11 October 2006, by Tom Kundert

Poor Portugal well beaten in Poland

Poland 2-1 Portugal

A collective off-day saw Portugal lose in Poland and lucky to escape with just a single goal defeat. The loss leaves Portugal in fourth place in Group A, six points behind leaders Serbia.

Some shocking defending and two excellent strikes by Smolarek saw the Poles go into a 2-0 lead after just 17 minutes. The home team proceeded to spurn a series of chances to extend their lead before Nuno Gomes scored a late goal to give the scoreline a flattering look for Portugal.

Match reaction: "We committed childish errors" - Scolari

Petit in for Maniche was the only change to Portugal’s starting line-up in relation to the weekend win over Azerbaijan. A confident start by Scolari’s men gave no indication of what was to come as Portugal hogged possession and knocked the ball around confidently in the opening minutes.

But Poland’s first attack brought an immediate reward. Smolarek cushioned a cross on the edge of the area for Lewandowski whose powerful shot was well saved by Ricardo, only for Smolarek to turn the rebound into the net with the defenders guilty of ball-watching.

On 18 minutes Ricardo Rocha and Costinha made a mess of what should have been a straight-forward clearance, allowing Rasiak to slip a pass into the path of Smolarek. The striker needed no second invitation and he blasted a superb shot into the top corner leaving Ricardo helpless.

Ronaldo injured

Two minutes later Lewandowski crunched into the back of Cristiano Ronaldo’s legs, picking up a yellow card and seriously hindering Ronaldo’s output for the rest of the game. The Manchester United winger would stay on the pitch for the ninety minutes, but was obviously feeling the effects of the injury and was far from his usual dynamic self.

Lewandowski then came close with a long-range effort that forced Ricardo into a sharp save, and moments later Poland were a whisker away from scoring a third as Zurawski’s shot struck the inside of the post and bounced along the goal-line in the face of more dreadful defending.

Portugal at last managed to cause some danger in the 36th minute as a Nuno Gomes cross-shot was just too high for Simao to turn into the net.

Scolari replaced Costinha with Tiago at the interval, but Poland continued to dominate proceedings. Ricardo had to be alert to save two dangerous shots before a quick counter-attack seemed certain to end in another Poland goal but Rasiak played a poor final pass and Portugal survived.

Nani and Maniche came on as late substitutes for Petit and an out-of-sorts Deco, but only in the final five minutes did Portugal look dangerous. First Nani slipped a clever pass to Ronaldo, who shot wide from ten metres with just the keeper to beat.

Two minutes into injury time Maniche played a fine pass to Simao, whose perfect cross was neatly turned into the net by Nuno Gomes, but it was too little too late.

PortuGOAL man of the match:
Simao Sabrosa – Simao’s display was the only bright spot on a night to forget for Portugal. The Benfica man consistently caused problems for Poland’s rearguard.

Poland:
Kowalewski, Golanski, Bak, Radomski, Bronowicki, Lewandowski, Sobolewski, Blaszcykowski (Krezinowek, 65), Smolarek, Zurawski, Rasiak (Matusiak, 72)
Yellow Cards: Lewandowski (19), Kowalewski (92)

Portugal:
Ricardo, Miguel, Carvalho, Rocha, Valente, Costinha (Tiago, 45), Petit (Nani, 67), Deco (Maniche, 82), Ronaldo, Simao, Nuno Gomes
Yellow Cards: Simao (21), Ricardo Rocha (60)

Goals:
[1-0] Smolarek, 8
[2-0] Smolarek, 17
[2-1] Nuno Gomes, 92