WARSAW, POLAND (AP) - Portugal beats Denmark 3-2 in Lviv, Ukraine in their second Group B match at the European Championship.
Here is a running account of Wednesday’s action. All times are local to Poland.
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1957: Ronaldo hugs Varela after the full-time whistle goes and so he should. Portugal is now level on three points with Denmark and is back in control of its own destiny ahead of the last group game against the Netherlands on Sunday. That was one of the best matches of the tournament _ hopefully more of the same at Netherlands vs. Germany, which is coming up soon.
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1951: FULL TIME: Denmark 2, Portugal 3
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1947: What a game! Portugal is back in front and it’s a goal by the substitute who has only been on the pitch for three minutes. Silvestre Varela is quite fortunate actually, mis-hitting his first attempt but he makes up for it with his second as he lashes a shot into the corner from 12 yards (meters).
(at)simonhaydon: Heartbreaker for Denmark, who thought they were on their way through thanks to Bendtner’s two goals. euro2012 (via Twitter)
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1945: GOAL! Denmark 2, Portugal 3 (Varela)
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1941: Moments after Ronaldo missed the best of all his chances _ he was one on one with Andersen inside the area and sidefooted wide _ Bendtner grabs his second to make it 2-2. A ball is floated over from the right by Lars Jacobsen to the back post and Bendtner loses his defender and heads past goalkeeper Patricio, who gets a hand to the ball but can’t keep it out. What must Ronaldo be thinking? He should have put Portugal out of sight by now.
(at)PhillipsIan: Shocking miss from Ronaldo. Does he ever play well for Portugal? In a white shirt still, but unrecognizable from the Real Madrid giant. (via Twitter)
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1935: GOAL! Denmark 2, Portugal 2 (Bendtner)
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1929: Just under 20 minutes for the Danes to find an equalizer here. They are enjoying a good spell of pressure but are lacking a cutting edge. The next goal could be massive for the outcome of Group B, let alone this game. And it almost comes from Bendtner, who drags a low shot wide from the edge of the area.
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1924: Not a great way for Rommedahl to celebrate winning his 118th cap. Denmark is undeterred, however, and William Kvist goes close with fierce strike from outside the penalty area that goes just wide. Postiga is substituted for 20-year-old Nelson Oliveira, who made a lively appearance from the bench against Germany in the first group game.
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1917: Jakob Poulsen is booked for a foul on Nani, who knocked the ball on before Poulsen came across and wiped him out with a late barge. Easy decision for the referee. Denmark is forced to make another injury-enforced substitution _ Rommedahl looks to have pulled his hamstring and is replaced by Tobias Mikkelsen.
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1910: Poor old Ronaldo’s not having the best of days. He’s finding himself in a lot of space but just can’t score that first goal of the tournament. This time, he is set free by Nani and closes in on goal, only to shoot straight at Andersen. Disappointing by his very high standards.
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1903: Second half begins. Here’s one for you stats fans out there: Postiga’s goal made him the sixth player to score at three different Euros. The other players are Vladimir Smicer, Thierry Henry, Juergen Klinsmann, Nuno Gomes and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
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1847: That’s halftime. 2-1 to Portugal but Pepe is shaking his head as he walks off the pitch _ he will be livid at conceding a goal so close to the interval. Denmark, which has had 58 percent possession, is back in this game.
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1842: Denmark is back in this with four minutes left in the first half. Nicklas Bendtner nods in from close range after Krohn-Dehli cleverly loops a header across the face of goal.
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1838: Breathing space for Portugal. Denmark’s defending is poor as Nani receives the ball and picks out Helder Postiga, who beats his marker to the ball at the near post and blasts home an unforgiving finish. That’s his 20th international goal. But, hold on …
GOAL! Denmark 1, Portugal 2 (Bendtner)
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1835: GOAL! Denmark 0, Portugal 2 (Postiga)
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1832: Yellow card for Raul Meireles for a cynical handball. Andersen releases the ball quickly over the halfway line and it is going past Meireles and into the path of Krohn-Dehli when the Chelsea midfielder illegally stops the ball. Meireles can’t have any complaints with that. Incidentally, Meireles has a new fulltime manager at Chelsea. Roberto Di Matteo, who guided the London club to a first Champions League title last month as interim manager, has been given the job on a permanent basis today on a two-year deal.
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1826: The Portuguese have stepped it up a bit here in the last five minutes and get a goal for their efforts. A curling corner from the left is aimed at the near post and Pepe meets it first, flicking the ball past goalkeeper Stephan Andersen. An unlikely source for the goal but Portugal will take it.
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1822: GOAL! Denmark 0, Portugal 1 (Pepe)
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1816: The heavily tattooed Niki Zimling of Denmark is struggling. He has gone down holding his left calf and the trainer has had to help him off the pitch. Jakob Poulsen replaces him. Ronaldo then drags a shot wide. It’s a bright opening here.
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1811: The Danes have started brightly here. Speedy winger Dennis Rommedahl wins a fourth corner for them, which Michael Krohn-Dehli takes but can’t find a teammate. Portugal legend Eusebio is in the crowd. What a striker he was.
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1806: Denmark, which won the tournament against all the odds in 1992, has the first chance. Simon Poulsen drills the ball into the penalty area and it finds its way to highly rated midfielder Christian Eriksen. He turns and tries to get his shot away but Raul Meireles slides in and blocks.
(at)Karl_Ritter Banner held up by Danish fans: 1992-2012 Same Story. Bold prediction after just 1 game (via Twitter)
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1800: Denmark gets us under way. Craig Thomson of Scotland is the referee.
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1754: Ronaldo is fired up for this one. He went round knocking fists with all his teammates on the pitch during the warmup, talking very animatedly to each one of them. The Portugal captain knows what a massive game this is for his side. Once again, there are plenty of fans in the colors of co-hosts Poland and Ukraine in the stadium. The local fans really seem to be enjoying having the European Championship in their country and they are always out in force at every match. The players are singing the national anthems.
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1740: In their first games, Denmark beat the Netherlands 1-0 and Portugal lost 1-0 to Germany. If the Danes win today and Germany beats the Netherlands later Wednesday, they will qualify for the quarterfinals and Portugal will be eliminated with one group game still to play. And that would mean no Cristiano Ronaldo in the knockout stages.
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1730: Here are the lineups for Denmark vs. Portugal in Lviv, Ukraine:
Denmark: Andersen, Kjaer, Agger, Poulsen, Jacobsen, Kvist, Eriksen, Krohn-Dehli, Rommedahl, Bendtner, Zimling. Substitutes: Lindegaard, Christian Poulsen, Bjelland, Okore, Schone, Silberbauer, Pedersen, Wass, Jakob Poulsen, Kahlenberg, Mikkelsen, Schmeichel.
Portugal: Rui Patricio, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Miguel Veloso, Fabio Coentrao, Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Moutinho, Raul Meireles, Nani, Joao Pereira, Helder Postiga. Substitutes: Eduardo, Custodio, Almeida, Quaresma, Nelson Oliveira, Ricardo Costa, Rolando, Ruben Micael, Varela, Miguel Lopes, Hugo Viana, Beto.
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