The second day of action in Group B, otherwise known as the "Group of Death," could have led to problems for Portugal. Heading into the day, Germany had a victory (defeating Portugal 1-0) and Denmark, the second Portuguese opponent, also earned a win against the Netherlands. If Portugal lost to Denmark, there hopes of advancing to the next round would be completely out of reach.
How did things turn out on the sixth day of the 2012 UEFA Euro tournament?
In what was a must-win game for Portugal, they picked up a strike in the 24th minute when Pepe scored on a beautiful header to give them a 1-0 lead. Twelve minutes later, the Portuguese picked up a second goal when Helder Postiga picked up his first goal of the tournament, advancing their lead to 2-0. With the game going close to the half, Portugal seemed ready to take their 2-0 lead to the break, but Denmark kept moving forward and had other plans. Nicklas Bendtner picked up a goal (41') to cut the lead to 2-1.
In the second half, Denmark controlled the ball - as they did for 59 percent of the game - and had their share of shots on goal, but didn't add an equalizer until the 80th minute when Bendtner picked up his second goal of the game. At this point in the game, the Portuguese faithful must have been worrying about their tournament future as the one point for a draw wouldn't be great news. Seven minutes later, Portugal answered as one of their 12 shots on goal finally reached the back of the net as Silvestre Varela scored the eventual game-winning score.
It wasn't the greatest of performances by the Portuguese team. Cristiano Ronaldo had his share of quality chances, but failed to capitalize on any of them. For the Portuguese team to advance anywhere in the tournament, they need to see their star score when he gets close. While Pepe and Postiga looked great throughout the action, it is Ronaldo who takes the team on his back.
News source: yahoo
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