Portugal Faces Do or Die Match with Russia

It is only the second round of the qualification phase and already the hosts are staring at a humiliating exit. Portugal's opening day fiasco leaves the host nation facing an equally desperate Russia on Wednesday in a game both teams need to win to keep their Euro 2004 chances alive.

Russia, who lost 1-0 to Spain just hours after Portugal had capitulated to Greece in their own 2-1 loss, have nothing to lose going into what has turned out to be the all important clash of Group A. Greece, the unlikely victors on Saturday, now compete with Spain for the two qualification spots while the Portuguese, one of the favorites to get through to the quarter-finals, look set to fight for their Euro 2004 lives.

"There are no more second chances. From now on it's life or death," said Portugal's Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. Despite their disappointing performance in the showpiece opening match and the immense pressure on them from millions of soccer-crazy home fans, the Portuguese start as the bookies tip for the match against the Russians in Benfica's Stadium of Light.

Changes to Portuguese starting line-up

The former Brazilian coach is keeping his cards close to his chest in terms of his team for the all-important clash. However, after the disappointing defeat against Greece, Scolari admits there will be changes to the starting line-up. Speculation is growing as to a starting place for Deco in favour of Rui Costa after a below par performance in the first half against Greece. Deco raised the tempo in the second half and provided the impetus for Portugal's last throw of the dice which resulted in Christiano Ronaldo's consolation goal at the end of the match.

"If Deco is the choice, I'll give him 100 percent support," Rui Costa told reporters. "My only worry is that we win the game ... we are all defending the came cause, against Russia we'll be together, united." The AC Milan midfielder was clearly feeling the strain of a nation's expectations when he responded angrily to a reporters inquiry into his own poor performance: "You can't blame any one of us for the defeat," Rui Costa shouted. "We all lost. I'm speaking for the whole team ... none of us are blaming each other."

Scolari also took a hard line in the face of increasing clamour for Portugal to start the match with two strikers with Benfica's Nuno Gomes being mentioned alongside first choice center-forward Pedro Pauleta of Paris St. Germain. The coach refused to be drawn on his tactical choices for the Greece game and the formation he intended to field against the Russians.

He did concede however that teenager Cristiano Ronaldo was tipped to start for Portugal despite giving away the penalty that gave Greece its second goal. The Manchester United star scored the home team's only goal against Greece and looked increasingly dangerous down the left wing as the game wore on. Ronald's attacking flair from the wide area of midfield may be the answer Scolari has in store for those plotting a two-pronged attack for his team.

Russia's Mostovoy is heading home

Portugal's chances have been helped by the unrest among the Russians after their own defeat on day one. Midfielder Alexandr Mostovoy won't be taking part in the match -- or any other -- after getting into a slanging match with his coach. Georgy Yartsev told Russian television that Mostovoy would by flying home on Tuesday, depriving the Russians of their top goal scorer and one of their rare international stars.

As well as the disgraced Mostovoy, Russia's leaky defense will be also be weakened by the absence of Roman Sharonov who is suspended after receiving a red card in the match with Spain.

Absentees aside, Portugal are expected to deal with a Russian team that only squeezed into the finals with the narrowest play-off victory over Wales after finishing second in their group to Switzerland. However, Portugal were supposed to be the superior team ahead of the contest with Greece and we all know how that turned out.

Probable teams:

Portugal: Ricardo; Paulo Ferreira, Rui Jorge, Fernando Couto, Jorge Andrade; Costinha, Armando Petit, Luis Figo, Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo; Pedro Pauleta.

Russia: Sergei Ovchinnikov; Vadim Evseev, Alexei Bugayev, Dmitry Sennikov, Alexei Smertin; Rolan Gusev, Yevgeny Aldonin, Dmitry Alenichev, Dmitry Sychev, Marat Izmailov; Dmitry Bulykin.