Portugal off the mark

Portugal continued their defence of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship they won on home soil last summer with a 2-0 victory against Greece in Sesimbra in the first match of the second qualifying round.

Early domination
From early on the Portuguese dominated and they took the lead after just eight minutes when Gilberto Silva dashed down the right flank and fed Fausto Lourenço, scorer of three goals in round one, who finished the move efficiently.

Superb free-kick
Eight minutes after half-time André Marques doubled his side's advantage with a superb free-kick from an acute angle. Greece went close to pulling a goal back in the 67th minute when Sppyridon Michail shot weakly at Portugal goalkeeper Igor Araújo.

'Important victory'
After the match Portugal coach Carlos Dinis was a happy man. "It was an important victory," he said. "The first match is always important in this kind of competition. We haven't won anything yet. The Greeks were what we expected. A very strong team, but we were better this time."

'Too little passion'
Greece coach Pieter Vink admitted: "Portugal deserved to win. We didn't show what we are capable of. I knew from the beginning that Portugal were favourites in this group, but all teams have their weak points and we thought we could take advantage of that. However, I think my team played with too little passion."

Remaining matches
With two matches remaining, Portugal have taken an early lead in the Group 4 standings. In their next game on Wednesday they face Wales, while Greece take on Israel. The top team in the group will join hosts France and six other countries at this summer's final tournament.