[verde-rubro]

Portugal have it all to do
Tuesday, 18 November 2003
Portugal have a small mountain to climb when they visit Clermont-Ferrand to face Raymond Domenech's in-form France side in one of Tuesday's four UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-off matches.

Remarkable run
France's 2-1 first-leg victory in Guimaraes on Saturday makes them favourites to advance to next May's finals. It also continues a remarkable run of form for Les Espoirs, who are unbeaten in 15 games and have yet to concede a home goal in the competition.

Return of Tiago
However, it is not all gloom for Portugal who will be strengthened by the return in midfield of SL Benfica's Tiago, who skipped the first leg with flu. What is more, they will have the support of some 5,000 Portuguese supporters in Clermont-Ferrand, an area with a large Portuguese immigrant population.

'Best shot'
Coach José Romão, who has lost Jorge Ribeiro to suspension, insisted the tie was far from over as he said: "There are still 90 minutes to play, and even when there's just a minute left, we will be giving it our best shot. We know it is going to be difficult but we also recognise that we have the ability to win through."

The cards are in our hands
Uli Stielike
'In our hands'
Germany coach Uli Stielike insisted the pressure was on Turkey as his team look to defend a 1-0 advantage in Istanbul. Stielike, who is missing the suspended Alexander Madlung, said: "The cards are in our hands and we are capable of challenging the Turks. They are under pressure, not us."

Schied called up
Maik Franz is expected to replace Madlung in Germany's defence, while Stielike will hope forwards Mike Hanke and Benjamin Lauth recover from their respective calf and hip problems. The coach has called up Marcel Schied from VfL Osnabrück as a precaution.

In the first game, we suffered a surprise defeat but I trust my players
Rasit Çetiner
'I trust my players'
His Turkish counterpart, Rasit Çetiner, has doubts over Ibrahim Toraman and Servet Çetin because of injuries. Cetiner stressed the importance of the match when he said: "We want to complete our two-and-a-half year project. In the first game, we suffered a surprise defeat but I trust my players."

Suspended defenders
Scotland have a tough task as they look to overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit at home against Croatia. Coach Rainer Bonhof is without suspended defenders Gary Caldwell and David McCracken, which means a likely start for Stewart Duff at full-back. Bonhof is hopeful, however, that Caldwell's fellow centre-back John Kennedy will shrug off an ankle injury and play. Garry O'Connor may have to settle for a place on the bench after recovering from a virus.

Two goals is not such a hard deficit to come back from
Rainer Bonhof
Croatia missing pair
Bonhof said: "We simply didn't play in the first half in Croatia, but we showed a lot more in the second. We need a repeat of that. Two goals is not such a hard deficit to come back from - imagine we get an early goal, it can happen." It certainly helps Scotland that Croatia are shorn of Marko Babic and Niko Kranjcar, who have joined the senior squad to face Slovenia.

'A step away'
The side most confident of progress must be Serbia and Montenegro, following their 5-1 defeat of Norway on Friday. Coach Vladimir Petrovic is without the injured Vladimir Disljenkovic and Nemanja Vidic, together with captain Marjan Markovic, who is suspended. Petrovic has not drafted in any replacements, though, and said: "The three missing players will not affect us. We know we are just a step away from the finals."

1-2 to portugal 3-3 on agg 1-4 on pens to portugal :danc:


dirty frogs diveing and time wasting playing for the pens dirty cheating frogs net: man of the match cristian ronaldo with 1 goal and 1 short against the post that came back and hit the keeper on the head and went out for a corner , unlucky not to have gone in. :danc: