MATCH 17 REVIEW : FAN POWER LIFTS PORTUGAL

Tactical change
Although not visibly overawed by the tense occasion, the Portuguese failed to threaten consistently enough during the opening half in and around the Spanish penalty area to get the goal that some of their neat and attractive approach work merited. In Deco, Luís Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo, they possess three of the most skilful and exciting ball players in the world, but lacking an obvious scoring threat, Luiz Felipe Scolari's side were failing to profit from the many opportunities created. But the introduction of Nuno Gomes for Pauleta at the interval combined with the changes Scolari made to move Figo into a more central attacking role with Deco switched to the left, proved to be the masterstroke.

Clear objectives
"After the bad start we had against Greece we knew that we had to win our two remaining matches and that has been our attitude," Scolari said. "But for me every match is like that – do or die – and this one was no exception. The fans were amazing, not just the 12th player but the 13th and 14th. We'd like to thank all the supporters who came here and all those who were in Alcochete when we left that training camp - that spurred us on. This team is now more competitive and I hope we've helped a lot of people to have a day of happiness."

Gradual improvement
The cacophony of car horns beeping as fans made their way home from Estádio José Alvalade bore testimony to the Portuguese fans' intention of enjoying the moment, but their team will look to build on this win as Figo asserted that the team now had the possibility of playing their way into the competition having initially being on the receiving end of a shock 2-1 defeat by Greece in the opening match of the finals. "We have done a great job and we deserve to qualify for the quarter-finals," he said. "We were under a lot of pressure as the last match decided everything and we are home so we had very high expectations. But now the country can hope for better things in the future. We are improving with the passing of time. The first game wasn't easy for us because there was lots of pressure. Now we're getting better so let's see what we can do in the quarter-finals."

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