Portugal troubled by Tunisia

Portugal's first home match since the FIFA World Cup saw a determined Tunisia battle for a 1-1 draw against the EURO 2004™ hosts at the Restelo stadium in Lisbon.

Early goal
The game took place three years after UEFA awarded the prestigious event to the Portuguese but there was no cause for celebration tonight as the home side failed to build on Pauleta's fourth-minute opener. The FC Girondins de Bordeaux striker, scorer of three goals in Korea/Japan, capitalised on an error by Tunisian goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel to hand Portugal the lead.

Creative football
The goal should have spurred Portugal on to greater things but Tunisia, who will be coached by Frenchman Roger Lemerre from Monday, refused to buckle and played some creative football of their own. Toujani forced a fine save from Ricardo in the 17th minute with a well-executed free-kick and the Boavista FC custodian produced an even better stop just after the half-hour to deny Melouki.

Zitouni pops up
However, Ricardo could do nothing to prevent Tunisia drawing level shortly before half-time, Ali Zitouni nipping in ahead of two Portuguese defenders with the keeper stranded. The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, Pauleta working tirelessly to try to beat Boumnijel for a second time.

International debuts
The Africans though continued to press and Ricardo was the busier of the two keepers. In the 63rd minute he reacted sharply to deny Zitouni what looked like a certain goal with a deft header. Neca, Marco Ferreira and Romeu were all handed their international debuts as Portugal went in search of a winner but a draw was a fair result in the end.