Portugal down Argenti in Olympic soccer

Rio de Janerio, Aug 5: Two second-half goals helped Portugal outplay Argenti 2-0 in the Olympic football tourment opener here.

In the match at the Olympic Stadium on Thursday afternoon, however, it was Argenti who domited in the first half — albeit without finding the net. But it were Rui Jorge’s squad who really took off in the second half, reports Efe.

Paciencia was true to his surme (“Patience”), biding his time until the 66th minute, when he took a pass from the left by Bruno Ferndes and neatly left-footed it into the corner of the net.

And Pite, who had come onto the pitch to replace Sergio Oliveira in the 71st minute, was able to put the exclamation point on the match 13 minutes later with a shot that skittered between the goalkeeper’s legs and rolled gently on to nest in the back of the net.

The upcoming Group D match-ups will thus be Argenti against Algeria and Honduras against Portugal.

In the earlier games on Thursday, Honduras held on to beat Algeria, despite a late goal, in an exciting game that finished 3-2, while Iraq and Denmark also finished 0-0. Mexico hold Germany 2-2. IANS