Angola Impressive but Portugal a lot to be desired

Portugal is the first team which was booed by its own supporters and there is a history to it. For centuries Angola was a colony of Portugal so although there was sense of harmony among the fans before the match but there was no shortage of rivalry. Angola were off to a shaky start and almost conceded a goal with first move of the play but Pauleta’s shot was inches wide of far post. This early warning wasn’t enough to wake up Angola, in 4th minute Luis Figo( even at the age of 33) showed great pace and went pass through Angola’s defender Jamba and provided a pass to Pauleta who this time converted the opportunity with ease 1-0 Portugal. At this time it looked like Portugal will have a goal fest and will run away with the match atleast that is what their spectators thought.

Angola started to gain some confidence and had couple of shots at goal. On the other end Cristiano Ronaldo was causing havoc with his speed and skills but wasn’t able to score. Twice he was unlucky though, once his powerful header hit the cross bar and then he brought up a wonderful save from the Angolan goalkeeper just before the end of first half.

Second half started bit slow but again was Portugal were more dominating though they were just able to create some half chances no real firepower was shown. But it was Angola who dominated mid second half specially Andre, Figueiredo and Mateus were very impressive. In 60th minute Luiz Scolari substituted Cristiano Ronaldo and winger didn’t look happy at all. Frankly this move took out the extra edge from Portuguese attack since Figo was largely ineffective in the second half. In the end it ended 1-0 though Portuguese were disappointing because they failed to convert positive looking build ups in to any clear cut goal scoring opportunities and will have to perform a lot better if they want to go through to the Quarters because in round of 16 they will be facing someone from Group C and we all know what fire power is there.

Today Azzurri began their campaign and as usual I am tensed and excited.