Portugal can relax against Mexico and experiment

By Staff
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FRANKFURT, June 18 (Reuters) After winning their first two World Cup Group D games and booking their spot in the knockout phase, Portugal can relax and give some new faces a run out in their final group game against Mexico.

A superb Deco strike and a penalty converted by Cristiano Ronaldo gave Portugal a 2-0 win over Iran in Frankfurt yesterday, handing them the maximum six points following their 1-0 defeat of Angola in their opening contest.

With qualification guaranteed, Luiz Felipe Scolari is in the fortunate position of being able to tweak his side taking into account their fitness and disciplinary situation.

''We have already qualified so we can look at yellow cards, injuries and other details and we will be able to rest some players,'' Scolari said.

Costinha, Deco and Pauleta picked up yellow cards in Saturday's game, while Ronaldo and Nuno Valenta both have a mark against them from the Angola match, although yellow cards collected during the first round are not carried on through unless two successive bookings are given.

FORMIDABLE OPPONENTS Portugal will face formidable opponents in the next round in the form of either Argentina or the Netherlands, depending on the result of that Group C tussle on Wednesday.

But Scolari and his players found it difficult to choose between tournament favourites Argentina, who put six goals past Serbia&Montenegro on Friday, or the Netherlands, who can never be written off.

''The Netherlands and Argentina are two big teams so it is impossible to judge,'' said goalkeeper Ricardo.

''In 90 minutes one of those teams can have an off day and can be eliminated, so there's no point in choosing who we would prefer at this stage,'' Scolari said. ''We have to face each game and do our best.'' But midfielder Tiago insisted that Portugal were still determined to finish at the top of their group and that the game against Mexico in Gelsenkirchen next Wednesday would be no damp squib.

''We will be more relaxed, but we do want to keep the first place. Mexico is a good team and they need the points, so it will be a good match,'' he said ''We are confident and now we're thinking of Mexico, but we're also thinking ahead to Argentina or Holland,'' he added.

Reuters AY RN1603

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