We have now reached the knockout stages of the Euro's with the first match being the winners of Group A (Czech Republic) against 2nd place finishers of Group B (Portugal). The stage was set for a magical night that never really happened.Portugal 1 - 0 Czech Republic
The match was similar to Poland v Greece over 2 weeks ago now, the fixturet was not the most exciting but due to its nature as the first knockout match of the competition there was great anticipation, with Ronaldo the main talking point to see if he could carry on the extrodinary form he found last match.
However it was not from Portugals fault the match failed to excite, the Czech's playing style was, they wanted to play utilising a strong defence and midfield to silence the Portugese while playing counter attacking football to threaten their defence. However this didn't work as planned, it meant that by the end of the match the Czechs had failed to have a single shot on target and had spent almost all of the match in their own third of the pitch.
But Portugal did look strong, they used their attacking full backs to free Nani and Ronaldo who kept very open roles throughout the match, they had sparks of magic that just needed to be finished, however luck didnt look to be going their way with Ronaldo hitting the post twice after some great shots. This all changed however in the second half where Ronaldo made a darting run into the box to get infront of the defender to capitalise on a perfectly hit cross from Joal Moutinho.
They carried onto attack in a similar style but failed to do so, yet it was not until the 85th Minute it seemed the Czechs actually realised they would need to really attack to not be sent home, however it was much to little much to late as Portugal held strong to seal the victory.
A good victory for the Portugese who will look to progress although already reaching a respectable position.
