It was an even game. We started to see more mistakes from the Portugal side and we wanted to take advantage. I was trying to make a substitution. Then right at this moment Deco scored this wonderful goal. That was the quality of Deco to make a goal at this moment.

It must have been a big surprise for some people that we did not start with Ali Daei in the team but I needed a faster team and we played very, very well. Because Portugal were so strong it was hard for us and they made it difficult for us to score. (Branko Ivankovic)

I’d like to congratulate Mexico for their win, for the way they played and because they capitalised on the opportunities we gave them.

Some of our players need a little more international experience, and that was evident today with the defensive errors that we made. When you make individual errors you pay dearly for them, but that’s something that can happen to any team. It’s just part of the game. In the second half we went on the attack more. We controlled possession for long periods and stopped Mexico from creating chances.(Branko Ivankovic)