Euro 2012 Results: Portugal Staves off Fierce Danish Comeback for 3-2 Victory

With neither of Group B's opening matches on Saturday ending in a draw, today's matches in the "group of death" became must-win situations for the Portuguese and Dutch sides.

In the first match of the day, Portugal was up to the task and pulled out a big win to salvage their tournament against Denmark.

It wasn't smooth sailing for the Portuguese, however, as the Danes came out firing on all cylinders early on, earning themselves four corners in the opening 10 minutes.

It was around the 11th minute that Portugal seemed to settle their nerves, and from that point, they took over most of what time remained in the first half.

After dominating possession for well over 10 minutes, Portugal was finally able to break through the Danish defense, when a corner from Joao Moutihno in the 24th minute was fired into Denmark's goal off the head of veteran defender (and one of Portugal's bright spots in their opening loss to Germany) Pepe.

Notching their first goal of the tournament seemed to really spark the Portuguese side, as they continued to pour on the attack.

After another extended period of the Portuguese dominating possession, they found themselves with the ball on the Danish half of the pitch and circulating nicely.

That possession would come to an absolutely spectacular finish, when a Nani cross was one-timed into the top corner of the Danish goal by Helder Postiga, who quieted all those who felt he didn't belong on the 23-man Portuguese roster with that one 36th minute strike.

It was then that Denmark seemed to realize what kind of predicament they had worked their way into.

From the 38th minute on, Denmark began to apply the pressure, owning possession and creating space in the Portuguese half, which would end up paying dividends in the 41st minute, when Nicklas Bendtner finished a stunning sequence by gently heading the ball into the Portuguese goal.

After exchanging chances in the final few minutes, the teams headed to the dressing rooms with Portugal leading by a score of two goals to one.

Unfortunately for the Portuguese, the second half was everything the first half was not.

With the teams continuing to trade possession early on, all appeared to be okay for the desperate Portuguese side.

Denmark, however, was not about to give up, as they came on strong around the 60th minute.

After a few strong attempts flew just wide of the Portuguese goal, Denmark was finally able to find the equalizer in the 80th minute when Nicklas Bendtner buried his second goal of the match off another header that was nearly deflected wide by the Portuguese keeper Patricio.

With Cristiano Ronaldo having missed two glorious opportunities in the half that could have secured the three points for Portugal, everything seemed to be unraveling before their eyes.

Luckily for Portugal, they were able to capitalize one more time in the 87th minute, when substitute Silvestre Varela was able to shake off a whiffed one-timer and blast home the third Portuguese goal of the match.

With their 3-2 victory, Portugal will head into their third and final match against the Netherlands with a chance to advance to the knockout stage if they can win that fixture on Sunday.

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