MY HOMEPAGE

USA vs PORTUGAL

Match Report below

Match Stats: -

MAN OF THE MATCH: Brian McBride (U.S.A)

Teams:

USA:
         1-Brad Friedel 
         2-Frankie Hejduk 
         4-Pablo Mastroeni 
       12-Jeff Agoos 
       22-Tony Sanneh 
       23-Eddie Pope 
         5-John O'Brien 
         8-Earnie Stewart 
       17-DaMarcus Beasley 
       21-Landon Donovan 
       20-Brian McBride

Portugal:
         1-Vitor Baia 
         2-Jorge Costa 
       22-Severo Beto 
         5-Fernando Couto 
       23-Rui Jorge 
       20-Armando Petit 
       11-Sergio Conceicao 
       10-Rui Costa 
         7-Luis Figo 
         8-Joao Pinto 
         9-Pauleta.
   
Referee: Byron Moreno (Ecuador)
Linesmen: Bomer Fierro (Ecuador) Awni Hassouneh (Jordan)

Match Report: -

An astonishing win for the USA as they delivered a stunning win over Portugal, who just seemed to take it easy through the match and started off on the back foot. The opening goal came after just 4 minutes where there was some real sloppy defending inside the box. O'Brien received the ball at the back post as it slipped through a defender and he made no mistake burying past the keeper. A shocking mistake by Vitor Baia nearly led to the second as he went to punch a ball on the ground out from 6 yards and it dropped straight to the American as he ran and fired it towards goal, unfortunately, steering it wide..
The last goal came from a ball from the right, McBride got in between two defenders to head into the left side of the net. 3-0 up and to stun the stadium, his goal was completely deserved as he worked his socks off all through the match..
Portugal suddenly kicked into action to open their scoring through Beta. Then in the 71st minute, came the second goal, scrambled in as the ball was whipped into the area. But it was too little too late, as the USA hung on to their lead and Portugal crashed to a 3-2 defeat.