Portugal left it until the last moment to come through against Egypt as they clinched a late 2-1 win at Stadion Letzigrund on Friday.
It was a game billed as the clash of two titans of world football as Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah spearheaded the two sides. Fernando Santos threw up a few surprises in the starting lineup as he chose to leave Rui Patricio and Jose Fonte out.
The Seleccao started the game on the front foot, dominating the proceedings in the early stages, but without creating clearcut chances as Egypt demonstrated tremendous organisation and discipline. In fact, the first meaningful chance of the game was created by Egypt as Abdallah El Said was thwarted by Beto after being set up by Trezeguet.
Ahmed Fathy seemed to pose the biggest threat for Egypt as his crosses crept into the danger area, albeit without any player meeting it. But, Portugal finally got an opening when Fathy ended up directing the ball into Mohamed El-Shenawy’s hands, giving Portugal a free-kick.
Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to take the spot-kick, but his fierce drive was blocked on the line by Abdalla El Said. As the match approached half-time, it looked like Portugal had finally broken the deadlock as Rolando headed home in the 41st minute, only to be pulled back by a late offside call.
Portugal picked up from where they had left off at the break. But, yet again, they did very little with the possession they commanded as the well drilled Egyptian backline let very little past them. Against the run of play though, it was Hector Cuper’s men who grabbed the lead, and it was Salah who rose to the occasion again.
The Liverpool talisman unleashed a trademark left-footed effort from long range that Beto had no answer to. Santos then brought on Ricardo Quaresma and Andre Gomes for Joao Mario and Joao Moutinho as the Seleccao looked to claw their way back into the game.
The Besiktas man provided an instant spark as his hallmark, delicious outside of the boot cross had the Pharaohs sweating, but there was no one to meet the delivery. Ronaldo then got close with a close range effort, but his shot was rather simple for El Shenawy to save.
On the other end, Egypt tried to waste time to keep their lead intact while also creating the odd chance, the biggest of them coming in the 72nd minute, when Trezeguet’s shot was blocked by Bruno Alves. Further substitutions followed as Portugal looked to go all out in pursuit of the equaliser.
The elusive goal finally came in the second minute of stoppage time as Quaresma crossed an inviting ball towards Ronaldo, who calmly scored with a free header. Moments later, the Real Madrid superstar had scored the winner as he nodded home from a last minute free-kick.
