| Matchday 1 | Portugal 2 - 0 Turkey | Pepe (61') & R. Meireles (90+3') |

Portugal open up with Turkey test

As beaten finalists on home soil four years ago Portugal will hope to go one better at UEFA EURO 2008™, but standing in their way of a winning start in Geneva are a Turkey side no doubt relishing the return to the international spotlight after six years in the shadows.

• Turkey have not appeared at a major tournament since the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan, when their surprise run to the semi-finals was ended by a Brazil side coached by Luiz Felipe Scolari, the man now in charge of their opening opponents in Geneva.

• If that is a positive omen for Portuguese fans, they might also note that the Selecção won the countries' two previous meetings in UEFA European Championship final tournaments. Portugal were 1-0 winners against Turkey in the group stage at EURO '96™, where Fernando Couto's 66th-minute goal undid a side coached by Fatih Terim, then in his first spell as Turkey coach.

• Portugal repeated the feat four years later in the UEFA EURO 2000™ quarter-finals, Nuno Gomes getting both goals (44 and 56 minutes) in a 2-0 success against a Turkey side reduced to ten men by Alpay Özalan's 30th-minute red card.

• The teams for that 2000 meeting in Amsterdam were:
Turkey: Rüstü Reçber, Tayfur Havutçu, Ogün Temizkanoglu (Sergen Yalçın), Fatih Akyel, Alpay Özalan, Arif Erdem (Suat Kaya), Okan Buruk (Oktay Derelioglu), Hakan Sükür, Tayfun Korkut, Ergün Penbe, Hakan Ünsal

Portugal: Vítor Baía, Dimas, Jorge Costa, Fernando Couto, Sérgio Conceição, Costinha (Paulo Sousa), Paulo Bento, Luís Figo, Rui Costa (Capucho), João Pinto, Nuno Gomes (Sá Pinto).

• Overall, Portugal have won the countries' last five contests with Turkey's sole success coming in the first of their six meetings, a 3-1 victory in an Istanbul friendly in 1955. Future Galatasaray AS and Turkey coach Coşkun Özarı made his international debut in the match.

• This is Portugal's fourth successive appearance in the UEFA European Championship finals and their fifth overall. Their best performance came at UEFA EURO 2004™, where they finished runners-up after losing the final 1-0 to Greece in Lisbon. They had previously reached the semi-finals of the 1984 and 2000 tournaments.

• Turkey are appearing among Europe's élite for the third time. Their previous appearances came in 1996 and 2000 with their quarter-final run in the latter event their best showing to date.

• Portugal and Turkey both reached the FIFA World Cup semi-finals on their last appearance at a major tournament, Portugal in 2006 and Turkey four years earlier, when they took third place in Korea/Japan.

• Luiz Felipe Scolari's Portugal advanced to Austria/Switzerland as the second-placed team in Group A behind Poland, securing their UEFA EURO 2008™ berth by holding Finland 0-0 in Porto in their last qualifier. Their record in qualifying was W7 D6 L1.

• Turkey qualified as the second-placed team in Group C behind Greece. Nihat Kahveci made sure of their place in Austria/Switzerland with the solitary strike against Bosnia-Herzegovina in their concluding qualifier as Terim's team finished with a record of W7 D3 L2.

• Scolari's Brazil team defeated Turkey 1-0 through a goal from Ronaldo in the 2002 World Cup semi-final in Saitama, Japan.

• Portugal defender Fernando Meira and Turkey midfielder Yıldıray Baştürk are colleagues at German club VfB Stuttgart.

• Portugal striker Nuno Gomes worked under Turkey coach Terim at Serie A club ACF Fiorentina in 2000/01.

• Tuncay Şanlı struck twice in Turkey's 4-2 triumph at home to Portugal in a UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier in October 2002, while Halil Altıntop scored the winner in a 2-1 success away to the same opponents the following September.

• This is the 13th edition of the UEFA European Championship and the eighth edition that features a final tournament with a group phase.

Scolari's men too strong for Turkey



Losers on the opening day four years ago, Portugal made a sure-footed start to UEFA EURO 2008™ as second-half strikes from Pepe and substitute Raul Meireles secured all three points against Turkey at the Stade de Genève.

Just deserts
It was a deserved victory for Luiz Felipe Scolari's men who also rattled the woodwork twice through Nuno Gomes. For Turkey, by contrast, defeat here continues their unhappy sequence of results against not just Portugal but also teams coached by Scolari – his Brazil beat them twice at the 2002 FIFA World Cup – and makes Wednesday's Group A meeting with Switzerland a virtual eliminator.

Upwardly mobile
Portugal entered the tournament seeking to continue their upwards trajectory in European finals: quarter-finals in 1996, semi-finals in 2000 and runners-up in 2004. And they made the early running here, with Bosingwa hitting the outside of the post with a low cross inside two minutes. After 42 goals this season for Manchester United FC, Cristiano Ronaldo, not surprisingly, found himself crowded by white shirts in the initial stages but his threat was evident from the game's first corner, delivered by Simão. Ronaldo appeared poised to strike only for Servet Çetin to produce a timely block. Portugal did get the ball in the net from another Simão corner in the 17th minute but Pepe's header was ruled out for offside.

Survivors
At the other end, Nihat Kahveci saw a free-kick in a promising position trickle behind off the Portugal wall. Nihat was one of only two survivors of Turkey's 2002 World Cup team in their starting lineup alongside Emre Belözoğlu, and he and his fellow forwards – Kazım Kazım and Mevlüt Erdinç, both playing their first competitive internationals – had scant opportunities in a first period controlled by Portugal. With the half-hour approaching, Simão curled a free-kick narrowly over and moments later there was a collective holding of the breath as Ronaldo cut inside to escape the shackles of Hakan Balta and proceeded to weave his way between three white shirts. If the finish was lacking, Ronaldo then drew a fine save from Volkan with a low free-kick driven in from the left. Although the ball bounced in front of Volkan, he managed to get a fingertip to it and touch it on to the far post.

Breakthrough
With João Moutinho also going close, it was no surprise Turkey coach Fatih Terim sought to tighten up his midfield for the second half, sending on Sabri Şarıoğlu. Yet Turkey were soon on the back foot once more. Simão dispossessed the dawdling Gökhan Zan and Nuno Gomes nipped in to fire the loose ball against the inside of the upright. After Gökhan, injured in that incident, limped off in place of Emre Asik, Portugal came again, Ronaldo shooting low at Volkan. The breakthrough finally came after 61 minutes. Pepe, carrying the ball forward with an assuredness not usually associated with centre-halves, played a one-two on the edge of the box with Nuno Gomes and burst through to finish past Volkan for his first international goal. Nuno Gomes nearly added a second soon after, only to see his header rebound off the crossbar. Turkey's hopes of snatching a late equaliser vanished with Tuncay's air shot before Meireles, also with his first Portugal goal, doubled up in added time, sliding the ball into an empty net after Moutinho's trickery had taken out Demirel.