2002 FIFA World Cup (tm) Finals - Results & Fixtures - United States vs Portugal

5 Jun 2002


United States	3 - 2	Portugal
	(HT: 3 - 1)

Game Details
Venue Suwon World Cup Stadium	Attendance 37306
Referee Byron Moreno (ECU) Assistant Referees Bomer Fierro (ECU) Awni Hassouneh (JOR)

Game Events
#	Date	Player	Event	Period	Mins	H/A
1	5 Jun 2002	John O'Brien	Goal	First Half	4	H
2	5 Jun 2002	Jorge Costa	Own Goal	First Half	29	A
3	5 Jun 2002	Beto	Yellow Card	First Half	34	A
4	5 Jun 2002	Brian McBride	Goal	First Half	36	H
5	5 Jun 2002	Beto	Goal	First Half	39	A
6	5 Jun 2002	Earnie Stewart	Player Out	Second Half	1	H
7	5 Jun 2002	Cobi Jones	Substitute In	Second Half	1	H
8	5 Jun 2002	Petit	Yellow Card	Second Half	7	A
9	5 Jun 2002	Rui Jorge	Player Out	Second Half	24	A
10	5 Jun 2002	Paulo Bento	Substitute In	Second Half	24	A
11	5 Jun 2002	Jeff Agoos	Own Goal	Second Half	26	H
12	5 Jun 2002	Jorge Costa	Player Out	Second Half	28	A
13	5 Jun 2002	Jorge Andrade	Substitute In	Second Half	28	A
14	5 Jun 2002	Landon Donovan	Player Out	Second Half	30	H
15	5 Jun 2002	Joe-Max Moore	Substitute In	Second Half	30	H
16	5 Jun 2002	Eddie Pope	Player Out	Second Half	35	H
17	5 Jun 2002	Carlos Llamosa	Substitute In	Second Half	35	H
18	5 Jun 2002	Rui Costa	Player Out	Second Half	35	A
19	5 Jun 2002	Nuno Gomes	Substitute In	Second Half	35	A
20	5 Jun 2002	DaMarcus Beasley	Yellow Card	Second Half	47	H

Match report

The United States savoured its greatest victory in the modern World Cup era with a stunning 3-2 upset of highly-rated Portugal in a furious Group D match. It was a classic smash-and-grab raid as the USA sprinted to a 3-0 lead in 36 minutes and then withstood a stirring Portuguese second-half resurgence. The Americans, who had prepared for six months for a crack at one of world football's aristocrats, ambushed the Euro 2000 semi-finalists with their superior fitness and strength to claim a prestige victory. Only their 1-0 upset of England in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil could rival Wednesday's mighty achievement.
"No-one thought we could win this game and Portugal were the favourites on paper, but at the World Cup you have to win it on the field," US coach Bruce Arena said.
"This is a great win for the US and our guys deserved to get the three points, but our World Cup is not over.
"We have a very tough match next against South Korea and we still need more points to get through to the second round."
It was a humbling experience for the fancied Portuguese, who paid dearly for defensive clangers by some of their most experienced stars to find themselves in an unwinnable situation so early in the contest.
"We have to recognise that we made some mistakes that in normal conditions we would not have committed," Portugal's superstar Luis Figo said.
"We lost because of these mistakes and these cannot happen in a top competition like this one and when you are 3-0 down it is very difficult to recover.
"We tried everything to recover and we had some chances in the second half to at least draw the match, but we now have to accept this result and think about the next two games."
Portugal must now beat Poland on June 10 and South Korea on June 14 to reach the knockout rounds of the World Cup. The Americans rocked Portugal in the fourth minute off a corner by skipper Earnie Stewart. Man-of-the-match Brian McBride's powerful header was partially blocked by Vitor Baia only into the path of Dutch-based midfielder John O'Brien, who swept home from close range. Baia, who has been his country's No.1 for over a decade, was again all at sea minutes later when he punched Stewart's free kick to Landon Donovan's feet only for defender Eddie Pope to hit the side-netting from an acute angle with the Portugal defence in a shambles. It got worse for the misfiring Portuguese in the 29th minute when Jorge Costa dithered to clear an easy ball out of defence only to give Donovan, looking suspiciously offside, a scoring chance on the right of the penalty area. The volley deflected off the head of left-back Jorge Costa and past Baia's despairing dive for a stunning own goal. More calamity was to come for the jittery Portuguese rearguard when Anthony Sanneh outpaced Costa down the right and his cross was knocked in by a superb diving header from McBride, who was left completely unmarked by Fernando Couto. The U.S. had the Portuguese players shaking their heads in bewilderment at 3-0 down. But Portugal got a reprieve and got the crowd roaring in support when right-back Beto pulled one back after a defensive howler in the American box off a Figo corner in the 39th minute. Beto headed goalbound but O'Brien could only hack it back to him and Beto drilled home to give Portugal some hope for a second-half recovery. Portugal stepped it up after their awful first half and Brad Friedel saved his team twice in as many minutes, punching clear from a goalmouth scramble and then diving at the feet of Sergio Conceicao to prevent him from scoring in the 61st minute. The Portuguese got a lifeline and hope of salvaging a draw when Pauleta's ball in from the left was sliced into his own net by US defender Jeff Agoos in the 71st minute. The tiring Rui Costa came off 10 minutes from the end and Nuno Gomes came on as Portugal chased an equaliser, but it was the U.S. who finished the stronger. It was a spirited performance by the Americans, who went into the game without their key English-based midfielder Claudio Reyna. Reyna, who plays for Sunderland in the English Premier League, has been battling a right quadricep injury and is still in some doubt to face the Koreans on June 10.

(courtesy of dailysoccer)




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Page created by Christakis Ioannou on 5 June 2002 17:46:38.