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Football keeps producing shocks and on the opening day of the qualifiers, there quite a few upsets. France lost to Belarus while Northern Ireland surprised Slovenia. In Portugal, however, A Selecção stumbled yet another time in a competitive fixture.

You always have a chance of winning a match when you score four goals, but that wasn’t the case for the former European Championship hosts. Poor defending saw Portugal conceding as much as four goals as Cyprus held their counterparts to a shocking 4-4 draw.

Concentration perhaps deserted the Portuguese who found themselves behind at two occasions in the early stages of the game. Manuel Fernandes’ bullet goal looked to have secured all three points for A Selecção in the second half, but it was actually Cyprus’ Andreas Avraam who got the last word with an 89th minute equalizing header.

Whereas hanging to a 4-3 score line would have been good enough for Portugal to kick-off their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign with a win, a 4-4 draw meant that there’s much job left to do – mentally, as well as defensively. 'Guilty' goalkeeper Eduardo admitted as he told Portuguese media A Bola:

“We have to put our heads up. There are more games. The Euro 2012 qualifying phase has just begun. We have to learn from our mistakes.”

Portugal definitely need to do just that. Despite netting four times, the Euro 2004 hosts and runners-up count a single point in Group H while Norway top the table following their 2-1 victory over Iceland. Some may bemoan Coach Carlos Queiroz and Cristiano Ronaldo’s absences following Portugal’s disappointing draw. But goalkeeper Eduardo prefers to carry the blame as he explained in a post-match interview:

“It’s my fault if we conceded four goals. The responsibility is mine. This match didn’t go by anyone’s head. Things went well in defense during the World Cup. But [against Cyprus on Friday] we couldn’t say the same and weren’t so happy.”

Indeed, Eduardo kept three consecutive clean sheets during the 2010 FIFA World Cup as Portugal drew goalless against Cote d’Ivoire and Brazil whereas they recorded a smashing 7-0 victory over Korea DPR in between. Only David Villa pierced the Portuguese’s defense in the Round of 16 as eventual World Cup winners Spain defeated their opponents 1-0.

But even then, replays proved that David Villa’s goal was undeniably offside. In general, Portugal had not much, if nothing at all, to lament in defense during the World Cup. So how did they come to draw 4-4 against Cyprus?

Questions can keep flowing following this unconvincing result for A Selecção as they commenced their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign. As points will get counted at the end of the qualifiers, what is important for Portugal is to bounce back with a victory against Norway on Tuesday. But will the Norwegian seat back when they’ll entertain A Selecção in Oslo?

Defeating Iceland didn’t seem that easy for Norway on the opening day of the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign. They even had to come from a goal down to make things happen. Heidar Helguson gave Norway a scare with a 38th minute goal. However, Brede Hangeland and Mohammed Abdellaoue helped their side to avoid an upset.

Presently, Group H’s top spot is being occupied by Norway but this situation could change on Tuesday if Portugal record their first victory of the Euro 2012 qualifiers. Meanwhile, the Norwegians will grow their confidence of reaching Poland and Ukraine if they manage to secure maximum points after match-day two.

 

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