Euro 2008 LiveBlog: Portugal vs Turkey

June 7th, 20:45 CET, Geneva (Switzerland)

Group A

Portugal		vs		Turkey
Pepe 61′ Meireles 93′		2-0

And that’s the game. 2-0 Portugal.

90+3 GOAL!!! Meireles. The sub does it. Ronaldo to Moutinho, who dodges defenders. The keeper comes off his line and cuts off Moutinho’s angle, so he sends it to Meireles, who come up the right out of nowhere. Demirel is down on the ground, so the defenders charge back into goal, but not in time. Meireles taps it in. 2-0 Portugal

90+2 Meira on, Deco off for Portugal. A time-wasting, cap-giving move.

90+ 1 Aurelio slams into Nani’s shin with his studs. Nani is down. I didn’t see a card. There should have been.

90′ Big miss for Turkey! (Sorry — as soon as I started typing, Nani was taken down at the other end and I lost my train of thought. So I can’t tell you exactly what happened without watching replays.)

89′ Nihat is in good position in the box, but he pushes down Pepe and gets called for it.

88′ Nani sends in a shot from long-range. Demirel has to dive for it a bit, but he’s not really challenged.

87′ Time is ticking down. Ronaldo again comes up the right, but he has three defenders on him. Then Kazim delivers a little backwards push on Ferreira and gets called for it.

85′ Emre gets off a shot from distance, but it’s blocked before it even enters the box.

83′ Ronaldo has a nice run up the left, then backheels it to Deco, who passes to Nani, who can’t quite control it, and Turkey takes over. And then, on the other end Kazim pushes off of Ferreira and gets called for it.

83′ Miereles on, Simao off for Portugal.

82′ Turkey comes up the right. Sabri delivers a cross, but Portugal heads it out for a corner. The corner is delivered to the head of Asik, who has a great chance but heads it wide.

81′ Turkey delivers a cross, Ricardo charges to the edge of the box and grabs it up.

80′ The clock is ticking down and the players seem to be getting tired. Play isn’t quite as crisp as earlier. Opportunities are popping up for both teams.

78′ Nani has a good moment at the edge of the box, but his cross deflects off a Turkish player in a way that allows another defender to collect it easily.

77′ Turkey’s moved to 4-4-2, with Sabri at rightback. Turkey looks somewhat threatening, but Ricardo is able to come off his line and collect a cross without too much difficulty.

76′ Senturk on, Altintop off for Turkey

75′ Free kick for Turkey, great chance. Ricardo comes off his line but isn’t decisive, and he collides with a Turkish player who could easily have headed it in, but doesn’t.

73′ Handball for Simao that wasn’t called. Sabri gets yellow for protesting. Then, at the other end Ronaldo comes close again, but Demirel gets to the ball first.

72′ Portugal has had 14 shots, Turkey 4. But the game has felt closer than that. Turkey really has done a fair job here.

68′ Nani is on, Gomes is off for Portugal. Ronaldo takes the armband. This gives a front line of Ronaldo, Nani and Simao. Should be fun.

67′ Daryl’s pick of Pepe on his fantasy team is looking good. He denies Nihat an almost sure goal with good one-on-one defense in the box.

65′ Portugal is denied again by the woodwork. Pretty delivery from Ronaldo to Gomes, who heads it into the crossbar.

61′ GOAL!!!! Pepe! He goes up the middle, splits defenders, does a pretty give-and-go with Nunes(?), dodges more defenders and goes straight past the goalkeeper to send it in.

60′ Sabri sends in a shot from distance, but it’s way over the bar.

59′ Kazim delivers a nice cross into the box. Bosingwa heads it out for a corner. Nihat delivers the corner into the box, but Portugal heads it away.

58′ Portugal has had 58% possession. But it’s still 0-0. Ronaldo taken down by Altintop to the side of the box, along the left touchline. The free kick is sent short and then switched to Moutinho on the right. He gets off a blast of a shot that goes a couple of feet high.

56′ Ronaldo has a great opportunity, coming up the right. Altintop misses the tackle and Ronaldo has a chance, but Demirel is there to collect the shot.

55′ Zan off, Asik on for Turkey.

53′ Zan apparently got injured in the clash as well, as he’s on the sidelines getting treatment also.

