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Portugal made to sweat against 10-man Hungary

Portugal coach Fernando Santos admitted that his team got "carried away" in their attempt to see off Hungary in a World Cup qualifying game yesterday morning (Singapore time).

Andre Silva's goal gave them a bruising 1-0 away win, but they were made to sweat for the win against a Hungary side which played for an hour with 10 men after Tamas Priskin was shown a straight red card for elbowing Pepe.

The breakthrough finally came three minutes after half-time, when Silva headed home Cristiano Ronaldo's pinpoint cross for his ninth international goal.

Said Santos: "It was a match that is difficult to describe.

"We were much the better team for the first 30 minutes until the Hungarian player was sent off and then I don't know what happened.

"After our goal, we had control but it was always a dangerous situation.

"I think the players felt the responsibility of this game."

This was Portugal's seventh successive win in Group B, keeping them three points behind Switzerland who won 3-0 in Latvia to maintain their 100 per cent record.

Portugal (against Andorra away) and Switzerland (against Hungary at home) each have one game to play before a showdown in Lisbon on Oct 10.

The winners of the nine European groups qualify directly for next year's World Cup in Russia and the best eight teams play off for four more places. - REUTERS

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