Portugal on brink of World Cup Knock Out

Portugal are on the brink of an early World Cup exit after being held to a 2-2 draw by the United States.

The much fancied side – led by European Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo – needed a injury time equaliser from Silvestre Varela to save their blushes and ensure they did not lose both their opening games.

Manager Paulo Bento admits his side have not been good enough in Brazil and will face early elimination if the United States can earn a draw with Germany.

All had looked well when Nani put them into an early lead. But the USA fought back straight away with goals from Jermaine Jones and USA captain Clint Dempsey which turned the game around.

Bento admitted: “It’s clearly not a good result for us. The 2-2 doesn’t put us out of the World Cup mathematically, but it does leave us in a very difficult situation.

“That’s not just because of what we’ll need to do against Ghana, but also because we’ll need a favourable result from the Germany-United States game. Now all we can do is to give everything in our very last game and try and make the most of the very little chance that we have left.”

A delighted USA boss Jurgen Klinsmann was disappointed with the draw but delighted with his men who frustrated one of the World Cup favourites.

Klinsmann said: “When you concede a goal in the last second then it’s unlucky. But our boys put in an extraordinary performance.
“The journey’s now a little bit longer for us, but we want to beat Germany to confirm our place in the round of 16.
“I’m a little frustrated with this draw, but we’re going to work hard to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”