa beat Plasil, who then puts in some rugby moves on the Czech defender, yellow card for him. That would’ve been nice if he hadn’t spiked Galasek.

28′ Czech wins a corner off a Cech goal kick….Plasil fakes out everyone…..Ricardo terribly midjudged it but Sionko couldn’t put it on the open net. Yikes.

27′ A bit rougher now, and Portugal isn’t having much luck getting past the Czech defense. Not intimidated.

25′ Ronaldo shot from outside the box saved by Cech. It’ going to have to be a moment of brilliance to beat Cech.

Baros looks to have accidentally elbowed Pepe in the face. Pepe checking for cut and blood, no dice, he’s good to go.

24′ Defender from Reading just stopped Ronaldo cleanly. Can’t imagine that happened much in the Prem this year.

Deco slips through the Czech defense and put one over the bar. Good try there.

22′ Portugal has 56% possession, but it seems as though the Czech Republic has had the better possession. Yellow for Jan Polak. Slid through and by Pepe.

20′ Petit with another long shot, nothin’. He does realize it’s Petr Cech in goal, right?

Already a good game for the neutrals in the crowd.

16′ GOAL SIONKO. Header off the corner, and it’s game on baby.

15′ Petit with a long shot saved easily, Czech on the attack…cross to Baros is headed over the bar. Watch him look fantastic during this tournament and then go back to uselessness at his club – whatever it may be.

14′ Jankulovski is not having a particularly good day with his left foot.

12′ Little bit of a slowed pace now. Jankulovski with a long ball a bit too far out for a goal kick.

9′ Czech Republic makes a quick attempt at equalizing but the shot is forced wide for a corner…..goal kick to Portugal.

8′ GOAL DECO. A clusterfuck in front of the net and Deco picks up the lose ball just from the outstretched hands of Cech. Wasn’t Peter Hansson ugly but it certainly wasn’t pretty either.

6′ Czech defense looking good early, at least making some nice tackles to start. After all, they did lead qualifying in defense along with France and Holland.

5′ Exciting opening five minutes here already. Karel Bruckner looks so stately.

4′ Sionko cuts in well and has a really good chance on goal but it’s blocked by Pepe….Deco on the run, taken off the ball…Ronaldo has a go which is blocked.

3′ Ronaldo stepovers, loses the ball. Simao gets bulled over by Janku.

1′ Czech Republic in red, Portugal in white, which was a bit confusing to start. Not much to start. Ball back and forth in the middle third – though it looked like we may have just had another Czech handball.

KICKOFF

I love the name of the Czech national anthem: “Where Is My Home?” I hope that’s rhetorical.

National anthems. I always think Ricardo looks like a former child star. Not sure why. And Nuno Gomes is VERY enthusiastic about his national anthem.

Out goes the big man, jan Koller, and in comes Milan Baros, international superstar and domestic turd.

Czech Rep. – 4-1-2-3: Cech; Grygera, Ujfalusi, Rozenhal, Jankulovski; Galasek; Polak, Matejovsky; Sionko, Baros, Plasil

Portugal – 4-2-3-1: Ricardo; Boswinga, Ferreira, Pepe, Carvalho; Petit, Moutinho; Deco,Ronaldo, Simao; Gomes

Lineups forthcoming, but The Karate Kid is on vh1 and I’m getting tempted to Liveblog that instead.

Alrighty. Phase II of the group stages is what we’re all about today. And winner of this game gets a golden ticket to the quarterfinals. If there is a winner. A draw would be a decent result for both teams.