Portugal blasts into Euro 2012

Had the results in Spain and Portugal's respective matches been reversed on Tuesday night, few eyebrows would have been raised. Already qualified for Poland-Ukraine, the world and European champion had once again embarked on a money-spinning friendly on the other side of the Atlantic, a regular occurrence since Vicente del Bosque's side triumphed in South Africa and the Spanish Football Federation realized it could swell its coffers on the back of the team's success.

Spain's woes in friendly internationals since its zenith in Johannesburg has seen it ship 14 goals and score five, proof of a point Iker Casillas, who set a national record for appearances against Costa Rica, made earlier this week: "As the World Cup winner, every team wants to beat us."

How zealous Spain has been in wanting to beat every team it has faced since then is a different matter. A 1-1 tie in Mexico City was played just four weeks after the World Cup final and a 4-1 thrashing in Argentina delivered just four days after a European qualifier against Liechtenstein. There was no such mitigation for a 4-0 drubbing in Portugal and a 2-1 loss in Italy, other than lust for revenge on the part of the respective hosts, eliminated by Spain at the quarterfinal stage in 2010 and 2008.

It must still have come as quite a shock to Del Bosque to find his side two goals down against a team ranked 62nd in the world. Well-taken goals by Randall Brenes and Joel Campbell set Costa Rica up for a famous upset, but late replies from David Silva and David Villa spared Spain's blushes. Unbeaten in competitive games since the opening match of the World Cup, Spain will be looking forward to some meaningful matches next summer. As now can Portugal, which faced Bosnia in the Estádio da Luz for the right to attend the championships. Following a 0-0 tie in Zenica last Friday the home side required an early goal to settle its nerves and it was duly provided by Cristiano Ronaldo with a trademark free-kick on seven minutes. Nani added a second with a thunderous long-range strike before Zvjezdan Misimovic halved the deficit from the spot.

Ronaldo then struck again to make it 3-1 in what proved to be a disastrous 60 seconds for the visitor, which was reduced to 10 men immediately after conceding when Senad Lulic was shown two yellows in a flash. It was Bosnia, though, that responded first, once again narrowing the margin to a single goal through its captain, Emir Spahic. But Portugal's numerical advantage eventually told as Hélder Postiga added a brace either side of a Miguel Veloso free-kick to round off an emphatic 6-2 win.

"Qualification was always the objective, but in a difficult context after the first two games as we had no margin for error," said Portugal coach Paulo Bento, who replaced Carlos Queiroz after the former Real Madrid manager had overseen a 4-4 tie with Cyprus and a 1-0 loss to Denmark. Bento then took Portugal on a run of five straight victories and was only denied top spot in Group H by a 2-1 defeat in the final match in Denmark.

"We had a good qualification campaign," Ronaldo told Uefa.com. "We could have got a different result in Denmark, but soccer is like that. Ambition, determination and belief sent Portugal to the European Championship."

The draw for the finals will take place on December 2 in Kiev. Spain and the Netherlands join the co-hosts in Pot 1, with Portugal sharing Pot 3 with Croatia, Greece and Sweden, throwing up the possibility of a new meeting in the group stage; in 2004, as host Portugal marched to the final, Spain was ousted in the first phase courtesy of a Nuno Gomes strike.

In a strong Pot 2 are Germany, Italy, England and Russia, while France lurks in Pot 4 with Denmark, the Czechs and Ireland.