Facing the prospect of first round elimination, host Portugal beat Russia 2-0 on Wednesday to stay alive in Euro 2004. Now it has do it all again against Spain on Sunday.
Portugal is still playing catchup after a disastrous 2-1 loss to upstart Greece on the opening day of the championship.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Maniche scored after seven minutes and Rui Costa volleyed the second a minute from the end as the Portuguese shrugged off the Russians at the Stadium of Light to settle the nation's nerves with their first points of the championship.
PHOTO: AFP
After the match, jubilant fans flooded onto the streets of Portuguese cities, singing, dancing and celebrating the victory.
The Spaniards and Greeks, who tied 1-1 earlier Wednesday, have four points each at the top of Group A, while Luiz Felipe Scolari's team has three. The Russians, despite still having to face the Greeks, are out.
PHOTO: EPA
That makes the game against Spain in the Jose Alvalade Stadium a must win game for Portugal.
"There isn't even time to think, not even time to imagine what is going to happen," Scolari said. "Now it's living this moment in the dressing room, talking a bit with the players and seeing where we made errors because Spain are very worthy opponents."
The Spaniards can afford to tie the game although a second place finish behind Greece could mean facing defending champion France in the quarterfinals. A loss would probably mean going out, depending on the Greece-Russia result in Faro.
France, which began with a dramatic 2-1 victory over England, was in action on Thursday against Croatia in Leiria while Sven-Goran Eriksson's men tried to repair the damage of conceding two goals in injury time by beating Switzerland at Coimbra.
The specter of fan violence is still hovering over the championship.
An English soccer fan was jailed for two years Wednesday for rioting in the Portuguese town of Albufeira.
Gary Mann, 47, was one of 12 England fans to be taken to Albufeira's courthouse to face charges following Monday's riots in the vacation resort on the Algarve coast, about 200km south of Lisbon.
Mann will serve his sentence in England.
Although UEFA staunchly argues that two nights of rioting by the English in the Algarve had nothing to do with the championship, England has 30,000 followers in Portugal. There was also violence in several towns back home after England's loss to the French last weekend and Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned the troublemakers Wednesday.
"Those, whether here or indeed in Portugal, that have engaged in disorder are a tiny minority of people," he told lawmakers in the House of Commons.
"I do not believe they are true English football fans at all. They bring shame upon our country and shame upon the vast majority of decent English football fans who simply want to enjoy the game."
Italy's Francesco Totti was to appear before a UEFA disciplinary hearing today, accused of spitting into the face of Denmark's Christian Poulsen during a 0-0 tie in Guimaraes on Monday.
The Italians had flown in a powerful legal team to defend one of their biggest stars.
Giulia Bongiorno, who has represented ex-Italian Premier Giulio Andreotti in criminal cases, and the Italian Soccer Federation's chief lawyer, Mario Gallavotti, were to lead the defense.
The disciplinary case against Totti allied to the team's shabby performance against the Danes have left Italy -- the bookmakers' second favorite behind France -- in disarray.
France coach Jacques Santini jumped to the defense of goal-shy Thierry Henry, saying people expect way too much of the Arsenal forward.
Speaking ahead of France's Euro 2004 group B clash with Croatia, Santini responded vehemently to suggestions that Henry, who has yet to score for Les Bleus this year, is short of his best.
"Does he need to score a hat-trick in every match?" Santini asked reporters Wednesday. "Does he need to get the ball from the half-way line and dribble past everyone?"
Henry has 25 goals for France, but is scoreless in his last four appearances. In recent friendlies against Ukraine and Brazil, he appeared sluggish and missing his usual touch close to the net.
But Santini claims the fact Henry won France's decisive penalty in the 2-1 victory over England on Sunday shows the speedy forward has lost none of his touch.
"Was he not decisive against England?" Santini said. "The fact that he was alert enough to intercept a pass and win a penalty in the last minute of the match shows this." Santini said.
"And in the first four minutes of the second-half, he created a lot of opportunities for himself."
Henry's strike partner, David Trezeguet, is also struggling for form, after an indifferent season for Juventus -- with whom he is thought likely to sign a contract extension.
The last time Trezeguet scored for France was the same night as Henry -- in the 3-0 rout over Germany in November. Santini feels he was close to his best against England.
"All that's missing is the goal," he said. "He went very close twice."
However, Santini accepts that the likes of Henry and Trezeguet are so highly-rated that often the pressure to live up to expectation hinders productivity.
"Players of that standard are always asking themselves questions," Santini said. "This is because they want to be excellent all the time."
CLICK, CLICK, CLICK
The Euro 2004 Web site is hot.
Since the www.euro2004.com Web site was launched on March 31, it was visited more than 12 million times and generated 130 million page views by Monday night, more than the 128.8 million pages visited during Euro 2000 in Belgium and the Netherlands.
"We are delighted by the response of the fans," said UEFA's new media chief Alexandre Fourtoy. Fans from over 200 countries have visited the site.
THURAM'S GOALS
Juventus and France defender Turin Lilian Thuram defender scored both goals for France in the 2-1 semifinal win over Croatia at the 1998 World Cup and Les Bleus went on to win the title.
He hadn't scored for France before or since. But France would like a repeat in Thursday's match against Croatia.
"It was an accident. It will not happen again, even if they put me up front," said the veteran, who will earned his 101st cap today.
Even coach Jacques Santini remembers the goals. He was in the stands of the Stade de France to witness the unique double.
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