Portugal Come Out Ahead of Former Colony on World Cup Pitch

The second Group D match of the day started with the artistry many expected of World Cup dark horse Portugal when Pauleta nearly netted a goal just 14 seconds into the game.

But it didn't take Pauleta long to make the centimeter corrections he needed to put Portugal up a goal. He trapped a pass from Luis Figo and fired it home three minutes later with the Angolan defense so confused they may have been wondering if they also had 11 players on the field.

The one goal turned out to be the height of the game's excitement as Portugal put together only a small handful of decent scoring chances, including Portugal's temperamental Cristiano Ronaldo thudding a header against the crossbar in the 35th minute.

After getting the butterflies out, Angola got into their first ever World Cup game and, though they were clearly less skilled than their opponents, played stretches of soccer that let them leave the field proud of giving up only one goal in an emotionally charged game.

Star striker Akwa produced an adventurous bicycle kick and then Portugal keeper Ricardo had to be at full stretch to keep out a shot from Andre and just before the break Angola keeper Joao Ricardo produced a fine save to deny the omnipresent Ronaldo and kept the 750-1 underdogs in the match.

"The first game is always difficult. But we got the three points and that is the main thing," Pauleta said after the match. "Angola fought their socks off and they made things difficult for us."