Portugal 3 Czech Republic 1: ALREADY AN English and European champion with Manchester United, Ronaldo gave us an indication in Geneva last night he has his sights set on rounding off a remarkable season on a sensational note. The Portuguese winger turned in a mesmerising display late on as Luis Felipe Scolari's men stepped up their pursuit of the prize that eluded them so cruelly four years ago on home turf.
Scolari expressed satisfaction afterwards with the "commitment and dedication", shown by his players. "We had to suffer but we played well," he said.
As with Spain the night before, however, there were unanswered questions by the end about just how good this team is defensively while they additionally appear, just as in 2004, to be playing with a lone striker who can't score against the better teams.
Still, there were enough positive signs to suggest they can still be around in a couple of weeks' time.
Ricardo Quaresma's injury-time goal for the Portuguese - the product of quick thinking by Deco and even quicker feet by Ronaldo - must have seemed cruel to the Czechs, who moments earlier had come close to grabbing an equaliser through Libor Sionko.
But after a good first half and some decent spells in the second, a draw would have flattered Karel Bruckner's men, who managed a fifth as many shots on target as their opponents over the course of a highly entertaining contest.
After Saturday's stroll against the Turks, one of the more eagerly awaited sideshows to this game was the opportunity to gauge what you (in this case mostly Chelsea) may get when you splash out €100 million on a Portuguese defence. As things stand, three of the four - Jose Bosingwa, Ricardo Carvalho and Paolo Ferreira - will be at Stamford Bridge next season with only Real Madrid's Pepe missing.
Curious himself about what return he will achieve on his investment, Roman Abramovich was among the 29,016 spectators last night, where he apparently added Portugal's manager to the list.
He can't have been entirely thrilled with what he saw for while Portugal defended well against a much more sprightly Czech side than the one that had been lucky to edge out the Swiss on Saturday, there were occasions when they rode their luck.
True, none of the four was to blame for the Czech goal 17 minutes in, when Sionko easily shrugged off the attentions of Petit to head home Jaroslav Plasil's corner from the right. But twice in the second half the ball skipped across the Portuguese goal line with Czech players scrambling unchallenged to try to turn it in.
There were consolations, however, and if the Russian billionaire wasn't already interested in adding Deco to his collection of international stars then what he saw here just may have changed his mind.
The 30-year-old started the move that led to his early goal at left back, where he was briefly covering for Ferreira, but after the ball had been swept away from the feet of Ronaldo inside the other area some 20 seconds later, he popped up to squeeze the ball past Petr Cech at the second attempt and just past Marek Jankulovski on the line.
For the rest of the game he looked much more like the man whose performances at Euro 2004 prompted Barcelona to come running than the man whose lethargy and apparent apathy over the past 12 months persuaded the Spanish giants to show him the door.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, is the game's biggest source of transfer speculation these days, but the Czechs, having looked troubled at times by Marco Streller at the weekend, did a decent job for just over an hour of containing him.
Almost the instant the winger found himself in possession red shirts started to close in and when, 25 minutes in, he received the ball in the sort of position that would generally spell big trouble for a lesser Premiership defence, he ended up having to rush a shot, struck through five bodies from outside the area, that Cech easily gathered.
Not long after, Ronaldo forced a better save from the goalkeeper and the certainty with which Tomas Galasek twice curtailed runs by the winger suggested the Czechs had the measure of him.
Others have made that fatal mistake, though, and when Joao Moutinho fed Deco out wide on the right, his low cross was turned home quite brilliantly by the 23-year-old, who had appeared just inside the area as if out of nowhere.
"It's a very good feeling," beamed Ronaldo afterwards. "We played well. The Czechs played really well during the first half and it was very hard to penetrate their defence. But we created a lot of chances and played as a unit.
"I'm very happy I was able to contribute with a goal but the important thing is that if we keep on playing like that as a team, then we've got a good chance of doing well in this tournament."
After his goal, the Czechs had set about chasing the game with some vigour. Jan Koller joined the impressive Milan Baros in attack while Sionko and the rest of the midfield lurked close by.
As gaps appeared at the back, though, they inevitably became vulnerable to the counterattack and Quaresmo's late strike left them reeling. Now they must pick themselves up for Sunday's game with Turkey while Scolari and his players left Geneva last night planning for greater things ahead.
CZECH REPUBLIC: Cech, Grygera, Ujfalusi, Rozehnal, Jankulovski, Galasek (Koller 73), Sionko, Matejovsky (Vlcek 68), Polak, Plasil (Jarolim 85), Baros. Subs not used: Blazek, Zitka, Kovac, Fenin, Sverkos, Pospech, Kadlec, Sivok, Skacel. Booked: Polak.
PORTUGAL: Ricardo, Bosingwa, Pepe, Carvalho, Ferreira, Petit, Joao Moutinho (Fernando Meira 74), Ronaldo, Deco, Simao (Quaresma 80), Nuno Gomes (Hugo Almeida 79). Subs not used: Quim, Rui Patricio, Bruno Alves, Raul Meireles, Miguel, Jorge Ribeiro, Veloso, Nani, Postiga. Booked: Bosingwa. Attendance: 30,000.
Referee: Kyros Vassaras (Greece).
