7 September 2006, by Tom Kundert

Ten-man Portugal draw in Finland

Finland 1-1 Portugal

Portugal started their European qualifying campaign with a 1-1 draw in the Finnish capital yesterday. Nuno Gomes showed no signs of buckling under the responsibility of taking over from record goalscorer Pauleta, as he coolly slotted the equaliser into the net after Johansson had given the home team the lead.

The result will leave Portugal satisfied after the team were forced to play most of the second half with ten men following Ricardo Costa’s sending-off.

Match reaction: "I am extremely satisfied with the result" - Scolari

Scolari’s men lined up with a much-changed team in comparison to the first-choice eleven who performed so heroically at the World Cup. As well as the retired Figo and Pauleta, the unfit Miguel, Maniche, Fernando Meira and Simao were also missing.

Finland, with morale high after an excellent 3-1 win away at Poland on Saturday, went straight onto the attack, and Hypia twice went close in the opening minutes. First he headed just wide then forced Ricardo into a sharp save as Portugal’s rearguard failed to deal with the aerial threat of the Liverpool defender.

The capacity crowd erupted in joy midway through the first half when a good move down the left flank led to a low cross that Jonatan Johansson fired into the back of the net first time, leaving Ricardo no chance.

Deco and Nani shine

To their credit Portugal did not panic, and with Deco and Nani beginning to stamp their influence on the game, and Ronaldo shot just wide after being put through by a clever Nani pass.

In the 42nd minute Portugal got the equaliser they had been threatening when Deco battled past two markers and threaded a perfect pass through to Nuno Gomes, who coolly slid the ball past Jaaskelainen.

The goal sent Portugal into the break in good heart and upon the restart they began to dominate the match. But when it seemed a second goal was imminent, Ricardo Costa, already on a yellow card, produced a rash challenge from behind on Johansson and was unsurprisingly sent off.

Despite dominating the remainder of the match, Finland threatened only from high balls into the box, but Portugal held firm to get their campaign off to a steady if unspectacular start.

Portugal’s next match is at home to Azerbaijan on 7 October.

PortuGOAL man of the match:
Deco – Pure class. His incredible ability to keep his team moving forward, even in the tightest of situations, was a precious asset yesterday.

Finland:
Jaaskelainen, Pasanen, Tihinen, Hyypia, Kallio, Heikkinen, Vayrynen, Tainio, Kolkka (Eremenko, 82), Litmanen, Jonatan Johansson (Kuqi, 65)
Yellow Cards: Litmanen (30), Heikkinen (66), Eremenko (93)

Portugal:
Ricardo, Caneira, Ricardo Costa, Carvalho, Valente, Costinha, Petit, Deco (Tiago, 86), Ronaldo, Nani (Rocha, 57), Gomes (Moutinho, 76)
Yellow Cards: Ricardo Costa (35, 54), Petit (69)
Red Card: Ricardo Costa (54)

Goals:
[1-0] Johansson, 22
[1-1] Gomes, 42