da bwin： Cristiano Ronaldo’s header 11 minutes from time was enough to see off Czech Republic and book Portugal a place in the Euro 2012 semi-finals.
da poker： Paulo Bento’s side toiled for over an hour to break down a stubborn Czech rearguard before Ronaldo provided the decisive moment stooping to meet Joao Moutinho’s whipped cross and head past Petr Cech to settle a largely forgettable quarter final.
Michal Bilek will find it hard to be annoyed with his players who sacrificed their early attacking momentum to fulfil his defensive game plan once Portugal took a stranglehold on the game.
In fact the Czech’s had the best of the opening exchanges but failed to even trouble the Portuguese defence with their final ball letting them down on numerous occasions. In fact it was their opponents who carved out the first meaningful chance of the half after Pepe clipped a ball into the penalty area for Ronaldo to attempt an audacious bicycle kick that flew well wide.
Nani then thought he should have been awarded a penalty after going under pressure in the penalty area with English referee Howard Webb waving away the frantic protests from the Manchester United winger. Ronaldo then came within a whisker of putting Portugal ahead swivelling brilliantly away from Michal Kadlec in the box and striking the base of the post from the angle with Cech beaten.
Portugal continued in a similar vein after the break with Hugo Almeida, on as a first half substitute for Helder Postiga, finding himself unmarked in the box but could only head Raul Meireles’ cross over the bar. Ronaldo then drove a free kick against the woodwork whilst Cech had to be alert to keep out efforts from Nani and then Meireles.
The Real Madrid forward wasn’t to be denied though and finally made the breakthrough on 79 minutes. Nani fed Moutinho down the right and his cross was met by a diving Ronaldo, who stole in front of Theodor Gebre Selassie, to send a downward header into the roof of the net and set up a semi final meeting with Spain or France. Cech then did brilliantly to thwart Joao Pereira from doubling Portugal’s lead getting across to keep out the defenders fierce strike from 25-yards despite being partially unsighted.