Things aren’t looking to good with the Portuguese who displayed some poor football on Saturday evening. But what matters most is the result, which went in Portugal’s favor.
A Seleccao went ahead before half an hour only for the Albanians to equalize two minutes later. The game seemed to finish all square between Albania and Portugal until Bruno Alves headed in a 93 minute winner to stun the hosts and save Portugal from drawing for the fourth time in the qualifiers.
Portugal are third in the table and seven points behind leaders Denmark. It will be very hard for Portugal to clinch the first spot for an automatic qualification while qualifying for the play-offs won’t guarantee them a place in South Africa 2010. However, Saturday’s match winner Bruno Alves is confident about Portugal’s success, despite the team’s struggles.
“It was hard to win - Albania are an organized team, they defended with the whole team behind the line of the ball,” he said after the game.
“I believed in us until the end, we all believed in the coach’s work and we will work hard to get more in the future, because this result gives hope and desire to work.”
Portugal play against Estonia in a friendly game on June 10.
Watch the video highlights of Albania v Portugal here:
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