52′ Simao is getting treatment, and Nani is warming up.

50′ Zan nearly messes it up royally, taking down Simao with an ugly slash across the knee at the edge of the box. Ref plays advantage, and Portugal gets off a shot but is denied again by the woodwork!

49′ Turkey has a nice stretch of possession. Altintop is taken down in the box. Or goes down in the box. Hard to tell if there was a foul, even on the replay, but there’s no call.

48′ Kazim puts in a nice cross, but Ricardo comes off his line and snatches it out of the air.

47′ Ronaldo sends in a hard cross that goes over the goal for a goal kick.

46′ We’re back. Sabri Sarioglu on, and I think it’s Erdinc off for Turkey.

And that’s the half! Still 0-0. Turkey has to be pleased with their performance here.

45+1 One minute stoppage time. Turkey wins a goal kick and Demirel is in no hurry to take it. But once he does, Turkey actually manages one last shot, but straight to Ricardo.

45′ Kazim is called for backing into Pepe a little too hard. He’s not happy about the call.

44′ Bosingwa is really good. Just sayin’. Excellent ball control and awareness of where his opponents are.

43′ Commentators are pointing out that Turkey is getting forward and not content to defend. A good thing. Altintop delivers a cross into the box, but Ricardo is there.

41′ Zan may have fouled Deco in the box. Can’t see, even on the replay, but it wasn’t called, and he definitely saved a goal. The corner is headed away from goal and to Turkey.

40′ Simao sends in a good corner. Somebody gets a head on it — Pepe? Gomes? — and a Turkish defender as well but it goes wide and over and out for a corner. The corner is cleared away.

38′ On the counter, Altintop sends the ball just wide. And the replay on the previous free kick shows that Demirel gets a fingernail on the ball to send it into the post. Barely.

38′ Zan gets called for a foul, which I again missed. (It’s hard to type and watch at the same time!) Ronaldo takes the free beautifully. It looks like it’s going in, and Demirel isn’t there, but he’s saved by the woodwork as it bounces off the post!

36′ Ronaldo comes up the left but loses the ball to Aurelio.

34′ Deco gets shoved and upended a few yards outside and to the right of the box. Simao takes it, sends it in front of the goal, and it bounces off a head or two before going to Demirel.

32′ Ronaldo puts gorgeous service into the box for Gomes, but Gomes can’t latch on and Turkey gets there first.

30′ Ronaldo cuts through defenders like they’re stationary pylons, but in the end his shot goes wide.

28′ Deco has a nice opportunity on the left. He’s then taken down just outside the box in a dangerous spot. Four Portuguese line up for the free, but you know it’s going to be Ronaldo, right? Wrong. It was Simao, not a bad free kick over the wall, but over the goal as well.

27′ Ronaldo gets the ball and does a pretty little nutmeg before giving it up.

26′ Mevlut goes down at midfield rather easily. Interesting commentary — is it easier to shut down Ronaldo here than at ManU? Because he’s really not much of a factor so far.

25′ Balta goes over the top of Bosingwa, free kick. Ricardo sends it into the other box and Demirel collects it. Must have been an offside call — I was typing again — because he takes a kick outside the box.

22′ Portugal picks off the ball at midfield, and Simao is taken down. Free kick is kicked around the middle of the field awhile, then down the left, but Simao is offside so nothing really happens.

21′ Nihat’s corner is well-delivered, but goes straight to Ricardo.

19′ Free kick for Turkey in a dangerous spot. Didn’t catch the names of the players involved in the foul, sorry. Free kick deflects off the wall and just barely goes wide. Corner.

18′ Tuncay shoves Pepe down on the Portugal end for a Portugal free kick.

16′ Simao comes up the left and manages to get a deflection for a corner. Short corner, then delivered directly into the box. Pepe heads it in, but he’s offside! That really looked like a goal!

15′ Mevlut gets a great opportunity, but takes down Pepe when running for the ball, so Portugal gets it back.

13′ Dangerous for the Turks. Nihat goes down in the box, but no call. They’re looking more confident now, though.

12′ Aurelio does a nice bit of thievery, snatching away the ball and bringing it up the right, then knocking it off Portugal for a corner. Alas, Portugal is able to head the corner out.

