INTERNATIONAL

• Halftime report Russia vs. Portugal

  
  

  Lisbon, Portugal (Sports Network) - Portugal thrilled the home crowd with an early goal by Maniche and take a 1-0 lead over Russia into the locker room in a vital Group A match at the Luz Stadium.

  Portugal will also be playing with a man advantage after Russian goalkeeper Sergei Ovchinnikov was sent off right before the halftime whistle for handling the ball intentionally outside the area. Portuguese star midfielder Luis Figo missed the impending free kick, but Russia still faces quite a monstrous task in the second half.

  Russia and Portugal both dropped its opening match and are in a must-win situation. The Portuguese side was shocked by Greece on the opening day of EURO 2004. Greece earned a surprising draw earlier Wednesday with Spain, which beat Russia by a score of 1-0 on Saturday. Spain and Greece each have four points after two matches, leaving the loser of the Portugal/Russia match with no chance of advancing into the knockout round of the competition.

  Luis Felipe Scolari's side came out flying in the first half against Russia. It took just seven minutes for them to get on the board when Maniche took a cross from Deco just inside the penalty spot, settled it and fired a side-volley into the Russian net for an early 1-0 lead.

  Deco made his presence felt after being inserted into the starting lineup by Scolari in place of Rui Costa. Deco, who plays for Champions League titlists Porto, joined two of his teammates, Ricardo Carvalho and Nuno Valente, as newcomers to the Portuguese starting 11.

  Russia, which was thoroughly outplayed in the first half, looked like in a team in major turmoil. After dropping its opening game to Spain, Aleksandr Mostovoi, who was the most capped player on the roster, was sent home for complaining about coach Georgi Yartsev's rigorous training schedule.

  The Russians are also missing Roman Sharonov in the center of their defense as he was forced to sit out the contest after being dismissed against Spain. The Russian squad is already without a pair of central defenders who could not make the trip to Portugal due to injuries. The inexperienced Aleksei Bugayev teamed with Aleksei Smertin to make up the central defense pairing for Russia.

  06/16 15:41:00 ET