Portugal and Switzerland in semis

Portugal secured a fighting 2-1 win against Asian champions Japan in the first quarterfinal, while Switzerland scored a 4-2 victory against Russia in the second quarterfinal before a packed stadium last night.

Portugal will meet the winners of the third quarterfinal to be played between three-time world champions Brazil and Italy, while Switzerland will take on the winners of the match between Uruguay and Spain that was to be played later last night.

Japan took the Portuguese the full extent. They clamped down in the defence and countered quick enough to have clear looks at the Portuguese goal. And despite plenty of action the first period remained barren. Portugal were rewarded for their hard work when Madjer rose to nod in after Alan had done all the hard work from the left with 7.31 minutes left in the second period. But Japan restored parity in the third minute of the final period when Tomoya Uehara jabbed one past ‘keeper Bruno.

‘As per plans'

And with less than one minute left for the final whistle, Belchior sunk in a free-kick to put the Portuguese into the last four stage. "Thankfully, everything went as per plans for us," Portuguese captain Madjer said later.

"We are a strong team and anyone who wants to win against us will have to work hard for it," he added when asked about the likelihood of meeting Brazil in today's semifinal.

Dejan Stankovic propped himself as the highest scorer of the tournament with a hat-trick to power Switzerland to a 4-2 win against Russia in the second quarterfinal.

Stankovic sent the crowd into raptures when his strike from the centre gave Russian goalkeeper Andrey Bukhlitskiy no chance at all. But Russia fought back through an Alexey Makarov strike. Switzerland took the lead once again in the very first minute of the second period when Stankovic got his second of the night.

Dmitry Shishin brought the teams back on level terms when he cashed in a back pass to toe in, only to see Stankovic capping a fine night with a well-struck bicycle kick to take his personal tally to 11 goals.

Results

Portugal 2 Japan 1

Switzerland 4 Russia 2