http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Czech-Republic-c2882 manager Michal Bilek believes that his side were undone by the sheer brilliance of the Portuguese forwards in the quarterfinal on Thursday night, and went out of steam in the closing stages of the game.
The Seleccao maverick http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cristiano-Ronaldo-c9629 lived up to his expectations once again, as even though he was denied by the frame of the goal twice during the game, his 79th minute header proved to be the decisive goal, as he spearheaded his side to
the semi-finals of the competition.
Despite starting the match on a positive note, the Narodak were forced to draw on their defences as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Portugal-c2984 sprayed 20 shots at their opponent’s goal as compared to just 2 from the
Czechs, and enjoyed 62 percent of match possession.
Even though the Czechs lost by the slightest of margins in terms of the score line, Bilek admitted that they were simply outplayed a dominant Portuguese team, and attributed their defeat to their opponent’s potency upfront.
He told the reporters in an interview, “The Portuguese were the best side, much stronger in a footballing sense. Their attack is very strong. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Petr-Cech-c29837 pulled off some stunning saves to keep us in the game.”
The 2004 runner-ups launched myriad attacks since the start of the second half, and it was no surprise that the bulk of the game was being played inside the Czechs half.
The 47-year old conceded that keeping in view the quality of their opponent’s attackers and their offensive play, he opted to go with a defensive mindset in the game, and was relying on his side to catch Paulo Bento’s unit on the counter attack. However,
he felt that despite effectively executing the plan for almost three quarters of the match, they went out of gas in the dying moments.
He added, “We had wanted to play with a solid defence and rely on the counterattack, but we started to run out of energy during the second half. And one situation was enough to decide [the match].”
Portugal will take on the winner of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899 match in the semi-final.
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