Portugal Down South Africa But Lose More Ground in World Cup Race

Portugal beat South Africa 2-0 in a friendly played in Lausanne on Tuesday night, as they returned to winning ways following their disappointing draw with Sweden.

Manager Carlos Queiroz made six changes to his starting line-up for the match, handing out debuts to Nélson, Edinho, and Gonçalo Brandão.

Captain Cristiano Ronaldo started on the bench, but Deco was restored to the starting line-up as Queiroz continued with his experiment of playing Pepe in midfield.

Held goalless at the weekend, Portugal didn’t have long to wait for the breakthrough on this occasion, as Bruno Alves headed home from Deco’s corner after only three minutes.

A set-piece also provided the second goal as the World Cup hosts were punished from another Deco corner, this time debutant Edinho claiming the goal, although it might well go down as a Lucas Twala own-goal.

The scoring of the second goal set off the usual plethora of substitutions frequent to friendly matches, and Cristiano Ronaldo was introduced, much to the delight of the crowd.

However, despite continuing to control the game there would be no further Portuguese goals and nothing of real note from the FIFA World Player of the Year.

Portugal line-up

Eduardo - Nelson, Ricardo Carvalho (Rolando, 46), Bruno Alves, Gonçalo Brandão - Pepe (Tiago, 74), Maniche (Raul Meireles, 57), Deco (João Moutinho, 62) - Danny (Simão, 57), Nani (Cristiano Ronaldo, 57), Edinho

Portugal’s World Cup hopes suffered a further blow despite not playing competitively as both Denmark and Hungary won their home fixtures last night to increase their lead at the top of the group.

Hungary triumphed 3-0 over Malta in Budapest, while Denmark also won by the same margin at home to Albania. Both are now seven points clear of Portugal, although Hungary have played one game more.

World Cup Qualifying: European Group One

Denmark           5          13

Hungary            6          13

Portugal            5          6

Sweden             4          6

Albania             7          6

Malta                7          1