Portugal v Turkey - Euro 2008

Nuno Gomes took up the role of club captain for this game, he's been at Benfica since 2002 now and his experience certainly shines through. When Nuno Gomes eventually was substituted, Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo took hold of the captain's armband.

Fielded in the game were the following eleven players for Portugal:

Ricardo
Bosingwa, Pepe, Carvalho, Ferreira
Petit, Joao Moutinho, Ronaldo, Deco, Simao
Nuno Gomes

Twelve substitutes were named for Portugal, the substitutes were as follows: Rui Patricio, Bruno Alves, Hugo Almeida, Miguel, Jorge Ribeiro, Fernando Meira, Quaresma, Nani, Raul Meireles, Veloso, Postiga, Quim.

All three substitutes were eventually used by Portugal, it was left until the last minute for the thirs substitute to be made however as Fernando Meira came on the pitch as a replacement for Deco. The first substitution came in the 68th minute as Manchester United'd Nani came on in place of Nuno Gomes sending Ronaldo up front as the lone striker and gifting him the captains band also. 82 minutes into the game and the second substitution came; Simao made his way off the pitch and eventual goalscorer Raul Meireles became his replacement.

The Turkish captain for this game was none other than Emre, a man who has failed to establish himself in the Newcastle squad in his three years spent Tyneside; a deal has now been agreed with Fenerbahce taking him back to his Turkish origins.

Fielded in the game were the following eleven players for Turkey:

Demirel
Altintop, Cetin, Zan, Balta
Kazim-Richards, Emre, Aurelio
Erding, Sanli, Nihat

Twelve substitutes were named for Turkey, the substitutes were as follows: Rustu, Senturk, Zengin, Asik, Topal, Karadeniz, Metin, Sarioglu, Gungor, Turan, Boral, Akman.

The Turkish substitutions came quite early on in the game; they did not enjoy as much of the ball as their opponents and they therefore needed to make change in order to try and achieve something from the game. Sarioglu was first on as a half-time substitution for Erding, Asik was next on and he was closely followed by Senturk replacing Zan and Altintop respectively.

In the first game of Euro 2008 football this was always going to be the big one for me; I love the Portuguese style of football and couldn't wait to see the squad get out there and play. The form of Cristiano Ronaldo is central to the success of Portugal in this competition, the Portuguese squad does however come complete with a number of exceptional players other than the highly talented Man Utd maestro. Both teams started well I feel, Ronaldo was really quite anonymous for much of the first half; the Turkish team kept him under wraps and he wasn't given much of a sniff of the ball. The first half came and went goalless, Cristiano Ronaldo picked up the pace toward the end of the first half and in that final third of the field always he looked incredibly dangerous.

The breakthrough came for Portugal in the 61st minute as Pepe slotted home for the squad; it was his first goal for his country and he is in fact a centre back. Despite his main position being central defence Pepe took his goal like a hardened striker; he was cool, calm and collected as he placed his ball into the back of the net as it looped up and over the keeper having taken a deflection off of a Turkish defender. After some fancy footwork from the Portuguese players you always knew that the ball was going to end up in the back of the net after that move, it was a perfect piece of football and a fine bit of skill for all neutral football fans out there to admire. It wasn't the first time that Portuguese Pepe had put the ball in the back of the net; in the first half he saw a powered header controversially disallowed for offside. Pepe himself had not been offside when the ball was played, one of his Portugal team mates had been however and the goal therefore did not stand.

Turkey played well in this one, Colin Kazim-Richards showed some excellent skill for his side and Middlesbrough's Tuncay also looked more than a little dangerous at times. Colin Kazim-Richards looks to be moving back to the UK this summer; he currently plays his football with Fenerbahce in Turkey but is having a tough time of it as he is not a fluent speaker of the Turkish language. Kazim-Richards is Turkish on his mothers side, he's a Leytonstone lad however and according to his agent there are no less than four Premiership clubs seeking his signature. Colin Kazim-Richards seems to be turning into an excellent player, he progressed through the ranks of English football at a number of clubs such as Bury, Brighton, and Sheffield United before moving to Turkey but his return after one year will I feel be a smooth move. For me Colin Kazim-Richards was the best Turkish player on the field by far, he's only made a handful of international appearances thus far but was a credit to the Turkish nation with his performance in this game.

Portugal hit the woodwork a whopping three times throughout the game, still they managed to put two goals past Turkey's goalkeeper Demirel but it could have been many more. Demirel actually made an excellent save to turn a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick onto the past; for the other two woodwork smashes he was nowhere near however and Portugal were hugely unlikely. It was not all one way traffic, Turkey could easily have got something out of the game but when substitute Raul Meireles scored in the 90th minute they were fated to lose. The second Portugal goal was as well worked as the first, again it was a goal that was clearly coming and as the ball rippled the back of the net the Portuguese players were incredibly quick to celebrate.

Both sides looked strong in this first day encounter, Portugal will qualify as undisputed leaders of Group A I feel but Turkey still stand a strong chance of progression. With Switzerland and Czech Republic still to play I just feel that Turkey is the best side of the three. Portugal will win all their games I believe, the second spot is very much up for grabs however and will I feel quite possibly come down to goal difference. Switzerland are unlikely to gain any points in this tournament, they are however the host nation and may up their game a little after suffering defeat at the hands of he Czech Republic. Portugal have the quality to go all the way in the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament; they play a sexy style of football and so much quality is present in the Portugal squad. It could be quite an easy route to the finals for Portugal at this rate, they'll probably have to play Germany at some point along the way but Portugal is the team that I personally am tipping to win this tournament. Turkey may have lost their first game but don't write them off just yet; they could well be a team progressing to the last 16 of the tournament.

Final Score: Portugal 2 - 0 Turkey