All Time World Cup!
Bobek 30, Savicevic 34, Eusebio 59, Mihajlovic 68, Dzajic 75, Eusebio 84.
SEOUL - Sang-Am
Both sides knew a win would probably be enough to see one of them through to the next round but a draw would put them both out. Not surprisingly, both sides looked to attack from the off.
After showing only brief glimpses of his skills in the first two games, the Montenegrin Dejan ‘The Genius’ Savecevic was very much in the mood today. His fabulous close control saw him torment right-back Joao Pinto. After half an hour he tricked his opponent into bringing him down on the edge of the box.
Sinisa Mihajlovic’s swerving free kick was touched home by centre forward Bobek. Just a few minutes later, Savicevic was at it again, this time switching to the opposite flank and dancing round bewildered full-back Toni, then bursting past Germano and slaloming around Coelho and drawing Vitor Baia out of his goal before rounding him with a swivel of his hips and rolling the ball in to the empty net.
It was a great goal, one even Futre would be proud of. On this occasion Futre was well off the pace of his opposite number, and was replaced at half time by Fernando Chalana, a star of Euro ’84.
The Portuguese looked more competitive after the break, and pulled one back just before the hour when, Eusebio evaded Boban and Katanec in midfield and, from nothing, unleashed a 35-yard piledriver into the top corner.
The Mozambique-born ‘Black Panther’s extraordinary pace, power and skill meant he was always a threat. Yugoslav coach Mitic, keen to prevent Eusebio staging a comeback, brought on Velibor Vasovic, elegant sweeper of the late-60s Ajax, to give extra cover in defence. The next goal came from a mix up between Toni and Paulo Sousa, which allowed Sekularac to nip an square the ball to Dzajic, who was tripped by Germano on the edge of the box.
Free kick specialist Sinisa Mihajlovic has been known to score a hat-trick of free kicks in a single match, and made no mistake here.
Great midfield interplay between Katanec, Boban and Prosinecki (on for Sekularac) set up Dragan Dzajic for a fourth with quarter of an hour to go, and Portugal knew it was all over. Still Eusebio battled on, and scored his fourth goal in three games late on when Torres nodded down a Figo cross.
He had proved himself an ‘All-Time’ great and deserved better than such an early exit, but he could not do it. Torres was always a threat in the air, but Figo and Futre had flitted in and out of games on the wings, and Rui Costa had never really imposed himself as a midfield playmaker.
Germano apart, the defence had looked out of its depth at this level. Yugoslavia meanwhile, looked set to qualify as a best-placed third team. Consistency was a problem, but when they clicked, they looked potent. Could they maintain their focus in the knock-out stages?
Back to Group E results
Return to All Time World Cup