Euro 2004 Semi Final 1 - Portugal vs. Holland
As what I hope, Portugal moves on to the Final by winning Holland 2-1. At least I can watch Ronaldo for another match :P. He scored the 1st goal for Portugal in the 26th min through a corner taken by Deco (I had a hunch at that time that Portugal would score! I think I'm getting psychic :P). Nice header from Ronaldo and I couldn't believe the Dutch actually left him unmarked. The ball went into the net between the Dutch goalie and Edgar Davids (who, according to the New Paper, was posing like a teapot against the post). Poor Ronaldo was booked later by the weird swedish referee for taking his shirt off to celebrate. Oh come on, couldn't the referee take it easy a bit? He made all the terrible decisions during the match. He booked Robben for simulation when the poor Dutch just sort of lost his balance and fell. And yet he closed an eye when the real illegal tackles were executed. Though I'm a Portugal supporter, but in a word of fairness, I feel that Deco should be booked for diving so many times and Ricardo too for wasting so much time faking pain.
The 2nd goal was scored by Maniche which I believed was one of the most beautiful goals in the tournament. It was unstoppable and impossible to save. Then an own goal by Jorge Andrade 5 min later. Actually he should not worry about the cross and tried to clear it away. Becos IMHO, even if van Nisterooy were to reach the ball, he would be in a bad angle to shoot and with his off-form situation, the probability of him scoring was quite low.
Figo was awarded the Man of the Match and I think he deserved it. Whenever he touched the ball, he created chances for Portugal. He broke thru Holland's defence a lot of times in the left and right flanks (Figo and Ronaldo switched flanks to and fro throughout the game!). The first goal was an indirect result of him earning the corner. I suspect it was Scolari's psychological warfare in making Figo heated up for the semi-final match (by substituting him in the quarter-final) and playing his very best.
Can't wait for the final showdown! Hope it will be against Czech..