Portugal restore home pride

Russia8217;s qualification hopes disappeared on the back of their ninth successive winless European championship game 8212; an unwelcome tournament record reaching back to the 1988 final.

8216;8216;In my job I have total responsibility and I will never blame the players. I have chosen these players and I am responsible,8217;8217; said coach Georgy Yartsev. Scolari may yet have to make a similar admission as the head-to-head qualification system means Portugal will have to beat Spain in their final game back in Lisbon on Sunday to reach the last eight.

After Greece recovered to draw 1-1 with Spain earlier on Wednesday those teams now have four points. Portugal have three and if they draw with Spain, Greece will go through thanks to their opening day 2-1 win 8212; even if they lose against Russia. Scolari, who led Brazil to their 2002 World Cup triumph, was phlegmatic when asked about Portugal8217;s chances against a team they will not have beaten for 23 years to the day when they meet on June 20. They lost 3-0 to Spain in a home friendly last year. 8216;8216;There is always a first time,8217;8217; he said. 8216;8216;We could have won 1-0, 2-0, 20-0 or drawn the match and the end result would have been the same 8212; we have to beat Spain. 8216;8216;Now, it8217;s living this moment, talk a bit with the players, review the tape, see where we made errors because Spain is a very worthy opponent.8217;8217;

Scolari had reacted to Portugal8217;s poor display against Greece by bringing in three new faces and one of them, Brazilian-born Deco, had an immediate impact. He fired in a low cross to the feet of Maniche and the Porto mid-fielder swivelled to shoot low past Ovchinnikov. The relief felt by the crowd and players was almost palpable after the suffering in Porto last Saturday, and the home side took control from then on, going close on three occasions. The result was effectively decided in the 45th minute when Ovchinnikov raced from his line to face Pauleta as the forward chased an errant back pass. The keeper got a fair touch with his feet but, seemingly inadvertently, touched the loose ball with his arm and was shown an immediate red card by Norwegian referee Terje Hauge. But Portugal still found themselves forced to defend. Keeper Ricardo was happy to punch out a stinging shot by Andrei Karyaka 10 minutes after the restart and only a brilliant tackle by Carvalho denied Alexander Kerzhakov a clear path to goal.

The scares seemed to spark Portugal into life and Luis Figo thought he had scored when he finished off a superb passing move with a firm low shot only for substitute keeper Vyacheslav Malafeyev to touch it on to a post.