Portugal vs. Argentina: Score and Reaction from 2016 Olympic Men's Soccer

Portugal got its 2016 Summer Olympics off to a strong start with a 2-0 win over Argentina in the group stage of the men's soccer tournament Thursday in Rio de Janeiro.

Goncalo Paciencia opened the scoring in the 66th minute, and Pite Trabulo sealed the three points with a goal in the 84th minute.

Standing just outside the 18-yard box, Paciencia hit a low shot into the bottom-right corner past a diving Geronimo Rulli.

PortuGOAL's Tom Kundert laid the blame on the entire Argentina defense, which failed to close the FC Porto striker down:

Kieran Canning of Agence France-Presse joked that Portugal doesn't even need its best player. It overcame France in the 2016 European Championship final without the injured Cristiano Ronaldo for most of the game, and it beat another world football power Thursday:

Pite's tally will likely go down as one of the tournament's biggest howlers. The midfielder, who is on loan at C.D. Tondela, cut inside from about 30 yards out, and his speculative left-footed shot slipped through Rulli's hands as he bent down to collect the ball.

According to the Guardian's Ed Aarons, Manchester City has a £4 million deal in place to sign Rulli from Deportivo Maldonado. BeIN Sports' Ryan Catanese joked that City might have buyer's remorse:

WhoScored.com's Peter Coates was careful not to assign too much of the defeat to Rulli's error:

All in all, it was a solid performance from Portugal and an underwhelming showing from Argentina—on top of what has already been a dreadful summer.

The country fell to Chile on spot kicks to finish runners-up at the Copa America Centenario, the second Copa America in a row in which La Albiceleste lost a penalty shootout to Chile in the final. The 2016 defeat prompted the international retirement of Argentina's best player, Lionel Messi.

Behind the scenes, the Argentina Football Association is a mess, to the extent that FIFA stepped in to run the day-to-day operations.

Winning gold at the Olympics won't erase all of the problems plaguing Argentina's national team, but it would bring some needed positivity. Instead, the country suffered its first Olympic defeat since 1996, per NBC Sports' Nick Zaccardi. Argentina won gold in 2004 and 2008 but failed to qualify in 2000 and 2012.

Not all is lost for Argentina, though, despite the fact that it fell to fourth in Group D with Thursday's loss. It has winnable matches against Honduras and Algeria ahead.

Portugal, meanwhile, is looking to cap off one of its best summers ever after winning Euro 2016 in July. The country has never finished higher than fourth at the Olympics.

Manager Rui Jorge's side is looking like a strong bet to reach the quarterfinals. It sits atop Group D on goal differential ahead of Honduras, and a win Sunday against the Central American side would seal advancement to the knockout stage. Back-to-back draws in its final two matches would also get the job done for Portugal.

Post-Match Reaction

"Everybody wants to be like him, but first of all we must learn," Paciencia said of the inspiration he and his teammates draw from Ronaldo, per Rob Harris of the Associated Press (via the News Tribune). "We are a good generation. Portugal's reputation is going to get even higher."

Argentina coach Julio Olarticoechea refused to dwell too much on Rulli's mistake in the second half: "Sometimes it happens. It's the risk of being a goalkeeper. It's not his fault we have lost."