Portugal lose last friendly before the Euro 2012

Lisbon, June 3 (IANS): One week before their match against Germany in the Euro 2012, the Portuguese national football team lost to Turkey 1-3 in a friendly here.

For the Portuguese, the main question was whether the team strikers would start to score. Last week, in the match against Macedonia, Portugal’s three centre-forwards failed to score. In the game against Turkey on Saturday, the team only managed to score one goal, reported Xinhua.

Although the Portuguese had more ball control, the Turks scored first. In the 35th minute, after a fast counterattack, Umut Bulut took advantage of hesitation in the Portuguese defence.

In the 51st minute, courtesy another mistake by the Portuguese, Turkey scored the second goal. Portuguese defender Bruno Alves missed a pass and Bulut once again pounced and scored his second of the night.

After going two goals down, Portugal bounced back to attack. In the 56th minute, after a well organised play, Nani received the ball in the box and scored. Two minutes later though, star player Cristiano Ronaldo missed a spot kick.

In the 88th minute, in another mash up in defence, Portugal conceded the third goal.