10′ Pepe takes down Sanli(?) from behind. The free kick looks dangerous, delivered in front of the goal, but Ricardo is able to fall on it.

9′ Cetin is limping off the field, trying to stretch away the injury.

7′ Turkey gets a good opportunity, but there’s some miscommunication among players and they give it up cheaply. Portugal charges up on the counter, and it’s eventually sent out for a corner. The corner goes into the box and gets batted around for awhile before Turkey manages to get it away. Cetin collided with Ronaldo and fell awkwardly and is down.

6′ Ronaldo takes a shot from distance and it goes into the stands.

5′ Turkey sends a long ball to Ricardo, for his first action of the game. He collects it easily, with nobody really there.

4′ Turkey gets the ball, finally, but coughs it up within seconds. Portugal comes up the left. Then Kazim gets booked, but I was typing and didn’t see what happened. It looks like he just blocked somebody to keep them away from goal.

3′ Bosingwa has the ball to the right of the box. He could have crossed, but instead sends it into the side netting.

2′ I hope nobody’s playing the Cristiano ronaldo stepover drinking game. Just saying. Possession is all Portugal so far.

1′ We are underway. Portugal in the red, Turkey in white. Ronaldo has already been taken down. A bit of a shove from behind.

-1′ They’re on the field.

-2′ I love the national anthems. Have I mentioned that yet today? The guys all look so proud. Even the ones that look terrified. CRonaldo has chin fuzz. Is this a fashion statement, or did he forget to shave? My bet would be on fashion statement.

-3-ish minutes. Onto the field Ronaldo struts.

-4′ They’re showing the Portuguese. Carvalho looks old. Everybody looks in good spirits.

-5′ The boys are in the tunnel and getting ready to go. They’re showing the Turks, and they look excited and nervous.

-8′ The ref is Herb Fandel. According to my buddy Chris, “he also refereed the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup on home soil in Germany. He officiated the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He is a piano teacher by occupation. He is married and a father of two children.” Any questions?

-10′ Ten minutes till kickoff. Everybody got your beer? Made your potty stop? Gotten a toothpick for that annoying little piece of popcorn that was driving you crazy stuck between your teeth?

Or was that just me? Whatever. ESPN is on, and we’re good to go.

-15′ Official starting lineups at last.

Portugal:
Ricardo, Bosingwa, Pepe, Carvalho, Ferreira, Petit, Joao Moutinho, Ronaldo, Deco, Simao, Nuno Gomes.
Subs: Rui Patricio, Bruno Alves, Fernando Meira, Raul Meireles, Hugo Almeida, Miguel, Jorge Ribeiro, Quaresma, Veloso, Nani, Postiga, Quim.

Turkey:
Demirel, Altintop, Cetin, Zan, Balta, Kazim-Richards, Emre, Aurelio, Erding, Sanli, Nihat.
Subs: Rustu, Zengin, Topal, Senturk, Karadeniz, Metin, Gungor, Turan, Asik, Boral, Akman, Sarioglu.

-45′ All righty. Forty-five-ish minutes till kickoff, so let’s get this party started. It’s Portugal vs. Turkey, and this will be the liveblog of the game. I have not done a liveblog as a neutral since African Cup of Nations, so be gentle with me, okay? I’m quite certain I’ll be an ace by the end of the tournament.

News since the preview is that Portugal have lost their reserve goalkeeper, Quim, to a broken wrist. Not good news, but if you have to lose somebody, I suppose a reserve goalkeeper is one of the best to lose. Right? And at least he had the decency to do it before the first game, when he could be replaced. Portugal has called Nuno Espirito Santo to the team.

Unofficial starting lineup for Turkey:

Turkey will play a 4-3-3 formation. The starting line-up would be: 23. Volkan Demirel - 22. Hamit Altintop, 2. Servet Cetin, 4. Gokhan Zan, 3. Hakan Balta - 18. Kazim Kazim, 7. Mehmet Aurelio, 5. Emre Belozoglu - 17. Tuncay Sanli, 8. Nihat Kahveci, 21. Mevlut Erdinc.

No starting lineup for Portugal at the moment, but as soon as I find it, (and the official Turkey lineup) I’ll post it here.