7 September 2006, by Marco Pereira

Finland 1-1 Portugal – Match Reaction

Luiz Filipe Scolari:

“I am extremely satisfied with the result. I am happy with the exhibition, all that the players did because they overcame a lot of difficulties. I would like to say to all the Portuguese that the team is good, but we are not world-beaters.”

“We are not invincible and we have our weaknesses. It is better to think like this. There are some that think that because we were fourth in the World Cup we are one of the best....it is not as simple as that. In order to achieve our objective, we have to attain a series of points. This is what we are going to do.”

“I felt that there was much more lenience towards Finland’s number 6 (Teemu Tainio). He committed 85 fouls and did not receive one yellow card. On the other hand, Ricardo Costa commits one foul, sees a yellow, commits a second, sees a red....that was harsh.”

“With one less player we had to position ourselves defensively and this exerted much more energy, but everyone made a massive effort and we managed to obtain our goal. It was important not to lose this game.”

Nuno Gomes:

“It was a good result despite everything. Finland are a dangerous team and were highly motivated after their victory in Poland. We started badly, but managed to pull even. Ricardo Costa’s sending off in the second half made things much more difficult.”

Cristiano Ronaldo:

“We are at the beginning of the season and the players are not at 100%. We knew Finland would play like this, all behind the ball. It was difficult but we achieved a good result. Before the sending off, we had more possession of the ball, but afterwards it got more complicated.”


Finland 1-1 Portugal - Match Report