Rampant Ronaldo fires Portugal through
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E-mail Xinhua, June 18, 2012
Portugal beat the Netherlands 2-1 to enter the quarterfinals of the Euro 2012 Championship on Sunday night.
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Cristiano Ronaldo's goals from each half send Portugal into last 8 at Euro 2012. |
Cristiano Ronaldo's goals from each half shattered the Dutch dream to become the first ever to qualify from a EURO section with three points after Rafael van der Vaart's left-footed opener.
The tournament favourite, who are also the World Cup runner-up, stayed bottom of Group B without a single point after three matches and left the Euro stage with huge regrets.
It was the first time for the Netherlands failing to progress from the group stage since their triumph in 1988.
While Portugal, with two victories in a row, booked their berth in the last-eight following Germany, who beat Denmark in the same time to top the nicknamed "Death Group" with three wins.
Portugal have so far kept an overwhelming record against the Netherlands in the two decades which now reads seven wins, three draws and only one defeat.
The Netherlands, who were the most prolific side in qualifying stage by scoring 37 goals in 10 games, failed to rediscover their scoring touch in the group battle by only scoring two.
Facing the nearly impossible mission to beat Portugal by a two-goal margin and rely on Germany to beat Denmark, the head coach Bert van Marwijk fielded onto all his attacking talents including Wesley Sneijder, Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
The Netherlands made a dream start after 11 minutes when the attack midfielder curled in a left-footed shot from the edge of the area after Arjen Robben cut in from the left to make a neat pass.
Portugal levelled the score in the 28th minute when Ronaldo found the space in the area due to a loose defence from the opponents to beat the keeper Maarten Stekelenburg with a cool finish.
Ronaldo sealed the victory with 16 minutes left when the Real Madrid winger dribbled past one defender in the area and rounded the keeper to net with ease.
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