Ronaldo conducts rampant Portugal

Goals from Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma gave Portugal a 3-1 win against Czech Rupublic in Geneva, guaranteeing their berth in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008.

Under glorious sunshine, Portugal started where they left off against Turkey. With Deco and Ronaldo fizzing in midfield, Phil Scolari's team blasted out of the blocks in exuberant fashion and went ahead in under 10 minutes.
That man Ronaldo was inevitably involved; exchanging passes on the edge of the box with Nuno Gomes to scythe open the Czech defence. Petr Cech was alert to deny the Manchester United midfielder with his legs, but Deco poked home to put the Portuguese ahead.
The Czechs are made of stern stuff, however, and were not about to capitulate. Milan Baros, who was preferred to Jan Koller up front, worked tirelessly and fully justified his inclusion, while Libor Sionko and Jan Polak began to assert themselves in the all-important midfield battle.
Having gone behind, Karel Bruckner's team responded with a spell of dominance which soon brought them level.

The highly influential Sionko broke on the right and earned his side a corner, which Jaroslav Plasil swung in from the left. Sionko found himself unmarked and stooped to head past Ricardo with some style.
The two sides were impossible to separate for the remainder of the first period, as each defended tightly and probed without great success going forward. Ronaldo tested Cech twice from 30 yards, once from open play and once from a well-struck free-kick, but 1-1 at half-time was a fair reflection.
The second half began with the Czechs in control. Three minutes in, Sionko broke down the right but failed to find Baros with his centre. A glorious chance went begging and Portugal were soon back to their scintillating best.
Gomes burst forward on 55 minutes, only to be denied by former Newcastle United David Rozehnal, and Cech saved superbly with his legs to deny Simao shortly afterwards.
Just shy of the hour mark Portugal went ahead. Deco cut inside from the right and sent a slide-rule pass into Ronaldo, who shot first time into the bottom corner to score his 22nd international goal.
Despite some nervous moments in the Portuguese defence, there would be no reply from the Czechs this time. They continued to press, however, and stayed in contention by denying Portugal a counter-attack hammer blow.

On 83 minutes, Sionko once again found himself unmarked in the box, but Ricardo tipped his powerful header over the bar.
As the Czechs became increasingly desperate, holes began to appear in their defence and with full-time looming Ronaldo found himself clean through in acres of space. The Manchester United midfielder unselfishly squared for Quaresma, who had the straightforward task of the passing the ball into an empty net.

Turkey Send Swiss Packing

Arda Turan struck an injury-time winner as Turkey beat Switzerland 2-1 in Basel to send the Euro 2008 co-hosts crashing out after five days.
Hakan Yakin had put the Swiss ahead in the first half at a soggy St Jakob-Park Stadium but Semih Senturk equalised ten minutes into the second half before the turnaround was completed by Turan at the death.
The two sides lost their opening Group A games so both knew they needed a victory to realistically keep their quarter-final hopes alive.
It was Switzerland who looked the more dangerous from the outset and they had a number of opportunities to take the lead, but both Yakin and Tranquilo Barnetta were denied by superb saves from the outstanding Volkan Demirel.
Yakin did put the co-hosts ahead in the 30th minute, though, when Eren Derdiyok got on the end of a long ball, rounded the goalkeeper and squared perfectly across goal, with the ball stopping in the rain for Yakin to simply tap in from two yards.
Yakin should have put Switzerland 2-0 ahead four minutes later when presented with another open goal by Valon Behrami's cross, but the playmaker somehow fired wide from five yards.
The rain continued to lash down as the end of the first half neared, and there was real danger of the game being called off during the interval. However the downpour stopped and the second half kicked off as planned with the conditions significantly improved.
Turkey were also greatly improved and had the ball in the net six minutes in although Senturk was rightly ruled to be offside. However, the substitute was not to be denied and he headed home Nihat Kahveci's cross to earn his side a 55th-minute equaliser.
Yakin was denied by a desperate lunge in the opposite box a few minutes later as Switzerland looked to hit immediately back, but it was the Turks who almost took the lead when Nihat just failed to get on the end of Tuncay Sanli's cross across goal on 73.
Yakin should have won it for Switzerland ten minutes later but he fired straight at Demirel's chest from the edge of the box and was immediately withdrawn for Colin Kazim-Richards.
And Yakin's miss proved to be crucial as a minute into stoppage time Turan's 20-yard shot was deflected over Diego Benaglio to send the co-hosts crashing out after just five days.

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