Euro 2012 news: Norway beat Portugal by one goal to nil
Portugal were all set to take on Norway in both the teams second match of the qualifying campaign leading up to the Euro 2012. The match was scheduled to be a real test for the Portuguese team, that had already previously drawn their opening match with Cyprus.
The team that was being fielded was pretty similar to the one that faced Cyprus with the most notable absentee from the team being Cristiano Ronaldo, who had not managed to recover from his ankle injury in time to participate in the match.
Norway however had a better run of luck going into tonight's game, having won their first game by a score line of two goals to one. The star performer of that match Erik Huseklepp was present for this match and partnering him up front was Aston Villa's hit man John Carew.
The match was being played in the Ullevall stadium, which has a capacity of around twenty four and a half thousand. The head referee for tonight's game was, Laurent Duhamel.
The match kicked off to a more than lively crowd that filled almost every seat that was present in the stadium.
As predicted it was Portugal who were the first to apply the pressure in the game. It was Liverpool's new signing Raul Meireles who had the first real chance on the night, the player found himself five yards in front of the goal however he managed to hook a right footed shot over the post.
Portugal however started to slowly build on the early pressure and were starting to get hold of more and more possession of the ball as the match progressed. It was then Ricardo Quaresma, who was doing all the talking for Portugal. The player hit two terrific shots after the fifteen minute mark but saw them both sail wide of the post.
Norway however felt that they had enough of the onslaught from the Portuguese and started to string up a counter attack of their own. Whatever it was, the home team did manag to pay off as on the twenty first minute mark it was Erik Huseklepp who hit a spectacular right footed shot low down the middle from about twelve yards out and gave the team the lead over the struggling Portuguese.
The match seemed to take a turn from that point onwards as Norway slowly crept their way on to seeing more of the ball and containing possession, while the Portuguese players looked to take a shot at goal every opportunity that they got.
The first half ended with the Portuguese going into the half time break feeling rather desperate and confused.
The second half picked up from exactly where the first half ended. Norway somehow managed to look the stronger of the two teams while Portugal kept trying to make something out of nothing and were failing miserably at doing so.
The match however came to a close with Norway winning the match thanks to the goal scored on the twentieth minute mark by Huseklepp.
At the end of the day Portugal had fourteen shots on goal compared to the four that Norway had, but the home team made their shots count far more as both teams ended up having only two shots on target out of all the chances they had.
The match only acted as fuel to the growing frustration inside the Portuguese camp leading up to the Euro's.
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